Old People Writing for Teens, IV

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mellymel

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Yay, Smiley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No stick for you! (said in my best Soup Nazi voice)
 

Sage

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Cheering you all on!
I expected you guys to have gone crazy posting this weekend, but it was actually a pretty reasonable amount of posts to go through.

Yay, Smiley!!!! I also finished my R&R. I did it on Thursday, but I haven't had a chance to post here or send it out since. We can figure out how to write the e-mail to the agent together, haha. Those e-mails are harder than a novel, IMO.

Okay, new, just-as-exciting subject:

I spent the weekend at a regional convention for the Sweet Adelines, which is female barbershop (you probably recognize barbershop as male barbershop quartets, such as in The Music Man, but there are female quartets and choruses as well). They told me that it would be a lot of cool vocal technique classes, but this year they focused on choreography and marketing to younger folks. I thought it was great fun, although I have a sore throat (so it's just as well that we didn't do vocal stuff).

Yesterday, some of the people in my chorus talked to a group from a local high school that had come to learn, even though they aren't Sweet Adelines. It was a female barbershop chorus from that school. Then last night they had a contest for teen quartets, and watching the first group (who won), I started to think of the girls in the group as individuals and what their stories were and how it would be to be in a barbershop quartet in high school. (It helped that half the presentations focused on what would attract teens and 20-somethings to this type of music).

So now I'm totally inspired to write a story about a female barbershop quartet in high school. I got contact info from the director of the high school choir (I didn't want to look creepy and approach the girls), and I also got the phone number of one of the girls in the winning quartet so that I could interview them if I want to (Look at me, making contacts and doing research!) And there's a thing called Harmony Camp that some of the ladies in my chorus volunteer for and it's a weekend camp for teens doing barbershop, so I think I'll volunteer for that if I'm not doing field work! And of course, there will be competition in April, and I'll be able to see how teens deal with that (there should be at least one teen quartet from each region, and there are at least 23 regions. ETA: What am I thinking? That's international, and April is regional, so I don't know what the make-up of teen quartets will be like).

I don't have a story yet, beyond them working towards the International competition, but I envision giving each of the four girls a POV, and maybe titling each chapter with their vocal part, which I kinda envision determining their individual personalities and story-lines. I have a little background for one, and an inciting incident for the story, and one of the gals I was driving back with had this great anecdote that I totally want to put in some novel some day, maybe this one.

I'm both jazzed and nervous about this. Another story idea that will take some research, and also it's contemporary, and I'm going to try my hardest not to add a ghost in this one ;) but I don't know if I can sustain a contemporary plot.

I'm aiming for it being a NaNo novel, which gives me a whole year of Sweet Adeline's events to kinda see how everything works, instead of just guessing, as well as interviewing these girls.
 

Stuck In Kansas

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Sage! Dad-gum if your enthusiasm over your new idea ain't contagious! I love reading how authors get inspired by ideas and life surrounding them. It's exciting.

Congrats and go get 'em, Smiley! You don't need your hand held! Strap on your big girl britches and let 'em know who's boss!
 

Periwinkle

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Sage, your idea sounds awesome and like Kansas said, your excitement is contagious! My chorus teacher in junior high (what they used to call middle school in the olden days) was a member of the Sweet Adelines, though I never saw her perform. With the popularity of Glee, I think you have a winning and marketable idea. Good luck!

Alright, back to work on my WiP before the Patriots game. :D
 

parumpdragon

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Waiting to hear back on my subs - lol.

Trying to figure something else to work on. :)
 

lisalulu09

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Sage: That sounds like a totally awesome idea! There should definitely be more YA music books.

Sadly I have no interesting inspiration stories to tell...
 

Sage

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Thanks, guys! It's great to hear that people think your SNIs sound interesting! I hope I don't chicken out due to research and lack of speculative elements

How's Dodger, lisa? I was looking at it the other day at B&N.
 

JustSarah

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Not exactly related to writing, but I just made some chocolate muffins. I did not burn them, so I might be getting the hang of it.^^
 

lisalulu09

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It's really good so far! It's very cleverly written.

I just wish I wasn't reading quite so slowly at the moment.
 

wampuscat

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Go, Smiley, go!

Go, Sage, go!

(BTW, Sage, I was in a female quartet in high school. We weren't great and didn't do nationals or anything, but I know a little about choir and state competition, if you need someone for research. Though that was a while ago. Maybe things have changed.)
 

Sage

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I'd love to hear any interesting stories you have from being in a quartet in high school!
 

Smiley0501

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Sage I sent you a PM. Your idea sounds so good.

Ugh of course my laptop/harddrive is dying of course. Getting something new hopefully this week.......
 

JKRowley

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Sage, I love the quartet idea. Your enthusiasm is contagious.

Smiley, congrats on finishing the revision. Good luck.

Still plugging away at my first draft. I'm in the middle and pulling strings together for some big moments. I am enjoying the hell out of writing this and wish other stuff didn't keep getting in the way.

We finished the fourth season of Breaking Bad last night. At least I won't have that distraction, at least until season 5 is on Netflix.
 

lisalulu09

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I had an idea. What if there was a pact between friends never to fall in love? (I was looking up suicide pacts and... it just came to me).
 

Dorothy

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Sage, love the barbershop quartet idea. Sucked me right in! Write it!

Lisa, that's a great start. Just be careful not to stray into already-done-that territory, as in similar stories to "Friends with Benefits" and "No Strings Attached" (the movies). Be sure to give it a unique twist. ;)
 

Sage

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Maybe check out The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers too, Lisa, for a more extreme (and fantastical) example.

Thanks, Dorothy and Jill!
 
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