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Young adult, magical realism, and every book in between infused with fairy dust...

Interview with Latinx Contemporary Author: Janelle Milanes

September 7, 2019

Analee, in Real Life by Janelle Milanes
Featured in Frolic Media
1) What was your inspiration behind Analee, in Real Life and Victoria in my Head?

The Victoria in my Head was something that I had been thinking about for a long time. I would take the subway to work (usually about an hour and a half each way) and zone out during the commute by listening to music. Somehow, this idea began to take form. I imagined a girl coming alive on stage in a way that no one who knew her would expect. I think high school me was living vicariously through this idea because I would have loved to sing in a band. Like Victoria, I was incredibly shy (ultimately, I sang in the chorus which is decidedly less cool but was still a fantastic outlet.) I started thinking about what it would look like for an introverted girl with stage fright to completely let everything go and live out her rock star fantasies.

Analee began as a writing exercise for a class I was taking. We had to write from the perspective of a high school stereotype, and I wrote as a wallflower. Years prior, I had also gone through an intense but short-lived World of Warcraft phase. The thought of trying on a whole other persona online was so intriguing to me. I thought it would be an interesting outlet for someone like Analee who felt so stifled in reality and could only live her truth in a virtual world.

2) Which character do you relate the most to Analee or Victoria?

Both characters have pieces of me in them. Victoria is a lot like my teenage self–sheltered, imaginative, yearning for something more than the mundane day-to-day routine. Her parents are very similar to my own as well. Analee possesses a heightened version of my insecurities. She is my anxiety times one thousand and has gone through much more in life than I have.

3) I really loved and related to the part of Victoria’s love of making very specific playlists. Do you find yourself making your own playlists in your writing process and what kind of music do you gravitate to when your writing?

Music is something that really inspires my writing. I do find myself coming up with story ideas after listening to certain songs. When I’m actually hunkering down to write, though, I have to be careful that what I listen to won’t distract me from the writing process! I will make playlists of songs that I can imagine fitting certain scenes in my story. The music tends to be all over the place but there is a fair amount of indie pop/rock in there. While I’m writing, I like the music to be very mellow.

4) Victoria was caught in a love triangle of sorts in The Victoria in my Head. If you had to pick Strand the carefree bad boy or Levi the nerdy hipster who would you pick?

Strand! Strand, Strand, Strand. I’m a sucker for a “bad boy” with a heart of gold when it comes to fiction.

5) How have your experiences of growing up as a Cuban-American influenced your characters Analee and Victoria?

It’s so hard to view objectively how my Cuban-American heritage has influenced my writing, because it’s all I’ve ever known. I’m not even sure I’m conscious of how it seeps into my characters. It’s in the way they speak, think, in their relationships with family and friends. It’s something that’s very difficult to define because it’s so much a part of me!

6) What diverse Latinx authors do you recommend us to read for the year of 2019?

Don’t Date Rosa Santos is an adorable read by Nina Moreno, about a Cuban-American girl who dreams of visiting Cuba but is cursed by the sea. Lilliam Rivera has a new book out as well that I’m excited to check out. It’s called Dealing in Dreams, and it’s a futuristic, dystopian Latinx novel.

7) One of my favorite things about Analee, in Real Life and Victoria in my Head, is that you describe characters that are not your caricature Cuban characters. They identify with their culture but they don’t fit in with their Cuban-American heritage and the stereotypical behaviors they are expected to have. Have you ever identified with these feelings of not fitting in growing up in a Cuban-American family?

I think there is a wealth of diversity within the Cuban-American culture. There is no universal experience, and I try to reflect that in my characters. For me, when growing up and even now, I struggle with feeling as though I’m not “Latina” enough. I have to remind myself that there is no right or wrong way to be a Cuban-American. I am a proud Latina who speaks terrible Spanish, who has never been to the island from which my family originates, and who married an Irish-Italian guy from New York. I am who I am. My family still gives me flack about certain things, especially my Spanish, but they accept me regardless. It’s still a process of learning to accept myself and letting go of the feeling that I have something to prove.

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Filed Under: YA News Tagged: analee, Cuban Rep, in real life, Janelle Milanes, Latinx Character, Latinx Rep, The Victoria in my Head

Mixtape Kind of Love: Musically Inspired Romances

September 6, 2019

Featured in Frolic Media

Before Spotify and iTunes I was making playlists for every mood I have ever felt and every big event that has happened in my life. I have made playlists for first heartbreak, first love, moving to college, and random one such as drinking wine and introspective runs at night. Playlists are one of the ways to my heart, in fact, one of my most romantic gifts was a playlist my ex-high school sweetheart made me. There is nothing like a good romantic playlist to really profess your love for someone!

One of my favorite things about reading is when an author pairs music with a story. When authors create their own Spotify playlists to go with the book I get extremely giddy! I am a firm believer that reading should be an interactive experience and in my book reviews, I am always crafting book playlists to go along with the book as well as fancasting characters before the movie adaptation is even announced! These three books are my top musically inspired romances that make me swoon and play Coldplay songs all day.

The Victoria in My Head by Janelle Milanes

Victoria Cruz is a girl that is tired of the predictable monotony of her life. She goes to a prestigious prep school in New York and she lives with overprotective Cuban parents. Her parents have many expectations for her to go to an Ivy League college and essentially live the American dream that they themselves have worked hard to provide for her. Only Victoria has different plans in mind where she dreams of singing on stage. When she encounters a sexy guy named Strand who gives her a flyer to audition for his band, she makes a decision that will change her life forever.

Victoria in my Head hits me on a deeply emotional level because the main character is Cuban-American like myself and struggles through all the feelings I had about myself in high school. She is still trying figuring out what she wants in her life and doesn’t feel like she fits into her Cuban-American identity. Victoria is constantly living in her own head and she is constantly daydreaming about the kind of life or the kind of girl she wants to be. When get gets the opportunity to be in a rock band, she gets caught up in a love triangle with two bandmates Levi and Strand! This is a love triangle that is done so perfectly because it mounts the tension, the conflict, and the palpable chemistry between the characters. This own voices underrated book is a story chockful of indie rock with all the teen angst, growing pains you can ever ask for, and it deserves some love!

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy and Roger travel cross-country from California to Stanwich, Connecticut and they go through an emotional journey that brings them closer together and makes them realize that love and life is a detour. This is the kind of book where you feel like your on a road trip with Amy and Roger and it’s the kind of road trip that you never want to end.

Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour is one of the most EPIC musically-inspired romances I have ever read! Matson has a gift when it comes to crafting the most incredible playlists and I consider her my mixtape soul sister. The romance behind Amy and Roger’s romance blooms through their intricately crafted road trip playlists. There are songs in the book that introduced me to new artists such as Wilco’s “California Stars” and it’s the one song that repeatedly plays in my head.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy Jones & the Six is the story of an up-and-coming 1970s rock band who became famous when the singer Daisy Jones joins the rock band and ultimately makes rock history. The story chronicles the journey of the band from their beginnings, their rise to fame, and the tumultuous relationships that were made throughout the years that the band was together. Daisy Jones & the Six is written in an oral history format and it tells the story of an iconic 1970s band and the reason for their mysterious breakup.

My heart would not be able to handle not including one of my favorite books of the year! The romances that develop between the characters are written in such a realistic fashion that it seems like they are real people you can look up on google. The music that is inspired by this book is classic 1970s rock and the music throughout this book captures the tortured romance between the characters of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne. There is such an unreal passion that sparks between Daisy and Billy and it speaks through their song lyrics. The romance between Daisy Jones and Billy is the kind of romance you will continue to ship long after it is over and it will leave you with one of the biggest book hangovers of your life!

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Filed Under: YA Book Lists Tagged: Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, Daisy Jones & The Six, Mixtape Kind of Love, Musically Inspired Romance Books, The Victoria in my Head

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