Happy Valentine's Day! We've got a short one for the occasion. I've done re-writes for books I've quite liked before and we've got the biggest example. How I Learned to Fly is one of my favorites, so it's fun comedy and being more of a real story that is all about the price of fame and how petty competition is pointless. However, there is one issue some do have with it, and that is Mia Montez. She's the love interest and that's basically all she is. She's the kind that exists just to be a love interest and she doesn't have a whole lot lot to her. It's made worse by how she doesn't seem to be bothered much by how much of a clear dick Wilson is, and simply goes "Eh, Jack is better" when Wilson has to leave at the end.
It's not a huge deal but it's something we can fix. So let's see if we can do that. I want to keep this mostly the same, perhaps cut a bit of filler here and there to make room for this. In this version, Mia still enjoys the attention from the two but already gets slightly annoyed at Wilson and wishes Jack wouldn't get caught up in his silly games. Jack tries but Wilson just gets too annoying and despite his hatred for competing, he still finds himself wanting to outdo Wilson but failing. Fast forward to when they are flying, and Mia is more vocal about she doesn't want Jack saying yes to the race behind the school. She doesn't think exposing their secret is worth it but Jack goes on since he's upset his attempt to beat Wilson by flying has failed so far. They get famous and Jack gets swamp and yada yada. In the few moments they do all get together, Jack has finally been truly caught up in this competition with Wilson, so much so that it ruins any actual fun they could al be having with Mia.
This causes her to blow up and realize Wilson really doesn't care about her as a person and all that, but she also calls out Jack for getting caught up in this and being no better. Wilson doesn't care, at this point he's in for the fame and glory but Jack is really hurt. He reflects on this and thinks maybe it could be time to give it up. In this version, he pitches the idea of the big race, at first making it seem like losing Mia has basically made him more all in. But instead, he does what he does in the book and pretends that he looses the power. This time it's a result of self reflection brought on by Mia. In the final chapter, Jack will have a little wink to Mia to show her he did on purpose. So we can the same moral and ending but now it has even more impact thanks to Mia.
And that's my pitch. Not perfect but now Mia has more to her, has more agency and helps with the themes of the story and isn't just simply a love interest. This version isn't a feminist master work or anything but I do think it improves her a bit. And that's about it, a pretty quick fix since I wanted to get another one out before too long.
Hopefully this is a nice quick fix to an already really good one. Not sure what's next but hopefully I can have a bigger or more interesting one next. See ya then.