All Things Middle Grade

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Angie Thomas
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I should have said this before now, but thank you both. It helped me to follow my gut and go with third person. I truly appreciate all of the insight given on this message board.
 

SheilaJG

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I don't "tweet," mostly because I have this superpower and I don't want the rest of the world to know about it. And that superpower is the ability to write really stupid things that I think are charming and cute only to find out later I'm a huge dork. So, I shall remain anonymous.

So I took the plunge and I now have a twitter account. Haven't tweeted anything yet except a re-tweet of a funny video. I will happily follow any of you who have accounts (I've found a couple of you so far).

I have 6 followers. Yes, 6! If I reach double digits, I may just faint. If any of you want to follow me, beware, I don't know where I'm going and I always get lost. (see - dorky! What am I thinking, putting my idiocy on parade?)
 

sissybaby

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Sheila - are you sheilajg on Twitter, also? I hope so, because I'm following you now. If it isn't you, someone else is going to think I'm a weirdo.
 

SheilaJG

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I'm @SheilaGrau, I think someone else is SheilaJG. So, I guess you made a new friend! I put a little link thingy in my signature. Hopefully, that helps.
 

Sarah_Will_Write

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My agent says that MG is coming back in a big way. I hope he's right! I'm currently on sub with one that is first person, present-tense, girl POV and magical realism, and I am almost done with a second that is first person, past-tense, boy POV and issue/coming of age.

My worry is alienating readers - sure, it's good to be versatile, but how different is too different? Sigh. I feel like the answer always varies.
 

DavidBrett

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Sarah, Barry Hutchison - one of my favourite MG writers - just went from a six-book horror series about imaginary friends coming back to kill and terrorize the kids who forgot them... To a modern fantasy comedy about a boy who found the three horsemen of the apocalypse hiding in his garden shed, waiting for HIM to become their next Death. And that newest book is just as amazing - perhaps even more so - and has been nominated for TWO big children's literary awards.

So I think as long as you remain loyal to your readers by writing consistently awesome books, and not pandering to them by sticking to what might feel 'safe', then they'll appreciate you more for it, and stick around for the ride!

Dave
 

Wanderluster

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Hello all! I'm brand new to AW, but I've been lurking in the shadows for some time, basking in your collective brilliance.

I've read just about every post in this thread, but I notice that it's been quiet for a couple weeks. So I thought for my first post I would try to breathe a bit of life back into it.

How about a round of What Is Everyone Working On, including Any New Developments?

I'll start: I'm in the never-ending editing phase of an Upper MG Fantasy, which is clocking in at about 74k now, and which I'm trying to trim back for submission, hopefully within the next 6 months.

New developments? Finding AW as well as QueryTracker and a few other sites, which have provided endless maniacal research fodder for this obsessive information junky! Now if I can just peel myself away and get back to my manuscript...
 

JoyMC

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Welcome, Wanderluster!

I am working on a middle grade contemporary that is going slower than I'd like (I'm usually quite a fast drafter) but is progressing. It's just about to 20,000 words, which is about halfway. I had hoped for a draft by Christmas, which is looking unlikely now. But it's coming along.

In terms of developments ... yeah, not so much. I have nine fulls out to agents (on two different manuscripts), which might seem exciting to some, but I've been here before, so I expect nothing. Except rejection.

Anyhoo - welcome, and good luck with your edits! I'm glad you came out of lurkerdom!
 

Wanderluster

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Thank you for the warm welcome, Joy!

Nine fulls out to agents does sound impressive. You sound so resigned, though - have you subbed these two manuscripts for a while?

Good luck with your WIP - let us know how it goes!
 

profen4

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Welcome Wonderluster. I'm sure you'll get lots of information on these boards. Nice that you write upper MG - I happen to do that too. Mine are more of the action adventure genre, but I'm working on a science fiction right now . . . with a heavy dose of action/adventure.
quan ao tre em cao cap do lot nam sieu mong ty gia ao so mi nu ban buon quan ao cac loai chup anh studio dep
And Joy, you have 9 fulls out? That's brilliant! Did it go query to partial to full? I hope you get some good news soon.
 
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sissybaby

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Hi, Wanderluster! Glad you came out of lurkdom (love that word).

I'm still stuck and it seems like I will be forever. But I'm still subbing a couple of PBs. If I could afford a great illustrator, I'd probably go the self-pub route.

Looking forward to reading your posts.
 

Wanderluster

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Thank you for the welcome, profen4. MG Sci-fi with action adventure - what a fun genre!

Sissybaby, I've followed your posts throughout this thread. Whenever I see your familiar avatar, I think, "she's the really sweet one." Congrats on subbing the PBs. How long have you had them out? Any responses so far?
 

SheilaJG

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How about a round of What Is Everyone Working On, including Any New Developments?

I'll start: I'm in the never-ending editing phase of an Upper MG Fantasy, which is clocking in at about 74k now, and which I'm trying to trim back for submission, hopefully within the next 6 months.

..

Welcome, Wanderluster! Good luck with the editing. I'm working on something similar. I was editing a upper-MG sort of speculative fiction novel, trying to trim it down, when I realized I should just scrap the whole middle and ending, and make a new one. So now I'm in brainstorming mode, which is more fun than editing mode.
 

JoyMC

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And Joy, you have 9 fulls out? That's brilliant! Did it go query to partial to full? I hope you get some good news soon.

Yeah, I started querying manuscript #3 in April, and it's gotten 13 requests. Only 3 are still pending. Manuscript #4 started going out in August and it's gotten 11 requests; six are still pending. Some were query-partial-full. Some were query + pages to full. Only a couple were query straight to full. Rejections are almost always raves & assurances that "someone else will love this." Never anything I can use to make the manuscripts stronger. So I've gotten used to the rejection and don't expect much else.

But I'm keeping my head down and writing #5. :)
 

jvc

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Hello all! I'm brand new to AW, but I've been lurking in the shadows for some time, basking in your collective brilliance.
:hi: Hi, Wanderluster, and welcome to AW and the Kidlit section. Good luck with your MS and editing. Oh, editing, how much fun is that? Not.

I'm working on, err, erm, trying to stay warm.
 

Wanderluster

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Moral support

Thank you, jvc and Sheila for the welcomes.

Joy, have you shared any of the MSs that you're subbing in SYW? I am impressed by your professional attitude, calm in the face of rejections (even if they do rave) and sending each of your babies out into the world while moving onto the next one.

Sheila, you are brave, throwing out big chunks of your ms and going back to the whiteboard. Brainstorming and writing certainly are more fun than editing, but depending on how much time you invested in the original work, cutting can really hurt.

Speaking of which, I need a bit of moral support. After reading a harsh but excellent critique of someone else's query letter in SYW, I had a come-to-Jesus moment about my own WIP and I just took the excruciating step of deleting the entire first two chapters of my MS. These are chapters I have loved and slaved over for years.

Tell me I'm doing the right thing. Start when the action starts, right?
 

sissybaby

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The sweet one, huh? If only you knew. I already know I'm getting coal for Christmas, as always.

I have heard that you should start with the action. But not necessarily right in the middle of it. I've heard that some lead in is good to avoid confusion and give us some feel for your character so that we will care about him first. Just don't start with the weather, unless it's hugely important.

I tend to edit way too much as I go, so I don't know how I would deal with chopping off the first two chapters. But I think I'm about to find out.

And since you asked, Wanderluster, I've had some very positive feedback on one of the PB's - both from several agents and a small, but impressive (my opinion, of course) publisher. But still no commitments. sigh.
 

ArachnePhobia

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Thank you, jvc and Sheila for the welcomes.

Joy, have you shared any of the MSs that you're subbing in SYW? I am impressed by your professional attitude, calm in the face of rejections (even if they do rave) and sending each of your babies out into the world while moving onto the next one.

Sheila, you are brave, throwing out big chunks of your ms and going back to the whiteboard. Brainstorming and writing certainly are more fun than editing, but depending on how much time you invested in the original work, cutting can really hurt.

Speaking of which, I need a bit of moral support. After reading a harsh but excellent critique of someone else's query letter in SYW, I had a come-to-Jesus moment about my own WIP and I just took the excruciating step of deleting the entire first two chapters of my MS. These are chapters I have loved and slaved over for years.

Tell me I'm doing the right thing. Start when the action starts, right?

Every case is different, but personally, I've found when my gut tells me to cut something, my gut is right. Every time I've removed a chapter, scene, line, or word I found charming but which did not actually advance the plot, the result has been a tighter, better story. Still, you may feel less regret about the cuts if you keep the excised material in a "Deleted Scenes" folder, so it's out of the story but not totally gone. That's what I do, anyway. :)

That said, I'm not yet published, and so grains of salt and all.
 

JoyMC

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Joy, have you shared any of the MSs that you're subbing in SYW? I am impressed by your professional attitude, calm in the face of rejections (even if they do rave) and sending each of your babies out into the world while moving onto the next one.

I don't do SYW, but I do have awesome, trusted CP's with agents and deals and stuff, and my MSs always go out to three or four of them and get revised and revised and go out to them again, etc. They're super enthusiastic and are (almost) as frustrated as I am. So, who knows? Nothing to do but keep writing.

Good for you for cutting those chapters. Cutting is almost never wrong. Though I agree that starting too smack in the middle of the action can be jarring. Nothing is forever, thanks to the beauty of computers and Save As. You'll get feedback on it as it is now, and if you find you need some of that stuff back, you can retrieve it. But I bet you'll come to love it more with the cuts.
 

MsJudy

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Let's see... I tend to think of my projects by the MC's first name, so...

Agatha is having a time-out in the closet until she can figure out a plot that works.

Charlotte has two fulls out with agents and is keeping her chin up while she queries others.

Jack has a premise, a set-up and a catalyst figured out. We're trying to figure out our villain, and then I think the writing will pick up steam.

All three are Victorian fantasy. Don't ask me why. I just don't like modern times all that much.
 
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