All Things Middle Grade

elissacruz

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Elissa - definitely need to speed write again! Can't get you to do a FakeNaNo, huh? Urgh. Go have fun with that contemp, anyway - whenever you can!

Well, I would normally do Nano, but I've already started the contemp and I'm just not feeling up to speed writing this one. It's rich in description (which I'm terrible at writing), so I have to go slow to capture it. Quite honestly it is driving me nuts to take things so slowly, but it is probably a good thing. (I think.)

But, I will totally look you up when I'm ready for another fastdraft session. That was fun, though totally insane!
 

heza

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I suxxorz at both Nano and fake Nano. I don't know why, but every single time I think I have life in hand and can do one, something explodes, burning both my writing time and my muse to cinders. I do not know how to manage my life. I need to hire someone to manage my life.


MsJudy said:
That's the part where my head always gets all freaked out by this business. There's more to it than just writing a good book. You have to write a good book that someone believes is marketable. I always doubt my ideas... I mean, it sounds like a great story to me, but... Will it sell?

I know, I know. Write what you love, write the book you want to write, etc. But when you have more than one idea to work on, you have to decide where to focus your time. And that's hard when you don't know what everyone is looking for!


I want to strangle myself. I did this months ago. I have two MG books in my head, and I had to pick one to focus on. I feel like both are fairly grabbing premises, both in slightly (as of yet) under-represented settings. I decided one of them was more marketable than the other, so I started working on it exclusively. This morning, I was looking at one of those blogs that critique your logline or query or whatever, and there's one up that is almost exactly what my other book (the one I put aside for now) is going to be about--same special niche, same general plotline, same MC character name, same supporting character type... Now I'm all flighty because if she's getting critiques, then she already has this thing written. If she gets it repped and gets it published and it does well, then I'm screwed.

*Sigh*

I still feel like the book I picked to do first is still a more marketable concept, but I can't help but feeling like I've now missed my chance with the other... like someone else is going to get there first because I put it off and "steal my slot."



Nikki said:
Ms. Judy - you're right. It's so hard to decide where to spend your energy. I stopped watching all television, for real, a few years back. That's cleared up enough time for me to finish quite a few manuscripts a year. I know a few other published authors who point to this as their key to productivity as well.

Nooooooo!!! Don't tell me I'll do better if I give up TV! That's harsh. Lol. I already gave up cable so as to cut back, but, gah, none at all? What was the process like? Did you have withdrawals? How do you stay up with popular culture?


I find I'm not very good at saying"no" to any idea. So I pretty much write them all, in order, if they seem to have all the requisite parts to be a novel, and they seem middle-grade-ish. (I'm most drawn to MG, and it seems to be considered a good career decision to stay in one genre/area for a while. We'll see!) It's coming in handy just now, having a bunch of MSs sitting on the hard drive... but not all of them are good, by any means. But any writing is good writing, for the practice at least, I think.

I wish I could write everything that pops in my mind. It would be so nice to have a stack of MSs ready to polish should I get an agent, and then I'd have something in hand that says, "Why yes, I am prolific."

If Fate smiles on me, I plan to stay in MG until my audience has grown up. Then I'm going to start writing YA, with a few MG stories tossed in here and there as they come to me. I had MG authors I loved and who I wish wrote older things that I could have finished growing up with, you know?
 

Ferret

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Synopses aren't that bad. I usually write them without worrying about the length. Then I go back and edit them until they're the right length.
 

CatHead

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Ferret, I notice you are agented. Can you tell me how long that process was for you?
 

Ferret

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Ferret, I notice you are agented. Can you tell me how long that process was for you?

Well, I had only been querying that novel for a little over a month, but it wasn't my first book. (Or my second. Or my third. Or my--oh, you get the point.) So about a month or about two years, depending how you count it. I ended up getting a couple of offers, so I got to pick, which was nice but also very ulcer-inducing.
 

CatHead

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Thanks for the response, Ferret. I finished my second novel, and recently had it rejected by some very high profile agents. :)

I have now joined a writing group to help polish it before I send it out again. I hope to really start my third by November. Did you ever think about going the self publishing ebook route before you got an agent? Or do think that's a cop out?
 

Ferret

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Thanks for the response, Ferret. I finished my second novel, and recently had it rejected by some very high profile agents. :)

I have now joined a writing group to help polish it before I send it out again. I hope to really start my third by November. Did you ever think about going the self publishing ebook route before you got an agent? Or do think that's a cop out?

I don't think self publishing is a cop out, but from what I've heard, it's really, really hard to do with MG. Maybe someone who's done it will chime in.

Also, I felt that if agents weren't interested, maybe I wasn't quite ready.
 
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CatHead

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I guess i'll just keep searching for an agent and working in the meantime. I am curious to hear from anyone who has self published a middle grade ebook and had some success in marketing it.
 

CatHead

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Anyone know where to find this info- who are the most prolific agents selling middle grade book? Most sales, I guess, is what I'm curious about.
 

Nikki

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Hey, Cathead? Take a look at this for MG agents:
http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/search/label/Agents that rep MG

I like Casey's blog, and she has great info gathered on lots of different agents. Good luck subbing!

Heza - re: Your question about giving up TV completely. Of course you don't have to. Lots of other writers watch TV, or so I think. I keep up on popular culture on the Internetz, the newspaper, my kids, and reading YA books. ;P
And if I gave up all that stuff, I'd probably write twenty books a year!
Elissa - you know my email, when that evil synopsis needs a quick read. :)
 

Kelkelen

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Hi, all! *waves* I've lurked about for a year or so, and have finally joined the site in earnest. I love all children's literature, from picture books up through YA, and would love to write at all age levels.

Right now, my current plans for this year's NaNoWriMo involve middle-grade fiction -- my first venture into this territory (writing-wise, anyway). I've been getting better and better at using NaNo with an eye towards finished books; last year's project eventually resulted in my first complete draft of a novel ever, and this year I'm doing more planning than I've ever done before!

Still, I'm feeling intimidated. All those niggling self-doubts, like... what if I'm just not funny? What if it's too predictable/boring/complicated/(insert any adjective here)?

Anyway, I'm very happy to see this thread! I think I read about 2/3 of its posts, before actually becoming an AW member. *blush!*
 

MsJudy

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I stopped watching all television, for real, a few years back. That's cleared up enough time for me to finish quite a few manuscripts a year. I know a few other published authors who point to this as their key to productivity as well.

I think I'd have to quit my job and put the boys up for adoption if I really wanted to be productive...
 

Nikki

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Judy, well I did all that, too.
Actually, the boys were more of a "Ransom of Red Chief" situation... they keep coming back, wanting "food" and "clothing" and "birthday parties." Needy little things.
And I traded in my job for a less demanding one. Also, less lucrative, so it's not like I could afford all those cable channels anyway! ;)
Just found I have to write another novel in the next ten weeks.
Yes, a whole nother novel.
Is there enough booze and chocolate in my house for that? The world, yes. But I think a shopping trip is in order.
 

elissacruz

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Judy, well I did all that, too.
Just found I have to write another novel in the next ten weeks.
Yes, a whole nother novel.
Is there enough booze and chocolate in my house for that? The world, yes. But I think a shopping trip is in order.

Oh, Nikki! You can do it. As I recall, we both finished an entire draft in something like 5 days, wasn't it?

In fact, I might (MIGHT!) be persuaded to do another friendly fast draft competition if it helps get you going. I've noticed my slow-as-molasses approach to this draft more closely resembles a screeched-to-a-halt approach. #notgood #notgoodatall

#contemplatinganotherfastdraftsession

(#twittermuch? #yes #yesIdo) ;)
 
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Nikki

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Judy - Hmm. Because I've spent the advance? Yes, that would be it. :)
Elissa - I'm going to finish up agent revisions on the last one and then -- start in next week? Monday, say? Maybe just for that first week, to get things going - 7K sound reasonable? <3
 

SheilaJG

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Nikki - good luck! Sometimes I wish I had a deadline, so I could force myself to be more productive. I'm sure it would stress me out if it actually happened though.

Question -

I queried an agent in August, and got an automated response that they were closed to submissions until Sept. 1st. When I checked back in September, they had updated the website to say they were closed indefinitely. So I was really surprised when I got a response on Sunday saying they'd like to see my full.

The problem? I sent the full, as requested, and got another automated response saying they were closed to submissions. Should I follow up? According to the boards here, this agent is taking 5 months on fulls. I would hate to wait that long only to find out my submission hit her spam folder. On the other hand, if my query got read despite the auto-response, maybe I should assume my full will be, too?