A few years ago, a YouTuber/actress/singer/boss named Carrie Fisher wrote a song called “Boys in Books Are Better”. At the time, I didn’t really identify with the song and didn’t realize how genius this observation was. Of course, it’s common knowledge that a lot of the male population in modern society aren’t like fictional characters, but it wasn’t until I re-read one of my favorite books, that I truly understood the truth behind Fisher’s song.

When I was in high school and transitioning into college, I read Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. It was my favorite novel two years ago, and after reading it this time around it has solidified a spot on my top 5 favorite books ever. Yes, the book has a great plot and a great lesson (along with many other great qualities), but one major point I noticed was how likeable and attractive the character Mac was. For anyone who hasn’t read the book, Mac is a delivery boy who works at his family’s pizza shop. He is a shy boy, who is naturally protective but seems to always keep his distance. Throughout the story, he is continuously nice, understanding, and a metaphorical “rock” to the main character, Sydney, who is going through an exorbitant amount of family issues.

As I read the book once over, I realized that Mac doesn’t exist in real life. In today’s society, most people do not deem the “nice guy” as someone who is attractive (with the famous “nice guys finish last” saying), or even attainable (“all the good guys are taken”), but Dessen created a character with mystery and with some amazing personal qualities as well, which makes him even more elusive.

Now, of course every author has to go through character creation and the inherent point of a love interest is to make them as likeable as possible, but I find it kind of sad that these kinds of characters aren’t relevant in real life.

As someone who has read a lot of fiction, I love falling into a book and liking a character so much that I want them to exist in real life – or even picking an actor to play them in the movie version (just to give myself a visual). I love the process, but after you finish the book, you’re left with a sort of depression that’s truly overwhelming. And maybe, it’s because half of the characters that you fell in love with, don’t exist. This little world that you became a part of isn’t real.

Is this bad? No. Books are made to take you to another place. To make you escape the real world or to even make you fall in love. Like I said, this isn’t bad. It’s actually something I will always be thankful for. If it wasn’t for books and their authors, I wouldn’t know what I wanted from a guy. I would have completely overlooked Mac’s friendliness and genuineness, and instead fallen for some kind of “bad boy” type on Instagram (which, isn’t bad if you like that either). I’m simply saying that being exposed to the “perfect type” in fiction books helps young people understand themselves even more. While the world looks at social media and external sources to that influences opinion, books make you look inward. You can create your own opinions, likes, and dislikes, while immersing yourself in a story created by a talented writer. As long as you understand that it is fiction, and a lot of the story is meant to be over-dramatic, it’s perfectly okay to use books as inspiration towards your love life – or even other facets of life as well.