Saturday, October 10, 2009

Writing YA and a Reminder

First, if you haven't entered the contest for a free book this Halloween, do so now. All you have to do is comment your favorite thing about fall. Also, KidLit is having a query contest and the prize is an agent's crit of your first 30 pages of your finished manuscript! That's a great prize, people, go and enter before the 31st!

I chose this book cover because this book was one of the most influential and favorite books the time I read it in Junior High. It was seriously one of those read-while-you-try-not-to-bump-into-other-kids-between-class-migration books.

Writing YA is what I love best. I'm not sure if it's the whole mc-finding-themselves sort of thing, reliving that moment of how so many emotions are just so raw and at the same time confusing, but I love it. Mainly in the fantasy aspect, whether it be far, far away in a different world, or here in our own with a new twist. However, I usually write it in 3rd limited, and with my new project when I started writing, it just came out 1st person, like I had no other choice. Like my muse was telling me "this is how it must be done, so don't think twice about trying to write it any other way". Which is fine. Yay! As long as it's all coming out smooth, right? But, being an overly obsessive (partially compulsive) person, I can't help but stop every time I'm done with a writing session and wonder "does that sound like what a YA would sound like?" I almost feel like I should be glued to episodes of 90210, The OC, Gossip Girl, or Vampire Diaries just to get a glimpse of what teens today do and talk like without assuming my current outside experience counts enough. But how the heck do I fit any of that in my schedule?

Maybe I should just worry about getting the first draft done and stop giving myself excuses to dawdle. But then, voice is a big deal, and changing voice is practically a rewrite in my opinion, especially in 1st person POV. Soooo....I'm just really ranting, but if anyone has any suggestions, lemme hear 'em!

Kid Stuff:

Today, Big A wore sun glasses, saying they were like my (real) glasses and that she had to wear them all day just like me except for when she sleeps (just like me). She also bounced around on her gigantic purple bouncy ball saying "Look, a big poop is stuck to my butt!" (she uh, gets that from her dad....)

Little A is now (and has been) pulling herself up on the coffee table (and pulling everything OFF of it). She's only 8 months, so I can only imagine she'll be walking way too soon than I care to think about. Can you say screwed? Cause that's what I'm gonna be. This kid is WAY too curious for her own good. But she cracks me up. And when she knows she's doing something bad or about to get into something she shouldn't be getting into, she just giggles and speeds up her still-new-crawl. The funniest thing EVAR. I should stop laughing, I'm sure it only encourages her.

4 comments:

  1. Watching 90210 or Gossip Girl or any of those other things would encourage violence against teens. It wouldn't inform you at all. Nope. Not a bit.

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  2. Great post. Your daughters comment made me laugh out loud. You make excellent points about writing YA. So much of that is why I write it too!

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  3. I love all things YA, which is probably why I write it too. :) And as far as a YA voice goes, if you're reading plenty of YA lit, I think you've probably already got a good feel for it. Not that I'm not plauged with such concerns myself. But this is what I tell myself when such concerns stall the writing. Have fun with the 1st person. It can certainly be a ride!

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  4. Good point, Chris. Jenn, she cracks me up on a daily basis. And Anissa, welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by, and you, as well, make a good point. I'm about to buy Hush, Hush to pull me back into YA world, it's been over a month since I've read (after a span of lots of reading lol) so maybe that'll help my confidence.

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