All Things Middle Grade
- Thread starter timp67
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omg, the quote from that blog about the weird names...
"You'd be picking your eyes out with toothpicks..."
That one's gonna stick with me.
"You'd be picking your eyes out with toothpicks..."
That one's gonna stick with me.
That reminds me of something my husband said once when the kids wanted to watch some horrible movie. "I'd rather plucked out my eyeballs and stuff them in my ears so I don't have to see or hear that awful movie!" We couldn't stop laughing, because my husband doesn't usually say things like that!
So my first attempt at MG didn't work out, but got great comments from agents along the lines of "beautiful writing" and of course "great concept" (I get so many "great concept"s that I have a drinking game for them). At two agents' requests, I tried to turn it into a YA... I failed. It never felt right and most every word I added (because it was short for an MG, much less a YA) was torture.
I realize now that I was going in the wrong direction. This was meant to be short. Shorter. It was meant to be a short story.
I was thinking about what a shame about all that "beautiful writing" going to waste and was reading about the AW SFF anthology, and I turned it into a short story (still 7Kish words, but still short) and I LOVE it.
I had a girl at my write-in read it and comment last night. She gave me great advice, and I'm fixing stuff now. It also made her cry, so now I'm feeling pretty good about it (except for the revisions I made today which nobody has read
)
Going through my last set of revisions and reread now. Wish me luck.
I realize now that I was going in the wrong direction. This was meant to be short. Shorter. It was meant to be a short story.
I was thinking about what a shame about all that "beautiful writing" going to waste and was reading about the AW SFF anthology, and I turned it into a short story (still 7Kish words, but still short) and I LOVE it.
I had a girl at my write-in read it and comment last night. She gave me great advice, and I'm fixing stuff now. It also made her cry, so now I'm feeling pretty good about it (except for the revisions I made today which nobody has read
)Going through my last set of revisions and reread now. Wish me luck.
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That must have been difficult, Sage, but hopefully it was the right thing for this project.
So, yeah, best of luck to you.
So, yeah, best of luck to you.
I had a girl at my write-in read it and comment last night. She gave me great advice, and I'm fixing stuff now. It also made her cry, so now I'm feeling pretty good about it (except for the revisions I made today which nobody has read
Going through my last set of revisions and reread now. Wish me luck.
Good job, Sage. I would love to be able to make someone cry. With my writing, I mean. Good luck!
Thanks, guys.
The hardest part, actually, was making the decision that I was giving up on it as a novel. There are some novels that are very trunked and I wouldn't resurrect them in any shape (although, I say that, but the original novel I just wrote into a short story was based off a single chapter of a very trunked novel), but the ones where I had some success querying--just not enough--are hard to give up on.
People convinced me that even if I made it a short story, I'd have plenty of room to rewrite it as a novel again later (something I'm not so sure about, considering that some key scenes were ripped right from the novel), but now that I've done it and included a lot more of what I love than I thought I'd be able to, I realize that I like it better this way.
The hardest part, actually, was making the decision that I was giving up on it as a novel. There are some novels that are very trunked and I wouldn't resurrect them in any shape (although, I say that, but the original novel I just wrote into a short story was based off a single chapter of a very trunked novel), but the ones where I had some success querying--just not enough--are hard to give up on.
People convinced me that even if I made it a short story, I'd have plenty of room to rewrite it as a novel again later (something I'm not so sure about, considering that some key scenes were ripped right from the novel), but now that I've done it and included a lot more of what I love than I thought I'd be able to, I realize that I like it better this way.
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That's a great, gutsy process you've just been through, Sage. I definitely admire it and wish you lots of luck!
Well, I did it... finally finished the requested revisions on my science article for Spider and sent it in. Cross your fingers for me...
My first round of novel revisions are finished, too, and awaiting my agent's feedback. Fingers crossed for that, too!
I am sooooo ready to stop revising and start writing something new.
My first round of novel revisions are finished, too, and awaiting my agent's feedback. Fingers crossed for that, too!
I am sooooo ready to stop revising and start writing something new.
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Fingers crossed for you Ruth! You must feel relieved to have all that down and out there 
Good luck.
Good luck.
