roll call

[emsuniverse]

I didn't see a post like this anywhere on the YA board. I was wondering what everyone is working on?

Currently, I'm working on two WIPS - one is a YA mystery, almost complete; the other one is a women's fiction adult novel that's doing great but barely off the ground.

Em

[britlitfantw]

I'm in the rewriting phase of a YA fantasy novel with elemental magic, sacrifice and duty. ;) Hoping to get the rewriting done by the end of September (at the latest) and off to three publishers (picked 'em already) by the end of October.

[moondance]

Have made a start on a historical YA novel and am also writing a fantasy play for my school production next year (finding the play easier to write than the novel, lol)

Also in the pipeline:
on-going discussions with publisher about the cover for my contemporary YA novel due out next Feb
discussions about a trashy YA series with another publisher - have done two rewrites of a proposal so far
on-going editing of a reluctant reader with a publisher

[K-Mark]

I am waiting on two different agents for two different books. One is a YA/MG detective story. The other is a women's fiction thriller.

While I'm waiting (ugh) I'm working on a script.

In my drawer I have a MG sports book (baseball) that I have sent out a few queries. Also, I have a lad-lit book that is finished and waiting on some queries.

I have my first freelance article being published in Jan 07 and sent out of few queries about two other articles. Waiting on them.

[stephblake24]

I have 1 MG WIP about 2600 words so far...

Making the rounds:
1 women's fiction (partial at 2 different editors/pub)
1 light YA for boys (11 queries-1 request for a partial)
13 PB's (at various pubs, 1 is a maybe)
1 non-fiction humor (1 proposal at pub since May)

I have relatives in town, so I haven't written in a week. BUMMER.

[Zolah]

Let's see - book#1 (a YA re-telling of a classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale) is due for publication in March 2007, book#2 (a YA story about war, race, faith and love) will follow in March 2008. Book#3 (Georgette Heyer meets Minority Report) is with my editor and we're about to start work on revising that, and I'm still working with my editor on what I hope will be minor revisions to book#2. I've just started plotting out book#4 (YA Elizabethan Alternate history) and I've actually begun writing book#5 (contemporary story incorporating historical elements about bullying and mass-hysterial among young people aimed at 8-12 age group). And I'm planning a sequel to book#3.

[josephwise]

In terms of YA, I've just revised a novel about societal abuse explored within a modern and non-derivative American mythology. I wish I knew a better way to describe that. :(

[Watermonkey]

I'm revising a first draft of a historical fantasy YA which is going slowly. I'm also more attentively working on a YA urban fantasy and a couple short stories. :)

[Nashelle]

I'm halfway through a novel with another novel processing in my head ready for my third year at uni.

[Kristen King]

I'm reviving and revamping a novel I outlined and started drafting several years ago and have been thinking about peripherally ever since.

Kristen

[Arisa81]

In the YA novel department I am working on the outline/timeline of my novel idea.

Other:
* finishing a quiz I started earlier this week
* writing new poetry/greeting card verse
* submitting, resubmitting, organizing work :tongue

[LeeFlower]

My current WIP, which isn't YA, is in overdrive right now, so my YAs are on the back-burner until that one's ready for the betas.

But my main YA W(sort of)IP follows a trio of apprentice craft-magicians through a colonial-era world as they battle their own self-doubts made manifest. It's about confidence, self-knowledge, and the art of the well-timed wisecrack.

[cuteshoes]

I have a women's fiction adult novel I'm about to begin querying for.

I have a YA wip that is just about done with the first draft. It's ging to come in at 75k so I'll need to edit it down a bit. It's about twin sisters who are so sick of being around each other that they decide to split up and go to seperate camps for the usmmer (sleepaway and teen travel) to see if they can make friends and fend for themselves without the other. It's the first book in a series. Didn't mean to write a series but it seems to be working out that way since i alreayd have ideas for book #2.

[CaptMorgan]

I'm shopping a mainstream YA to agents at the moment and I'm trying to decide on one idea for my next WIP.

[Bryan Reardon]

I'm trying to stop crusing the internet and get back to work.....

As for the writing, I am making final revisions on my YA sci-fi before it makes the rounds. Once that is done, I have to decide where to go from there. I have three synopsi and have to choose which to start fleshing out a little.

[KimJo]

I'm working on book 25 of the Neverending Amorphous Blob Series... It all started with one YA urban fantasy kind of thing about a teenage boy with psychic abilities who discovered a force of darkness preying on people with psychic abilities in his town. It was supposed to be just one book, really it was. LOL. But that one book grew into a series of 10, then a couple minor characters from that series demanded their own, which was another 10, and now I'm on a series that chronologically follows the first one, of which I'm on the fifth of a planned 10. I'm also working on revising and editing the other 24 while I write this one. And the book that started it all, as far as I've been told, will be on shelves within the next year to eighteen months :)

[stormie]

No YA's this time, just going between two WIP that are MGs. Also writing short stories (mild horror for adults) and essays.

[Sage]

I'm editing my first YA novel, while occasionally revisiting the 2nd (which is also done, but it needs a lot of help).

My newest WIP has been on hold for a while. I'm bad, I know. But I'll get back to it once I get out of Editland.

[Evaine]

My YA fantasy is at an agent at the moment - they're reading the entire ms, which is quite exciting.
I also have book 2, about the same characters, ready for revision, and I'm playing around with another story, about different characters, set in the same universe.

[Legionsynch]

I'm working on a YA manuscript in the vein of the 'magickal teen' story. Something more along the lines of Christopher Pike or RL Stine, mixed with a bit of LJ Smith and others.

That is, if I ever get off my butt and start writing again. I don't think writer's block is synonymous with 'lazy.' ;)

[Soccer Mom]

Welcome Legion.

I've got an adult mystery making the rounds right now. *crosses fingers* I'm deep into another adult book, but for some reason this YA story popped into my head and I started writing it. I can't step away. I'm smitten with the characters. Go figure.

[TwentyFour]

I'm currently at 40,000 words on my ms...a YA of love, family, sex, drugs, moonshine, and fast cars (sort of American Graffiti meets Dukes of Hazzard crossed with The Outsiders)...a real blast to write since I know my characters inside and out. I'm writing around 500 to 1000 to 1500 words a day now so I'm hoping to finish by the end of the year and have rewrites finished soon after. I'm thrilled to be writing it with such passion, the places in the town are real too...I researched my town and used actual diners and drive ins with the story. I just hope others enjoy it as well. I've had people I know who are near 40 read it and say they feel they knew the characters...then I have friends who are my age who feel the same about these young characters...I hope to be a success!

SoccerMom...my beta readers say they are smitten with my characters, even going as far as telling me to not let bad things happen to one of them...they all became overly fascinated with this young boy and his life...how funny!

To be honest...I am smitten with all the characters and want them to be happy...I know that isn't what will happen but who knows?

[Soccer Mom]

I hear you, Jo. I always care about my characters, but these ones--I just can't get them out of my head. I haven't had any adult beta readers, but my teen ones seem taken with them too.

I've started reading teen fiction again for the first time in years. I find that a lot of it simply doesn't interest me, but I've found some that does. I can't stand some of the idiotic "Chick-lit for girls" books out there. They are truly dreadful!

[Aesposito]

I am finally taking the fiction plunge after years of making a living at non-fic. I just sent off a short story to Highlights. And I have started a YA novel that has been perculating in my head for years. Wish me luck!

Audrey

[Provrb1810meggy]

I'm doing the whole query thing on one YA novel. Basically, it's about three gifted best friends and working toward their goals during eighth grade. Then, I planned out and recently started the first draft of another YA novel, this one more chick-lit/romance.

[erinbee]

I make my living writing feature articles and business collateral on a freelance basis.

However, I'm trying to work towards my goal of actually finishing a creative project. These include my YA about a girl who pays the price for popularity, an unfinished literary novel about Berlin during WWII, and a super-secret project-in-progress. Add to this the "non-fiction book proposal that my agents pitched to editors and have had me rewrite one thousand billion times," and you've got...a full plate!

[Beautiful_Liar]

I'm writing a YA based on 3 brothers.

[Fade]

I'm on my third draft with Red Creek (YA sci-fi), one quarter through Red Creek's sequel, and outlining a new novel (YA sci-fi).

So far, that is all I'm writing.

Welcome, Beautiful Liar.

[eyeblink]

A fantasy novel, of just over 100k words, which should be complete in draft by Easter. It could be YA - though definitely 14 and over if it is - and that's a question I'll be asking beta readers.

Other than that, a post-catastrophe SF novel, on hold at 25k while I finish off the above. This is intended as YA, again 14+

Two other YAs (both contemporary and also 14+) in the thinking-about and developing stages, both sparked off by voice games in this very forum!

[Disdainful Soul]

I've got one urban fantasy with my critique group in its second round of editing (so querying is close at hand). It's about a girl whose brother is a vampire and the family business is a vampire hotel.

The one I am actually writing at the moment is a YA superhero novel. It's in its very early stages and by that I mean, "the first chapter.

[DSoN]

I'm working on a gothic horror YA novel. I've got most of the characters, the setting, and the plot. I just can't get it started. It's about a teenager looking back at a incident that happened when her dead father came back and had a minion kidnap her so he could eat her. Dark stuff, with a touch of humor (I hope)

[Enna]

I just started editing the first draft of my YA sci-fi...clones, globe-hopping, and some pretty cool phones.

I love my characters too, even the villians...but I have no problem being really, really mean to them. Hmm, what does that mean?

[The Kidd]

Still stuck on first draft of Pads and Fingers.

[Elidibus]

The closest book I have to submission is currently being put through the editing grinder again. It's an urban fantasy with angels and demons and people called "Disciples." It still needs to be reread once more after I finish this round and I'll pass it out to my betas.

I'm about 30K into my original pet project, started back in 2003, restarted after I did the first draft of the above in December. It's about a pair of high school martial artists and the story of how the grow to eventually like each other, despite each of their shortcomings.

I'm building a world for when my first book is sent off and Peerless is resting from it's first draft. I want it to take place in WW2 or sometime abouts. And I want there to be magical people. I want bullets and magic stuff, an underlying romantic theme and character redemption. I know...well it makes sense in my head!

And finally, I've also been feeling in a Sci Fi mood. I have a short (25K) story done and awaiting it's final edit and I really want to expand this universe I've created because I think the technology is pretty unique. But I'm having a hard time convincing myself that writing a full out novel on a some highschool kids having a run in with catgirls from outerspace counts as legitimate fiction.

[ebenstone]

I am presently working on version 4.5 of my YA epic fantasy "Winter's Discord." When I finish this pass, I want to work on something new...I'm not sure, but I've got some ideas bouncing around. First I need to get through this pass.

[everythinginblak]

I am working on a dark comdey about a sarcastic, sometimes transsexual eighteen year old girl who is trying to deal with the various never ending craziness in her life. I have a decent chunk of work done....but pregnany really has me sleeping instead of writing most of the time. Hopefully I can write a good ten pages today.

[Ugawa]

An edgy YA set in an abbey in 1951.

XX

[Leila]

I'm currently working on the first draft of a YA dystopian fantasy :)

[Danthia]

Just finishing up the first draft of book two of my YA fantasy trilogy.

[Vorteil]

I'm writing the first draft of a YA urban fantasy and I'm editing a YA mystery. ...I'm actually a bit sick of YA at the moment.

[tilt190]

Currently working on Remember, a YA literary fiction/romance/coming-of-age/whatever-you-wanna-call-it novel that deals with holding on and letting go.

[TrixieLox]

Good thread! :-)

YA-wise, started querying my urban fantasy / sci-fi novel coupla weeks back, 2 agents have the full, waiting to hear back from others. Started plotting the follow-up and started writing a new YA idea which an agent has expressed an interest in: a dystopian novel covering the whole drug addiction shebang.

Mentally-wise, my computer is on the edge of a nervous breakdown due to me checking my email every second for agent responses; my phone is paranoid cos I keep staring at it and my husband wants a divorce cos I keep calling him by the name of one of my MCs ;-)

[Cale]

Im working on the first of a trilogy, and am about 35,000 words in, and is starting to go to betas. I have the first two entirely planned out and a rough idea for the third. i hope to have the first few rounds of editing done by the end of April, and then send it off to the agents before starting on the second. i am currently suffering with all these ideas that i want too put in the novel (eg i think it would be awesome to have an angel thrown in somewhere!) that have no real relevance to the story. hopefully i will get that past that soon.

[Terri]

I'm working on... way too much.

I've mostly committed to Saving Cora, a YA book about a MC with caner and the girl who decides to donate marrow. It takes a look at insanity, sort of. That part is all from the perspective of a teenager, though, so there's no fancy lingo or whatnot worthy of a psychotherapist.

When I'm not tinkering away at that one, I switch to Rose Reaper. That's the story I've been trying to write for years. It switches point of view between Sophur, a runaway soon-to-be government official, Tara, a rebel put out of society by epilepsy, and Ggera, the little girl who was sentenced on false charges. It's go a take-down-the-stupd-society feel. Yummy.

Those are the two main ones I'm working on right now. I have a few more lined up, though, a couple chapters in. Jack Loves Reindeer, Melody Theory, Nymph, and The Death of Veronnie Chambers are my favourites.

[RoseColoredSkies]

I'm just yoinking this from the quick update thread at the top of this forum: (I know so lazy)

El baile de la gitana (~78k/86k) Almost done with the first draft. Follows eleven-year-old Ana Lucia Castillo Falcon as she leaves her family behind in Valencia to join a band of gypsies. She travels through Spain, France and Italy, becoming a part of the culture where she can let her spirit run wild and learn to dance. Most likely historical YA.

When Half Spent Was The Night in the planning stages (very early). A woman wakes up one morning remembering a different life, not the one she's been living. In fact, she doesn't remember a thing about the last few months; where she is, who she's living with. Burdened with this lack of memory and a baby growing inside her, she struggles to come to terms with what's happened to her. Psychological, contemporary adult.

Colorblind, Virginia (working title) in the planning stages (mostly won't be written for sometime). Told in 3 parts, it follows the lives of Ester and Lucy, two girls growing up in post Civil War Virginia. They have no reason to be friends. Lucy is from a well to do white family while Ester's mother still works in slave-like conditions. But they find a common thread that will last them through two world wars, segregation and the fight for equality. Definitely historical YA.

But I will begin editing El baile tomorrow and have the first edited draft out to my betas by April 9th.