Old People Writing for Teens, IV

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Smiley0501

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I love The Hobbit the book (so much!) and honestly I am a little afraid to see this version. I never read the trilogy but TH is one of my fave childhood reads, and all I hear is that it is way too long movie wise (also what the heck, Jackson, a trilogy?? come on!!) and that is also amazing, lol. I might wait for DVD but no idea yet...

Kansas- I finished American Horror Story. *whistles* I looooved it. I may buy it for myself as post-Chanukah present. ;) Tate/Violet is way similar to my characters in Vi0lent D3lights so I have a slight affection for them lol.

I'm making slow headway on my revisions :snoopy: Just took out a character/deleted all her references and changed some small stuff. Need to do A LOT of adding/rewriting but I think I can get there so...I will. :D
 

Kewii

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Geez Smiley,

I don't think I'd have the perseverance to stick with a project this long and go through that many revisions. You've got persistence, that's for sure. Makes me rethink the time I gave up on that other book ;)

Hope it goes along easily :)
 

parumpdragon

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Just got back from The Hobbit, and I have to admit it was better than I expected, and it helped to get my mind off of real world problems.

Good. Looking forward to renting it in future months :)

I love The Hobbit the book (so much!) and honestly I am a little afraid to see this version. I never read the trilogy but TH is one of my fave childhood reads, and all I hear is that it is way too long movie wise (also what the heck, Jackson, a trilogy?? come on!!) and that is also amazing, lol. I might wait for DVD but no idea yet...

I've never read The Hobbit, but read LordOfTheRings my senior year of high school.

If you read the whole trilogy, plan on it taking at least a few months with all the heritage and backstory included in the asides and the geneologies.

Incredible book - but all the little stars an asterisks with reference numbers can be distracting. Though it does give a deeper understanding to the world and characters.



I'm making slow headway on my revisions :snoopy: Just took out a character/deleted all her references and changed some small stuff. Need to do A LOT of adding/rewriting but I think I can get there so...I will. :D

congratz!
 

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I'm reading The Hobbit right now. I watched the first movie first, which was an excellent plan, because I appreciate all the changes made (they really do work very well) and it got me through the part where I would probably be slogging through at the beginning trying to get into the book. Now I've gotten used to the style as I read the next two thirds
 

Kewii

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Hi Everyone :)

I read The Hobbit back in elementary school, but only remember a few pieces of it. I might wait til it's on DVD to see it.

I'm trying to motivate myself into working on Talented. I'm about half way though the second draft and want to finish before the 1st...today I realized that's only nine days away. Eeep. Too bad I still feel lazy :D

Out of curiousity, how many drafts do you guys tend to do before you look for a beta? I know I'll want to give it at least one more draft first, but I'm just wondering what the average is.
 

Smiley0501

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I am a terrible person who can't see the big picture/small picture/anything in her WIPs. I send my ms out right away to my betas. But then again I always know there is stuff wrong with it but I can't see it so I make sure I'm right, lol. ;) Good luck!!
 

wampuscat

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Hi Everyone :)

I read The Hobbit back in elementary school, but only remember a few pieces of it. I might wait til it's on DVD to see it.

I'm trying to motivate myself into working on Talented. I'm about half way though the second draft and want to finish before the 1st...today I realized that's only nine days away. Eeep. Too bad I still feel lazy :D

Out of curiousity, how many drafts do you guys tend to do before you look for a beta? I know I'll want to give it at least one more draft first, but I'm just wondering what the average is.

I've only done betas once. I felt like the story was ready to send out to agents before I got betas. I think it was draft three or four. I turned out to be wrong, because the betas pointed out some great plot holes and voice issues. They were things I wasn't seeing on my own because I was to into the project. I haven't used betas for anything else yet, but I usually take second draft material to my crit group.
 

justbishop

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I'm sending chapters as I write them to one writing buddy, and will integrate his notes into my second draft, when the time comes. At that point, I will likely employ the services of 2-3 betas to go over the entire thing, but I tend to self-edit a ton as I write, so I think my first/second drafts are fairly clean.
 

parumpdragon

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I have no idea what I'm doing and I just write -- I think that pretty much sums me up :D LOL
 

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I spend a lot of time on my first drafts, so by the time I'm done, I'm usually ready to send it right out. I sent my current novel to 3 beta readers and I'm making revisions off their notes. Then it will go out to 4 or 5 more beta readers and I will make adjustments where I feel needed and then I'll query that sucker. And for the first time, I actually have my query letter ready before I've even finished revisions (nothing major will need to be changed in the query even with revisions, but I can always tweak things where needed).
 

Stiger05

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Hello!! I'm at my in-laws, also known as the land technology forgot, so I'm just popping in to say hey while I have internet (one place in their front room--they leech from the church across the street, which is pretty much the only wifi in town. Everyone else has nothing or dial-up. Eek! No 3G either).

Kewii: I have a CP who reads pretty much as I write. I go back and edit my first draft based on her comments, so I usually send my second draft to betas, then revise, then do another round of betas and repeat as necessary.

In case I don't get another chance to get online between now and Christmas: to all those who celebrate, have very Merry Christmas! Hubby and I are doing our own thing for the first time this year. Gingerbread house and Christmas movies on Christmas Eve,cooking a big lunch Christmas day, then going to see Les Miserables.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Oh, and it was nice knowing you, just in case the crazies are right and the world really does end today, haha.
 

wampuscat

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In case I don't get another chance to get online between now and Christmas: to all those who celebrate, have very Merry Christmas! Hubby and I are doing our own thing for the first time this year. Gingerbread house and Christmas movies on Christmas Eve,cooking a big lunch Christmas day, then going to see Les Miserables.

I'm so, so, so excited to see Les Mis!

Happy holidays to you!
 

JKRowley

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Happy holidays, everyone:)

Beta readers is a new concept for me. I have a critique group I work with who see the novel as it comes together. When I think I have it ready to go, I'll send the whole thing to whoever will read it. It is pretty polished by that time, the third draft or more.
 

mellymel

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Happy Holidays all!

Rachel, that sounds like a WONDERFUL way to celebrate xmas. Me? I will be watching the joy on my girls faces as they squee with elation at all their new gifts and really appreciate how lucky I am to have my beautiful sweet girls.

Oh, and I forgot to mention re: beta readers. I did have CP/beta readers on my other projects in which I would send them a couple of chapter at a time. It was nice because they would catch inconsistencies right away that I could address before it became a bigger problem as things got interwoven through the novel. Which, funny enough, is EXACTLY what I'm dealing with now because I wrote the whole thing before letting my CPs see it. Gah. Wish I had done it a few chapters at a time. I will probably go back to doing it that way for my next WIP.
 

JustSarah

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I think in the future I might go into doing toxic, alien, or bizarre planet science fantasy.
 
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Kewii

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Thanks for the responses guys. So it was just as I figured...there is no norm ;)

I was reading Marissa Meyer's blog the other day (author of Cinder). I thought it was interesting that she says she outlines...and then never keeps anything from her first draft and redoes the whole thing for the second draft.

It made me go -_-. I just don't understand how someone can outline and then not keep a single word. My first thought, for a second, was 'am I doing this wrong?' and I decided definitely not.

Happy holidays everyone! My husband has to work on Christmas, which makes me extra sad. But we'll probably just celebrate at night.
 

Bing Z

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Kewii, my guess is, any way that gets a result--a book written, a book rep'ed, a book sold, is a good way. Some people can do it in a single pass, some have to write, kill and rewrite several times.

Sarah: Toss in heroic tragic, too? Will that be a good selling factor?
 

JustSarah

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Yea I was thinking something like that. The real problem is doing it within making it urban fantasy.D: Its one of those worlds where plants have evolved to eat full humans, and blades of grass eat through your skin. And of course barely comprehensible elder monsters. (I used to write horror.)
 

Bing Z

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I once had a similar UF concept but also hugely different.

Two parallel universes/worlds, connected by transcendental gates. One of the universe is dominated by plants, the other by humans. These gates are guarded by sorta Templars from both worlds under some sort of treaties. Those at the human side (MCs) moonlight as cops, gangsters, call girls, or runaway kids. Both sides want to conquer the other side. (Of course the White House will deny anything.) Nobody in human (or both) world knows if Plant King in Plant universe gets killed/caught (or something like that), all plants in human world will die as well, thus total destruction. Haven't yet figured (dreamed) out what will happen if human world is defeated.

Feel free to use any of these ideas for your project.
 

JustSarah

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I found a new young adult book on amazon, that reads almost like a short adult novel, its called Snitch. It had a five star rating on amazon, and I can understand why. The writing is almost invisible.
 
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