The next big thing

lolchemist said:

(Hey I was just about to pm you to give me the link to your book on GoodReads, the one with the three girls on the cover, I want to add that one to my list too! Just reply on here though b/c I can't figure out how this pm stuff works!)

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Click on the name of the poster you want to PM, and a drop down menu will come off their name beside a post. One of the options will be to send them a private message.

Social SF. Yes, it's out there. Would Stranger in a Strange Land be considered such?

My book is kinda, sorta hard SF 'cause I can't keep my science-minded brain out of the damn storyline. Lots of reviewers and readers have called it "golden age." I guess I'll take that.

Been watching a program called Masters of Horror, and just watched the making of Scream. Kind of had me pining for a good old horror run, but definitely something different.

I love anti-heroes too! Though the only one I really have is in my adult novel being summarily rejected . . . and has been for YEARS . . .

But I just love how publishing rarely actually knows what it wants, and them being adamant about NOT wanting something makes me think, I bet that's going to be the thing to take off .

And lolchemist, here you go (and thank you for your support - I feel like a politician or something, quick, someone give me a baby to kiss!): http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5623269-the-friday-society

MysticPunk said:

That sounds interesting as hell. Good luck!

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Thanks! When I get above 50 posts, I'll have to post something in one of the "share your work" forums.

My book, which recently sold to Delacorte/Random House, has an anti-hero, just so you know! So there are editors taking them.

Predicting trends is fun, but does it give anyone else a stomach ache? Seriously, it makes me nauseous. I'm very very slowly writing a YA sci-fi in between everything else I'm doing, and now I'm worried I'm going to miss the boat at the snail's pace I'm going!

MKrys said:

My book, which recently sold to Delacorte/Random House, has an anti-hero, just so you know! So there are editors taking them.

Predicting trends is fun, but does it give anyone else a stomach ache? Seriously, it makes me nauseous. I'm very very slowly writing a YA sci-fi in between everything else I'm doing, and now I'm worried I'm going to miss the boat at the snail's pace I'm going!

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My thinking is that I'm just going to come forward with such a smoking good novel that it doesn't matter what trends might be out there.

triceretops said:

Been watching a program called Masters of Horror, and just watched the making of Scream. Kind of had me pining for a good old horror run, but definitely something different.

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The "teen slasher" genre was huge in movies when I was a teen, but have there ever been any successful book equivalents? I recently discovered that "I know what you did last summer" was based on a Lois Duncan book from the 70s, but I can't think of any more recent examples (but then, I've only rediscovered YA in the last couple of years). Most of the horror I've seen has been part of a series imprint (eg Point Horror).

TudorRose said:

The "teen slasher" genre was huge in movies when I was a teen, but have there ever been any successful book equivalents? I recently discovered that "I know what you did last summer" was based on a Lois Duncan book from the 70s, but I can't think of any more recent examples (but then, I've only rediscovered YA in the last couple of years). Most of the horror I've seen has been part of a series imprint (eg Point Horror).

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Cruddy by Lynda Barry is an amazing YA horror novel.

hmm, the heroine of my current WIP could be called anti-hero-ish. And her love interest ( one of them anyway) is a straight-up antihero. I hope that doesn't doom me from the start

Sage: I know there's a thread about that here, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I think whether or not my protag counts as an antihero depends on the definition of "antihero" in the context of YA. Does it mean genuinely morally grey or just "doing things parents wouldn't approve of"? Yes, she's bitchy, a high school dropout and a runaway (even though there's a valid reason). But that's about it. The LI, however, is verging on villain protagonist.
Something like that...
Either way, I doubt I'd change my story to make it more marketable. That never works

Considering almost every YA has the main character rebelling against his/her parents in some way - if said parents exist in the book in the first place - I think anti-hero means a character of moral ambiguity.

Also, please, PLEASE, those of you worrying about what the next big thing will be, or what one agent said once at one panel . . . don't. Agents don't know everything, they don't know what the next big thing for sure will be (if they did, wouldn't they just ask one of their clients to write it?), they are speculating just as we are in this thread. Write the book you love, without fear.

Toothpaste said:

Write the book you love, without fear.

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This!

MysticPunk said:

Cruddy by Lynda Barry is an amazing YA horror novel.

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Thanks, looks interesting!

What's the stand on aliens? I searched a little and only saw a couple mentions here. Something like Roswell, only better?

There was Across the Universe, but that's space, not aliens on Earth.
I would read the hell out of ya alien romance XD the way some people read vampire romance.

Isn't Stephenie Meyer's THE HOST a YA alien romance?

Toothpaste said:

Isn't Stephenie Meyer's THE HOST a YA alien romance?

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Oh, see. I forgot.
That was meh.

TudorRose said:

The "teen slasher" genre was huge in movies when I was a teen, but have there ever been any successful book equivalents? I recently discovered that "I know what you did last summer" was based on a Lois Duncan book from the 70s, but I can't think of any more recent examples (but then, I've only rediscovered YA in the last couple of years). Most of the horror I've seen has been part of a series imprint (eg Point Horror).

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YA horror was a HUGELY popular genre 10-15 years ago. Lois Duncan, Caroline B. Cooney, R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and many many more dominated bookshelves back then the way that paranormal romance does today.

There are a handful of current YA horror books - such as Kendare Blake's ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD series (which I haven't read, but hear good things about).

And Gretchen McNeil, fellow AW-er, has POSSESS and the upcoming TEN. (I am halfway through an advance copy of TEN and can vouch for the fact that it's awesome so far.)

The Host wasn't YA; it was an adult market novel, but I can think of 2 new alien novels about to hit shelves. One is Alienated, based on an alien student exchange program, and the other I wish I could remember the name of because I want to read it when it comes out. It's an accidental body swap between an earthly teen queen and an alien geek-boy, neither of which know the other's planet exists before they swap bodies.

Oh yeahhh, you're right! The Host was marketed as 'her first adult book!' And then the MC ended up being some hormonal teen obsessing over some dude and I flung the book against a wall.

Cyia said:

the other I wish I could remember the name of because I want to read it when it comes out. It's an accidental body swap between an earthly teen queen and an alien geek-boy, neither of which know the other's planet exists before they swap bodies.

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Is Transfer Student the one you're thinking of? Sounds good!

YES! Thanks TR.

*adds to "to-read" pile*

I have an ongoing blog about an alien girl living on earth. It's not a romance though.


http://girlwithoutaplanet.tumblr.com I need to update it, though. It's almost "over".





until high school.

Windcutter said:

I'm still in a bit of doubt about steampunk because it seems to be such a narrow niche. Though with the recent talk about "steampunk flavor" and crossgenre I can see how it can be made more mainstream.

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Hmm...well FWIF, I don't think steampunk is actually all that niche-y. I mean, I think it's comparatively new in the public consciousness (I've had to explain the word to several people in the past couple of weeks), but the "flavor", as you put it, is increasingly pervasive in popular culture. A good friend of mine who is now a big steampunk enthusiast commented that he'd always loved the aesthetic of steampunk even before he knew it had a name or was a "thing". I can think of a number of popular MG/YA books that could be categorized as steampunk-y: Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret both have that vibe. And of course there's Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series, which is a steampunk re-imagining of WWI and which is barking AWESOME. I guess my point is that I don't think something has to be all "Victorian era: monocles, corsets, etc." in order to be steampunk. But others may disagree.