Old People Writing for Teens

That's exciting! I love revising. Plus it gives you something to do while you wait on agents' responses

Red.Ink.Rain said:

So...I'm editing FIREBRAND. The book I started when I was sixteen, which I spent all of last semester querying, which got about 70 rejections and 6 requests. (*wince*) Because I suddenly realized what I can do to make it better. I can see what was bugging me about it, why it isn't as good as it should be, and I know how to revise. I'm excited. Because I love the story - the execution was just a little off.

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I am in such a similar situation with my first book, though the thought of revising it seems so daunting... I had about 20 rejections and 8 requests, with three still out. I know the ratio was good, but based on the 4 full rejections and my new distance from it, I'm suspect I made a couple majorly wrong narrative decisions -- mainly, interweaving an issue book-type backstory that wasn't needed. I am now debating tackling the revisions, or diving headlong into a new book. sigh

/overshare

I had no idea sloth babies were so cute.

My first book is still a WIP too-- not the sci-fi I'm finishing now, but a kind of historical fiction/fantasy thing. I was super overzealous when I started writing, and plotted out a four book series. It got pretty complicated, and then I started reading agent/editor blogs, which made me realize what trying to get published is like and basically intimidated the hell out of me. I put it off and started the sci-fi instead.

But I still hear those characters every day, and when I'm finished with my current book and it's making the query rounds, I'll start on it again. I'm actually glad I walked away from it for awhile- I'm still in love with the idea, but I wasn't ready to write it back then.

kaitlyn, I love revising too...more than I like writing the first draft. Is that weird?

I sometimes love revising more than the first draft too, so I vote that it's not weird It makes me happy to see how much better I can make my writing from the first draft.

My first book is also kind of a WIP. I keep thinking of things I want to do to it, and I think it's still just not quite perfect. I'm leaving it be for now, though. I can only focus on one thing at a time! So I guess I'm like you, Enna, I'm planning to look at it again when I'm through writing this one. It will have given me some distance by then too.

I hate revising the first draft. And the second, and the third. Actually, I hate revising completely. It's almost as if the moment I type the words THE END, I begin to hate my story a little bit. Then I read it over and... ohcrapwthwasithinkingwheniwrotethis?

I have two novels to edit. It's killing me. I'm trying to look on the bright side...

whatevergoesnow said:

I hate revising the first draft. And the second, and the third. Actually, I hate revising completely. It's almost as if the moment I type the words THE END, I begin to hate my story a little bit. Then I read it over and... ohcrapwthwasithinkingwheniwrotethis?

I have two novels to edit. It's killing me. I'm trying to look on the bright side...

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I hate that too, but that might just be because of the fact that I'm a lazy teenager.
But every time I revise, I always have something to change, so I stop at the 3rd round.

Good luck!

I read something similar to this on Judy Blume's site-- revising is fun (for me) because everything is there- the idea, the characterization, and to some extent, the words- and all that's left to do is piece it together. It's like a puzzle. The transitions in the first draft connecting the fun scenes are what's tough for me.

Ugh revisions. Mine are never ending. There comes a time when I just have to say enough is enough already! I could read it through 100 times and change at least 1 thing each time. Do you ever stop questioning your word choice or stop asking - should this happen now...maybe it should happen later?

I really liked my first completed ms, but didn't get an agent for it. So, I've taken the characters and made them YA age and I'm using them in a whole new way. I still really love writing all of them, but I think I'm lost in the plot...

Totally off topic here, but I just found this thread and I must say, I LOVE it! Your whitty comments about being old(but not really being old) made my day....

I guess I qualify as "old" too *sob* so i'll just hang around for a bit if you don't mind...

okay, carry on.

LOL yea! More 'old' peeps to join in on the fun!!

As for editing...I don't know what kind of OCD I was obsessed with, but I start out with a bang, typing so fast my fingers cramp after a few days...then I decide to change something...something so small that leads to another change, then another. I tried outlining more in depth, but it was a miserable failure. I need to just get past it and wait to revise once it's all done. Think I'm going to start setting a word goal for each day and make myself push forward.

hi wordiva!
We're not old, just wise. Wise people writing for teens. lol.

I like revisions. Sometimes I love revisions, especially towards the final draft. But I hate revisions when there's a problem chapter, and I just know I need to tackle it and make some decisions, but I DON'T WANT TOOO. <---whine

Also I'm so scared of revising my first book because I've got to make my narrator an entirely different human being. It will be major surgery... with a chainsaw! Poor Bria.

Enna:

But I still hear those characters every day, and when I'm finished with my current book and it's making the query rounds, I'll start on it again. I'm actually glad I walked away from it for awhile- I'm still in love with the idea, but I wasn't ready to write it back then.

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That is exactly what I did with LM, my current book. It was so worth it to go back to it. Definitely gave me experience in chainsaw revisions though.

I hate revising the stuff that I wasn't as interested in writing in the first place. Because I never am completely in love with every single scene I write, and it's usually pretty obvious.

But there are some of my scenes that love so much I will read them over just to read them, and that's what makes me the most happy (even if it makes me sound like a narcissist!)

I'm kind of odd in that I like it when my stuff needs big revisions. I love doing big revisions, where I have to take out massive chunks and add in whole new scenes. It's so fun!

aaargh I am having so much trouble diving into this new WIP... I always though I liked first drafts, but I'm at that stage between serendipitous brainstorming and being on a roll. Like, the "I can't write an entire book! What am I thinking???" stage. Even though I've written two already. Writing is such a gradual magic.

I know I'm there- the "what am I thinking stage"- when I just outline and outline like crazy, then outline some more, knowing in the back of my mind that a few chapters in I'm just going to break off in a different direction anyway, and I just need to suck it up and write, dammit!!


Oh, and welcome, wordiva!

Enna said:

I read something similar to this on Judy Blume's site-- revising is fun (for me) because everything is there- the idea, the characterization, and to some extent, the words- and all that's left to do is piece it together. It's like a puzzle. The transitions in the first draft connecting the fun scenes are what's tough for me.

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Why has it never occurred to me to check if Judy Blume had a website? *hits self in head with copy of Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume*

Enna said:

I know I'm there- the "what am I thinking stage"- when I just outline and outline like crazy, then outline some more, knowing in the back of my mind that a few chapters in I'm just going to break off in a different direction anyway, and I just need to suck it up and write, dammit!!


Oh, and welcome, wordiva!

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When you outline do you keep getting more and more ideas? I have this problem with trying to outline and well...write in general. I always want to throw in everything AND the kitchen sink. For example, and I don't have any of these, but, I would want a vampire, a werewolf, a zombie, have them go to prom and get drunk and start a fight and....it just snowballs. How do you stop yourself from wanting to add way to much and killing your plot?

Sometimes I write the extra little side scenes if I really want to, and then put them in a separate word document filled with stuff that doesn't belong in the story, or that I cut from the story but loved too much to just delete.

Or also, you can always write your giant tree of an outline and then trim stuff off before writing. I update my outline every now and then to account for things that went a little differently than planned. It can become a mess sometimes!

JamieB said:

When you outline do you keep getting more and more ideas? I have this problem with trying to outline and well...write in general. I always want to throw in everything AND the kitchen sink.

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I think that's my problem right now. Because I've never dealt with spec fiction before, I'm like, overly excited! And want to throw in overpopulation! and wars! and pandemics! and urban decay! and and and
lol

LOL. I've had to revise some of my earlier chapters because I got so excited throwing in so many different elements writing sci-fi... I have to reign in my creativity sometimes. It can lean toward overboard if I don't watch it, but that's what I love about the genre.

Indus said:

LOL. I've had to revise some of my earlier chapters because I got so excited throwing in so many different elements writing sci-fi... I have to reign in my creativity sometimes. It can lean toward overboard if I don't watch it, but that's what I love about the genre.

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INDUS DON'T SLEEP YET! read my e-mail
(actually I have no idea what time it is in Germany, maybe it's 4am, maybe it's 8pm... I think you told me but I forgot)

Indus said:

LOL. I've had to revise some of my earlier chapters because I got so excited throwing in so many different elements writing sci-fi... I have to reign in my creativity sometimes. It can lean toward overboard if I don't watch it, but that's what I love about the genre.

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I did this too, with writing fantasy. I had a lot of things that didn't belong. Also some inconsistencies because that's what happens when you don't outline and let your hands write down whatever your brain decides needs to happen next (this is why I now always outline ) And I have a really old one from high school where I had just about every mythological creature you could possibly imagine. There's no saving that one haha. That was wayyy too much overexcitement on my part.

I'm doing the opposite now that I'm trying my first sci fi. Since I'm not quite comfortable with it, I started out with a very linear plot that was probably kind of predictable, and had to go back over my outline to add in twists and complexities. I have a feeling that once I get into the meat of it, I will have to rein myself in from going overboard, though...

Okay, so...despite my rant about how much I hate outlining, I'm actually beginning to outline the revisions for my re-vamped version of FIREBRAND.

It's the end of the world. Lol.

When you outline do you keep getting more and more ideas? I have this problem with trying to outline and well...write in general. I always want to throw in everything AND the kitchen sink. For example, and I don't have any of these, but, I would want a vampire, a werewolf, a zombie, have them go to prom and get drunk and start a fight and....it just snowballs. How do you stop yourself from wanting to add way to much and killing your plot?

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YES!!...fantasy or sci-fi, it doesn't matter. I research when I outline, and the research just snowballs. At first I do try to work in every single little thing I discover, but I usually cut out the unnecessary stuff when I revise.

It was particularly tough with my sci-fi novel...there's a lot of cool stuff in the world to play with, and I got pretty carried away.

I like outlining because it makes me feel more confident about where I'm going when I start writing, but I know I can abandon it if I want when the story goes in a different direction.

wandergirl said:

INDUS DON'T SLEEP YET! read my e-mail
(actually I have no idea what time it is in Germany, maybe it's 4am, maybe it's 8pm... I think you told me but I forgot)

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LOL we're seven hours ahead of US central time Keeping in touch with all my friends in the US has turned me into a big night owl.

Ha. Try keeping up with New Zealand time. I do most of my foruming when more than 90% of the forum is asleep. Seriously.

For the record, I love revising but I seriously cannot outline. I am allergic. Outlining makes my brain think that I've somehow completely finished the story already and I completely lose interest. I am a big fan of the 'I Know Where I'm Going But Have Hardly Any Idea of How I'll Get There' school of writing. So, yeah. A lot of what I write is inconsistent. NOTORIOUSLY inconsistant. My previous novel-writing attempt is the ultimate example of that (from high school/university). I reread some of it the other day and was surprised by how readable the prose was, it made me want to revise it and send it out, but I STILL don't know exactly what happens in it (as I didn't write in anything remotely resembling chronological order and changed my mind about what happens a million times over). That and I have no idea how I could turn dramatic gothy romantic fantasy into a decent query.

Maybe it's some kind of prerequisite to have an impossible earlier novel?