Writing, and Finding Out More about YA

[cathschaffstump]

Some new reading reveals that most YA novels are 40K to 60K, so I've reduced the number I'm shooting for to 80K, and I'll hope to shorten it more to a conventional length. Please note that the patchwork stuff I put together tonight is NOT real writing. It's about 4 scenes and some notes about what I need to do to make this all smooth. Some of it will be chopped out, but mostly it will be added to.

I've decided chapter 3 is where we deal with humanizing Isolde, Atreus (yeah, like that's going to happen), and the opposition forces. Writing chapter three will take me a while longer than the preface, chapter one, and chapter two.

I didn't work on it more than a half an hour tonight. Bryon was kind enough to read what I have so far, and help me with stupid corrections, and since there were already 78 pages, that took a while. Meanwhile, I got my first agent query already to go when this is ready. Yup, did my homework for that one.

Here's what we did tonight:

20,496 / 80,000 (25.6%)

Wow, it looks more impressive. Less #K=more impressive!

No writing tomorrow. Wedding tomorrow.

Comments

[blpurdom.livejournal.com]

One of the things that the horror writer PD Cacek said to me (after telling me that she loved the first three chapters of Animal Control and wanted to see the whole thing) was, "It isn't a young adult novel, is it?" I think that was, in part, because she screens manuscripts for Leisure Books and I don't think they do YA, but after talking to a variety of other authors and editors it seems that two things are going on lately: a) YA editors are being swamped with so many submissions they can't keep up with the slush piles, especially in the fantasy genre, and b) editors looking for SF, horror and fantasy for "adults" are really looking for something that will have an adult/YA crossover audience, something that will be snatched up by teens and adults alike, but they're leery of labeling some of these offerings "YA" because they don't want that to prevent the adult readers from picking up the books (or even going into the YA section of the bookstores, which many folks who aren't teens never dream of doing).

I've also seen loads of YA books lately that are well over 100,000 words, based on the page-count and word-density on the page. I think the chief obstacle when it comes to high word count are agents/editors; if you're doing a query letter and include the information that it's over 100,000 words there are a lot of folks whose eyes just glaze over and they deep-six the submission and go to the next one. Once you have a book contract or agent you can probably get away with a novel over 100,000 words (or if you're Susannah Clarke, who WAS an editor for a long time and so she Knew People) but for a first novel from an unknown quantity you're really pushing your luck if you try something like that.

Right now Animal Control is 114,000 words, and I have three chapters still to write... Oy. Editing's going to be a bitch. ;)

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

I could certainly see the validity of not offering it as YA. I'm going with the YA strategy because I'm approaching editors, and I understand that most want you to commit to a genre. *shrug* I guess you gotta try a strategy.

However, my trip to a bookstore today was heartening. MANY adults in the YA section, indeed. I agree that the cross over is the best bet, but I don't know where to put that in the bookstore.

We'll try for a more modest offering. I feel your pain, though, because there's a lot of Klarion material, and I'm not sure what to put in the first book. I think the first two trials, but more? And how to end it so it seems like an end, rather than just a place to stop before the next book?

These are the questions that keep us going!

Also this question: when you're ready for readers for Animal Control, would you consider me?

Catherine