What are you writing? (YA)

Aw, thanks guys! I'm hoping I don't fall out of love with it like so many other mss I've started and abandoned!

Everyone's ideas sound awesome, by the way - I would read so many of these

My last project I was working on I had to shelf because I was writing from my id, and as a result it got to human centipede 2 levels of graphic quite quickly(it was a horror/fantasy combo.) I may go back to it someday, but for now yeah.

Anyway, I actually have two projects I'm starting now, because I am just masochistic like that. One of them is the long-awaited manga project I've been building towards for years. I'm currently in the "fiding an artist" phase for that one, now that I have money to spare. I've not given up good old fashion writing, though...and my current project in that front is in the very early planing stages because, admittedly, I've been more focused on both my manga project and my other life goals. However, I am having fun with planning this so I may as well share what it's about.


Genra-wise, I don't know what to call it...it's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, set in a combination of modern day earth and multiple secondary/fictional fantasy worlds. The protagonist planeshops a lot over the course of the story....so yeah. Anyway, the whole thing is based around a teenage genius who's life is woefully mundane, until a strange object crashes in her estate. The thing turns out to be magi-tech, and possesses both an internal computer system and -something- inside of it. The protagonist analyzes the device and finds out both about magic, but also that the thing inside is actually the soul of a world, something which is made purely of magical energy. They manage to start reverse-engineering this device and design all manner of magi-tech from it, including a way to draw energy from the worldsoul trapped within.

What results? Well...lets just say this character is already pretty selfish by the start of the thing, and the story follows them as they try to survive their teen years while simultaneously slipping down the dark slope of villainy, starting a "industrial(and energy) revolution" on earth off the backs of other dimensions they conquer using magi-tech of their own design. As things progress, they find that balancing their multiplanar conquest game(and game is a good term for it, as the interface for their world-conquering device(and can be accessed from their laptop and smartphone)operates like a videogame and when it finishes it's work it essentially turns entire worlds into the living equivalent of The Sims.), school, time-consuming hobbies and their social life is quite difficult. Even further they have to deal with these doo-gooders called the Space-Time Defense Bureau who gave them the label of "Space-Time Criminal" as well as the owner of the artifact that started all of this: an S-Rank Space-Time Criminal who conceals his face under a Kitsune mask and has a mysterious agenda.

Overall, the story is pretty crazy and over the top, and despite the selfish, villainous protagonist has a somewhat light-hearted tone, though it can certainly get pretty dark when it wants to be. Oh, and just so you know, this story(and the protagonist) where inspired by this song.

My current YA is a steampunk story about a boy who becomes an airship pilot to go in search of his mother. The catch: he's afraid of heights.

I've got another one stewing about a boy who can use magic in a world where nobody believes in it, to the point that most people ignore real magic when they see it. He meets a werewolf in the slums who turns out to be his brother's fiance, and things get even crazier from there.

My very piecemeal YA WIP is about a young girl who doesn't fit into her magical community that exists everywhere and nowhere at once, and so turns to a misunderstood form of magic to find her place. Magic by body modification. Where magic lives on, and through, the skin instead of under it.

BelleCeline said:

I did a search of the site and didn't see an active thread for this except in women's romance, and that doesn't pique my interest. So, I figure with the blessing of the moderators, I would pose this question to all of my fellow YA writers. I know there's a constant frenzy among some writers to determine the next big thing, the trend that will come along and sweep up their work at just the right moment. Personally, I can't write to the market, because by the time I finish a book, it would be just too late. Also, I can't force a storyline. So, the novel I just finished is about vampires/werewolves. It has a religious sort of twist, which is what I hope will be it's saving grace. My other WIP is somewhere between a science fiction piece and a dystopian. Both of those have been big trends as of the past five/ten years, but are considered to be dead in the water. So, who's with me? What are you writing?

Click to expand...

I figure it's better to write what you actually want to write, what you'd like to see out there, instead of trying to appeal to the market; because as you said, by the time you finish, the next fad has come along. And as you also stated, because you can't force a plotline. I'm sure some people can, but I personally need to feel what I'm writing, otherwise it's not going anywhere.

I'm working on a YA Fantasy novel (well trilogy, which may or may not expand into a series--preludes and side stories as companions to the trilogy, as it were).

I figured out start to an alternate POV for my sci-fi/space opera novel opener. I needed a much more grounded, emotional perspective to balance out the high-tech backdrop. It's exciting.

I am currently writing the sequel to my first published novel. A YA fantasy novel involving teens learning to use their abilities in a special school. Aiming to make it a darker story than the first, with more new beings than the first.

Currently, I'm halfway through the first draft of a Young Adult Spy Novel.

The story follows a girl named Sapphire who is destined to become a spy. However, the spy academy is more sinister than she thinks and soon she is shipped off by her own mother, to be initiated into an organisation that recruits assassins.

The story's deeper meaning is about humanity and morals. It's about making tough decisions for the bigger picture.

Everyone's books sound so great! I want to read ALL the things!

My curent WiP is a standalone dark fantasy that takes place in an India-inspired world. Reincarnation (always to human forms) exists, and my MC has been sentenced to death for murder in all 649 of her past lives. She tries to show people that this life is different, but it's hard to make them believe when she gets caught in a body-filled basement. She has to run, or face another death sentence—this time, for a crime she didn't commit. She decides to make her way through the Forsaken Jungle—risking her soul—to find a cure for her terminally ill brother. If she can save him, then they'll have to believe she isn't a killer. But death follows her, risking the lives of the few who have agreed to help her, and she has to wonder if killing is her inescapable fate.

It's so different from anything I've written before, and I am loving it! But I can already tell it's going to need a LOT of revisions. Sigh.

I have two projects which I consider to be "in progress" even though in the case of the latter its been almost a year since I've worked on it. I still keep getting ideas for it, though.

My first and main project is a dystopian I've been nursing for the last five years. It combines two of my favorite hobbies: Video Games and historical military combat. The economy sucks and to keep my MC's city from becoming a ghost town, the mayor invites television developers to film a game that pits two teams of teens in a battle of capture the flag. (Inspired by Call of Duty multiplayer which I have never played) The catch is that all of the weapons and such are from previous wars, mostly the World War II era. My MC is pretty average, save for her love of reading, which just so happens to be a bunch of military books left to her through out the years. And she and her friends are picked to fight. Her friends are split between the two teams, so she either has to kill them or die herself. I'm doing book three for NaNo. I hope to have the first book ready before spring.

The second is an urban fantasy where casting spells and battling others has evolved into a sort of after school sport. Everyone has a school of magic they do best in. For my MC, his is necromancy. His ultimate goal is to train so hard that be becomes what is known as the "sage," which is a single person the rest of the world relies on to give guidance. Only a sage has the skill and power to perform the powerful divination spell that can see the past or future. My MC will use that spell to figure out how his parents died in a house fire when they were some of the most powerful people in the country and could literally bend the elements to their will. However, Necromancers are hated by most people and no one will allow a Necromancer to become a sage. So, he masquerades as a summoner who summons various elemental themed creatures to fight. He's a decent summoner, but if he wants to win his fights, he's going to have to use his full potential one day.

To the above: Happy to see another game story writer.^^ All the best for it.

Well I finished two projects I had in mind for a while: a boarding school runaway meets a prostitute, a drug-dealer, and another runaway. They are surveilled by a dream-scanner, who seeks to find out how the MC opened a portal to another universe through a virtual reality game.

In the second one: A young girl doesn't read stories, she experiences them: she meets a young poet mourning the loss of his best girlfriend, a girl hating to read books, a family of four moving into a snowy abandoned cabin, and a fairy girl who is forced to use prosthetic wings longing to fly again. Learning the value of friendship along the way.

Edit: Just so it's clear, yes the latter is a chapter book.

Becca C. said:

Good idea for a thread!

I'm working on revisions from my agent on MAYBE IN PARIS, a contemporary YA about a girl who takes her mentally ill brother on a trip to Paris, naively thinking it'll solve all their issues. Long story short: it doesn't

I'm 28,000 words into the first draft of another contemporary YA I'm thinking of calling FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, about a girl who knows nothing about her family history finding out that her mother came from an abusive polygamous cult, and that she herself was born into it, too.

Click to expand...

Those are GREAT concepts, Becca! Good luck with them.

meghanjashinsky said:

Everyone's books sound so great! I want to read ALL the things!

My curent WiP is a standalone dark fantasy that takes place in an India-inspired world. Reincarnation (always to human forms) exists, and my MC has been sentenced to death for murder in all 649 of her past lives. She tries to show people that this life is different, but it's hard to make them believe when she gets caught in a body-filled basement. She has to run, or face another death sentence—this time, for a crime she didn't commit. She decides to make her way through the Forsaken Jungle—risking her soul—to find a cure for her terminally ill brother. If she can save him, then they'll have to believe she isn't a killer. But death follows her, risking the lives of the few who have agreed to help her, and she has to wonder if killing is her inescapable fate.

It's so different from anything I've written before, and I am loving it! But I can already tell it's going to need a LOT of revisions. Sigh.

Click to expand...

Such a great concept!

The_Ink_Goddess said:

Ah, I love cult novels!

The one I'm currently working on is a YA horror set across two timelines, so it's pretty complicated to outline, about an abused girl who escapes her insane cult-leader mother who preached that her family were Satanists. She gets taken in by her grandparents, only to discover that her mother might've been right all along when she discovers evidence from her mother's youth.

Click to expand...

Oh! I like this premise! Sounds all kinds of good.

LadyA said:

I'm in the very early stages of writing a contemporary inspired by Peter Sutcliffe, the notorious Yorkshire Ripper who killed prostitutes and students in the 1970s - specifically, how he was caught.
It was totally by accident - some policemen found him parked in his car with a known prostitute, and his plates were taped on with black tape (what an idiot) so they ran them through the system and found they were false. Meanwhile, Sutcliffe was trying to dump evidence before they took him to the station. His car was full of evidence too, and he admitted to the murders soon after.

What kickstarted my new YA WIP was the fact that he was caught with a woman who, almost certainly, was destined to be his next victim. She wasn't even suspicious of him - it could be said that she only survived by chance.

So my idea is about a girl who gets into a car with a stranger, and isn't suspicious, doesn't try to escape or anything, until the police stop them for dodgy plates and the man runs. She finds out he's a convicted murderer and she 'should have died' - as everyone tells her.
She was not harmed at all, but her world and her state of mind unravels as she realises that despite her straight-A grades, she wasn't 'clever enough' to work out the man was dodgy and not get in his car. It doesn't help that everyone is telling her she 'should have died', she's 'so lucky', etc.
She's already into horoscopes and fate and stuff, but gets even more into it, and when another girl dies swimming in the ocean in a freak riptide, the MC is positive it's all about balance - this girl shouldn't have died, she was a strong swimmer, it was a calm day - but she herself should've. She took the girl's place. She becomes obsessed with this girl she has never even spoken to.
The girl's brother is broken with guilt that he didn't save his sister, because he couldn't swim, and when the MC turns up to his sister's funeral saying she's a friend of his sister, he believes her and they become each other's anchor, both effed-up and guilty and trying to reason with death. the MC teaches him to swim, too, her way of trying to make up for his sister's death.

Basically it's a contemp YA about survivor's guilt and premature death and forgiving yourself

Click to expand...

Such a smart premise! Sounds great.

My books skirt the line between YA and NA (new adult). They are almost always about teenagers, but they are about teenagers as they are and not teenagers as adults like to fantasize them.

Sasha, the Scarred is about a girl, 16, and a boy, 15, who live in a post apocalypse world. They travel together as scouts for a small village in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They are not intimate, though he hopes they soon will be. Death is always around the corner.

I had been working on my latest WIP until I gave birth. It's been impossible between working long hours, errands, and taking care of a baby to give myself time to write or even think about the MS. But alas, the project was about a girl named Payson who awoke from a heart transplant to being able to see dead people. Problem is, there's a ghost with amnesia who refuses to leave Payson alone until she gets her memories back, and a dark entity that seems pretty intent on killing Payson before they uncover the truth.

Aaaaah so many great ideas! Good luck everyone

My ms that I'm editing right now is a contemp thriller about a boy who goes undercover amongst London's rich teens to find out who's killing them. I started a new WIP this month, my first secondary world fantasy, but I feel like I've started the story in the wrong place and it's quite hard to find the voice, so I think I'll end up rewriting the opening. It takes place 25 years after a revolution and deals with the next generation of conflict from the pov of a Guevara-like figure's daughter.

This is a great thread! A ton of awesome ideas floating around here.

I am querying a YA science fiction, THE LINGERING SHADOW, that's got fantasy and dystopic elements mixed in there about a girl who finds out her missing mother was caught in the middle of a conspiracy involving a league of super powerful beings with plans to alter the future of humanity itself. Recently trimmed it from 100,000 to 79,000 words, and things are looking promising.

While playing the waiting game, I'm playing around with a few ideas. My main one is a YA contemporary, RUNNING WITH THE BORDEAUXS about an orphan girl who is adopted by a wealthy family of drug runners. Things are great until she falls in love with the son of the new police commissioner, who has a secret vendetta against the Bordeauxs.

Also plotting out a YA thriller about a girl named Clara who wakes up from a car crash in an alternate reality. Meanwhile, in her old reality an Other Clara is breaking up with her boyfriend, pissing off her best friend, and becoming an ambitious student her parents love.

Finishing touches (I hope) on an R&R of the contemp novel I've been working on for about 4 years, about kissing and lying at Jesus school.

Then for funzies I'm working on a chapbook illustrated novelette about hockey and coming out and making out. The story itself is already written, currently working on the layout and pictures. I'm going to do a super limited photocopy run of it and do all the binding/covers by hand, and then hopefully sign up for some zine fairs and whatnot & trade them around. I'm also thinking of releasing it serially online in audio format. Basically using this text as a playground to do all the stuff I think would be fun about self-pubbing without putting any pressure on it to succeed financially. (It's going to cost me about $50 if I make 60 copies. Not nothing, but I've certainly spent more $ on frivolouser pursuits -- and the serial audio thing won't cost me anything but time. There's postage costs to factor in if I end up mailing any of the illustrated editions out, but I think if it comes to that I'll do it on some kind of PWYC/suggested donation model and/or making it available as a PDF. idk, I'll cross that bridge if/whenever I damn feel like it.)

Back on the more serious business front, I'm hoping to finally get to really dig into my next proper book, another contemp about a possibly retired child star and a suicidal girl guide being counsellors at a camp for kids with disabilities.

How hard is it to illustrate your book? I've considering that. I look forward to see those squiggles.^^

As of now: A fantasy gamer grows a heart of gold for a fairy girl, after a loss greater than other losses before. Yet when she gets a second chance, she find the fairy remembers nothing. This the gamer uses as a chance to make things right, and with her friends makes sure no harm comes to her.

That's the character arc. The book has more SF paint.

I've had similar themes before, but not in 30K before.

I'm about halfway through a YA re-imagining of the Cassandra myth with lots of spec-fic bells and whistles.

Thanks BelleCeline for starting this thread. I'm polishing off a YA Dark Fantasy SF and am in the editing stages of a YA Dark Fantasy. Great to be a Gemini, otherwise I don't think I'd be about to hold both stories in my head without my evil twin. *laughs* In all seriousness it's been great to get the first novel moving again. I've been at that one for over 10 years and I just don't want it to go in the drawer.

I am finishing up my first novel. It's a YA/MS fictional drama.

It is told in the first person from the alternating perspectives of two 13-year-olds.

One is a boy named Joshua. He has been bullied for years and all of his friends have drifted away from him. The other is a pretty girl named Eve who was just recruited by Rhonda, the most popular girl in school, to join the "popular" clique.

Eve and Joshua are paired up as lab partners on the first day of eighth grade in their Science class. At first, she wants nothing to do with him, but as she's no good in science, she is forced to ask for his help. As she gets to know him, she discovers he is nothing like she expected. Then she finds out that the male bullies that beat Joshua on a regular basis are led by none other than Rhonda herself.

The story is called "Joshua's Island".

I am less than a month away from having this story self-published.