"Old" People Writing for Teens V

The Second Moon

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My current news: I'm going to foster-to-(hopefully)adopt a kitten. You guys might know that I lost my 16yo boy cat this year and his sister 2 years ago. I have a 1yo cat that I picked up a year ago, but...she's kinda a terror. Fun to play with, cute as can be, but she doesn't snuggle and barely lets you pet her. It's a big shock after Jasper and Jezzie, who would basically let me do anything to them and were big snugglebugs. But this weekend my mom (who I live with) indicated that she would be open to me adopting another cat as long as it was another female. So I did a bunch of research on young female cats in the area, looking specifically for smoochers, and when I went to PetSmart today, one was there, and OMG, she's a lover. The volunteer suggested I apply as a foster for a few weeks to make sure we're compatible (and my current cat and my family), and so I'm applying to foster!

I don't post on this thread because I don;t write for teens, but I just want to say I hope everything works out for you and the cat. I started a thread while back about fun foster pet stories. It's in the "Animals and Nature" forum and some people gave some helpful tips . Feel free to share your stories about the kitten. I'd love to hear them. I know I loved to go on and on about my foster (now adopted) kitten and I'm sure you will too.
 

edutton

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My current news: I'm going to foster-to-(hopefully)adopt a kitten.
Good luck! And congratulations on finding a snuggly female; we've had three of each over the years, and our experience has been that the boys were overall a lot more touchy-feely. :)
 

Sage

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Boys are totally more snuggly, but my mom didn't want the risk of marking territory, after dad's old cats did that. Based on my experience with boys and girls, it feels like Jezzie was an outlier for girl cats. But when I saw how smoochy this one was on the video they put on the adoption site, AND happened to find her at PetSmart (actually was looking for a different kitten, but she happened to be there! It was fate!), and she sat on my chest and let me pet her/rubbed against me for like 20 minutes, it looks like I found another snuggly female!

I submitted the application this morning (after multiple problems, lol) and...sigh I used the wrong e-mail, so I won't get any notice right away if they e-mail. It might take 2-3 days to hear back. Sage, that's like nothing in submission time! (unless someone adopts her, but their app was prolly already in anyway, if so)
 

CoffeeBeans

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I'm SO excited to hear more on the kitty front, Sage!

Hopefully it all works out!
 

Sage

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No word yet. It becomes more like querying every day. Yesterday at lunch, after the 72- hour timeframe they gave me, I called to check in, as they say to do. Voicemail, & no call back all day. How many applications could they have to go through, really?

If I don’t hear back today, I’ll prolly start inquiring about kittens at other shelters. I found another that sounds lovely on PetFinder.

ETA: I asked where I could meet the 2nd kitty, and it turns out she's at the Petco near where I work. So the group I put an app in through has until Sunday to get back to me, because on Sunday--after work or during lunch, depending on when a volunteer's there--I'm going to visit with 2nd kitty and if I like her, I might be putting in an app for her instead.

Dad & I went to the PetSmart where the first kitty lives, because it was so easy to meet with her the first time. Turns out you can only visit with these kitties (different rescue groups) when a volunteer is there, and at this PS, they wouldn't be there for another 5 hours. You would think they would make it easier to fall in love with these kitties. Don't they want them to go to good homes? Like, I get it, they want to make sure you are a good home, but if you're filling out this extensive application in person, can't they review it there and make a decision? Sometimes, to find the right kitty, you have to go out of your way, and if I have to do that to just meet her, then do it again to get her, maybe that's not worth it to someone who might have been the perfect owner. So the kitty has to wait longer to find a furever home and some other kitty is unable to be saved because there's no space for them. You'd think they'd make the process smoother.
 
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CoffeeBeans

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I get that. Adoptions can be a tricky business, especially when they go through a third-party like Petco. Hope one of the kitties comes through because new snuggle friends are the best.

Is anyone else jumping in for nano today/tonight/etc? I'm doing it (as always) but running my region is really sapping me this year. I am excited about my story and the writing of it, but the people-ing of running the region is really getting me down. If I vent to my co-ML, she gets really negative/unkind about the whole thing ("the people who give us a hard time are doing it on purpose" "no one respects our efforts" "we're too busy to do this") so I don't really want to talk about it with the person who is in the same position I am with everything. I really just want a hug and a cookie, you know?

But, awesome story is waiting and hopefully it'll be a ton of fun, so I'm just going to tell myself that the annoying people can't interfere there.
 

Sage

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I have not really invested myself in NaNo this year. I could work on Sage's Slightly Derivative, Completely Queer Untitled Project, but I haven't really thought much about it, and have no clear idea of my MC or the world or the inciting incident or how this whole thing will work. I know how I had planned to begin the original version of this novel, but the baseline changed (thanks, series that continued beyond the trilogy that this book is slightly derivative of), and I'm not sure how to begin.
 

CoffeeBeans

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Hmmm that is a bother. Can you jump into nano with the general "this is world building and sketching" mindset?

I have not sat down for Word 1 yet, and I'm beginning to overthink it. The MS is sort of a sequel (it is the same cast as Hexes, from a few years ago, but years later, and the events of that book are background for this one, but the setting is different) and usually I start with a clear opening, but all I know is where the scene is and what happens. Guess I'll try a good dozen opening lines tonight lol
 

Sage

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I don't usually go back to edit unless my first draft is at a certain level, unfortunately. But the good news is that I had some inspiration last night (deriving from another book, but that's okay because this is the derivative book).

More good news: I finally got contacted about the kitten! The lady running it is going to call me today to finish the application process. I suspect that asking to foster (to hopefully adopt) for a couple of weeks, when I applied a couple weeks out from Halloween, they might have thought I was looking for a Halloween cat that I would give back afterwards. She's not a black cat, but still, I know shelters get worried around Halloween.

ETA: I guess I didn't update you guys that I visited with the Petco kittens and they ran all over me, scratching me up with the"soft paws" that they supposedly played with. It was mostly the sister of the kitten I was looking at there, but even the one I was looking at gave me some small nicks as she played and didn't stop to snuggle at all. So after work, I went back to the PS where the original kitten is and I spent a ton of time with her (the PS employee let me in even though she wasn't supposed to :Ssh: ) and she's soooooo wonderful, guys, that I decided to put in a new application to adopt her outright. I did that on Tuesday, so they were still in the 48-72 hour timeframe for the 2nd application, but I suspect it was Halloween that was the hold-up on the first.
 
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Sage

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It is difficult to get used to using "they" as a pronoun for a single person. I'm sure it'll get easier with practice.
 

CoffeeBeans

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Good luck on snuggle kitten! I'm sure the more active and playful kitten will be great in a different home.

I dove in on the nano, and I'm already hearing betas going "What world are we in? You need to ground me!" but hey, that can happen once I have some words on the page. (I don't have an inner editor, but at least I've internalized the voices of my very patient crit buddies....)
 

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I say everybody should kill those voices with fire in the drafting phase.

(Except for me, who will stress over them with every word written)
 

Bookgirl2021

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Hey everybody! I know I've been MIA for a while, but it's been a couple of crazy months, with October being ridiculous.

Good luck with the kitten, Sage! I'm glad things are moving forward a bit with it.

I'd love to do full blown nano, but I doubt that's going to happen. Especially since I've gotten some notes back on the latest version of Awaking Melody. That story won't let me leave it alone to work on something else when I know I have more revisions to do on it!

I would love some input, though: some of the feedback I've gotten a lot has to do with the fact that there are some threads (at least one of which is kind of big) that are left unresolved. The reason is that while I'm trying to make this able to stand on its own, I do have other stories outlined that tie into it. Basically three stories with common elements, and a fourth where they all come together. The kind of big thread that's left hanging is mostly resolved in one of the other stories, and is a HUGE part of the final one. But almost every response I've gotten comments on the fact that that thread isn't resolved. Any advice?
 

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Can you downplay that thread in the first story so it doesn’t give the readers such a sense of dissatisfaction when it doesn’t get resolved??
 

Sage

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I think I'm going to postpone or abandon my NaNo novel. Over the years, I've gotten a pretty good feel for what's hard because writing is hard and what's hard because I don't care about the novel, and this feels like the latter. Usually I have to love one or more characters to keep going, and I just don't feel that here. Maybe if I had more time planning, I'd get a connection to Daya, but right now I just feel like I'm flinging words at a page.

I didn't love last year's NaNo, but it was wasted time anyway, and I knew that. Obviously I loved 2017's with my paranormal bromance characters, and 2016's is the one that I've been meaning to work on. I knew it was a hot mess when I was writing it, but there were things I absolutely loved about it: characters, lines, even setting in one spot. I don't have that here. It totally could be that I'm distracted or that I haven't found a good writing environment since coming here or I just have lost that drive to work on novels, but this book feels like a Dance Me a Match or a Chemistry Harry Potter: novels that I won with, but I could tell weren't going to be worked on after NaNo was over.

Anyway, I haven't fully committed to not doing NaNo, because I write a sentence each day to keep the streak going, but nor am I motivated to keep working on it. But until I commit, I prolly won't work on the other either *eye roll*
 

CoffeeBeans

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hmmm... That is disappointing (particularly because I'm having a very opposite experience of "this is a hot mess and I love everything")

Since you are keeping your streak up and seen to still maybe want to do nano, can you transition this to other projects? Follow whatever thread seems most interesting in the story and see where it leads? Write a version of the same story ten years later/from a different perspective/from ten years earlier? Throw your characters into a TARDIS and let them try something different?

Or, the classic -- Just add Ninjas.
 

Sage

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I think I've just done this too long to be okay with just adding ninjas or writing whatever for the sake of word count. NaNo this year feels like just doing it to do it. At least last year when I felt like I was wasting my time, I was excited back in September about the idea of it. This was just, "Okay, it's Nov 1, guess I'll work on that one idea I had once." I usually do go in revved up about the idea of it, even if I don't connect to the story.

I actually feel like I'd be okay with just not doing it, but I'm so stubborn about these things and I just don't like "giving up," especially on day 6. What's most keeping me thinking about continuing NaNo right now is that there's going to be a lot of waiting time on Sunday, and I could probably get a lot of notebook writing done (not laptop writing), and I think, "well, wouldn't it be a waste to not use that time." But I could prolly use it reading.
 
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Bookgirl2021

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Can you downplay that thread in the first story so it doesn’t give the readers such a sense of dissatisfaction when it doesn’t get resolved??

I'm not sure how to do that. I guess there are a couple of climaxes in the story, and one of them involves this thread. Something happens that none of them can explain, but the reader gets a hint that there could be another character involved who they haven't exactly met. ...Kind of like in Percy Jackson when they think Ares is the one causing all the problems, but it's actually Luke/Kronos.

Also, is the kitty in the picture the one you've been telling us about?

Good luck to everyone doing NaNo! I might try to do it in December (even though it technically won't be NaNo then :tongue), when I have some time off.
 

CoffeeBeans

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I wasn't even thinking ninjas to cheat a word count, but rather, get yourself working on something more fun/you're more connected with. Even if you don't nano to win, it might be nice to poke around and find something you'd like to spend the month with (however silly the means to get there might be)

I wondered the same as BookGirl-- is that pretty kitty the new family member?!

Can your unresolved thread be explained away? Even in your example (sorry, I never read Percy Jackson! I know folks love them!) the unresolved-ness isn't too bad because at least with internal logic, the characters think it's explained - and that makes it less unresolved to the reader. Even if that resolution ends up being untrue (I'm guessing in a sequel?) at least the story seems to explain it for the moment?
 

KiwiLady

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Bookgirl - I think Coffeebeans is right. The problem with that thread at the moment is that it isn't resolved in any way - it's not even passed off as "Oh, that's who did that." Perhaps you could tone down the idea that there is another person involved, and at the same time make the characters seem certain it's your bad guy doing bad guy stuff just so there is an end to it within that book. Then when you write book two, it can become more obvious there is more at play.
 

Bookgirl2021

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Can your unresolved thread be explained away? Even in your example (sorry, I never read Percy Jackson! I know folks love them!) the unresolved-ness isn't too bad because at least with internal logic, the characters think it's explained - and that makes it less unresolved to the reader. Even if that resolution ends up being untrue (I'm guessing in a sequel?) at least the story seems to explain it for the moment?

Bookgirl - I think Coffeebeans is right. The problem with that thread at the moment is that it isn't resolved in any way - it's not even passed off as "Oh, that's who did that." Perhaps you could tone down the idea that there is another person involved, and at the same time make the characters seem certain it's your bad guy doing bad guy stuff just so there is an end to it within that book. Then when you write book two, it can become more obvious there is more at play.

I've been meaning to send you a message about this stuff, Kiwi! Your feedback is definitely helpful. So what if the idea that another person's involved is toned way down until the end, and then there's a hint that things may not be quite as black and white as they seem?
 

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I've been meaning to send you a message about this stuff, Kiwi! Your feedback is definitely helpful. So what if the idea that another person's involved is toned way down until the end, and then there's a hint that things may not be quite as black and white as they seem?

Yes! I think that would work way better. Just let the reader think it's all your bad guy doing everything. It doesn't matter that you know it's not. That way you avoid the whole "this plot point hasn't been resolved" and readers feel like they know what's going on, even if they don't. And I wouldn't even make a big deal of making it known that it's someone else at the end, just make it subtle so readers go away wondering, then in book two we get this huge surprise. Message me anytime if you've got any more questions about it.
 

Sage

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The other day I came across an idea for a full revamp of the beginning of Snow Sparkling Like Stars. Although I love the opening, one of its biggest problems is that it's too similar to a scene from the inspiration movie. It's okay to update but otherwise keep intact something in the public domain, like Pride and Prejudice, so that the readers can easily see the original scenes. But for something that's not, I really have to divorce the book from the inspiration. I have another scene that's similarish that I think I can get away with (because it's fairly typical romance fare), but this opening scene--while I love it--is too much.

Obviously, when flying through NaNo, using the inspiration to get through the book was fine. I found that after those two scenes that were close, though, any attempt to mimic the movie was awkward, and the 2nd half of the book diverges naturally from it. Oddly, the scene in the movie that made me first think of turning the plot into a YA book never made it into the book because it didn't make sense anymore.

The other thing that this revamp might do is streamline the opening scenes, because right now it takes 4K words (3.5K words in the NaNo version) before we get to the "present" of the novel.

Now I just have to work up the drive to actually work on it. Especially with that shiny new PS4 I own :2angel:
 
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Sage

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It's funny that I feel like working on SSLS today because last night my brain was totally working on a novel. It was in the zone between being awake and asleep, and I shook myself out of it at some point and was like, "Oh, good, it's not dream logic, it's just plotting very vividly." I didn't know where I was going with it, but I had a good two chapters mapped out in my brain. And today all I can remember is that it was a secondary-world fantasy setting, the MC was nonbinary, and they had magic of some kind. :e2smack: