"Old" People Writing for Teens V

casualrungal

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Since they didn't mention the exclusive, I don't think you have to worry about it.
 

Ellaroni

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Congrats on request, jtrylch!!!! Very exciting :) Fingers crossed - I love it when AWers achieve their goals.
I don't have any advice on the exclusive, unfortunately. I have yet to be that fortunate with agents. (My current project is meant for my current publisher, so at the moment I'm just focusing on finishing it so I can submit and cross my fingers they accept.)

The novel I have submitted to a writing competition will probably get a yes or no on Nov 1 - the publisher's FB page indicated they'll let the people no longer in the running know (via email, I assume). I so WANT to get through to the next stage! This publisher is the one who handles Rainbow Rowells's translated novels over here. Quality, in other words.

On a different note (or not!) - I discovered my first one-star rating on GR today. Ooooooh. Didn't bother me as much as I feared it would. In fact, I was rather excited. But sort of glad it was only a rating and not a review, because I would have read it and probably felt like a loser for a while.
 

jtrylch13

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Just don't pull a Hale on that one-star review, Ellaroni! :)
 

wampuscat

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YAY, jtrylch!!! No exclusive mentioned, so I wouldn't consider it one. (Curious as to why you offered an exclusive in your query letter though? Maybe she was an agent that prefers them?) Anyway, awesome and best of luck to you!

Ellaroni, 1 stars have to suck, but good for you for handling it wonderfully. I'm hoping if/when I get to that stage, I see it kind of like my first R and feel like it's a rite of passage.

Confession: I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but I've failed to finish reading Under the Dome, the JFK book, Lisey's Story, or Duma Key. It was all in an "I don't feel like reading this" phase, so I don't think it was the books themselves. Still, I thought for a while I was falling out of love with his newer works. Then I got Doctor Sleep, which is now one of my favorites, so relieved that I'm not out of love. Some day, I'd like to re-read a bunch of his books (like The Shining and Dr Sleep back to back or all the Dark Tower books in a row).
 
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CoffeeBeans

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So I just got a request for a full from an agent I queried. Yay!

I have no insight on the exclusive side of things, but YAY! Wow, so exciting. You've only been querying what? A few weeks? That's outstanding!

:snoopy: Congrats!
 

Stiger05

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Congrats, jtrylch!!! I agree with the others, unless the agent specifically said s/he wants an exclusive, you're good.

Wampus, Lisey's Story is one of my favorites. I liked Joyland quite a lot, 11/22/63 was a bit long for me, and Duma Key was just okay, but Lisey's Story really resonated with me when I read it (the whole where writers get their ideas part). The only one I've re-read recently is The Shining (right before Doctor Sleep), and I'll admit his newer works don't hold up as well when compared to the old stuff. While I enjoyed Doctor Sleep, I thought everything got resolved a little too easy in the end--almost like King loved Danny too much to put him through another major end-of-book conflict, you know?

Has anyone read King's newest, Mr. Mercedes, yet?
 

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I would say it's not an exclusive, but I would nix that line in your future queries, jtr. And congrats!
 

Becca C.

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Has anyone read King's newest, Mr. Mercedes, yet?

My boyfriend is a MASSIVE Stephen King fan, and he loved Mr. Mercedes. But he's one of those quiet types who won't really elaborate on things so the most I got out of him was "yeah it's really good." That's really high praise coming from him :p

In other news, they released the identity of the Ottawa Parliament Hill shooter today and it was a guy my boyfriend used to work with. O.O
 

Stiger05

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My boyfriend is a MASSIVE Stephen King fan, and he loved Mr. Mercedes. But he's one of those quiet types who won't really elaborate on things so the most I got out of him was "yeah it's really good." That's really high praise coming from him :p

In other news, they released the identity of the Ottawa Parliament Hill shooter today and it was a guy my boyfriend used to work with. O.O

Oh wow! It's always scarier for me to think of these people as real people, if that makes sense. I mean, it's easier to put them at arm's length and distance yourself. I hope I'm saying that right.

Like, when I read criminal law cases in law school, they were just cases. Names on a page of people who did horrible things; not really different from book characters. Then I practiced criminal law and saw pictures of dead bodies of people I could've stood behind in a grocery store line, and represented people who did horrible things in my own town. It was no longer names and suddenly became real people who I could've known, and did know through being their attorney. It just makes it so much more real. My heart goes out to everyone affected in any way.

For a totally awkward segue, your boyfriend's review makes me more excited about reading Mr. Mercedes now!

Congrats JTR!! That's really, really exciting!! :snoopy:

In other exciting news, "With Polish" is online!

Congrats Hapax!!
 

JFitchett92

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JF! I've been missing you!

You're going to like what I'm doing for NaNo :D

I missed you too ^_^ and I literally screamed when I saw your sig!

So I just got a request for a full from an agent I queried. Yay! In my query I mentioned I would be willing to extend a six week exclusive if she desired to read my full. In the message requesting the full, her assistant doesn't mention the six week exclusive. Right now it doesn't really matter because I have no other requests on the board, but if she didn't ask for it am I obligated to give it since I mentioned it in the query? Is it just assumed? Or should I expect her to specifically say she wants the exclusive?

Here's me:

This manuscript is on multiple submission, but I would be happy to grant exclusivity for six weeks if you are interested in reading the complete novel.

And here's her assistant's email:

Thanks so much for reaching out to XXXX for representation. Would you be so kind as to send the manuscript in its entirety attached as a word doc? Also, if you would let us know should you have interest from other agents, that would be lovely.

I think I'm good without the exclusive, but just wondering.

That sounds crazy exciting JTR :D Congrats and best of luck! The bolded section looks promising if you ask me, they might be a tad afraid of losing out on your novel :p

On the subject of Stephen King, I wasn't interested in any of King's latest works. Joyland, Doctor Sleep and Mr Mercedes just didn't jump out at me. His newest work Revival sounds good though!

On my to-do list I have Under The Dome, From A Buick 8, Needful Things and The Tommyknockers, and my wife grabbed 11/22/63 for me for christmas, but I'm not supposed to know that :p The only book of his I've ever put down was Roadworks, I just couldn't get into it.
 

KSavoie

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jtrylch13 - Congrats on the request!!!

I'm hoping to put my query letter on QLH soon, although I'm nervous. I'm really excited to start sending this out to agents soon!

Also, I'm getting a MacBook pro later today! I'm super excited! Especially with Nano coming up!
 

Sage

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I am totally ignoring the Hush, Hush thread as I write the H/V trilogy. Yes, Evie loves a bad boy and he always always beats the nice boys for her attention. Then again, it's pretty clear that she is mentally screwed up. Still he does have a little bit of a redemptive storyline in book 2 (I hope), so it'd be interesting to see how that is taken. (Is it teaching girls that they can "save" the bad boys? No, not really, lol. It's teaching bad boys that they can "save" themselves, at best)
 
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Hapax Legomenon

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Zoombie, why can't the girl be bad, too?

Anyway, apparently my writing is "weird." I am not sure what to think of that.
 

Sage

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I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a "bad boy" and a "good girl" in a relationship in YA, btw. Often in YA the "bad boy" is just the one who's not as wholesome as the other, the one who isn't the boy-next-door.

But my bad boy is a stalker, has drugged people to make them love him, and has even killed (though we find out later the last part is under the influence of another). I think he's pretty far into Hush, Hush-type territory ;)
 

Bing Z

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<rambling under divine influence>
FWIF I advocate drivers DWI leading to fatal accidents be charged with intent homicide. The intent is established the moment he starts to consume more alcohol/substances than legally prescribed and knowing he's going to get behind the wheel.

"Under influenced" isn't always an acceptable defense, at least morally, for innocence, say, if there is a choice about being influenced.
</rambling>

I do have a badest boy story in mind. The baddie is extremely hawt and nice to the good girl. But he is calculated, violent, ruthless, and will not hesitate to kill people closest to him (other than good girl) for his own good/evil (and has done so). I'm still pondering how he can get away from his evilness.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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Sage, do you think that someone who makes love potions and stuff for a living be venturing into Hush, Hush territory?
 

jtrylch13

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Thanks everyone on the congrats! I'm trying to keep it in perspective because my last partial request was turned down by another agent, so I don't want to get to excited. I've put it in my head that I'm hoping for a revise and resubmit or at least a rejection with constructive feedback. That way if I get an offer I'd be super psyched!

(Curious as to why you offered an exclusive in your query letter though? Maybe she was an agent that prefers them?)

In my agent research I read she prefers if this is offered when it is on multiple submission. May have erroneous info as she didn't request the exclusive, but since I didn't have anything else on the table it didn't seem to hurt to offer it. I haven't put that in any other queries.

Haha, I won't! I try look at it positively - now I have ratings covering the entire GR scale.

I think that's quite an accomplishment. You haven't made it until there are people who love and hate your work! :)


JF - I think they ask all their fulls to let them know if they have other offers. It's just standard practice, but I like your take on it better. :) I loved that line because she used the word "lovely" instead of great or wonderful. I adore people who use the word lovely. I don't know why!
 

Sage

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I do have a badest boy story in mind. The baddie is extremely hawt and nice to the good girl. But he is calculated, violent, ruthless, and will not hesitate to kill people closest to him (other than good girl) for his own good/evil (and has done so). I'm still pondering how he can get away from his evilness.
Oh, hai. I'm here too. Except for the fact that the good girl and bad boy are never together enough to be "nice to her"

Sage, do you think that someone who makes love potions and stuff for a living be venturing into Hush, Hush territory?

I think it's all in how it's portrayed and what other elements there might be. Frex, Ace makes it clear in H/V that he doesn't want to outright brainwash Evie into loving him, but then later is pissed when he finds out she's not drinking the drugged water that makes everyone love him. But he's already been stalkery at this point (he breaks into her bedroom after making sure she'll be out of the house). So it's pretty clearly HH territory.

Someone could be making love potions and I could see it being written fairly innocently. Even giving it to the LI could be written pretty innocently. I actually can think of at least one example of an LI being forced to love the MC and him fighting off her advances because of the spell. Examples of the love spell going wrong (mostly in tv and movies, though), so we never get to thinking about whether it's the equivalent of a date rape drug had it worked. And I could see them making love potions as a sort of business (Love Potion #9?) and dealing with the consequences of that without ever giving their LI one themselves.

An example of a love potion that is treated much more innocently than it could be, even though it effectively results in rape: Voldemort's mother and father. His mother gives his father a love potion and gets pregnant by him, before deciding that he truly loves her and ceasing the potion, at which point she finds out that he doesn't love her. Granted that is not the present of the story and deals with the history of someone who is considered the most evil person in the world. Furthermore, it is a girl giving the love potion to a guy, and though it probably shouldn't be, that is more forgiven in fiction than if the reverse was true. Note that other people using love potions in that same book are also seen as inconveniences, not as dangerous (and the love potion is marketed to and use by girls exclusively)
 

Hapax Legomenon

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Yeah, I guess it's more that this character sells lots of potions and stuff that alter feelings and stuff but of course her hottest seller is love potions.

The girl never gives any love potions to the guy (why would she give out free merchandise?) but she does end up making stuff that messes with his moods because unchecked, those seem to be causing massive property damage. I'm unsure how complicit the guy is in that.