Romancing The Jade
Senior Jade Nguyen Continues Writing a Romance Novel
As schools across Chicago shut their doors to protect against the coronavirus, students swapped their textbooks for MacBooks and homework all-nighters for T.V. binges. Juniors traded their Meetings of the Minds time for hour-long Google Hangouts, while seniors shared college news over FaceTime instead of in person. For senior Jade Nguyen, however, the extra time allowed her to work on the novel she began for her Independent Study in January.
Nguyen’s interest in writing started in sixth grade when she thought that she needed something to relieve her stress from school. She has been writing ever since and focuses on romance and relationships.
“I always thought about writing about a forbidden relationship and seeing how polarized people can become when they mention a taboo was fascinating,” Nguyen said. “I’ve always seen the extreme sides of someone supporting relationships with wide age gaps and people being completely against it, so I wanted to see how readers could react if they had no prior knowledge or opinion on this taboo relationship and judge it based off the information given in the book.”
Before starting her independent study, Nguyen published her first official book “Falling for My Best Friend” online in January. Nguyen draws inspiration from reading other romance books and watching romance television shows or animes. “Seeing so many ways a relationship can blossom and learning about key aspects that make two people compatible is so fascinating to me.”
From January to early March, Nguyen and Upper School English teacher Mike Mahany met during H2 to discuss her next piece of writing, which she finished by Wednesday for him to review. They then met during Thursday conference so Mahany could give a reader’s perspective and help with grammar. Since the quarantine, the two have continued to email to check-in, but the project remains largely individual.
Mahany advised Nguyen not to overthink the plot and encouraged her to start writing even if she did not have the story mapped out from beginning to end. “She adds complexities and twists in different ways,” Mahany said. “She is an ambitious writer, and I like that about her.”
Mahany is impressed by the thought Nguyen has given this novel. “Each time we talk, she has thought through not only plot lines but character development,” Mahany said. “She is intent on coming up with a plot that’s not derivative or cliche but that takes a fairly common theme and does something different with it.”
Nguyen’s close friend, senior Isaac Warshaw, agrees. “Her stories all have the details and elaborate plots that make them very entertaining,” Warshaw said. “They make me want to continue reading.”
Senior Celeste Gerbaulet-Vanasse, another close friend of Nguyen, has read a couple of her short stories and is impressed by her passion for writing. “They’re all incredible,” Gerbaulet-Vanasse said. “She is insanely talented and it could take her a long way if she sticks with it.”
In Nguyen’s novel, the readers will never know the characters’ gender. The conflict is that the protagonists cannot be together because of who they are in society, and Nguyen hopes that readers will think about whether they should be together because they love each other or should they follow society’s rules.
“My goal with this novel is to create a completely new taboo in a completely new world where specific types of people can’t be seen together yet there are these two characters who are drawn to one another yet they know they can’t be together,” Nguyen said. “My goal is that by creating my own world and essentially my own taboo, that readers wouldn’t be biased and immediately shut down the relationship or immediately support it.”
Nguyen is hoping to write at least 300 pages. “I know that I’m capable,” Nguyen said. “I’m not going to achieve what I want the readers to get with just a few pages.”
Mahany agrees that Nguyen will accomplish her goal. “She is certainly dedicated to writing as a craft,” Mahany said. “She follows up her ambition with her tremendous work ethic.”
Warshaw is also impressed by her work ethic and writing style. “She is really dedicated and is always working on her writing whenever she has a free period at school,” Warshaw said. “I’m really proud of Jade for actualizing her dream of becoming a writer and being so dedicated to pursuing her passion.”
Nguyen hopes to minor in creative writing and major in psychology, eventually earning a Ph.D. in psychology. “I want to discover something new in the psychology field because I am fascinated by so many things including human behavior and love,” Nguyen said. “I’d love to share that knowledge with others and I feel like there’s no better way than a hard covered book.”
