"Old" People Writing for Teens V

Parametric said:

Inspired by Kiwi, I put in a solid 4500 words today. Phew!

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Well done! I may be biased but I think that qualifies as an excellent day's work!

Hapax Legomenon said:

Wrote a thousand words of a story despite having no idea where I'm going or what I am doing. Incredible.

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Keep writing. I was feeling exactly like this a little while ago - I knew where I wanted to get to, but wasn't totally clear how I was going to do it. I wrote a scene that kept bugging me - everything in it was fine but I just kept thinking about it. In the end I decided to give the scene the opposite ending and now the story has gone it a totally different direction but is SOOOO much better than it would have been. Plus I don't have to think about what is going to happen next, it all kind of just flows. I don't think I would have got to the same place though if I didn't keep on writing - just thinking about it doesn't seem to work for me!

BPhilip said:

What do you guys listen to while writing?

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I would love to be able to listen to music while I write, but I'm easily distracted - can't even write when the kids are playing (fighting) in another room. I have to remove all distractions, including music (and sometimes kids!)

Hello BPhilip!

I usually listen to instrumentals while writing. I've always dreamed if my book got made into a movie either Hans Zimmer or Alexandre Desplat would do the music. I am absolutely in LOVE with Alexandre Desplat's music!

Today I listened to Pat Benetar and Ke$ha while editing a party scene haha. I wanted the feeling of being at a party/being in a fist fight lol.

KSavoie said:

I've always dreamed if my book got made into a movie either Hans Zimmer or Alexandre Desplat would do the music. I am absolutely in LOVE with Alexandre Desplat's music!

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Ahh Desplat is another good one! For me it really depends on the writing. If I know how a scene is going to play out exactly, I like to throw something on. Lately it's been Lorde or Imogen Heap. But when I'm not entirely sure where it's going or I'm sitting down to plot things out I usually need silence.

BPhilip - I also listened to Lorde today! haha I had a bunch of rich prep school kids listening to it at a house party so my MC could comment on the irony of it. I felt like listening to it would help me write the scene.

Imogen Heap is also a good one!

Glad to hear you are both listening to Lorde, another good "Kiwilady"!

KiwiLady - Ahhh that took me a second, but I got it! haha

I always listen to music when I write, it helps keep the brain juices flowing I usually listen to video game soundtracks, and Final Fantasy XIII is my current favourite. It's got a more sci-fi feel to it and flows well with my current WIP.

Kiwilady - I didn't even know that was a thing! haha I like it.

JFitchett92 said:

I always listen to music when I write, it helps keep the brain juices flowing I usually listen to video game soundtracks, and Final Fantasy XIII is my current favourite. It's got a more sci-fi feel to it and flows well with my current WIP.

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I'm partial to XII, only because I haven't actually played XIII all the way through. They tend to have amazing soundtracks all around (usually).


Man, I actually did not make it to the writing phase of yesterday's plans, but I'm currently brewing up some coffee for a morning of writing. How's everybody doing?

I listen to a lot of music as I write.

Eh, I have a question. It seems like YA inevitably follows modern ideals -- as in even if a character does not have ideals that are modern at the beginning, they'll have them at the end. I don't think I've seen any YA books that buck this trend. Has anybody else?

What exactly do you mean by "modern ideals"?

I'm playing Write or Clean today. It's usually a November Nano game, but since I'm doing Camp, I'll dust it off.

The rules are simple - While I'm home, I have to be writing or cleaning. Coffee and bathroom breaks allowed. Since I haven't checked email or any of that all morning, I am doing that during coffee break 1.

BPhilip said:

Man, I actually did not make it to the writing phase of yesterday's plans, but I'm currently brewing up some coffee for a morning of writing. How's everybody doing?

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Welcome! Considering my coffee brewing is a pretty involved process... I've destroyed my nano pace (for MY goal) - more than a full week ahead, I'm trying to guess where to place my new, raised goal.

Also, trying to remember I didn't move my car to the lot, so I need to keep the meter fed...

How about you?

Hapax Legomenon said:

Eh, I have a question. It seems like YA inevitably follows modern ideals -- as in even if a character does not have ideals that are modern at the beginning, they'll have them at the end. I don't think I've seen any YA books that buck this trend. Has anybody else?

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Do you mean a character who holds an ideal the reader considers antiquated, or the character's society? I can think of a few in regards to the character's society, I don't know if those uniformly make value judgements regarding those views in real world society.

ETA: upon a dogwalk of further thought -- do you mean modern or progressive ideals? If we're talking not-progressive ideals, I might need to think on.

I mean that regardless of where and how a young character is indoctrinated, they eventually swing around into modern ideals if they were not already there in the first place. I guess I am not so much talking about contemp as I am SF/F. All YA dystopian novels I've read ended up this way, for example.

I'm thinking this is because of simply the time and society of the writer/reader? I don't think it would be pragmatic to have your characters follow "traditional ideals" (I guess that's the opposite) since they are being replaced by modern ideals due to their own outdatedness. So there's this natural swing toward modern ideals.

I have no idea if this is where you wanted this to go.

I'm reading a book that's steampunk.

The viewpoint has just decided "Honor is stupid! I'm not going to do this!!"

And I'm very annoyed because it just seems to inevitably happen in every single YA book I read. By contrast, this does not happen in adult books nearly so often, and sometimes doesn't even happen in children's books.

I think there's something really weird deeply ingrained in YA dystopia and in our societal views of the future. If we look at futuristic novels of the past (Brave New World), everything was sort of a UTOPIA (hopeful), as opposed to the apocalyptic dystopia (Divergent, Hunger Games); somewhere something changed, and I think our ideas of the future have changed, so our ideals and beliefs need to change with it. They need to be progressive and modern. There's no room for antiquated/traditional ideals in a dismal dystopia.

Hapax Legomenon said:

The viewpoint has just decided "Honor is stupid! I'm not going to do this!!"

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Did the character decide this or did the character's society decide this? I think you just might have a character who has a different modus operandi. The black sheep?

BPhilip said:

Did the character decide this or did the character's society decide this? I think you just might have a character who has a different modus operandi. The black sheep?

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It's the main character and and just the main character. And this happens in every single YA book.

Perhaps the priority of honor has changed. Or maybe WHAT is honorable is shifted.

I don't think you understand what I mean.

I am sick of characters adopting 21st century western values as an inevitable part of their character development. What has been considered progressive has changed dramatically over time and is different in different cultures. There is no reason of any progressive inkling to change the main character into a modern American girl or boy.

Well I just said that it wouldn't be practical to adopt an outmoded belief in a 21st century, Western novel. I don't think this problem is the same if you were to read something from the East, but since we live in the Western Society, you're going to come across ideals that sometimes need to change with the time. So characters, regardless of time period the book is set in, are going to look modern.

But I also mean, if you look at the Wife of Bath, she's surprisingly "modern" for the 14th century.

But we are not talking about characters in America in the 21st century.

It is also possible for other cultures to be progressive that seem similar to what you consider strictly 21st American ideals. Not every culture sticks to tradition.

Anyway, how's everyone's writing going today?

Is anyone else following #dayofYA from the RWA conference? I'm so fascinated by conferences. I'd love to go to another. Maybe next year when the little one is not so little.