Six facts about The Worst Perfect Moment, a guest post by Shivaun Plozza
While toiling away on my first novel over a decade ago I would never have predicted I’d be publishing my sixth this year. But The Worst Perfect Moment is out now, it’s book number six and it’s a story I’m deeply proud of. To celebrate this unexpected milestone I thought I’d reflect on the six most interesting facts about this weird, bittersweet, wild ride of a story.
The main character is dead
This isn’t a spoiler. We learn that Tegan is dead from the very first line and the entire story takes place in the afterlife. I’ve wanted to write from the perspective of a dead character for a long time (I even wrote my master’s thesis on representations of death in comedic literature). And while it was fun to finally scratch a creative itch, writing a dead MC in a YA with a strong romantic focus provided a few difficulties (how do I give her a HEA when she’s dead???). But after six novels I’ve learnt one very important thing: no book is easy to write.
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I drew inspiration from A Christmas Carol
In The Worst Perfect Moment, Tegan finds herself in the wrong afterlife. Well, she thinks it’s wrong – after all, it’s the motel where she spent the worst weekend of her life. But the angel in charge, the snarky and fond-of-breaking-rules, Zelda, insists she didn’t make a mistake. When Tegan goes over Zelda’s head to complain this kicks off an investigation: Zelda must drag Tegan on a journey through her memories to prove that fated weekend at the Marybelle Motor Lodge was when she was truly at her happiest. In this way, Zelda becomes Marley and the other ghosts and Tegan becomes Scrooge. It was a lot of fun to play around with this set-up, drawing on a classic work of literature while (hopefully) creating something new and fresh.
The story is set (mostly) in a doo-wop motel
The idea for The Worst Perfect Moment had an unusual beginning. I usually start with an idea for the plot but The Worst Perfect Moment began with setting: a really bad motel.
I’ve always loved doo-wop motels. I’m a fan of architecture in general (who else used to draw house plans for fun when they were a kid? Anyone? Just me?) but there’s something about motel design that I find particularly fascinating. And doo-wop motels are such a fun, flashy design but to me they always have this feeling that something sinister lurks behind all that colour and neon. So when I decided I wanted to write a story where the main character was trapped in a bad motel, I couldn’t help but look to the iconic motels of Wildwood, New Jersey.
It’s about happiness
As someone who lives with anxiety and depression I often think about happiness, worried that I don’t feel enough of it and that I’m therefore not truly living. But as Tegan explores the question of what makes a person happy, I realised myself that the idea of happiness we all strive to achieve is false. Happiness is not this huge, all-encompassing emotion of pure bliss. It can be small and it can be easily overlooked and it can be felt alongside a host of negative emotions too. The pressure we place on ourselves to achieve an exaggerated idea of happiness is doing more harm than good, especially in the age of social media and influencers where selling this false idea of happiness is big business. It was a relief for Tegan and me to gain a new and more realistic understanding of happiness through writing this book.
As always, there’s an animal character
I love writing animals in my stories – my fourth book has over one hundred cats! This book only has one cat but he’s a grumpy stray named Trash Cat the Elder and I adore him. The way people interact with animals says a lot about who they are and I guess that’s why I end up putting so many animals in my stories. And while Tegan is not a fan of cats (and Trash Cat the Elder is definitely not a fan of her), the effort she makes to befriend him says a lot about where she’s at emotionally. And for something a little different there are a number of other non-human characters in the book: a six-tentacled octopus plushie, a cutesy cat plushie named Trash Cat Baby and, my favourite, Tammy the tampon.
The angels are … not all nice
You can’t write a book set in the afterlife without including a few angels. And I really wanted to have fun with the angel characters, playing around with the idea of what it means to be a ‘higher’ being and in particular how that impacts their moral compass. So without giving away spoilers, let’s just say that some angels are nicer than others and their dispassionate worldview makes for some interesting moments. The relationship between Zelda and Tegan is of course central to the story and I had an absolute blast with their love-hate dynamic.
Meet the author
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Shivaun Plozza’s critically acclaimed debut novel, Frankie, was nominated to ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list, highly commended at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, and shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards, and won the Davitt Award for best YA crime novel. Her second novel, Tin Heart, was nominated to ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. Bestselling author Jennifer Niven called Tin Heart “from cover to cover swoon-worthy, moving, deep, and funny.” Shivaun’s middle grade debut, The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Shivaun lives in Victoria, Australia, with her cat.
About The Worst Perfect Moment
Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this inventive queer romance asks what it means to be truly happy.
Tegan Masters is dead.
She’s sixteen and she’s dead and she’s standing in the parking lot of the Marybelle Motor Lodge, the single most depressing motel in all of New Jersey and the place where Tegan spent what she remembers as the worst weekend of her life.
In the front office, she meets Zelda, an annoyingly cute teen angel with a snarky sense of humor and an epic set of wings. According to Zelda, Tegan is in heaven, where every person inhabits an exact replica of their happiest memory. For Tegan, Zelda insists, that place is the Marybelle—creepy minigolf course, sad breakfast buffet, filthy swimming pool, and all.
Tegan has a few complaints about this.
When Tegan takes these concerns up with Management, she and Zelda are sent on a whirlwind tour through Tegan’s memories, in search of clues to help her understand what mattered most to her in life. If Zelda fails to convince Tegan (and Management) that the Marybelle was the site of Tegan’s perfect moment, both girls face dire eternal consequences. But if she succeeds…they just might get their happily-ever-afterlife.
A tender and edgy take on coming of age in the afterlife.
ISBN-13: 9780823456345
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication date: 05/14/2024
Age Range: 14 – 17 Years
Filed under: Guest Post
About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.
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