It'd probably be a harder sell in lower YA, but it's all in how you do it, I'd guess.
I rarely read lower YA
I rarely read lower YA
"Old" People Writing for Teens V
- Thread starter mcnorth
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Well it seems like in older YA you try your best to shove parents out of the picture, not have them as accomplices.
Sounds like a great story on how your grandparents met! My Grandma just hit 90, so going to Florida to spend the weekend with her for a surprise birthday party.
Sorry for all those that have been sick or had surgery done! Hope you get better soon.
What's wrong with parents being accomplices? Make them a crime family. They steal something from a drug kingpin. As a result the dad is murdered execution-style. Mom is kidnapped and will be sold to Boko Haram as sex slave. 14 yo daughter escapes. She teams up with and leads her 16 yo LGBT twin buddies and head to the kingpin's HQ. Using katana blades and makeshift crossbows and Molotov cocktail they start a killing spree killing 216 mobsters & corrupted cops/marines/navy seals and rescue the mom. No sex but gawd almightly bloody.
Man, I can picture Quentin Tarantino paying you a million for the option.
Is it possible to actually have the Teen as the bad guy in older YA? The way I've always heard it told, is the adults being the bad guy. One of the reasons I always had trouble categorizing myself as YA.
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Teens can totally be the bad guy.
And adults can totally be accomplices as long as you can make sure that they don't drive or solve the plot (in either YA or MG).
And adults can totally be accomplices as long as you can make sure that they don't drive or solve the plot (in either YA or MG).
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It still seems to me that a "billy I think this guy would be the best next target because he's planning a vacation and won't be found for a couple weeks" "ok thanks mom I'll finish that tonight by the way what's for dinner" kind of relationship works better with a younger protagonist rather than an older.
That feels like a challenge 
Nah, I'm not even working much on TM today. I just watched 10 Things I Hate about You instead. It's research! Really. I had to see whether Heath Ledger was blond in this movie (he wasn't). That required watching the full thing *nods*
Nah, I'm not even working much on TM today. I just watched 10 Things I Hate about You instead. It's research! Really. I had to see whether Heath Ledger was blond in this movie (he wasn't). That required watching the full thing *nods*
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That feels like a challenge
Nah, I'm not even working much on TM today. I just watched 10 Things I Hate about You instead. It's research! Really. I had to see whether Heath Ledger was blond in this movie (he wasn't). That required watching the full thing *nods*
Uh huh. Were you whelmed watching that movie?
Do you mean between finishing one and starting another? Or are you dipping between two? Nothing's standard - take what time you need.
Is anybody entering The Writer's Voice this year? I got through the Rafflecoptor lottery last year, but didn't get selected for one of the teams (although I was an honourable mention or suchlike for one of the coaches). It was a lot of fun, regardless of that. My WIP won't be ready to enter, but I'm just debating whether to enter with the previous one again. The query is tighter now and the first 250 words are different (plus I've only queried one of the 14 agents listed and it looks like only 2 of the original 4 coaches are back again - unless Kimberly = Cupid from last year). Hmm... Thoughts?
Umm, in 4/5 of my novels (all geared toward older YA), there is a teen who is the villain.
Went and bought my daughter's prom dress yesterday. It's beautiful but holy crap expensive! Even got her makeup, etc. She's a very non-girly girl and was claiming all the way up to about a month ago, she would never go to prom. However, her friends are all going and so she decided to go as well. Seeing her actually get excited trying on her dress and loving it made me so happy! Her senior year has gone so fast. I can't believe graduation is a month away. Holy cow.
I'm having a hard time getting it into it. I thought at least there was a method for getting into the writing zone. This book on meditation has helped, but if I don't do that every day that sort of doubt about my work comes back. Maybe it will subside eventually.
This is a cool thing I've just discovered helps me with edits, when I go back to a WIP to edit it I zoom in and change the font to a similar one that I use on my Kindle. I'm so used to seeing that font and layout as being another person's work that it helps me observe my own writing from more of a readers perspective.
You should really try it out if you're an avid ebook reader!
You should really try it out if you're an avid ebook reader!
I've heard of this before. Someone suggested you change your whole mani into a different font for editing. Helps you catch things that you may otherwise miss as your eyes tend to glaze over the overly familiar font/text. When I used to YAWN, it would look different in the translation from my doc to the board and I'd always catch things I didn't notice.
Sarah, you should test out fonts that you like. The thing that makes the difference is seeing it in a different font than the one you wrote in. It could be as simple as Courier New to TNR.
If you wanted it to look like AW, it'd be Verdana. I'm not sure what the Kindle font is (just that I like it).
If you wanted it to look like AW, it'd be Verdana. I'm not sure what the Kindle font is (just that I like it).
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I have heard that serifs allow you to read faster, so possibly changing from a serif to a sans serif font will slow you down and make you more careful.
Does anybody think it's a bad idea to stop on one novel for a while and start another novel?
Does anybody think it's a bad idea to stop on one novel for a while and start another novel?
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I use Cambria because that is the best I could find to immitate my Kindle for Mac on Scrivener and then I zoom in to about 150%. This AW thread says the Kindle font is Caecilia but I couldn't find any source to download that font from. I also know that some Kindles have the option to change fonts so it may not always be the same font.
I do this constantly, I never have less than two WIPs at one time because the more time I spend on one the more I get lost in the writing and run away from plot and coherence. I need to switch every month or so just to keep one going forwards.
Hey all, just popping in quickly to wish everyone a happy easter (if you celebrate that kind of thing. If not, happy chocolate-egg day).
I might try the trick with changing the font. Most of my edits are big ones, which are easy to spot, but I do tend to miss out the smaller details. Will give it a go later on
I might try the trick with changing the font. Most of my edits are big ones, which are easy to spot, but I do tend to miss out the smaller details. Will give it a go later on
Thanks! 
I celebrate both those things, so yay!! 
In writing-related news, I just realized my YA novel has a just-turned-18-by-the-end-of-the-book main character and the other central characters are already 18 or 19-20. I tried imagining it if I made them just a little younger, but that wouldn't work. I need the MC to turn 18 when she does and the others being younger would be weird. So now I'm here, working on this, hoping for the best, because I don't see this as a NA novel in any -that-I-know-of- way, so...
yeah.- Status