round-up

[emsuniverse]

This isn't an incredibly frequented sub-board so I wanted to liven it up a bit.

Time to share what you write exactly. What kind of YA?

I just completed the first draft of my second YA. My first one is making the agent rounds and it may end up getting shelved for awhile, I'm not sure.

You guys?

[Provrb1810meggy]

I write YA chick-lit/romance and YA Christian fiction.

[Southern_girl29]

I write YA paranormal thriller. I just finished the first draft of it at the beginning of April. I did a second draft, gave it a beta reader, who pointed out a major plot problem and have gone to work on the third draft to fix the plot problem.

[Harper K]

I write contemporary YA, mostly in a high school setting. I'm big into first-person voice and humor, with a teeny tiny bit of the Problem Novel vibe thrown in.

I've written 15 practice novels, and nearly all of them would be categorized as MG or YA. Number 16 is the charm! I'm on draft 2.5 (because the original draft 2 wasn't working out halfway through; I scrapped it and started again), which I should finish within a month or so. There will definitely be a few more drafts. I'm hoping to start querying agents by year's end.

[Zoombie]

YA Sci-Fi that's becomming less YA every second. Really. I've got guns, nudity, precotious teeange sexuality, and lots and lots of aliens. ALIENS!

Eh...I'll just write it and let other people classify it.

It's also got a girl in a tube. Can't get enough of a girl in a tube, right? Expecially when I can work in a Quantem Leap reference at the same time.

[Soccer Mom]

YA mystery (And Middle Grade magical realism)

[RLB]

I'm writing middle grade fantasy, though the one I'm working on now may be more urban fantasy since it's set only in this world. (I'm not exactly sure- no vampires, werewolves or angels so I don't know if it counts).

Soccer Mom- what's magical realism? Sounds intriguing.

[Legionsynch]

YA Urban fantasy/horror. If Harry Dresden were written by Christopher Pike, it would be close.

[Melanie Lane]

YA Science Fiction (with a lot of irony...), which would probably be MG if not for the slightly dark happenings...

I wrote about 22 practice novellas. I still laugh when I read the first one. It's pretty bad. :ROFL:

My first 'real' book is searching for an agent right now, and I just finished the second draft of another YA Sci Fi.

I'm working on yet another Sci Fi...but I'm not quite sure if it will end up YA or not. Or if it will even really end up sci fi or not. It's more 'futuristic' - but set in the 'normal' world up until the climax.

[Soccer Mom]

I'm writing middle grade fantasy, though the one I'm working on now may be more urban fantasy since it's set only in this world. (I'm not exactly sure- no vampires, werewolves or angels so I don't know if it counts).

Soccer Mom- what's magical realism? Sounds intriguing.

A real world setting and events with a mystical or magical twist that is treated as normal and everyday. For example, my MC finds a bottle with a genie. He isnt' terribly weirded out and starts plotting ways to use the genie to get the things he wants.

[Jordygirl]

I write chick-lit YA. Think of Sarah Dessen's books or Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Of course, the day I can write as well as either of those authors will be a happy day indeed.

[moondance]

I write 'issue' YA books at the moment, but am hoping to branch out into contemporary thrillers.

[Shady Lane]

Contemporary YA...ocassionally with a bit of magical realism (a BIT), but usually straight up coming-of-age, always with a twist.

[Evaine]

I think it was Terry Pratchett who said that magical realism was fantasy for people who don't want to admit to reading fantasy.

I'm wrestling with the ending of a YA fantasy (in which Our Heroine messes up spectatcularly, but then redeems herself by doing A Very Brave Thing).

I'm also having vague thoughts about a YA urban fantasy set in an antique shop.

[Cassidy]

Mine are mostly contemporary YA. The first one comes out this fall; two more next spring. One of those is geared to reluctant readers-- YA but high-interest and low reading level-- and the other is middle-grade with psychic twist.

I am currently working on a first draft of another contemporary YA novel which maybe verges on chick-lit. Not sure about how to classify this one...

Zoombie, yours sounds fun. Aliens and girls in tubes? Makes my books seem rather... prosaic. Maybe I should add some aliens.

[AmyC]

I write mainstream/contemporary YA. I've got my first novel with an agent now (currently, eight editor rejections, four pending) and just finished the first draft of my second. I've got to admit, the second is better than the first. I should be finished with rewrites in a couple of months and have it with my agent sometime this summer.

Amy

[licity-lieu]

I'm wrestling with a futuristic YA--sort of Lord of the flies meets Stepford wives meets the Terminator (eeek, that sounds crazy!)

[RLB]

I'm trying to get all these genres straight here...

Urban fantasy takes place in our world and the fantasy elements are unknown to most people?
Magical Realism takes place in our world, but magic is known and accepted?
Paranormal takes place in our world and involves vampires, werewolves, psychics and/or ghosts?

Are these the correct distinctions between these genres?

[Legionsynch]

I always assumed paranormal was more 'fringe' and less magical. Psychics, ghosts, and things that people investigate in the real world anyway, where urban fantasy and magical realism would deal with more fantastical elements, in varying degrees. I could be wrong though.

[Shady Lane]

Magical realism takes this world as-is, everyting's normal...and then something happens. It's like...if aliens landed tomorrow morning. We'd still be us, with our past, our circumstances, our prejudices about what is real and what isn't, trying to grapple with an unbelievable occurance.

[Melanie Nilles]

I don't distinguish between the sub-genres involving science fiction and fantasy YA. I write what I like, which can fall in there anywhere. I'll let agents/editors decide where exactly it falls. For now, I usually say it's YA SF or Fantasy, depending on whether it involves elements of science fiction or magic, or sometimes both.

[Niesta]

YA fantasy. Except there isn't any magic, exactly. It's just set someplace Not Real.

[TurkeyLurkey]

Currently on a modern, fantasy, thriller. I have two toddlers at home now, so I can only get my writing done at 4am. But when I have a story in my head, I have to get it out before the characters grow cold. *yawn*

[Feathers]

Sci-fi YA, one of those 'save the world' and 'i'm the outcast' plots, but hopefully less cheesy.

[MerryDay]

Contemporary YA Mystery/Adventure

...well, technically. There are definite romantic themes too; I normally just say YA and end it there.

[Danger Jane]

I write literary/fantasy or just plain literary.