Writing lessons learned from DIVERGENT

Obviously I'm a bit slow, because I finally just read Divergent, by Veronica Roth. As a matter of fact, I broke my own rule and saw the movie first--only because I was part a group of 9, and they all wanted to see that movie. Because I saw the movie first, I almost didn't read the book. But I'm so glad I did. It's amazing.

Fun fact: Shailene Woodley, the actress who plays Tris in the movie, is the daughter of my sons' former elementary school principal!

Here's a quickie description from Goodreads:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

Here are some cool writing lessons I learned from Divergent. Warning! If you haven't read this book, and don't want to know any plot points, read no further :)

• The world is the way it is--The book opens in futuristic Chicago. Factions were created to keep the peace. The author didn't bog the story down with long-winded explanations of why the world is the way it is. It just is. She trusts the reader to accept it the way it is, knowing more information will follow. I liked that.
• Not all parents are lame--In some YA lit, parents are idiotic, horrible, or lame walk-on characters. Which makes sense, because in real life some parents are idiots, horrible, or lame. Not so in Divergent. Tris loves her family and longs for them. Her parents are portrayed as noble badasses. Veronica Roth's dedication reads, To my mother, who gave me the moment when Beatrice realizes how strong her mother is and wonders how she missed it for so long.
• Don't rush romance--In many books, especially romance, it's important to introduce the love interests right away and start cookin'. In this YA dystopian, it was appropriate to make the reader wait, especially since the romance is a subplot. The romance with Four was a slow burn but totally worth the wait. *sigh*
• Unique inner dialogue--While reading this book, I noticed Tris' inner dialogue was unique: she doesn't use contractions. We make our characters unique when we attach identifying quirks, dialogue tags, and inner thoughts.
• Physical growth matches inner growth--Tris' body morphs from weak and skinny to lean and muscular, just as her character is changing from fearful newbie to brave leader. It was a cool parallel that physically illustrated her character growth.
• Story problems widen beyond the main character's initial worries--Tris' story problems change and grow. At first she worries about leaving her parents. Then she worries about her rank, and surviving Dauntless training. But then BAM! Those worries are swept away when war leaps to the top of her worry list.

The print version also had fun back matter, like the faction manifestoes, details on how the author came up with faction names, and topics for discussion.

What do you think of these writing lessons? Have you used any in your own fiction? Have you read Divergent? What did you think of it? And a fun question: which faction would you choose?

Bonus tip: has anyone else been having trouble receiving blog posts via email? For about three weeks I didn't receive my own blog posts, and many others, in my email inbox. After some digging, I found this forum thread. I made a couple of adjustments and now I'm back in business. I hope the link is helpful!