Flat Quentin

Margo Roth Spiegelman calls Orlando (and most of Florida) a paper town early in the
book. When she and Quentin look out over the city from the top of the SunTrust
Building, Margo Roth Spiegelman makes her disdain known:
You can see how fake it all is. It's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It's a
paper town. […] All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future
to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper
convenience store. (1.6.34)
This is where we chime in and say, takes one to know one, because Margo is just as
fake as the rest of them. And she comes to realize this, too, at the end. She says that
she thought Quentin was flat—"two dimensions as a character on the page and two
different, but still flat, dimensions as a person" (3.22.93)—but then she realizes, "I was
made of paper. I was the flimsy-foldable person, not everyone else" (3.22.96). It's a light
bulb moment for sure.
What does she mean by this? Perhaps she means that Quentin knows who he is. He's
happy in his small town, focusing on school and thinking about college. But Margo Roth
Spiegelman is so desperate to be liked that she tries to be friends with everyone, goes
on adventures to make herself seem interesting, and really has no idea what she wants.
She's folding herself over and over again to fit into so many different situations, and
she's getting tired of it. She has to find out who she is and become a little more solid.

"A paper town is a fake town created by map makers created to protect their
copyright," says John Green.

"Map makers put fake streets, fake towns, and fake bridges in their maps, so if
they see those same fake places on someone else's map, they'll know that
they've been robbed," he explains. "This has been going on for centuries, and it
happens even now. Google maps and Apple maps have lots of paper streets and
paper towns. Google maps had a famous paper town called Argleton until it was
discovered."

 "It is through this that he eventually finds Agloe, a town that was fake but then
made real by virtue of having been put on a map, and in doing so finds Margo.
Basically, I wanted a different definition of 'paper towns' for each section of the
book, each representing a different way of his imagining Margo."
"It means different things to Q, the narrator, at different points in the
story. But in real life, the phrase 'Paper Towns' is about copyright.
Mapmakers create fictitious entries in their maps to make sure that no
one else is copying them. If you put my fake place on your map, I
know that you've stolen from me."

queerweberian asked: Could you please go over the meaning of the title and it's relevance to the
story?
Sure. The phrase “Paper Towns” is used in three different ways in the three different parts of the novel.
In the first part, “The Strings,” Margo and Q use the phrase “paper town” to refer to Orlando, and Margo
calls it a “paper town” because it’s flimsy and planned–from above, Orlando looks very much like a city
that someone built out of origami or something. But of course what Margo’s REALLY doing by using this
phrase is giving Q a clue. She’s doing a lot of things that night that he misreads, and this is one of them.
In the second part, “The Grass,” Q discovers a new meaning for “paper towns.” He learns that they can
refer to subdivisions that were started and then abandoned–subdivisions that exist on paper but not
(entirely) in real life. These abandoned subdivisions are pretty common in Florida.
In the final part, “The Vessel,” Q learns a third meaning of “paper towns,” this weird cartographic
phenomena wherein mapmakers will insert fake places (called copyright traps or paper towns) onto their
maps to make sure no one is copying their maps. It is through this that he eventually finds Agloe, a town
that was fake but then made real by virtue of having been put on a map, and in doing so finds Margo.
Basically, I wanted a different definition of “paper towns” for each section of the book, each representing a
different way of his imagining Margo. In the first part, he’s viewing Margo very one-dimensionally. She’s
paper-thin to him; she is nothing but the object of his affection. In the second part, he’s seeing a girl who’s
half there and half not–so he’s thinking about her with more complexity but still not really thinking of her
as a human being. In the final part of the novel, his complex imagining reconnects him to her, albeit not in
the way he might’ve hoped.

I think everyone has read one of those books that in theory, should be great: it has an interesting
concept, a good plot, a killer twist, skilful world-building if it’s sci-fi or fantasy… but for some reason,
something about it just doesn’t click. Although it should be right up your street, it just doesn’t do it for
you.

One of the biggest reasons I find for this when it happens is the characters: if they just aren’t
convincing then how am I ever going to enjoy reading about them? Even in fantasy and sci-fi where a
suspension of belief is required on behalf of the reader, you have to be able to believe the
characters could exist in the universe of the story if you are going to care about them at all.

The last book I can remember reading where I felt the characters ruined a good story was Hugh
Howey’s Wool: whilst for the most part I liked the heroine Juliette, Lukas (the ‘love interest’) as a
 character I felt was all over the place, and Juliette falling in love with a character like him seemed
inconsistent with her own character.

These badly drawn characters can completely destroy a book for me, and so as someone who not only
reads fiction, but also writes it, I’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes characters
believable. Here’s what I came up with (and I’d love to know your thoughts!):

 Characters must be non-stereotyped

Stereotypes are by nature, flat and unrealistic. A stereotype is essentially a shortcut to convey a lot
information about a character in a short space of time, so the author doesn’t have to worry too much
about character building. The result? Characters that make you roll your eyes in
exasperation: another blonde, brainless American cheerleader? Another impossibly handsome stranger
with a supernatural secret? Another fantasy damsel-in-distress? No one person in real life embodies a
stereotype, and so neither should believable characters!

 Characters must have realistic dialogue

Characters who speak in full, grammatically correct English all the time? Youngsters who abbreviate
every other word, so that they’re practically incomprehensible? Scottish people who actually say ‘och
aye the noo!’? All make a character less believable – it’s all far too ‘stylised’ and/or stereotyped. Now,
I’m not saying authors should write dialogue how people actually speak, with every ‘erm’ and ‘um’
included, but if you can’t practically hear a character talking when your reading the book, then for me
it’s not working.

 Characters must have consistent personality traits

Now I know characters develop throughout a novel, or perhaps end up not being what they seem, and I
love that! When someone you thought was an out-and-out villain shows a softer side, or someone you
thought was one of the good guys turns out to be corrupt and you just didn’t see it coming it really
adds to the drama, and makes the characters seem more complex and three-dimensional. But only if
it’s believable. If the author plants hints here and there which you only really notice after the truth
comes out it can be believable for a character to suddenly change, as they are just showing their true
colours. However, if it seems like the author just suddenly decided to take the plot in a different
direction and needed a character to completely change in order to do it then it can be jarring and
incredibly off-putting.

 Characters must have believable motivation

Everyone wants something, whether that something is a day off work, a snack, kids or a huge lottery
win (although who wouldn’t want that!), and characters should be no different. If Frodo didn’t
desperately want to destroy the Ring and save the Shire (plus the rest of Middle Earth) from Sauron,
then why would he trek all the way to Mordor? Not for a holiday, that’s for sure! And if Katniss didn’t
love her sister then why would she volunteer to go into The Hunger Games in her place? Often the
biggest character motives are love, wealth or the pursuit of knowledge, but it really could be anything
so long as it makes sense for that character. A selfless character for example would be motivated by
the need to save others, whilst a greedy character will mainly be motivated by the desire to
accumulate wealth or material possessions. However, if a character seemingly has no motivation, and
there are no reasons behind their actions, then how are we supposed to believe in them? No one does
anything for no reason, however subtle that reason is, and so in my opinion, neither should characters!
01. Know your character's backstory, even if your
audience doesn't need to know
This is probably the single most important part of creating believable characters. It
doesn't matter if you're developing a good guy, bad guy or even an imaginary monster.
If you want your characters to jump off the page – or the screen – discover their details.

Strong character development requires more than just deciding hair color, age, height
and weight. It's deeper than that. Ask yourself: Where were they born? How was their
childhood? What happened to their parents? Do they have any fears? If so, what are
they? The more you ask; the more you'll discover; the deeper your character will be.

02. Use a character design sheet

A character sheet is a handy reference tool

One of the ways I deal with data collection for my characters is by using a character
design sheet. Not only does this help keep me focused on the most important traits, but
it also helps developing my character's backstories.

There are many free character design sheets on the internet. You can use one of those,
or create one that works for you.

03. Draw from real-life experiences; but not fully

They say writers should write what they know. That's true, but not entirely.

When developing your characters, drawing on your own personal experience is a great
place to start. But don't stop there. Don't make a carbon transfer onto one of your
characters based on your Aunt Ethel. Change it up a bit. Give her some new quirks, a
new skill, an ex-husband, anything really. Just don't create another Aunt Ethel for your
fictional character; not unless she's absolutely perfect, in real life.

Bottom line... you're a creative person: create!

04. Use the internet for research

The author researched the police for a recent character

If you're character is not like you, then do your research. I cannot stress this point
enough.

For example, I'm working on a novel right now in which one of my characters is a former
police officer. I know very little about that line of work. I was a firefighter, but never a
police officer. It would be foolish for me to develop my character without first
researching police work.

05. Do a little world building

Create a believable world for your character to inhabit

Another way to create believable characters, is to create a believable world. In fact,

sometimes the 'world' is its own character, but that's an entirely different topic all. Note
the subliminal message to my editor (how to create a believable world).

The reason creating a world helps is because our fictional characters, like ourselves,
are very much influenced by the world around them. Use that to your advantage. Is your
character living in a city? The country? How does this impact how she lives?
Sometimes, I'll work out location before I even attempt to place characters inside of it.

06. Allow your character to grow and evolve

Let's face it, static characters are not only boring, but they're unrealistic too. Sure, there
may be a few people in your 'real life' that don't seem to grow and evolve, but for the
most part, people are constantly changing.

When characters change in a story, it allows the story to move forward. Generally
speaking, your protagonist needs to face some kind of challenge. In order to overcome
this challenge, she'll need grow and evolve. Let her.

07. Give your character a voice

Speaking of which – give your character a voice. Talk with her. Let her tell you what she
wants. I know this sounds a bit strange, and I certainly don't recommend you do this in
public, but have a conversation with her – out loud.

If having a conversation out loud with your fictional character is a bit too much for you,
then have one on paper. Write it out. In fact, sometimes I'll even interview my
characters.
08. Whisper in your character's ear; be her inner critic,
write her thoughts

Be the voice inside your character's head

Nothing drives a character more than that little voice inside their head. Not only do you
need to be the voices around your characters, but you also need to be the voice no one
can hear.

During the conversations you have with your character, pause ever now and again and
think about not only how your character will respond, but why she'll respond that way.
What is she hearing inside her head? Did her parents always encourage her dreams or
tear them up? Does she hear her ex-husband tell her she's too stupid, too weak, too
ugly? Be that voice.

09. Put a face to a name

Put a face to your character's name

I'm not sure if other writers do this, but sometimes I'll do a Google image search to 'find
my character' so to speak. A lot of times, I'll start with an image and build my character
around that image.

With Target Acquired, I had a vague idea of what my main character, Sarah Murphy, was
like. But it wasn't until I found her image online that it really hit me. From there, I was
able to complete her character sheet and begin working on the story.
10. Have fun and don't try to be perfect
This seems like a no-brainer, but so many people (I won't lie, myself included) get stuck
on this 'being perfect' thing.

Pro tip: perfect does not exist.

Your characters don't need to be perfect, nor does your story. Especially, if it's your first
draft. Just get the words out of your head and onto the paper (or into the computer).
And most importantly, have fun. You'd be amazed at how much better your writing is
when you're having fun.
 Be original and memorable with physical descriptions

Make fictional characters’ voices real

There are two levels to character voice. If your character is the Point of View character and
narrator, the voice of narration should reflect the mind and personality of your character. 

Show character development

Even short novels should show character development. Characters should discover new things
about themselves, other characters and their world in the course of a story. There are
exceptions to this: a character’s unchanging stasis can be used to convey a sense of tragedy
and inescapable ‘fate’, should this be the effect you want to achieve. It is important in this case
to make sure there are other sources of story development that create forward momentum. One
characterisation mistake beginner writers sometimes make is to focus on plot development to
the exclusion of everything else.

1: Do preliminary character sketches

A detailed sketch of your characters’ imaginary histories will help you create believable
characters. Character sketches are a form of outlining. Instead of outlining the entire
plot of your novel or story, you outline each character’s personal trajectory. For each
character, write down their:

 Your character’s name, age, and gender

 Relation to the cast of characters (e.g. ‘mother of the protagonist’)
 Possible story purpose (e.g. ‘confidant of the protagonist; helps him overcome
primary challenge’)
 Backstory (pivotal life events, fears, secrets and hopes)
 Greatest strength and greatest flaw
These are just some examples. The ‘Character’ section of Now Novel’s idea finder (a
series of guided prompts) gets into more detail than this.
Get as detailed as you like as you sketch your characters for your novel. At the same
time, set yourself a definite end date for completing your sketches so you can draft your
novel.

2: Ask your cast of novel characters questions

To help you write believable characters, do character interviews. Set each of your
created characters a series of questions, such as:

 What was your proudest moment?

 What was your most embarrassing experience?
 Who is your personal idol and why?
 If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you’d save?
 What do you crave most in life?
Be creative and personal. The aim is to know your characters inside out, so that you
believe in their private histories, emotions and psychologies. This process will help you
create unique individual character profiles.

3: Give characters wants and needs (goals and

motivations)

Kurt Vonnegut famously said that every character in a

story should want something, even if it’s only a glass of water. This is excellent advice
for creating believable characters. Characters who have goals and motivations are
believable because they (like us) have desires. They don’t simply sleepwalk through
your novel.
Think of the primary motivations that drive people. They include desire for:
 Love or intimate relationships
 Wealth, fame and/or status
 Redemption or restored dignity
 A better world or the happiness of others
These are just some character motivation examples. Characters are especially
believable when you show why they hold these desires. For example, a character
obsessed with gaining wealth and status might have endured struggle and
 disadvantage. The famous author Charles Dickens, for example, was sent to work in a
blacking factory as a child and the spectre of this experience haunts his novels.
Make sure characters’ wants or goals (finding a lasting romantic partner, for example)
align with their motivations. A character whose goal is romance might crave external
validation. This goal and its motivation naturally comes with its own challenges. These
challenges add tension and internal obstacles to your character’s story path.

4: Give characters occasional flaws and inconsistencies

Characters who are impervious to all dangers or always say and do the right thing are
usually boring. Even superheroes who have astounding powers have weaknesses – for
a good story, Superman has to have his kryptonite.

Character flaws are useful because:

 Flaws are relatable – most people can admit they have their own internal
challenges (e.g. having a quick temper)
 Flaws create internal conflict that adds dramatic tension to your story (e.g. Will
the character overcome her quick temper when it matters most?)
 Different characters’ flaws and how they play (or don’t play) together create
drama and intrigue
Your characters don’t have to be consistent with their personal beliefs, values or goals
all the time. A character who is sexually conservative could have an experience with a
practical stranger that is ‘out of character’.

For out of character incidents in your novel, make sure you show the underlying cause
of your character’s unexpected actions. That way, readers are less likely to say ‘I don’t
believe the character would do that’.
5: Steer clear of cultural stereotyping
The most widely criticized type of character in fiction is one who represents a stereotype
of a nationality, ethnicity or cultural identity. Be careful of representing ‘foreign’ accents
using alternate spellings. Make sure that your novel’s ‘others’ (characters from
different cultural backgrounds to your protagonist) are not mere props.
To ensure that your characters don’t come across as stereotypes, run your draft past
beta readers who are members of the culture or subculture you want to depict.

6: Make characters change over time

 Even if your story or novel takes place over a single
day, change in your characters’ outlook and/or goals is important.
Events in your story should impact your characters in a believable way, affecting their
decisions and viewpoints. Read this guide to character development for tips on how to
craft characters’ individual journeys.
7: Give each character a distinct voice and personality
Creating believable characters means giving each character in your novel a distinct
voice and personality. Components of a character’s voice include:

 Accent, diction and favourite sayings

 Tone and register (e.g. gruff, high-pitched, formal and eloquent or
informal/casual)
 Movement (variation in pitch or monotone)
In your endeavors to make each character’s voice unique, avoid being over the top. An
eccentric character might use quirky sayings. Aim for balance. Give that eccentric
character their straight-laced counterpart. Contrasts between characters make them
easier to believe.

Besides a distinct voice, each character should have a personality. A good example of

personality differentiation is Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women (1868). In Alcott’s
novel, she gives each of the four March sisters (Margaret, Josephine, Elizabeth and
Amy) a strikingly different persona.
In Little Women, the eldest daughter Margaret or Meg is the ‘good daughter’ and looks
after the others when her parents are away. Josephine or ‘Jo’, by contrast, is creative,
strong and willful, and is less accepting of gender expectations than her elder sister.
The third sister, Beth, is gentle, musical and introspective while the youngest sister Amy
is vain and materialistic.
Giving each character distinguishing traits will help your characters ring true.

A characteristic mannerism

If you watch a very good actor performing a screenplay, chances are that one of the
things you will note is a distinctive mannerism that defines the character. It can be a
small thing—a way of glancing in the mirror admiringly at his own image, a way of
rubbing her hands together (remember Lady Macbeth?), or maybe a certain way of
speaking. It should be a mannerism that expresses the character's inner being. If you
give your character a characteristic mannerism, and use it sparingly but tellingly, that
character will take on individuality and stick in the reader's mind.

A consistent world view

When you are creating characters, you should know all about them, even if you don't
actually express every detail in the story. What does your character like to eat for
breakfast? What is his favorite color? Who is his best friend, and his worst enemy?
Even if these details don't play into your plot, you, as the creator, should know them by
heart, and they'll give your character new dimensions, even if they're not expressed.

Sometimes the best approach to creating characters is through a character sketch, so

you can lay out exactly what you want your character to be like from the get-go.

An inner life

All right, so your character likes to wear Armani and drink lattes and hustle ladies in
singles bars. What's going on inside his head? Does he have an inner life? You, as the
author, need to express his thoughts, his way of looking at things, his inner conflicts.
You can do this through dialogue with another character, or you can simply show the
character's thoughts to the reader through his own inner dialogue. When you go into a
character's thoughts, you deepen him, and he becomes more real.
A base in reality

A character also seems more real if he is based in reality. In other words, the old writer's
dictum—"Write what you know"—extends to characters. You should focus on creating
characters you know. Try basing your characters on real people you have observed, or
even a pastiche of people. The characters will seem more real, and you will have a
wealth of material to draw on.

Quentin, known to his friends as “Q,” is what one might call a pretty normal
kid. He’s smart and diligent about his work, and he does well in school.
Quentin really likes routines. He always notes the exact time of events: it’s not
6:30, but 6:32. Before he started his wild chase after Margo, he barely, if ever,
broke the rules in his life. He had perfect attendance in school before he plays
hooky to travel around Central Florida in search of Margo. Quentin often
operates slightly on the periphery of people’s lives. His best friends are all
very serious about band, but Quentin describes himself as having “the kind of
tone deafness that is generally associated with actual deafness,” so he just
hangs out with all the band kids but doesn’t take part. Quentin also has no
desire to go to the prom, even though all his friends want to go. Quentin is
more comfortable with being absorbed in other people’s drama, rather than
his own. Even Quentin’s relationship to his car is indicative of how he tends to
live life on the periphery, hovering between dependence and independenc:.
Quentin doesn’t have his own car for most of the novel. Instead, he has his
own keys to his mom’s minivan, so he can use the car when she’s not using it.

But as Quentin becomes more and more obsessed with Margo, he begins to
grow beyond his routine-based life, and he becomes more daring and
assertive. When he was little, Quentin was afraid to stand up for himself. But
When Jase and Chuck take Margo’s absence from school as an opportunity to
wreak havoc on the freshmen, Quentin musters the courage and self-
confidence that Margo drew out of him on their adventure through Orlando,
and he stands up successfully to the bullies. Through his fascination with
Margo, Quentin gains confidence and learns how to take more risks in his life.

Quentin Jacobsen is a boy from Orlando, Florida, and is 18 yrs old. He’s FAKE
Quentin is often called Q by his friends and love interest/best friend Margo.

His love for Margo has been there ever since his youth, and after she left, he will stop at nothing to
find her, as she is the one girl who he can really say he loves.

Quentin realizes that he has been domineering throughout his quest to find
Margo. Since he is so focused on solving the mystery, he hasn’t realized that
to his friends, he might have come across as monomaniacal or uncaring. In
order for his friends to be sympathetic with his concerns, he has to let go of
himself sometimes and do what’s best for everyone.

The timing of Quentin’s epiphany about Margo’s “paper towns” clue is highly
symbolic. He realizes that he has been interpreting the clue incorrectly the
whole time on the morning of his graduation. High school graduation is a
definitive marker of crossing from childhood into adulthood. In the same way,
Quentin’s parents’ gift of the minivan also signifies this transition. Quentin now
owns a vehicle and can move on his own at all times, rather than take a
backseat to others’ scheduling constraints. It’s no coincidence that Quentin
realizes that same morning that he has been so focused on one interpretation
of Margo’s clue that he hasn’t even made room for other interpretations.

Quentin and Margo’s contrasting feelings about their home are evident in their
respective journeys to Agloe. When Quentin lets his parents know that he’s
okay, and that he’ll be back, Quentin confirms that he is not running away,
and that he does not want to abandon his past. Even though they’re taking a
journey away from Central Florida, the group of friends will not lose their
connection to home. By contrast, Margo uses her own solo road trip to Agloe
as a means of dissolving her connection to home. No matter how much Margo
has influenced Quentin in getting him to abandon normalcy and routine,
Quentin will always return to his values and stay true to his character.
Character Development 
Quentin Jacobsen is a caring, sympathetic, and loving friend. Quentin is always a good friend to his two
best friends, Radar and Ben. He's always there to listen and help when his friends have problems, whether
it's to do with girls or school. And as for Margo, he is beyond a good friend, considering he spent a half of
a year looking for her to make sure that she was okay. Quentin develops the theme of the book,
determination, by showing and expressing it throughout all of the chapters of the book by his actions and
words. 
My Recommendation
In my own opinion, this book was not one of my favorites. I thought it was boring most of the time
because it focused too much on the journey to find Margo, and not actually when Quentin found her. I
think it added a lot of unnecessary detail to it. I think that a person who loves book that focus on little
things and loves over-detailed reads would enjoy this book. But I would not say this book was horrible
because it sent good messages and made me picture things in my head a lot, which not many books allow
me to do. 
This presentation is by Kaylee Huber
Summary
Quentin Jacobsen is a senior in high school who loves Margo Roth Spiegelman. Quentin and Margo have
been best friends and neighbors their whole life, and Quentin has had a secret crush on Margo for a good
part of that time. After Margo breaks up with her boyfriend, Jason Worthington, because he cheated on
her with Margo's best friend, Becca Arrington, Margo seeks an eleven part revenge plan, using the help of
Quentin. After successfully getting revenge, Margo disappears. But Quentin loves her too much to let her
be gone for good. So he spends his high school year and does not attend graduation to search for Margo.
Graphics/Pictures/Videos
Favorite Paragraph
My favorite paragraph is from page 304, paragraph 9. "I stand in this parking lot, realizing that I've never
been this far from home, and here is this girl I love and cannot follow. I hope this is the hero's errand,
because not following her is the hardest thing I've ever done." This is my favorite paragraph because it
made me stop and think and made me picture what Quentin was experiencing. It was very deep and
thoughtful. He had finally found the girl of his dreams after a long, hard, tiring, journey and he could not
even go with her or spend his life and time with the love of his life wherever she had and wished to go.
That sounds heartbreaking and if that were me, I would not know what to do. 
Theme
Throughout the book, the main theme that was focused on was determination. Quentin was so determined
to find Margo and would do whatever it took to do so. He would use all of the information and sources he
had to find her. He spent long nights studying clues that would lead him to her. This theme was developed
throughout the book because at the beginning of his search, Quentin did not really have an interest on
finding her, as he thought she would just return back. Towards the middle of his search, Quentin was
using all his clues he had found and started to put the pieces together. By the end of his search, he had put
the puzzle pieces together and drove twenty-one hours across the whole country to find Margo since he
has believed he had solved the mystery as to where she was. From the beginning of the book to the end of
the book, Quentin was so determined to find Margo that that was all he focused on and would not give up
until he had found her.
An overweight person determined to cross the finish line(presented by Nike)
A paralympic gold metal runner named Jonnie Peacock who is determined to run even though he has a
disability
Bethany Hamilton, a pro surfer with only one arm
Quentin Jacobsen, a determined boy to find Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Why People Behave The Way

They Do
Have you sometimes found yourself annoyed, frustrated, or confused by
someone else’s behavior? Do you sometimes ask yourself questions like
this…

Why are some people always late – for meetings, project deadlines or
even lunch? Why do some people interrupt you all the time?

Why do some people say good morning and others don’t? Why is it so
important for some people to meet deadlines while others don’t?

And, how often do you find yourself saying, “I don’t understand why he
(or she) is behaving like that.” Or, “I don’t  agree with that kind of
behavior.”?

The answer is deceptively simple and very powerful. People behave the
way they do because…

Their behavior gets them what they want. Nothing more or less. It
gets them what they want. This is the reason they are behaving the way
they do.

And, as a consequence, they won’t change their behavior until it stops

getting them what they want.

Now, here’s the interesting part. While you are asking yourself about the
other person’s behavior, they may be saying the same thing about your
behavior, “I don’t understand why he (or she) is behaving like that”.
In other words, you aren’t alone in wondering why someone behaves the
way they do. It’s a universal question. And, the answer is universal.

You are behaving the way you’re behaving because your behavior is
getting you what you want.

Paper Towns is a fantastic, interesting and unique novel that I thoroughly

enjoyed.

I was very eager to read this following how much I loved An Abundance of
Katherines, and I decided that I had to read it before I saw the film due to my
golden rule: read the book before you watch the film. And this book did not
disappoint…

Our protagonist is Quentin 'Q' Jacobsen, whose boring life is turned upside
down when the stunning Margo Roth Spiegelman moves in next door. To the
young Q, Margo is an adventure. It's all fun and games until one day Margo
and Q come across a dead body.

Years later, our two main characters are in high school and have drifted apart.
They hardly speak until Margo climbs into Q's bedroom and invites him to
join her on a mission of revenge. They have their night of adventure, but when
Q wakes up in the morning, Margo has vanished. The main plot follows Q and
his friends as they try to uncover the cryptic clues Margo left behind…

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This is a very cleverly written plot. The trail of clues gives the book a driving
force, something that makes you want to read on. It balances the comedy and
the diary-like stories with the mystery brilliantly, by mixing them together.
The two are inseparable. 

My favourite element of the plot is the three sections. The book is split into
three parts, namely The Strings, The Grass and The Vessel. These represent
the three metaphors used throughout the book. Each section focuses on one of
the metaphors, and it is mentioned in a number of forms. It also sets the
atmosphere for each section: The Strings is about breaking, and irreversible
change; The Grass is about friends, family and memories; The Vessel is about
journeys and final destinations. This was a very clever move that I haven't
seen in a YA novel before.

In my opinion, the best thing about this book was the discussion of identity.
The book focuses on each character's different idea of Margo, and eventually
their realisations that she is just a person like them. There is so much I could
say about the importance of the ideals in this book. The metaphors are
beautiful, and really interesting. There are some gorgeous phrases that I would
love to steal for my own writing. To give you a taster, my favourite quote is
this..."It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and
each of them imaginable and constantly misimagined."

John Green has done a remarkable job at balancing the metaphors and

philosophical discussions with developed characters and some really funny
comedy. Q is relatable as our main character, a teenager who is at a bit of a
lost point in his life. He does what most people would do in his situation, and
is interesting without being precocious or cringe-worthy. His speeches are
really well-written, and reveal a lot about his personality.

Q's best friend Ben was a character I disliked throughout the most part of the
book, with his derogatory language and backstabbing personality. However, I
think he added drama to the plot, and most readers can relate to having a
friend like him. I really liked the character of Radar, Q's other best friend who
is more intellectual and into posting on a site meant to be a parody of
Wikipedia. In the second half of the book, we get to know Lacey, a former
popular person and enemy of the three boys who befriends them and helps in
the quest to find Margo. She was a character who I grew to like gradually, but
by the end of the book I could see how necessary she was to solving the
mystery.

Throughout most of the book, Margo is more of an idea than a character.

Everybody has different memories of her, and so sees her differently. Q's idea
of Margo evolves through the story, and her character becomes steadily more
complex. Even when we discover the real Margo, she is still one of the most
complicated characters in YA.

Paper Towns was one of the funniest books I have come across in ages. There
is ongoing snarky wit in the first two parts, mainly coming through Q's
reactions to the strange things Margo seems to have done. A lot of comic relief
also comes through Ben, particularly when he is drunk. Despite this, in my
opinion, the funniest part of the book was the road trip towards the end. I
won't spoil it, but it is crazily random and had me actually laughing out loud.
Not only this, but the book almost has its own language of inside jokes: Black
Santas, catfish and beer swords are all involved.

If I had to find a criticism for this book (a hard feat), I would say the plot starts
to drag slightly in the middle. There is a period where the clues all slow down a
bit, and the humour is lost. That said, it picks up again with a major discovery.

The ending of this book will break your heart. It's sad, but it feels right given
the rest of the story. Everything is pulled together. I loved how the metaphors
recur throughout the story, making everything flow together.

I've recently been thinking that all John Green books seem to have a common
language. I smiled every time I saw references to his other books. For example,
the three metaphors and the famous 'It's a metaphor,' from TFIOS, and the
road trip and Katherines.

I could go on and on about this book, but I'll stop there. To conclude, Paper
Towns is a remarkable and funny book with great characters and beautiful
metaphors. I would recommend it to fans of any other John Green book, or
fans of any similar YA authors, such as Rainbow Rowell. But to be honest, I
think anyone and everyone could gain something from reading this.

Paper towns is a story about a boy named Quentin ( Q ) whos lives across the street from a girl named
Margo. Quentin and Margo start hanging out at a very young age but when High School hits the two go
off there sepreate ways untill one day Margo disappers and leaves clue behine for Q to find her.
Subplot
This book has many subplots inside the actual conflict.

Example: Before Margo runs away her and Q have there first night of fun since the 2nd grade. They go
out and prank everyone who has ever hurt Margo from breaking and entering into a bank to shaving off
only one of your eye brows.
Foreshadowing
In Paper Towns, foreshadowing is showed when Margo leaves behind all her different clues.

Example: When Margo a poster of Woody Guthrie on her window blinds, and when she leaves a clue for
Q to think shes hiding in New York.
Themes
In Paper Towns, John Green uses different types of themes. One theme he used was to chase after what
you want in life. All characters in the story expresses this theme in different ways.
Characters
The characters in the story are Margo, Quentin, Radar, Ben, Ruthie, Lacey and Mrs.Jacodsen.

The Overview

Quentin’s (Wolff) life changed the moment free-spirited Margo Roth

Spiegelman (Delevingne) moved in across the street. As carefree kids,
they did everything together, until one day they found a dead body in the
park. Whilst both affected, Margo seemed to become obsessed with
finding out what happened to the mysterious man. Fast forward a few
years, Margo and Quentin are about to graduate from high school and
they have drifted apart. Margo is now the most popular girl in school and
Quentin throws himself into his studies. One night out of the blue, Margo
climbs through Quentin’s window as she requires his assistance on an
elaborate revenge plot. Quentin has been quietly in love with Margo
since the day they met so goes along with it. Feeling liberated and elated,
Quentin goes to bed that night believing that things will be different
between him and Margo. A few days later, Quentin finds out that Margo
has disappeared, seemingly leaving a trail of clues behind her. Believing
they were left specifically for him, Quentin sets out on the journey to
piece together Margo’s clues and find her.

The Good

Paper Towns was not the film I was expecting but this isn’t necessarily a
bad thing! I have read the book by John Green, and whilst there were
notable differences (which I won’t go into in this review), there was a
very distinct shift on the focus in the film. The book remains about
Margo throughout, even when she is absent, however the film’s focus is
instead on friendship, first loves, growing up and finding yourself. These
are relatively common themes in young adult movies, but Paper
Towns puts this across in a fresh and different way. The whole time we
think the film is about Quentin finding Margo (and it is to some extent),
but really it is about Quentin finding himself. Margo is the physical
embodiment of the freedom, liberation and excitement that Quentin is
searching for, but it is the journey he takes to find her which actually
gives him these things.
The bittersweet twist on what we would normally expect to see in a “teen
romance” film puts it just above The Fault in Our Stars which although
great, was a lot more predictable. Take away the cancer element, and it
ticks a lot more of the teen romance cliches. Paper Town’s ending might
leave some people unsatisfied but it deserves credit for not doing the
obvious. It is left as ambiguous and mysterious as Margo herself.

Whilst I think Wolff’s acting suffers a little when he is not opposite

Delevingne, some of the other young actors deserve a lot of credit.
Particularly Austin Abrams who plays Quentin’s friend Ben – he easily
has the funniest lines in the film, and in the slightly less-interesting
second act in the film, this is very welcome. Delevingne also does a great
job as the enigmatic Margo Roth Spiegelman in her first major big screen
role. Her deliberately restrained performance lends itself well to the
closed and mysterious nature of the character she is playing. Margo isn’t
the easiest character to like, yet as the object of Quentin’s affections, we
need to see why he is so infatuated, so credit to Delevingne for being able
to make the audience love and hate her at the same time.

I sometimes find references in teen films a little bit irritating when

they’re put across in that very knowing “oh look we’re going to reference
some obscure hipster band/novel/poem/film for the sake of it” way, but
these all make sense with the plot of Paper Towns and are perfectly in
keeping with Margo’s complex character. We jump straight from a Billy
Bragg reference to a Walt Whitman poem, but they’re subtle and just
form very small fragments of Margo’s clues. I also like the obscurity of
the title, in that “paper towns” refers to the fact that cartographers would
include fake or “paper” towns on their maps in order to prevent
plagiarism. This probably seems an alien concept to today’s teens who
have maps available at the touch of a button on smartphones, but again
it isn’t there to prove a point or act clever, it is a small part of the overall
plot and the themes which run through it; particularly the idea of trying
to find something which isn’t really there.

The Bad

It is the nature of the story, but it is unfortunate that Delevingne has so

little screentime as she really shines in this film. She also brings more
energy to the people around her, and as previously alluded to, Wolff’s
acting seems a little stiff and bland when she isn’t on the screen with
him. As he is in pretty much every scene, some bits in the middle drag, as
he doesn’t have the most charismatic screen presence.

The film can be neatly broken down into three acts; the first is Margo
and Quentin’s revenge plot, the second is Quentin and his friends trying
to figure out the clues Margo has left behind, and the third is the journey
to try and find Margo. The first and third acts are great, but the second
drags just a little bit. Some of the clues seem to take too long to piece
together, and the subplot about Quentin’s friends Ben and Radar (Smith)
stressing about prom and girlfriends just isn’t that interesting. Maybe
teens would be able to identify with this scenario a bit more, but I found
myself just wishing they could get to the ‘trying to find Margo’ bit.   

The Verdict

I saw this movie and you should too because it is smarter than your
average teen movie, and one that will probably make you think a lot
afterwards. The film has a clear message about how things which we
perceive to be important can change over time and this is only realised
through the journeys and paths we take through life. It’s about growing
up and finding yourself along the way – it’s fun, clever and definitely
worth a watch.

First of all, the story line is very sweet: a boy and a girl who are neighbors
befriend each other in elementary school, but by the time they are in high
school, they run in different crowds and barely speak to each other.  The girl
(Margo) seems to have it all, but really she is hurting on the inside.  When she
finds some of her “friends” have betrayed her, she demands that the boy come
along and assist in her revenge plan.  He does so, and finds it exhilarating.  He
re-falls in love with Margo.  Then she disappears the next day.  No one is
particularly concerned about her disappearance, since she’s done this kind of
thing before and she is a legal adult.  But Quentin cares. And Q. (as his friends
call him) believes Margo has left clues for him to find her.  So he goes on a
quest to do so. (You’ll have to read it to see if he is successful.)
So, it’s not the story that bothers me.  Q. and his friends Ben and Radar are
without a doubt nerds. They are very intelligent–extraordinarily intelligent for
teenagers–which is not my issue.  My issue is that the boys think and sometime
speak with absurdly sophisticated vocabulary.  Q.’s language, in particular, is
not believable, whether he is speaking aloud or narrating the story.  For
instance, while narrating he uses words like “ubiquitous,” “cacophonous,” and
“halcyon.”  What teenager would think using those words?! None that I have
ever encountered–and I have encountered many teenagers in my teaching career.
Of course, at other times, Green pays more attention to having the teenagers
sound like teenagers, but the inconsistencies are too great and too frequent to
overlook.

Green does not tidy up all of the subplots in Paper Towns, which is refreshing
and disturbing all at once.  Certainly, most young adult fiction (and perhaps just
fiction in general) likes to tie up all loose ends, since that seems to be what the
audience desires.  In this case, though, the characters do not all hug and sing
Kumbaya at the end of the story.  We are left wondering what happens to some
characters and why others behave the way they do.  Therein lies the best writing
technique Green employs: he insists that his readers join him in creating the
narrative of Paper Towns.

Walt Whitman

In the book: Margo’s Woody Guthrie poster on the back of her curtains leads
to a song called Walt Whitman’s Niece, which leads them to highlighted text
in the poem “Songs of Myself” in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which Ben finds
wedged between two yearbooks in Margo’s room.
In the movie: “There’s significantly less textual analysis of Walt Whitman in
the movie,” Green said in his April video. He’s right—but now there’s just
enough to make it relevant and also help find Margo.

Sea World
In the book: Margo and Quentin break into Sea World, the only theme park
Margo says she’s never broken into. Margo gets bit by a snake, leading
Quentin to try to suck out the poison.
In the movie: SeaWorld is never mentioned, which Green acknowledged on
YouTube, saying “no one was anxious to pay Sea World for the chance to give
them good publicity.”

Detective Otis Warren

In the book: Quentin meets Detective Warren 48 hours after Margo’s

disappearance, admits he was with her Wednesday night, speaks privately
with him and later calls him after he’s discovered the mini mall.
In the movie: We see a Detective Warren, nearly exactly as Green describes
him in the book, but that’s the last we see of him.

Omnictionary

In the book: Radar spends a ton of time editing an “online user-created

reference source called Omnictionary,” noticeably similar to Wikipedia. His
knowledge comes into play when researching some of Margo’s potential
whereabouts.
In the movie: We see Radar and other characters using Omnictionary, but
there’s no mention of Radar’s involvement, and the shot is so quick that it just
looks like Wikipedia.

Instant Messages

In the book: We get to see the characters’ instant message (IM)

conversations, including their screen names. Quentin’s is
QTHERESURRECTION. Radar goes by OMNICTIONARIAN96 and Ben’s
reads ITWASAKIDNEYINFECTION, in reference to the “Bloody Ben”
nickname he earned from a disturbing kidney infection that left him peeing
blood.

In the movie: No IMing that we see, which makes sense, considering

the Fault and Paper Towns  screenwriters took out most of the video game
playing in Fault.  Both would have shown the beloved characters simply
staring at screens.

Psuedovisions

In the book: Quentin thinks abandoned subdivisions (housing developments

that were never fully completed) are what Margo means by ‘paper towns.’
When Quentin and Margo were little, they discovered a dead man in a
pseudovision, so now Quentin thinks Margo is hiding in one, and leaving him
clues.

In the movie: Margo and Quentin do find the dead man, but the scene and
the subsequent research Margo does into his death, is more about how she
thinks, with no mention of pseudovisions. Quentin never goes looking for her
in abandoned neighborhoods.

The Road Trip

In the book: Quentin, Ben, Radar and Lacey decide to road trip to Agloe,
N.Y., after discovering, via an Omnictionary plug-in, that Agloe was “a
fictitious village created by the Esso company in the early 1930s and inserted
into tourist maps as a copyright trap, or paper town.” The post also includes
an addendum that reads: “fyi, whoever Edits this—the Population of agloe
Will actually be One until may 29th at Noon.” The random capitalization, a
Margo trademark, makes it obvious who’s there—and Quentin and co. decide
to skip graduation to drive there in time. A cooler of 212 beers is in the trunk,
which comes in handy when Ben has to pee.

Angela is left behind, unhappy with Radar as they were “scheduled to do

something very special” after graduation. Read: Have sex.

Ben and Radar are naked under their graduation robes because of a pact they
made with Quentin. So the group stops a few times for food as well as shirts.
Quentin grabs large t-shirts for Radar and Ben, which he doesn’t realize until
later are sporting the Confederate flag with the words ‘HERITAGE NOT
HATE.’

They also get in a car accident, almost hitting some cows, but spin off the road
as Ben turns the wheel to save the group. Quentin is the only one hurt, with a
cut on his head, which Lacey tends to, making Quentin cry because he’s
scared. She presses a swath of the Confederate Flag over the cut to stop the
bleeding. There’s minimal damage to the car, just a big gash in the side panel
that Radar looks up, estimating it’ll cost $300 plus paint to repair, what
Quentin decides is “a small price to pay for Margo.”

In the movie: Quentin, Ben, Radar, Lacey and Angela decide to road trip to
Agloe, N.Y., after discovering online that someone has edited the Agloe
description, citing that the population is 1. The group wants to rush up to
Agloe and back to get home in time for prom. Ben desperately has to pee,
using a beer can to do so, but spills it on himself and Radar, which is why they
need new shirts. At the only stop we see, the man behind the counter is a
familiar face to Green readers (Fault’s Ansel Elgort). Radar is the only one
who gets a Confederate flag shirt, though.
The car accident is roughly the same as in the book, but there’s only one cow
in the road, no one cries and a tire is blown out, which leads to an overnight
stay on the side of the road.

Having Angela on the trip gave everyone involved a fun opportunity: For
Radar to lose his virginity, for the world to meet Jazz Sinclair and for Green
to admit he wishes he’d included her on the road trip in the book.

Agloe, New York

In the book: The crew finds Margo in a barn sitting in an office chair,

writing in a journal, sporting a new haircut with choppy bangs. They confront
her about disappearing; Margo disses Lacey’s choice to date Ben; Margo gets
mad at Quentin and the two duke it out over everything, including his
idealization of her. Quentin’s crew tells him they’re leaving in the morning,
with or without him.

Then Margo admits that she’s kept a journal of stories about a fictional
version of her 10-year-old self who had a crush on a fictional version of 10-
year-old Quentin and she explains her desperation to get away from where she
grew up.

She calls her parents and talks to Ruthie, her little sister, and the two fall
asleep, Quentin’s head on copies of Selected Poems of Emily
Dickinson and Leaves of Grass. When Quentin wakes up, she’s digging a hole
for her journal and they bury it. She invites him to go with her to New York,
but he says no. They plan on staying in touch and kiss with their eyes open,
Quentin finally feeling like he can see her “almost perfectly.”
In the movie: The crew arrives to see that Margo is not there—Quentin gets
in a fight with his friends, telling them to go back to get to prom without him.
He stays, waiting, then finally gives up and heads to the bus station to find a
way home. A blur of Margo’s hair flashes in the corner of his eye while he’s
buying a bus ticket and he catches Margo outside the bus station. She’s
surprised he found him and calls him out for idealizing her. “You love me?”
Margo tells Quentin. “You don’t even know me.”

Quentin is disappointed in the reality: Margo tells him she didn’t leave the
clues as bread crumbs, but so he would know she was okay. She offers to buy
him a milkshake, and the two talk about staying in touch, how she plans to go
to New York and the fact that she’s talked to Ruthie every day. She invites him
to come with her, but he declines and the two kiss before he heads home.

Prom

In the book: Quentin lies to his mom that he’s going to prom alone but
instead spends the night trying to find Margo by going to a pseudovision and
then spending the night in the mini mall filled with more of her clues.
In the movie: After reeling from his conversation with Margo, Quentin takes
a bus back to Orlando and heads to prom.

Genre
Setting
Point of Veiw
Structure
Flashback:
Characters
Protagonist(s):
Main Conflict
The main conflict is finding Margo. The clues she leaves behind are very vague and hard to follow. 
This book has many different conflcts, Man VS Society - Man VS Self - Man VS Man.
Internal conflict - Margo ran away because of the pressure of being a "Paper girl", in a "Paper Town". Q
was put up to the challenge of finding Margo when she left not so simple clues behind.
Techniques used by author
"Thank You, Annoying McMasterGrammican" Pg.50 Humor
"He'd kill both of us if he woke up" Drama Pg.65
"...Cold Comfort" Pg. 247 Oxymoron
"These kids, they are like tied down heluim balloons." Pg. 104 Analogy
Characterization
"...Margo's blue eyes staring at me." Pg. 25 Direct.
"Great'," Ben said rolling his eyes "Poetry." "What's wrong with that?" I asked. "Poetry is just so emo."
Pg. 114 Indirect.
"...Not skinny, but that's the whole point of you; the point of you is that you don't look like a boy" Pg. 50
Direct.
Plot
Theme - Implided - Pg 305
Tone
305 pages
Mystery
Realistic Fiction
Orlando, Florida
Highway
Algoe, New York
First person

"Not much" I answered"

Pg. 55 
The flashback takes us back to when Margo and Q were little kids. As they ride on their bikes to Jefferson
Park, they had no clue they were about to find the one thing that makes Margo become a mystery. A dead
man. This man had killed himself the night before, and he was drenched in his own blood. This memory
changes Margo. 
Foreshadowing:
Part One is almost all foreshadowing into what happens to Margo. At the end of Part One Margo tells Q
"I. Will. Miss. Hanging. Out. With. You."(Pg. 81). This tells you she knows she is leaving, but at this
time in the book, you have many theories as to what she means by this.
Pg. 4-6
Pg. 81
Quentin 'Q' Jacobson
Margo Roth Spiegelman
Antagonist(s): 
Margo's High School
Margo's Parents
Margo's Clues
Clues becoming jumbled - no sleep - no graduation - car crash - Margo running away
Falling Action
As Q and the other finally settle in on the fact that Margo as not expecting them to actually find her, Q
decides it is time to talk to her alone, and that is hen Q finds out the girl he loves has been in love with
him too, and he begins to understand why she has to leave the "Paper Town".
Resolution
They kiss, in the dead of night, underneith the stars, for the last time, because she is no longer the "Paper
girl" she once was.
Introduction
The introduction is a flashback, that tells the story of the to kids(Margo and Q) finding a dead body, of a
suicidal man, in the park. This tells why Q sees Margo as such a mystery.
Climax
When they finally find Margo, the are thankful to not find her the same way Q and Margo found the man
in the park, but when she blows up they finally realized why Margo left. She couldn't be that "Paper girl"
anymore.
Rising Action
The rising action starts when they(Margo and Q) start their adventure. While getting revenge on all
Margo's lying friends, Q begins to learn Margo isn't the girl he has loved since he was ten. She has
secrets. Lots of them, so when the love of his life goes missing, what does he do? He finds the clues she
always leaves behind, and sets off on a journey to find her! 
Once he finally pieces it all together, he goes, taking his companions, Radar, Ben, and Lacey all the to the
Paper Towns of Algoe, New York.
Humorous - Hopeful - Romantic
Humorous: "Did you just use greek mythology to talk trash?" I asked. Radar laughed. Ben started
pummbeling buttons, shouting "Eat it goblin! Eat it like Zeus ate Metis" 
Pg. 107 
Hopeful: "The clues were mine! the doors were mine!!" Pg 133
Romantic: "Our foreheads touch as we stare at each other. Yes, i can see her almost perfectly in this
perfectly cracked darkness." Pg. 305
I believe the theme of this book was that people come and go, but even so the memories that these people
leave behind is more important than the person who has moved on and left behind, and sometimes the
mysteries of these people is put together to be solved..

Paper Towns is written from the first-person perspective of Quentin Jacobsen. Quentin
narrates most of the story in real time. He explains what he is thinking and doing at each
moment. Early in the book, when Quentin flashes back to his childhood, he tells his story in
the past tense but again always from his direct and conscious experience. The author never
enters into the internal mental lives of the other characters in the book. Everything is
interpolated through Quentin's point of view. However, one important feature of the book is
Quentin's attempt to reason about the mental states and emotional states of others,
especially and overwhelmingly his ability to imagine Margo's inner mental life. Ultimately
Margo reveals her thoughts to Quentin, but they are all presented through Quentin's
perspective.
The Strings
"The Strings" is the title of the first part of the book. String generally link, bind, and hold things together.
This is symbolic to the first part of the novel because the setting is created. (ex.) - The scavenger hunt. It
is also significant because often time when people commit suicide (like Joyner) or when people disappear
(like Margo), it can be said that all their strings were connected.

"Maybe all the strings inside her broke" (13.)

The Grass
The second part of the book is called "The Grass." This portion of the story is primarily based on clues
that Margo had left for Q. Each piece of grass can represent a unique clue that can help Q find Margo.
Although each piece of grass is different, they all serve a single purpose to interconnect an entire lawn,
much like all the clues that Margo left come together to complete one motive.
The Vessel
Vessels are strong and are containers that protect from the water. In the story, they could be symbolic as a
vehicle that transports Q to Margo. The water around the vessel could symbolize the struggles that he
faced on his journey to find his true love. Perhaps one could even relate this title to a blood vessel that is
connected to the heart.

Margo's Black Notebook

This is the notebook that remains a mystery throughout much of the book but which records
Margo's elaborate story about her, Q, and Robert Joyner.

“Song of Myself”Symbol Analysis

Quentin discovers Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” as part of his search for Margo, but as he

progresses in his investigation — turning his attention as he does from Margo and her intentions, to
himself and the many ways that he has misunderstood and mis-imagined Margo —the poem becomes a
platform for Quentin to being formulating a more generous, compassionate, and humble way of relating
to others. 

One of the main themes in Paper Towns is chasing after what you want in life, no matter
what is left behind. This theme is shown through many of the characters. Margo
expresses this theme as she doesn’t care if she has to leave everything behind, she knows
that she doesn’t want to be stuck in Orlando for the rest of her life because she hates it
 there. She knew she had to just leave everything all at once of she might not be able to
do it.
Ben also proves that he will chase after what he wants, by not giving up on trying to get a
date with Lacey. He knew it would be risky and he knew he may get made fun of, but it’s
what he wanted to he didn’t worry about anyone else.

Finally, Q leaves his family and friends at his graduation, he misses his graduation, in
order to find Margo because that is what he wanted out of life in that moment.

The story is set mainly in modern-day Orlando, Florida, though Quentin does
travel outside of that area. This setting is crucial to the story.

Consider the first section of the book, when Margo whisks Quentin off on their night of
adventures. They visit specific stores that central Florida is known for, like Publix, as
well as even more recognizable places, like Sea World. The downtown area of Orlando
that Quentin describes as abandoned at night contrasts meaningfully with Margo's
dreams of the vibrant New York, and the touristy nonsense that peppers International
Drive plays a role in both Quentin's and Margo's sense of disillusionment with the world.
Quentin's "pseudovisions" (subdivisions that were planned but never built) play a central
role in the plot, also, and of course these are a real feature of modern-day Orlando.

Consider the weather imposed by the central Floridian setting, also: Quentin deals with
constant humidity, intermittent rain, and predictable heat, all of which add to the tension
he feels as he struggles on his search for Margo.

Margo and Quentin's immediate neighborhood, too, plays a role in the story: we know
that they belong to a pleasant, safe, middle-class community, which makes their
discovery of the man who committed suicide in the park all the more startling.

THEME
False Perceptions
Quentin spends much of the book obsessing over Margo, to the point
where he loses touch of reality. What he idolizes is a mere image that
looks like Margo: a flawless, beautiful object to be sought after. He
clings to the memories they shared as children, although in reality,
Margo has long since abandoned her innocence and Quentin's
friendship.

Identity Searching
Very few teenagers have a complete, mature understanding of their
identity, and the characters of Paper Towns are no exception.
Margo repeatedly references the idea of metaphorical "strings" that
hold a person together. These strings represent emotional stability
and inner peace. In the beginning of the novel, Quentin recalls a
memory in which he and Margo discover a deceased man's body in a
park. Quentin is disgusted, while Margo's fascination is piqued.
"Maybe all the strings inside him broke," Margo infers (p. 8).

Friendship
Quentin eventually comes to realize that his platonic friendships with
Radar, Ben, and Lacy are more fulfilling to him than a relationship with
an idolized mirage.

Childhood and Coming of Age

As a young adult fiction novelist, Green's books often have a major
theme of "coming of age," or transitioning (often through struggle)
from childhood to adulthood. When Green starts the novel, he begins
with a Prologue set in Quentin and Margo's childhood. The
juxtaposition of this traumatic childhood mystery with rest of the novel,
beginning with a normal day for Quentin, demonstrates Margo's
curious and restless nature and Quentin's comparative tranquility and
foreshadows the presence of Margo in Quentin's later narrative. The
novel ends with Margo and Quentin thinking back to their childhood
together and even burying symbolically it through the physical journal
in which Margo has been writing stories and plotting childish
adventures, bringing their journey full-circle as they attempt accept
their adult selves.
Why is setting important? Mastering writing
time and place

Why is setting important? Because setting is the stage for your story and immerses
readers in your fictional world. In a novel, setting refers to the place and time (or
multiple places and times) in which the story unfolds. Read on to find out more
about how to create setting in your novel:
Why is setting important? The functions of time and place
in fiction
Setting is more than simply a geographical location or time period that makes a nice
backdrop to a story. Setting has many functions:
 The importance of place in story settings

Time and place are the two fundamental ingredients of

a story’s setting. Place in a novel has multiple purposes and effects:
 The place you choose creates mood and atmosphere (a dark, eerie wood creates a very
different sense of danger or mystery compared to a bright, open plain)
 Place in your novel determines parameters for your characters’ lives and actions (a character
living in a small mining town might have very different perceptions and options compared to a character
who lives in a large city)
 Place can evolve and change as the story progresses. It can be used to show the passage of
time, making your novel feel more real (for example, in Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, a grand
manor remembered from the protagonist’s youth becomes dilapidated, creating a sense of a fading era)
Time is an equally important aspect of setting:

The importance of time in setting

It would be incomplete to answer the question ‘why is setting important?’ without any
mention of time. Time in a story also has multiple purposes and effects:

 Time also sets parameters: The time setting of your novel impacts what types of lives your
characters can lead and what choices they can make. Characters living in Victorian England will have
very different choices and lifestyles available to them compared to characters living in contemporary
England (women, for example, are far less pressured to marry and be homemakers in modern-day
England, although this varies between cultures)
 Time in your novel’s setting determines what kind of technology is available and what type of
descriptive detail will feature (historical fiction often describes antiquated items that readers would
otherwise not be familiar with)
 You can set your novel in multiple time periods to show how your characters (and their society)
change
Time and place can give your novel a frame of reference  that will add to your novel’s
sense of authenticity and credibility.

Now that we’ve clarified some of the functions of time and place in fiction, here are five
tips on getting time and place right:

What is the relationship between setting and theme ?

The theme of a work of art or literature can be more subtle than its subject.
The subject is the main topic, while a theme may have deeper undercurrents
or be unspoken. The setting is the time and place where the piece is set. It is
the culture and society that shapes the story.

The setting is important to the theme because some settings are better fitted
to certain themes. The setting conveys a sense of atmosphere, which helps
convey the more implicit elements of a theme. The society in which a narrative
is set shapes the mentality of the characters, their behaviors, and their
responses to their environment, also contributing to a specific theme.

For example, Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set in

ancient Athens. Much of the action takes place in the woods beyond the city.
One of its themes is the madness of love, which is portrayed through fairy
magic and love potions. The setting makes sense because it is a classical
place and time, full of taboos that thwart lovers as well as mythological figures
who add to the story’s sense of wonder. The forest is a perfect location for the
fairies to dwell and the lovers to flee because the wood is a wild, primitive
place outside the realms of civilization. It represents the mysterious, dark, and
sometimes wonderful subconscious. There is actual enchantment, and then
there is the bewitchment of love.

As you can see, a story’s theme and setting are intertwined, and, if written
well, the two complement one another.
Setting is essential to theme. When an author sets out to tell a story, he or she
is looking for a vehicle for the message the story is to send. Think about
powerful stories. There settings are a big part of that power. Set a story in the
wild west or on some distant planet, and you are creating a world the reader
can get caught up in. Even in more realistic stories, a well-developed setting is
crucial to developing the theme, because in order to accept a theme a reader
needs to be drawn in to the story.

What’s a Worldview…and Why in the World Do I Need One?

NOVEMBER 20, 2014 ~ LEAVE A COMMENT

Fir
st of all, you don’t need a worldview. You already have one. It’s simply the way you
see and understand the world through the lens of your own beliefs. A worldview
answers the hard questions like Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Is
there a God? And What happens when you die? Most people today, however, don’t
think through what they really believe. Worldviews are often incomplete and even
contradictory. They don’t make sense. But most people today don’t really care.
That’s unfortunate, because a worldview influences our decisions and attitudes. It
comes through in our words and our actions. If, for example, someone believes their
race is above all others, as happened in the American South or Nazi Germany, those
persons will be cruel, brutal, and self-righteous. If someone believes all living things
are connected, they will place special emphasis on preserving the environment. If
someone thinks life is random chance without purpose or meaning, they will treat life
with little respect.

The good thing is about worldviews, however, is that they can grow and change. We
are constantly learning and modifying how we understand reality. It’s never too late to
search for answers and tweak our beliefs.

Every author has a worldview. It influences what subjects we tackle, how we treat
them, the language we use, the themes we write about, the point of view of our major
characters, and the take away value of each story. It shapes how an author understands
good and evil, what we perceive as moral or immoral, and the bias we take on
controversial issues. By the time you finish a novel, you have learned much about
what an author believes to be true.

I write from a distinctly Christian worldview. My books are not “religious”, but they
are conservative and traditional. And not just because I write for a young audience–
I’ve read plenty of children’s literature from non-Christian worldviews. They are an
extension of the way I perceive the world.

Throughout the next year, I’ll be returning frequently to discuss the seven questions a
worldview seeks to answer. And I’ll be sharing what I believe about each one. You
need not agree with me, but I would encourage anyone who reads this to mull the
questions over and answer them for themselves. Here they are listed below with links
to further posts. See you next time!

Heart-breaking and enticing, the eccentric storyline of Paper Towns was significantly different than I
expected, positively expanding my knowledge of Young Adult literature. Admiring Margo Roth
Spiegleman from afar, Quentin “Q” Jacobsen (the protagonist) dreams of a utopian life with his one
true love. On a magical summer night, Margo chooses Quentin to be her accomplice on an all-night
eleven-part revenge mission in Orlando. Travelling through the windy and unpredictable street,
Quentin learns more about Margo, and discovers her worldview about the “Paper Town” that is
Orlando. Captivated by Margo’s exuberant and classic personality, Quentin secretly believes that his
long-lost dream of becoming closer to Margo will become a reality.

What is the purpose and subject of the book Paper Towns?

Paper Towns is a deconstruction of the "manic pixie dream girl" trope. Margo Roth
Spiegelman, the leading lady of the novel, is an adventurer who seems perfect and wild
in every way. Very few people know anything about her. The narrator of the novel,
Quentin, believes that Margo is a "miracle" and spends most of the book viewing her as
an answer to his problems rather than as a person. The book is about Margo's
disappearance and Quentin's determination to find her, but more than that, it's about
Quentin and Margo both finding themselves. The original setup looks like Quentin is
going to find Margo and "get the girl," but at the end it turns out he knows just as little
about Margo as Margo knows about herself. He realizes that he's been disingenuous
about Margo's personality by viewing her as more of an idea than a person, and also
realizes that he has to let Margo live her own life and be a real person.

John Green has stated that his purpose in writing Paper Towns was to rectify something
he had not accomplished in Looking For Alaska—creating a troubled female character
who stood on her own rather than being a plot device for his narrator's development.

(RoRo, APAP, B, C, LLL, V, S, N, A, MM) Strong Romantic worldview implicitly attacking the
middle class lifestyle in American suburbs, calling them “paper towns” that (supposedly) lack
real substance, with teenage boy searching with his friends for the girl of his dreams, who’s
mysteriously disappeared, but movie extols friendship and warns against idolizing outwardly
attractive, exotic people, and the main teenage romance remains chaste, in contrast to the
movie’s other teenage relationships, plus protagonist thinks everyone gets at least one miracle,
but this thought is not given a more explicit Christian development; 19 obscenities, two strong
profanities, five to seven light exclamatory profanities, plus urinating in one scene and vomiting;
bully shoves boy against a locker, some light vandalism such as saran wrapping a car, body of
adult suicide victim found (he shot himself), a near traffic accident, and man brandishes gun at a
couple pranksters; implied teenage fornication by supporting characters, teenagers discus sex,
teenagers make joking references to self abuse, and teenage girl catches boyfriend cheating
and pulls revenge pranks against people who knew but didn’t tell her, but relationship between
the two main teenagers remains chaste; upper and rear male nudity when teenage boy runs out
of house after being caught cheating on his girlfriend plus some female cleavage and skimpy
tops on teenage girls; a party scene with teenage drinking where at least one teenager is drunk;
no smoking or drug references; and strong miscellaneous moral problems include teenage
rebellion, parents of teenage girl have a permissive attitude toward her periodic disappearances
(one summer she ran away to the circus), revenge pranks, teenage bully threatens teenage
protagonist in one scene but protagonist plays prank on bully to get back at him, and teenagers
spray-paint a letter on walls of houses.
What "Paper Towns" is about

"For me the book started with my thinking of my own high school experience
and the way that I looked at girls that I liked, and a lot of times I idealized
them and put them on a pedestal and romanticized them, and sort of thought
that was what you're supposed to do, I thought that was how the male gaze
was supposed to work. But of course it's really dehumanizing to see someone
as more than a person, and it proves in the end, I think, really destructive to
everyone involved."

"The great challenge of adulthood is imagining other people complexly and

understanding that their grief and joy and suffering is as real as our own. And
so that's what I really wanted this story to be about, Q's journey toward trying
to understand Margot more complexly, rather than just seeing her as the
person that he projects his own ideas onto."

Let's say you're a soulful, brooding male hero, living a sheltered, emotionless existence.
If only someone could come along and open your heart to the great, wondrous
adventure of life...
Have no fear, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is here to give new meaning to the male
hero's life! She's stunningly attractive, Energetic, high on life, full of wacky quirks and
idiosyncrasies (generally including childlike playfulness), often with a touch of wild hair
dye. She's inexplicably obsessed with our stuffed-shirt hero, on whom she will focus
her kuh-razy antics until he learns to live freely and love madly.

A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary

technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. The distinctions between genres
and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups.
The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic, tragedy,[1] comedy,
and creative nonfiction.[citation needed]They can all be in the form of prose or poetry. Additionally, a genre
such as satire, allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre (see
below), but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement of
the historical period in which they were composed.
Genre should not be confused with age categories, by which literature may be classified as either
adult, young adult, or children's. They also must not be confused with format, such as graphic
novel or picture book.
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable,
unnecessary and harmful,[1][2] or alternatively as opposing authority and hierarchical organization in
the conduct of human relations.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The nature of capitalism is a polarizing issue among
anarchists. Capitalism is generally considered by scholars to be an economic system that
includes private ownership of the means of production, creation of goods or services
for profit or income, the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange, wage
labor and has generally been opposed by anarchists historically. [9][10] Capitalism is variously defined
by sources and there is no general consensus among scholars on the definition nor on how the term
should be used as a historical category.[11] The designation is applied to a variety of historical cases,
varying in time, geography, politics and culture.[12]
Most anarchist commentators do not consider anarcho-capitalism as a legitimate form of anarchism
due to perceived coercive characteristics of capitalism. In particular, they argue that certain capitalist
transactions are not voluntary and that maintaining the class structure of a capitalist society requires
coercion in violation of anarchist principles.[13][14] Anarcho-capitalists argue that capitalism is the
absence of coercion and therefore fully compatible with the philosophy of anarchism. Furthermore,
they claim that an effort to put a stop to what they consider voluntary hierarchy is inconsistent with
the philosophical tradition of freedom present in anarchist thought. [15]

Conflict
Their are many minor conflicts in Paper Towns,  but one of the major conflicts it Man
vs. Society as Q tries to find Margo. It is man vs. society as Quentin tries to find Margo
because she has disappeared and he feels it is his responsibility to find her. However, he
feels he is the only person who truly wants to find Margo. He believes even her parents
don’t care where she is. Q thinks that society doesn’t care and doesn’t want him to
succeed in finding her.
Many of the minor conflicts are man vs. man. Examples of these would be like all of the
conflicts Margo has with the people at her school, like her ex-boyfriend, the girl who her
ex-boyfriend cheated on her with, etc.

Quentin Jacobsen  - The protagonist of the novel, and the novel’s narrator.

The story is told in the first person through Quentin’s eyes. Quentin,
nicknamed “Q,” is a high school senior who is ready to graduate and go off to
college at Duke. He is a genuine, normal, somewhat nerdy, but essentially
well-adjusted kid. He does well in school, has good friends, and seems to be
on track for a successful life. The major drama in Quentin’s life is his
obsession with Margo, the cool girl who lives next door.
Read an in-depth analysis of Quentin Jacobsen.

Margo Roth Spiegelman  - Quentin’s next-door neighbor, and Quentin’s

long-time crush. Quentin has known and liked Margo since they were children.
In Quentin’s descriptions of her, Margo is the stereotypical cool girl. She’s a
queen bee at school, but she’s also somewhat of a rebel, and cultivates an air
of mystique around her through her adventures and wild stories. Margo is also
quite self-centered, and she holds deep grudges.
Read an in-depth analysis of Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Ben Starling -  Quentin’s best friend. Ben and Quentin tell each other
everything. They are both near the bottom of the social totem pole, which is
how they first became friends. Ben is much more outwardly obsessed with his
image and his place in the high school hierarchy than Quentin is. Although
Ben plays along with Quentin’s obsessive scheming about Margo, Ben is
convinced that Margo is being a drama queen, and doesn’t get as emotionally
invested.
Read an in-depth analysis of Ben Starling.

Radar -  Quentin and Ben’s other best friend. Radar’s parents have the
world’s largest collection of black Santa figurines. Radar spends most of his
time obsessively editing Omnictionary, a Wikipedia-like crowd-sourced
encyclopedia. Unlike Quentin, who fantasizes about Margo, and Ben, who is
fixated on finding a prom date, Radar appears relaxed and mature about his
relationship with his girlfriend, Angela.
Read an in-depth analysis of Radar.

Lacey Pemberton -  One of Margo’s close friends, and one of the popular
girls at school. Margo is mad at Lacey because she thought that Lacey knew
that Jase and Becca were sleeping together, but it turns out that Lacey didn’t
know anything. Lacey gets really worried about Margo and joins Quentin’s
quest to find her.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen -  Quentin’s parents, who work as therapists.

Together, they have raised Quentin to be extremely well adjusted. Quentin’s
parents are kind and compassionate, and Quentin has a very trusting
relationship with them, but they also don’t appear to pay terribly close
attention to what he’s doing.

Mr. and Mrs. Spiegelman -  Margo’s parents. Unlike the teenagers in the
novel, who are in awe of Margo and idolize her every move, Margo’s parents
are frustrated with what they perceive to be bratty and rebellious behavior.
Instead of trying to help her, they back away from these issues.

Detective Otis Warren  - The detective assigned to search for Margo.

Quentin trusts the detective and tells him as much as he knows. The detective
often speaks in metaphors, referring to Margo as a “balloon” with cut strings.
He is convinced that Margo isn’t particularly special, but rather one of many
teenage rebels.

Jase Worthington  - Margo’s ex-boyfriend. Jase cheats on Margo with

Margo’s former best friend, Becca Arrington. Jase is a popular jock and a jerk.

Becca Arrington  - Margo’s former best friend who sleeps with Margo’s ex-
boyfriend, Jase.

Chuck Parson -  A meathead who has bullied most of the kids at school,
including Quentin. When Margo asks Quentin on whom he would like to take
revenge, she suggests Chuck, and Quentin readily agrees.

Gus  - The security guard at the SunTrust building in downtown Orlando. Gus

was a senior when Quentin and his friends were freshmen in high school.
Margo is friendly with Gus, and she has explored with him.
Ruthie Spiegelman -  Margo’s eleven-year-old sister. Ruthie mostly doesn’t
get involved in Margo’s schemes.

Myrna Mountweazel -  The Spiegelman’s dog, a somewhat neurotic and

wheezy creature, whose second name is another word for “fictitious entry.”

Angela  - Radar’s girlfriend. Angela doesn’t hang out with Quentin and Ben
very often, but she and Radar seem to have a comfortable, mature
relationship with each other.

Dr. Holden  - Quentin’s English teacher who helps Quentin analyze a Walt

Whitman poem.

Ace and The Carpenter -  Gus’s two friends whom Quentin, Ben, Radar, and
Lacey run into in the abandoned minimall. They enjoy urban exploring.

Paper Towns is told from the point of view of a teenage boy named Quentin 'Q'
Jacobson. Quentin loves Margo Roth Spiegelman, though she has never been
one to hang around with him.

One night, Margo appears at Q's window, asking him to come along with her
on a 'mission' around the neighborhood and he does. But after Margo doesn't
show up at school for weeks after, Quentin begins to investigate, observing the
clues that Margo has left behind for him.

Paper Towns was a book I could not put down from the moment I started
it. John Green has done an amazing job with writing the book in Quentin's
point of view. I also love the different relationships shown between the
characters, many teenagers could probably relate to this.

I found the ending very fitting for the book. It was sad, but not expected. All of
John Green's books have made me think more about even the simplest things
- and this isn't an exception. Paper Towns is by far one of my favourite books
of all time and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes books with a
hint of mystery, romance and humour.
WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW

Parents need to know that Paper Towns is another adaptation of a best-selling young

adult novel by John Green (The Fault in Our Stars). But unlike that tear-jerking love
story, this is more of a comical coming-of-age mystery about a high school senior who
convinces his friends to search for his smart, beautiful neighbor, who's disappeared just
a couple of weeks before graduation. Language is infrequent but does include one
memorable "f--k," as well as "s--t," "a--hole," and "bitch." Sexual content is more
pervasive than in Fault in Our Stars; there are a few scenes of off-camera sex, including
one in which the guy is caught running out of a house naked (his butt is visible). Another
shows a bra-clad teen girl atop a guy, moaning and kissing him. There are also
references to virginity loss and comments about a mom that one teen boy says he
wants to "tap"/"hit"/etc. Drinking is also an issue: One sequence takes place at a big
party where teens do keg stands and -- in one case -- get so drunk they throw up. But
the movie compellingly explores relatable coming-of-age issues like taking chances, first
love, best friendship, and the difference between fake and genuine people and
personalities.

Paper Towns” by John Green is a novel about a high schooler following clues

to track down the girl he’s in love with. The story is fictitious — and so are
actual paper towns.

Before traveling to New York to premiere the “Paper Towns” trailer, Green

filmed a video for his Vlogbrothers channel explaining the meaning behind
paper towns.

According to the author, mapmakers make fictional entries in their maps as a

way to tell if others are copying them. These entries can be towns, but they
typically exist on a smaller scale.

“It’s usually not paper towns,” Green said in the video. “It’s usually, like, paper
streets or paper bridges.”

Mapmakers aren’t the only ones who use this copyright trick. Green
mentioned fake entries in encyclopedias and dictionaries, including a word
made up by the New Oxford American Dictionary that other dictionaries
started including as a real word.

This example of something fictional turning into something more reflects what
Green hopes to achieve as an author.
“Obviously this is an appealing idea for a writer because I need to believe that
made-up stories can really matter in the lives of real people,” he said.

With Green’s success, that’s not hard to believe at all.

The film version of John Green’s popular young adult novel, Paper Towns, has many a
teenager and adult alike fluttering in excitement over the story of love, friendship and
adventure.

The film brings us from Orlando, Florida, to the paper town of Algoe, New York: a
fictionalised town printed on maps as a copyright device, in order to fish out counterfeit
copies.

Margo Roth Spiegelman has been the love of Quentin Jacobsen’s otherwise mundane
life ever since she moved in to the house next to his. With Margo, life for Quentin
(known as “Q” to his friends) becomes all about adventures… until they begin to drift
apart in high school.

Unexpectedly, Margo enlists Q as her “sidekick” for a night of heart-racing mischief. The
next day, she goes missing, and Q takes it upon himself to find her using the clues she
has left behind. Here’s what we can learn through Q’s coming-of-age journey.

1. The clues are in the details

When Margo abruptly disappears the morning after a prank-filled night, Q, believing that
Margo has purposely left clues behind for him to discover, makes it his mission to
absolve the mystery behind her disappearance.

The clues aren’t big, like footprints or tyre tracks. The first clue lies in a poster hanging
on Margo’s wall, visible from Q’s bedroom window. They are as small as simple lines in
poetry books, as easily missed as a tiny scrap of paper hidden in a door jamb, and as
un-obvious as pinpointed marks on a wrinkled map.

What’s the lesson here?

It’s important to focus on the big picture, but neglecting the small differences could be
detrimental to you, whether personally or on a larger scale.

As Sir Richard Branson says:

“Instilling attention to detail throughout your company will prove

especially important when the business begins to gain ground.
Employees across the business should be focusing on getting it right
all day, every day.”

2. Perseverance: Failing 19 times, succeeding the 20th

Q hits a few dead ends in his quest to search for Margo. One of the main problems he
faces is looking at the wrong things in the wrong places.

Regardless, he never stops looking. If he doesn’t find an answer the first time, he returns
again to search again.

Even Ben, one of Q’s best friends, perseveres in his somewhat dubious quest to find a
girlfriend, eventually attending prom with Lacey Pemberton, the girl of his dreams.

Willie Horton, a self-help and personal development author-cum-trainer says:

“To succeed you have to be single-minded and ruthless. You have to be

ruthless with yourself, with working on and maintaining your focus and
state of mind. You have to be ruthless in terms of sticking to your
objective.”
Unfortunately, there’s a problem in a society where everyone expects instant results,
and gives up when it doesn’t happen.

From the words of Vince Lombardi, an American football player (and later on coach):
“Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”

3. We’re on each other’s team

Whilst Q makes it his sole responsibility to search for Margo, he finds himself
surrounded by the support of friends both new and old. His loyal friends Ben and Radar
are by his side during most of his discoveries, and they are later joined by Lacey and
Angela.

Rushing to reach Margo in upstate New York and make it back to Orlando in time for
prom, Q and his friends work as a team to make it there and back in time – even with
setbacks in the form of cows in the middle of the road, and necessary toilet and gas
station breaks.

Even when there are disputes, at the end of the day, the most important thing is each
other’s happiness.

Being a great leader would all go to waste if you don’t have the rest of your team to back
you up, and if there is no system of support.

4. Living your life, the best way

At the beginning of the film, no one knows who they are or what they want. Q believes
his dream is simply to go to college, and then to get married and settle down.

When Margo enlists him as her “getaway driver” the night before she leaves town, Q
says he can feel his heart beating in his chest – he has never felt this sort of excitement
before.

“That is the way you should feel your whole life,” Margo tells Q.

Life is largely about figuring out your dreams and ambitions, but also to have fun doing
it.

You can study hard, be a top student, get the grades you want and into your university of
choice, but it won’t truly make you happy and successful unless you have a passion for
what you’re doing.

Famed novelist E.M. Forster said it best when he said “One person with passion is
better than forty people merely interested.”

It’s true – the most successful people and companies believe in loving what you do, and
always feeling excited about what is to come.
5. Leaving the paper town
On a wall in a derelict strip mall, Margo spray paints the words “You will go to the Paper
Towns. And you will never come back.”

The paper town of Algoe, New York, is a form of escapism for Margo; she runs away to
escape expectations and responsibilities.

When (spoiler alert!) Q finds Margo, we contemplate if he will stay with her.

(Another spoiler alert ahead:) However, he chooses to leave Margo behind, to join his
friends at prom and then to leave for Duke University to continue his studies.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when it comes to figuring things out for yourselves.
Margo’s fascination with paper towns lies in the way that it is a flimsy, man-made
creation, where actions are meaningless.

In a selfish bid to find herself, Margo too disappears into her paper town, leaving Q and
everyone else behind.

She finds it hard to leave and return back home, where she’ll be expected to grow up
just like everyone else.

Unlike Margo, Q is able to resist the temptation of running away and avoiding his
responsibilities.

He returns back to Orlando to celebrate prom with his friends, successfully closing the
adolescent chapter of their lives, before they part ways to start the new chapter of
adulthood.

In conclusion
Paper Towns follows, along with a physical (road trip) journey, an “emotional and
spiritual” journey, as Green himself describes it.

In all our lives, we’re expected to go somewhere. Not always the same path, but always
forward.
As long as we’re committed, we surround ourselves with the right support, and have in
our hearts drive, passion, love and excitement, we’re sure to be making the right
choices.

One night at the end of spring semester, I finished reading John Green’s “Paper Towns.”
Then, I learned that the book was being turned into a movie that would be premiering
later this summer. I could go on and on about how amazing I think this book is. It’s
relatable and funny and mysterious, and it left a huge impact on my way of thinking. I
can honestly say that this book has changed my life. However, instead of rambling on
and on I’m going to give you a few reasons to read the book and/or see the movie this
summer.

1. This is not a death-filled sob story.

After “The Fault in Our Stars,” John Green ended up with a reputation. “Paper Towns”
breaks this reputation. This book is adventurous and fun. No one is sick or near death.
In fact, they have their whole lives ahead of them as the main characters are only just
graduating from high school.
2. There is mystery. 
The majority of “Paper Towns” is a search for the missing lead character, Margo Roth
Spiegelman. There’s something intriguing about having a main character who is
physically absent for most of the story, and the physical hunt is just a string of
adventures that are sure to have your mind racing from start to finish.

3. There is adventure.
Have you ever thought about driving from Orlando to New York in less than 24 hours?
Neither had Q and his friends, but after every other adventure they faced in the Orlando
area, this is how they find themselves spending the evening of their graduation. Just
think about all the crazy things that might happen.

4. It stresses the importance of seeing people for

who they really are.
Quentin “Q” Jacobsen, the male lead in “Paper Towns” is undeniably in love with his
mysterious neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman. She’s beautiful and fantastic, or so he
thinks. His search for her teaches him something very important: not to put people on a
pedestal, but to see them for the people that they really are.
5. It speaks the truth about life’s uncertainties.
Everything from graduation and college plans, to love tand what will come of the rest of
your life is addressed in this story. Margo’s mysterious disappearance and all the signs
that she left behind leave another piece of life’s questions answered or explained in a
unique way.