I'm Brenna Yovanoff. My contemporary YA fantasy The Replacement just came out from Penguin in September, and Jessica has graciously invited me to write a guest post for her blog!Today I'm going to talk about music. Mackie, the main character in The Replacement, loves music. He plays the bass and spends as much time as possible at the Starlight, which is the venue for local bands in Gentry. His love of music figures pretty heavily into the story and something people have been asking me is whether I play any instruments myself.
Here is my dark, tortured confession: I am terrible at music. And when I say terrible, I mean on a fundamental level. It goes far (far, far, far) beyond tone-deaf. Singing is only a small sliver of the problem. I also lack rhythm. And nuance. When it comes to music, I Just Don't Get It.
You might be tempted to ask, how bad am I? I will tell you. I'm so bad that I failed my introductory music class in high school. And it wasn't failing in one of those lazy ways—I actually did the work and showed up every day. I was really just that bad. So when people ask me if the scenes where Mackie talks about music are based on personal experience, the answer is no. It is also no, NO, and absolutely not. And this is exactly what makes fiction so great! Even though I am never—not in a million-trillion years—going to play a really amazing solo, I'm still allowed to pretend.
Thanks for having me, Jessica!
I just finished the Replacements and it was an amazing addition to my bookshelf. I loved the characters and really enjoyed this twist of tale. Thank you so much for the great read! I cannot wait for more.
ReplyDeleteLove the sneak peak into your life there, I also can say that I do not have the ability to produce fine tunes.
hahaha yessss! I love how my fictional creations can do things I never could--like metal sculpture, for instance, or...I dunno, come up with witty comebacks! :)
ReplyDelete(Also a MILLION cheers for The Replacement! My students love it through and through!)