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knightauthor

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MG Online Critique Group wanted

Anyone aware of an online critique group for MG? I am at 11,000 words on my book and would love to get with other writers seeking to publish. It is contemporary fiction (no paranormal, SF or other world elements). Thanks!
 

JoyMC

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Hi KnightAuthor. Well, there's a Share Your Work section here at AW, once you have 50 posts. You can also post in the Beta Readers section, looking for readers and critique partners. Outside of AW, there's www.cpseek.com and the Verla Kay message boards, as well. Or you could hook up with your local SCBWI chapter, if you want to find writers in your area.

Welcome to AW!
 

heza

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I spent some time with my sister and her family this weekend. My niece has discovered Katy Perry and made me watch the Roar video over and over and over again.

Took me back to that age and how obsessive I could get over pop culture. NKOTB, anyone?
 

jvc

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I'm glad to say that I've never been obsessed with pop culture, unless He-man can be considered as such.

Oh, and what the heck is NKOTB? :Shrug:
 

summerb

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I'll just Step by Step my way out of this thread. :tongue

LOL. My BFF had a NKOTB themed room and sheets and sleeping bag and all. I was obsessed with Vanilla Ice. Don't ask why. I don't know. I thought he was the hottest thing.
 

heza

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When I was in junior high and Ice, Ice Baby had just come out, the local DJ played it like 20 times straight. He kept coming back on the air, saying that his producer had just demanded that he stop playing it, but at the risk of ruining his career, "Here it is, one more time!" And then someone would call in requesting it immediately after, so he played it again. We were all glued to our radios, imagining him barricaded in the studio, being such a rebel... lol.

Too cold... too cold.
 

praktikle1

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Category?

I'm finally published but still not sure how to categorize my book. Any ideas out there would be greatly appreciated.
And how do I get the thumbnail as my link. (below)..LITTLE HELP!


http://amzn.com/B00F93WFVU
 
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WriterEC

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I have just recently got the feedback that my YA book sounds much more MG and I was suggested to query it that way. I am a little shocked. I was under the impression that it would be YA because my main character is 13 years old and I wrote more than 90.000 words.

Is there a market for longer MG books? Do you have any experience? Does anyone know where I could find a serious critique partner for MG?
 

Shandylous

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Hi WriterEC; welcome! :) A 13-year-old MC is definitely MG/upper MG (in most cases). YA tends to be more in the 16-yo age range. Your word count worries me for MG though. 90,000+ is really high. Have you revised and edited as much as humanly possible? Because you might be rejected on word count alone, unfortunately. When you reach 50 posts, you can post a sample on SYW and I'd be happy to look at it! Good luck! :)
 

Tromboli

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90k is long for MG but a 13 year old character is definitely more MG. If you query as a MG you'll probably need to cut about 20k. The other option is making your character older. Read up on both categories though because there is definitely more of a difference in the two than just character age. You'll need to decide which is right for you but you need to know the market to figure that out. I'd pick up at least 5 YA and 5 MG books (not sure how much you already read in either) and look at the difference.

As for CPs there is a section here on AW that you can look for betas or CPs.
 

RedWombat

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Seconding or thirding this-- YA runs higher. I can see 17 in YA much easier than 13.

It's not inherently a bad thing. YA is glutted right now and MG less so. A good MG novel is nothing to cry over, although at 90K, either chop or commit sequel.
 

little_e

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Split it in two and call it a series :)
 

WriterEC

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Oh, I have already written 60K of the next series. And that book is supposed to be a lot longer. Maybe 110K.

Man, this is frustrating. All this time I was sure to write a YA novel. And therefore I never worried about the length of the book. But now, everything has changed...
 

RedWombat

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Oh god, if only...

So I'm at the store the other day and a voice behind me says "I'm following you because I think you're a famous author."

Completely baffled, I turned around and there's a very nice woman who came to one of my local book signings because her grandson is a big fan. We chatted for a minute, and she wandered off, but not before saying "It's so nice to know you still get out and do normal things like this!"

She was very nice and you don't want to laugh hysterically/weep gently in front of the grandparents of fans, but still...err...what did she THINK children's book authors do? (I'm still not sure if she thought I was too rich to do my own shopping, or too insane to leave the house!)
 

Shandylous

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RedWombat, that is awesome! It's so hard to get out with the paparazzi hounding you, I'm sure. ;) Quite a compliment though; congrats!
 

SheilaJG

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That is really funny, RedWombat.

Back when Rick Riordan's Lightning Thief series was only on its second book, I took my son and two of his friends to his signing, which was on the second floor of a B&N. There were only about 30 kids there (the next year, there were over 200). When he was signing my son's book, his friend looked out the window and asked Mr. Riordan if that was his car parked across the street. It was an extremely expensive-looking yellow Ferrari.
 

Supergirlofnc

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So I'm at the store the other day and a voice behind me says "I'm following you because I think you're a famous author."

Completely baffled, I turned around and there's a very nice woman who came to one of my local book signings because her grandson is a big fan. We chatted for a minute, and she wandered off, but not before saying "It's so nice to know you still get out and do normal things like this!"

She was very nice and you don't want to laugh hysterically/weep gently in front of the grandparents of fans, but still...err...what did she THINK children's book authors do? (I'm still not sure if she thought I was too rich to do my own shopping, or too insane to leave the house!)

Oh my - that's great. It must be nice to meet fans of your work Redwombat! Obviously, you do normal things like walk through book stores. You need to take a break from typing away in solitude on your solid gold laptop.
 

RedWombat

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Oh my - that's great. It must be nice to meet fans of your work Redwombat! Obviously, you do normal things like walk through book stores. You need to take a break from typing away in solitude on your solid gold laptop.

Gotta stay in touch with the little people... ;)

(Man, and I had 250 lbs of cow manure in the back of my car at the time, too, for the garden...I wonder what she'd have made of that!)
 

mahervolous

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On the thread of 'celebrity' moments, a friend of mine teaches Grade Four (or fourth grade...sorry, Canadian here) and whenever I have another manuscript in early drafts I take it in and read it to his students. At the end of every reading they line up to get me to sign their notebooks. It's pretty darn cute, actually.
 

mahervolous

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Your word count worries me for MG though. 90,000+ is really high. Have you revised and edited as much as humanly possible? Because you might be rejected on word count alone, unfortunately.

My first MG manuscript, written about ten years ago, was over 100,000 words. I mailed the monster to England, straight to Christopher Little in some demented, twisted delusion of madness. It cost 76 bucks to mail it. Needless to say, I asked them to recycle my materials for the way back.

I learned my lesson, hard.