Old People Writing for Teens, IV

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mellymel

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Kitty, forgot to say, YOU'RE WELCOME! Glad that my crazy little list was helpful to someone ;)
 

mellymel

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Hey sweets! How's it going? Still in the waiting game? It sucks, doesn't it?

I had a full request (plus a 3-5 pg synop), but then got a shitty ass form R that is for someone at the Query level. It was a bit hurtful. But then I discovered the next day that the agent is leaving the agency and agenting. Gah! Go figure. But still, it felt pretty harsh to be sent a form R that directs me to Query Shark, suggesting that my Query may not be working if I'm getting a lot of rejections when she actually requested off my query LOL. Whatevs. Movin' on. Still waiting and waiting and waiting. Got a few more out and tons of agents I haven't yet heard from and I'm going to send out another big batch of queries tomorrow. REVENGE QUERY!!!!!!!
 

Sage

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Cheering you all on!
That's really weird. I wonder if that rejection was sent by mistake or just mass sent out to everyone who had queries or fulls with that agent. Also I'm curious who it was.
 

parumpdragon

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Hey sweets! How's it going? Still in the waiting game? It sucks, doesn't it?

...REVENGE QUERY!!!!!!!

Yeah, it is nerve racking!

That's really weird. I wonder if that rejection was sent by mistake or just mass sent out to everyone who had queries or fulls with that agent. Also I'm curious who it was.

I wondered this too!

:)
 

Sage

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Cheering you all on!
I took a break on TM to revise H/V. What? I know. Even though there haven't been enough requests to think that my ending is causing rejections, I've been debating with myself for a year and a half about the right way to end Hero/Villain. When I beta'd I had two endings and sent each one to four different betas. While there was a greater preference for the depressing ending, agents have repeatedly told me (but not in H/V rejections, just online in general) that they need some sort of hope in YA novels. H/V left no hope for the MCs, just the rest of the world. The alternate ending (the "villain version") leaves hope, and invites sequels to follow.

Anyway, it wasn't too hard to bring the villain ending to the most-revised version of H/V and polish it up. So hopefully if I get more requests, I can send it off without fear that I'll get rejected simply because the end is depressing (I mean, I can't imagine an agent would get that far and love it, then hate the ending and reject it without an R&R, but I don't like taking chances)
 

parumpdragon

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Anyway, it wasn't too hard to bring the villain ending to the most-revised version of H/V and polish it up. So hopefully if I get more requests, I can send it off without fear that I'll get rejected simply because the end is depressing (I mean, I can't imagine an agent would get that far and love it, then hate the ending and reject it without an R&R, but I don't like taking chances)

I am a "Happily ever after" kind of person. At least in the end of each book, the ending seems to be happy. There are conditions and or outside forces muddling it - but there is a definite HEA factor to all my stories.

I am just that way. Too much crap in RL to put it in my novels. They are my vacations so to speak, and so they end thusly. ;) :D
 

mellymel

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Yeah, I thought it was really weird too. I spoke with a few writer friends who suggested that it could have been sent in error (certainly seemed like it was) and suggested it couldn't hurt to send a short follow up note to just verify that I received the correct correspondence. So, I sent a very short, simply and polite note asking this and haven't heard anything back. Of course, a couple of days later (after I sent the letter), I found out about the agent leaving via a retweet from another agent on Twitter which directed me to her blog with her statement about leaving.

I don't have a problem with rejection. It's part of the business, but I just thought it could have been handled a bit more professionally and felt I earned a little more respect on a full and 3-5 page synop (which I had worked feverishly on as I got the request the next day and had no prepared synop--that was fun...NOT) than a query letter rejection. But then again, you think, if someone could do that to me, is that the kind of person I would have wanted to work with anyway?
 

E. S. Lark

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P. Dragon, you'll get there someday. I was all grumpy this time last year because I kept hitting walls with agents. However, after changing my genre (which was a huge surprise to me) and just submitting to publishers, I got accepted in under a month. It was really fast, which was not what I expected at all. It could be the genre though.

Sage, nothing wrong with changing projects :) I want to work on another piece, but I'm neck deep in 3rd to 1st person edits. Regarding happy endings, I either do a happy ending, happy for now endings or open endings (left up to the reader).

I'm hoping to finish this round of edits today. I have about 35 pages to go. Then this weekend I need to work on a query and synopsis so I can submit a partial to my publisher later next week.

Hope you all have a great day!
 

parumpdragon

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Hi there, yeah I'm just hanging out. Not hitting a wall yet. ;)
 

yellowhammer

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Congrats to all who have shared their good news! It's so exciting to "see" y'all getting published.

About changing projects, I change all the time. I've never finished anything. I'm still trying to find the story I want to tell. But, I'm a new writer, and I don't think it's a bad thing or lack of discipline. I've grown from all my past attempts. I'm just trying to find that one story that just has to be told. Anyone else go through that when you first started writing?
 

yellowhammer

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And one more thing... Sorry...

I'm 3,200 words in on my latest WIP. This is the first story that I've actually felt really connected to. In my last attempts, my writing was forced. I had ideas, but they just didn't translate on the page. This is a weird phenomenon for me but I swear this story is practically writing itself. Or maybe I just have something to say this time.

And that's my good news for the board. =)
 

yellowhammer

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It's all making me wish I had this novel already finished so I'd have something to query.

It all sounds so magical in your head. Then there's that minor detail... You know, you have to actually write something, finish it. It get's me every time. :)
 

wampuscat

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It all sounds so magical in your head. Then there's that minor detail... You know, you have to actually write something, finish it. It get's me every time. :)

I was completely like this. I'd get excited about a project and write for a few days and then get excited about something else, etc. I think my problem was that I was insecure in my stories as I got into the meat of the plot. So, I forced myself to try brainstorming and outlining. Even if it was just the basic plot points, getting an outline down helped me get over the "can't-finish-a-story" hump.
 

parumpdragon

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I'm the oddball - I just found a finished MS that I'd forgotten about. It needed tweaking, so I put it aside and just rediscovered it last week [6months later].

Oops.
 

parumpdragon

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Yes, I think that's why it's so hard to break into YA - and then all the authors of adult lit., who are established, seem to be trying it too!

Makes it even harder I think. :(
 
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