Crushing It was sent out for reviews in May, and I’ve received some in return. Here’s one from bookstagrammer JourneytoBiscovery:
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
It was 2021, and I had just finished writing Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers with Éric. We’d gotten feedback from the first beta reader, and it was effusive.
I was writing short stories for our Short Story Collection (currently on submission) and I thought, “I’d like to write something about Kennedy’s younger brother, Tommy. I wonder what his story is.”
I decided he had to come to Westmeath, and thought it would be cool to write about the tech side of the city. I already had a built-in friend for Tommy in Carter, from Assassins, and I was looking forward to writing more of his character, especially after some of the short stories I had written. I added Elyse, Rachel’s younger sister, and thus the trio was complete.
Beyond that, my jot notes were the classes during the March Break camp at Door Tech, and that was it.
I started writing during “March” Break, which was in April in 2021. I wrote pretty much the entire thing on my phone, thumb-swiping as I nursed my youngest to sleep. It was taking literal hours for sleep to come, so I had quite a bit of dedicated writing time.
I had told myself, before I started writing, that this wasn’t going to be a romance. The trio would be friends.
Wow did a curveball ever get thrown my way when Tommy’s reactions to Carter were so shy and awkward. I was super confused at first. Why was he reacting like that?
And then I figured out that he had a crush!
I panicked.
I’m not gay. I didn’t know if I should be writing his story since I wasn’t gay!
So I messaged my publisher and asked his opinion. I believe I also talked to a couple other queer authors to ask what they thought as well, but I don’t remember who.
The unanimous response was “Go for it! He’s your character. If he’s gay, then that’s what you should write!”
I went back to add a little bit more obvious reactions, and then continued writing. I got to the end of the camp, sent Tommy home, and added the novella to the collection of completed works.
Halfway through July, I told Éric that I wanted to write fanfic for Tommy. He thought that was hilarious and told me to write actual content.
So I started writing a short story about what happened to Tommy after he got home. At this point, I introduced Faith.
And I got an idea to have them go to a STEM competition. A province-wide competition that would take place in Toronto, so I could have the boys meet up again.
My jot notes expanded to include the competition topics. (If you’re keeping track, that means my jot notes were the sum of a list of classes and a list of competition activities.)
And I wrote. I was still writing at night while nursing, thumb-swiping on my phone. I would guess that 90% of this book was written in this way.
I did research into the science behind things. I got help from Éric, my mom, and my sister for various topics (especially the coding!).
And then one day I did a word count.
I sheepishly went to Éric and told him, “I think I’m writing a book.”
He said, “I know.”
Oops.
And that’s how I accidentally wrote a book!
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
Here follows the accounts of 2003-version MSN chats between Tommy and Carter, set in the middle of Crushing It as they navigate their long-distance relationship.
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
Crushing It was sent out for reviews in May, and I’ve received some in return. Here’s one from Éric Desmarais:
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
The tropes we use in Crushing It and The Mystery of the Dancing Lights:
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
The Mystery of the Dancing Lights by Éric Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2023 film Red, White & Royal Blue.
I haven’t read the book that this is based off of, but unlike a lot of literary adaptations, I didn’t feel like I was missing too much. There were a few aspects that felt rushed, the trip to Texas and the initial series of incidents that transition from enemies to lovers.
That being said, the important parts, the romance, longing looks, and establishing camerawork were all done at a pace that made you feel for the characters.
Although I appreciated the low homophobia content, it was a little jarring with the level of angst from the characters.
The main love story is done well, but nothing in it is particularly original.
Score: 0.5
There is so much charisma in this movie that it practically floods out of the screen. The mains are not only attractive, but clever and have an endearing charm. Most of the secondary characters are equally as charming and those that aren’t, are still interesting.
Score: 1
The line, “He grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football,” will live rent free in my head for a long time. It’s the perfect summation of the style of dialogue which favours heart and quip above sap or forced misunderstandings. Something a lot of romantic comedies could learn from.
Score: 1
The cinematography and camera work was artistically above almost every movie I’ve seen in recent memory. The visuals managed to convey location, emotion, and movement all while painting the main characters as likable.
The music was good and did its job setting the mood and the feel of each location.
Score: 1
This movie was extremely enjoyable. I watched it with my wife, after the kids were in bed. That was a good plan since there’s way too much swearing, smoking, and alcohol for my liking. It’s the only thing that dampened my enjoyment of the film.
We both had a lot of fun and she spent a good amount of time afterward looking at gif sets on tumblr.
Score: 0.5
One of the most beautiful and stylistic movies I’ve seen, and one of the most entertaining romantic comedies in a long time. This will make you smile and make you happy. It is not for kids however, due to the large quantity of alcohol consumption, smoking, and swearing.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
Crushing It was sent out for reviews in May, and I’ve received some in return. Here’s one from bookstagrammer @JourneytoBiscovery:
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2023 film Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie.
Note: I watched the English dub and have been a long time fan of the TV show.
This was a simplified version of the show’s story with minor changes to make it fit in a movie format. Best to think of it as a alternate reality from the show if you’re a fan.
The descriptions and explanations seem fairly straightforward for those who don’t know the show.
The story, however, was very reductive and about the same as any other teen superhero story.
It did flow well and end well so I’ll give it credit for that.
Score: 0.5
The characters were fun but unfortunately fairly shallow. Marinette was well developed and definitely the star, but Adrien was underdeveloped and bland.
The secondary characters felt underused and I’m not sure a casual audience would care about them.
The changes to Marinette and Gabriel were effective in making the story more believable.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue was quippy and funny, showing that despite the changes, the writers and actors were comfortable with the characters.
There are a few deep lines and what dialogue there is it’s well used.
I feel like the movie could have used more dialogue and less singing.
Score: 0.5
The movie was colourful, well animated, and pretty. The action was engaging and often well balanced with humour.
The music was lovely, although the transition from voice actor to singing voice was a little jarring with Marinette and Adrien.
Music, like action scenes, should be developing character and plot in a way that can’t be done otherwise. The songs need to be catchy and do all that. The song were catchy, but only did minor developments. The time could have been better used to develop the characters with dialogue.
Score: 0.5
We’ve now watched all four seasons available in Canada and we warned the kids in advance that this was a different story. They’ve seen enough Cinderella versions to get that idea. There were a few moments where they would ask why the characters weren’t doing what they would do in the show, but overall they seemed to love it. Lots of giggles in the opening scene with the gargoyle.
The adults enjoyed it as well. This was fun and low angst.
Score: 1
A fun movie which suffers from watering down the world for a new audience and trying to force the story into a standard superhero format. Despite being an easy watch, its secondary characters are as forgettable as the songs.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Probably one of the biggest hurdles I had in writing this book was the science. Writing it clearly enough that readers could follow along, but not get bogged down by the science, was hard.
I think my favourite science part was the obstacle course ice breaker in the March Break camp. I had a lot of fun planning that out, and I even made the modified version of it that we recorded for the cover reveal video. My eldest and her friend completed it together.
The STEM competition was more difficult, mostly because I had to make it more advanced. I discussed the five different sections with Éric beforehand, finally deciding on optics, electronics, programming (part 1 & 2), construction, and mystery.
A bit of background on me: I have a Bachelor of Science, so I took many many post-secondary science classes. Do I remember them? Not in the slightest.
However, I do remember how to research for them. Mostly.
Éric (a huge science nerd) was a huge help with all of it, but especially the optics and mystery.
My mom (has her masters in computer science) and sister (has her bachelors in a information technology) were invaluable for the programming section. I was able to suggest solutions and they would explain why they would or wouldn’t work. Most of that discussion went into the book.
Overall, I had a lot of fun writing the science of the book, and I hope you have fun and learn a little while reading it. This is not a science book, but I tried to make it as accurate as possible.
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
Here follows the accounts of 2003-version MSN chats between Tommy and Carter, set in the middle of “Crushing It” as they navigate their long-distance relationship.
Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!
Physical from Canadian indie bookstores, physical from Indigo, electronic version
