"Old" People Writing for Teens V

JustSarah

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I've been sort of absent, as I'm sort of rethinking how I'm writing. Just finished my first novella. (Hopefully I have many more to come.) I'm starting to rethink my preference for science fiction over fantasy.

I'm finding myself introducing a character to solve a story problem. I wasn't expecting that since I'm a plotter. I'm still sort of wishy washy if I'm a MG or YA writer. I'd really love to do both if I can.

Does anyone else feel depressed while editing?:p
 
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Hapax Legomenon

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Beta project, for stuff close to being done... hahaha ha haaa...
 

Sage

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Unfinished manuscripts are allowed, but finished mss get more use out of betas. Of course any beta offers could also be answered with, "Can I get back to you when it's finished?" The entry included a finished/unfinished line.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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I don't even know if I should bother polishing the beginning before it's done?
 

JustSarah

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Are first drafts OK? I always thought it was standard to send it at least the second draft.
 

fredXgeorge

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Ooh, this is perfect. I'm hoping to have my WIP all done by around then anyway.
 

Dorothy

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Hey guys! Not to spam the thread, but my publisher informed me that the Kindle version of my book is on sale through the end of February for $1.99 (Nook version 99 cents). You know, just in case you were dying to read it or something. ;)

Okay, now off to get some groceries, pick up my son as he returns from his week long ski trip (school trip), and then write up some more chapters. :)
 

Sage

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One post you're active in does not equate to spam ;) Sounds like an excellent excuse to buy it

The beta project is a little different because you can even sub unfinished novels. Just be up front about it in the entry. Once you have the names of anyone who offered to beta, you can talk to them and see if they're willing to wait on it, or if they want to read what's written right then, or any other options you can think of.

You also have 5 weeks from now before you even get those beta offer names, so that gives you some time to finish/polish it up. That's more time than you get for a NaNo novel
 
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Sage

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The sun is shining and the birds are tweeting outside. If the snow piles would just melt, it would feel like spring.
 

Periwinkle

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I'm old and I write for teens. Can I join your cocktail party? Are there cocktails?
:welcome: RunWrite! You've come to the right place. I think I've seen you posting in SYW. What genre do you write?

I'm still sort of wishy washy if I'm a MG or YA writer. I'd really love to do both if I can.
I know how you feel. I started out writing MG and have 3 unfinished MG WiPs. Then I had a YA inspiration that I decided to play with during NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago. Still working on it! I found that most of my reading was YA and so I decided to stick with it. I'd like to go back and try MG again one day.

Hey guys! Not to spam the thread, but my publisher informed me that the Kindle version of my book is on sale through the end of February for $1.99 (Nook version 99 cents). You know, just in case you were dying to read it or something. ;)
Thanks, Dorothy! Awesome deal :)

*wanders off to check out the beta project*
 

Hapax Legomenon

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I guess I'd be kind of afraid to submit anything as-is because 1) it's in first draft (the first after rough) mode, and 2) I am one of those people who thinks they are sure of stuff at the time of writing and then change their minds at a moment's notice. So I may feel like I'm absolutely sure of the direction the novel is taking right now, but I'm afraid to edit on that impulse because that direction might be completely different in about fifteen minutes. Therefore editing as I go is impossible and unadvisable.

Also, it has taken me about 2 months to get a third of the way done. There's no way I can get the other 2/3rds and polish done in five weeks.
 

lisalulu09

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It is a WEEK until I meet an agent at a pitch event and I STILL have no ideas for questions to ask her! Help?
 

jtrylch13

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Why can't you beta read in OpenOffice? It has track ("record") changes and commenting, just like Word. I beta for my CP all the time. He uses Word on a Mac, I use OO on a PC :)

I didn't think you could open an OpenOffice doc with Word. One of my betas said he couldn't open it. I opened his word doc in OO, but it's kind of jumbled. It made every sentence into a prargraph. I have a copy of Microsoft Office I bought, but can't get it to finish installing on my computer and the computer guru hasn't called me back. Might have to take it somewhere else.

Does anyone else feel depressed while editing?:p

Um, yeah! Sometimes I'm like, "Oh, this is so awesome! I'm so proud of myself!" Other times I'm like, "This sucks. I suck. Writing sucks." It's a roller coaster.
 

Sage

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Lisa, ask her what the market is like these days for a book like yours?

Is it the type of event where you're expected to ask things about your book or where you're expected to ask things about her as an agent or where you're expected to ask things about publishing in general?
 

Sage

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I didn't think you could open an OpenOffice doc with Word. One of my betas said he couldn't open it. I opened his word doc in OO, but it's kind of jumbled. It made every sentence into a prargraph. I have a copy of Microsoft Office I bought, but can't get it to finish installing on my computer and the computer guru hasn't called me back. Might have to take it somewhere else.

Was it saved as rich text format? Open Office has problems with formatting in RTF. It ruined a submission I did once, and I immediately bought Word afterwards.
 

jtrylch13

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Nope. .odt. I don't know what's the best way to go. Like I said, I PAID for Word, but I there's always an error in setup. I've been so busy I haven't had the time to do much about it. Computers are so irritating. I must have a virus or one of my so called virus protection softwares are blocking the setup. Grrrrr!
 

Hapax Legomenon

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Aren't PDFs the best idea?

I don't know, I've had a lot of problems with scrivener because I have no idea how to export things properly.
 

Sage

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You should go through the tutorial for scrivener. It's long, but it's very helpful. I would have no clue about exporting except that I went through every step on the exporting tutorial so that I would not have a problem.

I don't think Word opens .odt files, but OO should be able to save as a .doc.
 

jtrylch13

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I prefer PDFs. I THOUGHT everyone had a PDF reader and commenting and highlighting in PDFs are so easy it's my favorite way to exchange material, but I do have betas who can't open PDFs and those who prefer to comment in other forms. It all comes down to preference and what you are used to.
 

Dorothy

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Can you open it with Google Docs in Drive? I do that sometimes, when I get a docx file. I open it in Google Docs and from there save it as a .rtf file and open it in Word.
 

Netz

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:welcome: RunWrite!

Sage, the Beta Project looks pretty cool. :) I might participate with my WIP - it'll be good to do some crits here at any rate (haven't done any for a little while). Like Haphazard though, there's no way I can finish & polish in the next 5 weeks, but it'll give me incentive to keep cracking on (& any potential beta readers might be okay to wait until I'm done). The first 750 words are pretty polished though, lol.
 

CJ Knightrey

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Oh man, it feels like it's been forever since I creeped on into this thread :D Hi again everyone, and a new hello to anyone I haven't met yet! (New hello? Is that how you word it? Does it even make sense? ...)

This beta project thing looks awesome, but I don't know if I'm going to enter. I totally want to, but I'm still in first draft phase and I already know there are major issues with it. I'll try do as much as I can in the next few weeks but I'm not sure.

*Knows nothing about computer stuff so can't comment on the PDF's or Word Docs or anything*
 

Hapax Legomenon

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You should go through the tutorial for scrivener. It's long, but it's very helpful. I would have no clue about exporting except that I went through every step on the exporting tutorial so that I would not have a problem.

I don't think Word opens .odt files, but OO should be able to save as a .doc.

I mean I've had scrivener for like eight years now. Is anything different? Do I still have the relevant tutorial?
 

jtrylch13

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I tried importing my .odt into Google docs and it freaked out. I might be able to open the word doc. I'll give it a try. We (my beta and I) are considering just pasting in emails, but it's a bit of a hassle, so I don't know, I'll see. The thing is, I have a whole list of betas reading for me, so I don't technically NEED him, but I feel like it would be horrible to let him down. I'm really passionate about helping other writers because I received help from others. Even if I never publish anything, if I can help someone else, I feel accomplished.