Would you read something like this?

love2write · Sep 16, 2009

I am currently writing/working on a book/story about a young girl, about 13 years old who is take hostage inside her school cafeteria. It follows a Hostage Rescue Squad team through the situation and how they try to help everyone, and also what happens to the girl and the team afterward. Would any of you want to read that? Why or Why not? Also, I have written about 105 pages (Around 23,000 words), how long do you think it should be for it to be published, or before I try to publish it or consider publishing it? I also have another thread, Multiple narratives, too much? Which explains that multiple people narrate, including the girl taken hostage, the man taking her hostage, a parent, and some of the Hostage Rescue Squad officers.

heyjude · Sep 16, 2009

If it's well-written, yes.

M/T/S tends to fall between 80-100K for debut novelists.

jeseymour · Sep 17, 2009

Is it aimed at a young adult audience? I think it would be shorter, in that case. For instance, the Dell Yearling contest for a first young adult novel specifies no shorter than 100 pages and no longer than 224 pages, double spaced. Otherwise, I agree with HeyJude on length, although I have seen guidelines as low as 65,000 words, they generally land around 80k.

kaitie · Sep 17, 2009

Yeah, I'd definitely read it. I'd typically say "don't worry about word count for now," but then again, I'm also gonna be rejected on word count, so I'm probably not the best to listen to.

As for multiple narratives, I could see it working. I've read some books that do it brilliantly, and others you just want to smack the author for, so it depends on the work. The plot alone sound interesting to me, though, and yeah, I'd have no problem considering it adult despite the main character's age. It's the kind of story with the potentially to be really gritty and powerful.

RJK · Sep 17, 2009

It sounds like an interesting plot, but is there enough material there to fill a novel?

Chase · Sep 17, 2009

love2write said:
I am currently writing/working on a book/story about a young girl, about 13 years old who is take hostage inside her school cafeteria. It follows a Hostage Rescue Squad team through the situation and how they try to help everyone, and also what happens to the girl and the team afterward. Would any of you want to read that? Why or Why not? Also, I have written about 105 pages (Around 23,000 words), how long do you think it should be for it to be published, or before I try to publish it or consider publishing it? I also have another thread, Multiple narratives, too much? Which explains that multiple people narrate, including the girl taken hostage, the man taking her hostage, a parent, and some of the Hostage Rescue Squad officers.

Even a new novelist can find enough material in the relationship of a teen daughter in peril and a family in public spotlight . . . someone deranged enough to kidnap a child . . . and a clutch of cops pretending to work as a team while undependently pushing self-promoting schemes to "break the case."

You might find it difficult to keep the words to as few as 60,000, which some say is minimum for a novel.

Good luck on your idea for a project.

love2write · Sep 17, 2009

Thanks. I Just want to add a little, I am sort of trying to make the main focus the Hostage Rescue squad team, becuase then if i wanted to I could possibly make sequels, but there is still plenty of focus on the young girl.

Steam&Ink · Sep 17, 2009

Hi again love2write, I should have asked in the other thread - are you aiming your book towards a Young Adult audience, or toward adult audiences? Because that will make a difference with both the word count and the voice you can tell it in.

When I said I would read it if it wasn't told in 13-year-old POV, I didn't mean to say there was anything wrong with that POV per se; in fact if you are writing for that age group it may work well. But, assuming you're aiming for an adult market, you will need to remember your readers might be more interested in the adult POVs.

Good luck with it all

love2write · Sep 17, 2009

I have the 13 year old narrating, but most of the time i actually have the officers working on the case narrating. There are still a bunch of narrations from her, but most i would say are coming from the officers.

Would you read something like this?

love2write

Lost in thoughts....

heyjude

Making my own sunshine

jeseymour

kaitie

With great power comes

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Chase

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

love2write

Lost in thoughts....

Steam&Ink

sekrit superhero

love2write

Lost in thoughts....