What are /r/YAwriters' favorite Products & Services?

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THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US, my debut novel about pirates and sea monsters in the future, is out on February 8th! Check it out on Goodreads and on Amazon!

Goals for the month: get the ball rolling on my new WIP and, depending on what my agent thinks of the revisions I sent, maybe more edits on my older one!

Lol, I'm literally writing a book on this topic.

But if I had to sum it up, I'd say: there's no one way to do it. No advice is universal. Find what works for you. Whatever it takes to get the right words on the page is all you need.

My news: I have a new book coming out!! I just revealed the cover and I'll be doing more promo throughout the month as I gear up for the release!

For me, my biggest trick is something I call a "reverse outline"--basically, I don't outline until I get to the end of the book. Then I plot the main points on a big sheet of paper (<em>Save the Cat</em> was a great resource for that). Reverse outlining helps me see where the pace was slow, and where I got off topic--or where I need to beef something up.

At the same time, I chart out the physical journey and the emotional journey. I want to see the hero change on at least these two levels in some significant way, and I'm basically just making sure that change is there. It's nothing huge, and is often as simple as:

1. Beginning of book: hero doesn't trust anyone
2. Middle of book: hero learns not trusting people can be bad
3. Climax of book: hero must trust someone in order to succeed

As long as I touch on all three of those in some way, I figure I'm good.

I know a lot of people who plan and chart before they write the novel, but I can never see the forest for the trees then. So I always do it after.

Hi dears. Nothing to update as of yet, so we'll cross our fingers for June's thread. :)

Though, I am posting my first novel on Wattpad, and I'd love some reads if you have the time to spare. It's YA/dystopian. I actually only got the courage to write this one because of YAwriters and Writing subreddits, so it's got a special place in my heart.

I've got TWO new WIPs that I'm alternating between. A YA gay romance a la ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, and a commercial adult(?!) piece that's a mix of THE MARTIAN and Castaway featuring the joys of ~engineering~. I've got about 3-5k on each so far, and now that I've announced them here, I can't take them back, right?

I just realized that I never told y'all I was working on a writing advice book! It's free online at WattPad, and I'm adding to it as I go with the goal of self publishing it later.

You can read it here.

Thanks for having me!

Favorite to write were hands-down YA Recs for the Gang at Sweet Valley High and YA Recs for Every Member of the Baby-Sitters Club. I still can't believe I got to do that.

The driving force for LGBTQReads was a combination of a few things: * Seeing that above kidlit, just about every site that claimed to be "LGBT" was actually m/m, primarily authored by cis women - a really big lightning moment for me was looking for the biggest f/f Romance blog to do a cover reveal for my upcoming f/f NA, and realizing I didn't know any bigger than mine * The popularity of my blog's QUILTBAG Compendium, which I thought was getting really unwieldy and wasn't particularly nicely organized * Seeing some great trans/gnc-themed picture books I wanted space to highlight (specific lightning moment for this one was when I got the ARC request form from Bloomsbury, which has two coming out soon) * Seeing a lot of librarians talking about not knowing where to access info on what books to get

It's...a gross number. Like maybe literally a gross. Let's not talk about it.

I've made it over the 1/3 hump in my current WIP, and have rekindled my writing mojo. (I always go through a slog at the transition from Act I to Act II.)

I spent the first half of the week in San Diego for work. There was sunshine and a beach (yes there are pictures: one and two). And networking and drinks. I'm exhausted.

I have a family wedding this weekend. So lots of relatives will be in town. I'm mostly excited about it, but also would like to rest and write.

Oh, and anyone else watch the season finale of The 100? I love the character arcs on this show.

My debut novel goes to press next week! I've been through so many rounds of edits with my publisher, it's hard to wrap my head around the fact I won't be able to make any more changes after this.

I got to reveal the cover of my series THE 8TH CONTINENT. I just made a post about it! You can check out the book on Goodreads or click here to see the reveal.

Ooh yes! My first novel, CROWDED, is now featured on Wattpad! It just broke the top #100 action stories, so I hope it keeps climbing. It's been fun responding to comments and seeing the views go up.

Also, I've just become a mod of /r/publishing. We're still figuring out what direction we want to take the sub, but I'm slowly taking over reddit's literary world. :)

Also, not to be self-serving, but perhaps this thing about publishing that I recently posted on Wattpad would be relevant?

Buffy!

Oh, you want more?

The Moomin books, anything by J G Ballard or Philip K Dick, the sketches, standup and songs of Victoria Wood, a children's author known simply as 'BB', the Sandman comics, Fables, This American Life, Calvin and Hobbes, The War of Art, The Writer's Journey, pretty much all 80s fantasy and sci-fi movies (with special shout outs to The Princess Bride, Time Bandits, Conan the Barbarian and Aliens.)

Two fulls, seven partials. SO anxious about it all, but I'm keeping myself busy. :) I've had some pretty encouraging rejections, but I feel especially hopeful for a few recent requests who seem to get my MC and make comments about how they are fascinated by storms and such.

But we have a pretty fun weekend plan. We're doing the ROC Race today - basically the 5k version of the TV show Wipeout. Then we're going to cookout tonight and tomorrow.

I did an interview with Caitlin Sinead (her AMA is coming up!) about this very topic. In all, she didn't seem to think Wattpad resulted in any sales. She said it's been a ton of fun, and has helped her get newsletter subscribers and Twitter followers, if I remember correctly.

I've just started to put my first novel on Wattpad, a fun YA/Dystopian. Hasn't picked up much traffic yet, but it usually takes a while to get a decent following. Feel free to add me as a Wattpad friend!

Yesterday I finished reading The House of The Scorpion. It was quite interesting. Has anyone read it?

I'll be reading On Writing by Stephen King next. I'm hoping it gets my engine going on getting back to writing but I started college last week sooo.... probably not haha

My week was super awesome.

My debut was listed as one of B&N's "most anticipated 2017 debuts," I got a promotion at the day job, I finished edits, and we closed on a new house. It was a really busy, really awesome week.

With all that awesome during the week, it kind of makes sense that I got hit with a demon cold on Friday night and have been alternating between sleeping and coughing all weekend. Hoping I can kick it quickly, because I have page proofs to go through this week.

Borrowed Souls is out today! YAY! Amazon link, if you're so inclined...

I'm over at /r/books doing an AMA right now. Please come ask me things. :)

Some that come to mind:

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (MG/YA/adult depending on country, apparently)
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (MG)
• White Oleander by Janet Finch (adult-ish)
• The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (MG)

All girls though.

There's also this B&amp;N list and this Goodreads list (not all YA).

Wow, I'm a jerk. I totally meant to reply to this yesterday and realized I didn't! But yes, you should dig out your tablet, because drawing is rad.

Anyway...I mean, I use references, too! Or at least, I did, until I got comfortable enough with the forms of the body that I didn't need them anymore. Everyone uses references at some point or another (in the art world they like to call them 'sources,' hah), so don't beat yourself up over that.

The thing I used to struggle with the most was trying to figure out how light patterns should go over shapes. In drawing class I learned about this thing called 'planar analysis,' where you basically break a shape down into PS2 game-style polygons. This makes identifying light sources and the way they behave much easier.

As far as my actual process...I have grown quite fond of this set of free brushes and I mostly use these along with the photoshop default sets. I would offer to do a progression, but I know those usually end up like this. Or at least they did to me, lol. I still have a long way to go, anyway. But yeah, planar analysis and practice are my two suggestions. Hopefully this helped!

I'm not even bothering to set up an author page on FB. I have a blog/website, tumblr, and twitter - that's probably enough. One of my author friends swears she reaches more readers via FB so maybe it's not totally useless, but I just don't feel like extending the effort if most of my posts will never be seen anyhow.

I did read a cool article the other day about how not liking things on FB might help you see your friends' posts, instead of, say, UpWorthy and Ads and stuff: link I've been doing it for about 48 hours and I'm definitely see more of my friends' stuff instead of HuffPo and Buzzfeed, etc. (Some of that stuff is great, but I literally only use FB to keep up with ex-high school friends who refuse to use Twitter/Tumblr, so it's THEIR posts I want to see.)

I've been working on...writing! It's been slower than I'd like but I'm picking up speed. I lost a couple of days to in-laws. Next week I'll make up the difference.

I have no plans for Independence Day, and I'm happy about it. Well, like no plans to go out and do anything crazy. I'm going to stay in and read my CPs' manuscripts, and write if I have time. I'm still behind on reading for one of them, and I've got a deadline on a revision for the other. I'm going to power through.

At any rate, I've got a lot of plotting done as well as several chapters drafted. I'm trying the "scenes on notecards" thing, except instead of notecards they're Trello cards, and it's amazing. This is, of course, in addition to my paper notebook of ideas and my Word document that outlines the world, the backstory, the character stuff. It's kind of a mess, but it's my mess, and it's been working.

I've also been thinking about "plot" and why it can be both a blessing and a curse. This article from Tor.com compares two Shakespeare plays in that context, and it rocked my face. In a good way.

And then after the draft is done, it's back to revising my heist novel.

If I stay as long-winded as this, the draft shouldn't take long at all.

Heh, well, I was actually signed up to do a PGCE before I switched to the MA, because I was really keen to become a teacher. In retrospect, I don't think I would have coped with it physically, because I have a chronic illness, and it's a super tiring job. But I would've liked to be a school assistant, or something to do with books. I volunteered in a school library for a while and it was super fun.

Good question, thanks for asking! It can be bought on Amazon US from some sellers. There's also The Book Depository, which has free shipping to most countries worldwide. I've also heard that the book is already on sale in shops in Australia and NZ, and it is due to be translated into Thai. I will let you guys know if I hear any more about foreign rights.

It really, really varies a lot based not only on the freelancer's experience, but also on how much work the book needs. Plus, there are different levels of editing… For a full professional edit on an 80k-100k book, I usually see prices fluctuate from $1000 to $4000, depending on all the factors above.

Still no news on this end. :)

Nearly half-way through posting my YA/Dystopian novel CROWDED on Wattpad. I'm trying to get it featured on Wattpad, so we'll see what happens there. Feel free to read and give feedback if you'd like!

Yes, that's the DVD I meant :) A friend brought it to a writer's retreat, and we all sat around watching it--it was awesome!

What I've found most helpful re: craft books, is to skim-read many different ones, pulling out the notes that I find helpful. I've actually compiled my favorite bits and pieces, the ones most applicable to me, and made up a sort of a workbook for myself. I print it off and coil-bind it at Staples every time I begin a new project (or at the revision stage, where I do most of my structure work).

Also, this may be applicable.

Ugh, motivation has been lacking for me as well. I'm trying to finish the first chapter of my new Wattpad project and send it off to CPs this week. Also making sure I get a good cover and pitch up before I start to promote it.

Husband and I have both been in a rut lately, so breakfast casserole and wine tonight. The resulting great mood should carry me throughout the week. :)

After a week of "Feels like 100+" temps, it's in the low 80s, sunny, and NOT HUMID! I spent the day reading THESE BROKEN STARS poolside. Perfect way to spend Independence Day.

I signed up on Wattpad, and I'm going to be publishing a fun NA project chapter by chapter. I've been looking at ways to promote my author brand without blogging, because I secretly hate blogging, and I think this could be a great way to do it. My hubby's going to design a book cover, and I have a couple CPs who are up for the task.

Nothing new in query land.

Time Machine is Apple's super-easy backup software. You buy a really big hard drive, like a 1TB or something, plug it into your Mac, and tell Time Machine to use it. https://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/

Time Machine copies all your files all the time, so if you accidentally delete one, or goof it up somehow, you can use Time Machine to go get an old copy.

SuperDuper! is a program from Shirt Pocket Software which makes a complete exact copy of your hard drive onto another hard drive. If your hard drive dies, you can get a new one, use SuperDuper! to make the new one exactly identical to the old one, and pick up where you left off. http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

I let Time Machine run on my laptop whenever I'm at my desk. I have two backup disks I keep at work, and on Monday night, I bring home my main SuperDuper disk from work and make a backup of the main hard drive. Then on Tuesday night I bring home the second backup disk, which is a backup of the Time Machine backup. (I always pause Time Machine when making the SuperDuper backups; I don't know of any particular conflict, but it seems best to avoid one.)

Ah! Here we go: http://weheartit.com/conjuregirl/collections/22269125-marie She's fun to write because she's more outgoing than I'll ever be.

It's... A YA novella with a beat poetry influence. At the moment I'm following her where she goes (might as well give 'er boat pronouns). But hopefully when I've done my first draft I can whip it into shape.

http://i.imgur.com/BNNdbaN.jpg She's a bit bigger now and an absolute doll. However, much too smart for her own good.

Hi everyone. I'm Kyle, and I'll soon be editing Book 5 of my post-apocalyptic dystopian superhero fantasy series Legend of the Elementals. Right now, I'm doing some more hardcore editing for the impending release of the compendium Books 1-4, while also tweaking my TESOL master's thesis. Wishing everyone the best on their manuscripts! Book 1 is FREE on Amazon and Smashwords, among other places, by the way.

/u/chelseasedoti's too modest to post it, but here's a link to her debut book on Amazon! It's called "The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett."

Last year I became dissatisfied with the progress I'd been making in my fiction, and I conducted a survey online, asking over 1,000 writers how they improve their writing (I posted in r/YAwriters, and you guys were kind enough to share your thoughts :) ). I then started reading about "expertise science" in a variety of books, studying how talented people got that way. Next I surveyed big time bestsellers like Andy Weir, Jodi Picoult, and Gregg Olsen about their writing processes. And finally, I put it all my findings into a FREE ebook on Amazon called <em>How to Improve Your Writing</em>.

The book centers on the seven main ways to improve your writing, as suggested by writers (like y’all) in the survey. I call them the “7 Drills”.

1. Write

2. Read

3. Get Feedback

4. Study

5. Edit

6. Enjoy Art

7. Live

I explain the drills in the context of deliberate practice (the secret sauce to maximizing the efficiency of your writing time), and I give examples of each drill from my own practicing. I explain how I “read like a writer” with Ender’s game, how I “studied the craft” through Brandon Sanderson’s YouTube series, and so on, giving a step-by-step guide for how to convert your knowledge into effective habits. You *can* be a great writer. All you need is the right practice regimen.

With your answers in the survey, you gave me this system for free. Now, I’m giving it freely back. I hope it helps.

I finished my second first draft this week, and my alpha reader loves it! I'm a huge believer in Stephen King's "ideal reader" concept. In "On Writing," he reveals that he writes every novel for his wife. She is his alpha reader, and he knows if she likes it most of his readers will too.

For me, that person is my younger sister. She's 19 and loves YA novels, so I know if my book keeps her engaged, it must be decent. As she reads my rough draft, she just makes love/hate/confused comments.

I was really scared about writing a sequel. My first book is by no means perfect or a breakout success, but it has gotten great feedback and quite a few readers have been anxiously awaiting the sequel. I worried that maybe I'm not really cut out for writing as a career. What if I just had that one good story in me?

Completing a sequel and getting positive feedback has been uplifting and encouraging. I'm starting my third book next month more confident than ever. I hope all of you have an ideal alpha reader in your lives. It makes a huge difference.

I finished Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl recently, a really interesting book that is half about a man's (real-life) experience in a concentration camp, and half a psychology book about finding meaning in life. Very interesting.

So naturally I followed that up with The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - what an amazing little children's book.

I actually like to move around when I write. So it might be sitting on my couch, in the garden, in bed (my winter office) or at the kitchen table. I'm rather nomadic.

I don't really believe in writer's block. I think it's all part of the creation process. The best thing to get over slow periods is to read 'The War of Art' by Stephen Pressfield.

I'm a pantser. At this point in my writing life, it doesn't feel like a choice. There's just not enough information available at the start of a new project for me to plot it out. But my writing has evolved in some unexpected ways through the years, so I can't say I'll never cross over to the plotter side. : )

I just turned a manuscript over to my agent after a massive revision (that nearly ended me). When I was out there on that ledge, a writing friend introduced me to The Writer's Journey (based on The Hero's Journey) and it saved me! From now on, no manuscript will get past the second-draft stage until I map my main characters' arcs based on the Hero's Journey structure.

These are all things covered in The Elements of Style, which I would definitely reccommend for any truly beginner writers. It's a nice short read, but it helped my writing more than any other book.

I haven't been able to turn this off in a while. Generally only when I pick up a book by an author I'm a huge fan of.

I was reading The Master and Margarita today, and I'm correcting Bulgakov in what's regarded the best novel of the 20th century. And last night I opened a hardcover from the bedside reading pile, and it was torturing me. If I kept a pen by the bed I would have been editing the book.

When I was a reviewer this is how I came to see games and movies, and at least in those it killed my enjoyment of them - especially the former. So far it hasn't with books, I think perhaps because I can actually make something better when I say "I could do better than that!"

I know Stephen King mentions it in On Writing, and I think he was right that it becomes a new kind of enjoying it.

When I see a writer who put some masterful craft into a piece, it makes me giddy. One of those great little word plays, or when an entire book of foreshadowing coalesces in an instant. It makes you just want to put the book down with the page open and give it a standing ovation, because you just read something from a Magnificent Bastard.

Yes! As I said above, I think people are willing to take a chance on something if the cost is low enough. I liked that we offered the bonus prizes to backers at all funding levels. As Janine said, the point of this was not to get rich. It was to publish the book we wanted to, and to gain as big of an audience as we could. If people like the way you do business, they'll support you again. And the more backers we had, the more people we'd be able to inform about future projects. I think offering lots of levels for backers to choose from is a good thing largely. I think too many can get confusing - and we may have ventured into that territory with AD, but if there are choices, there will be something for everyone. We have also offered things like prints of the book art, but also more out-there things like a special Athena's Daughter "Pennyblossoms" (https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrightCopperPenny) and for the Time Traveled Tales kickstarter, challenge coins. There were good odds a backer could find a higher level that appealed to them enough to want to spend the money on it.

We were glad to have you aboard! Good luck on your story! :-) (And thank you for the compliments on our Kickstarter!)

Brazilian here

Cona is wrong because it's a literal translation of cunt, as in female genitals. It's not even used in brazilian portuguese.

If you're going for something like "bitch" in meaning, you can use: "puta; vadia; vagabunda"

WordReference suggets "puta" as a possible translation, and that's what would choose too.

&#x200B;

Regarding the: "Very well", a direct translation to "muito bem" doesn't feel really natural to me.

If possible, could you give a little context, or maybe write the text right before "very well, cunt"?

As you've pointed out, a lot of literary kickstarters don't fund - 2/3 of them, in fact. I believe what sets all of ours apart is that aside from everyone involved being fully vested in the various projects and promoting like crazy, we have clear "theme" for each of our projects, well-defined stretch goals that encourage people to continue contributing to get to the next level, we give contributors something of substantive value at every contribution level, we kept our pricing and initial goal as low as we could (we wanted our backers to know that their contributions were essential for the project to succeed), and try to make everyone who backed our project feel as if they were a part of it. It is absolutely vital for your backers to understand that they are part of something important. We launch all our Kickstarters with two goals: (1) to make a great book available to a wide audience, and (2) to effect positive change on the nature of the relationship between publishers, authors, and readers, effectively giving the authors and readers a more equal voice in the creative process. The fact that we have been able to communicate the second goal in a way that resonates with our contributors is a significant driver of our success.

Basically, as long as you remember that a Kickstarter is about your backers, and NOT so that you make a bunch of money (its purpose is to fund your project, meaning, to pay your artists, authors, editor, printing, shipping, and your basic operating costs - not to line your own pockets), you'll do fine.

If you want to check out our current Kickstarter for the graphic novel, Icarus, (and yes, there is still time for you to back it!) you can do so here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/103879051/icarus-a-graphic-novel?ref=search

I'm fairly certain it's time to shelf the book I've been querying. It was a fun book to write, but there's been little interest. I do have a couple of fulls out, but one I nudged and still didn't hear back from. The other is still a month away from nudging.

I do have a short novella up on Wattpad, for anyone who is interested. It's a Cinderella retelling that is very loosely based on the fairy tale. It's the first in a series I'm writing, all novella length, and plan on self-publishing.

Okay! I set up my Wattpad page and posted some short, humorous pieces I wrote over the last year, just to test the waters.

T'would be most splendiferous if you were to try them and tell me what you think...por favor...

Alexa Donne did a video for this.

https://youtu.be/v3ryKP6kjW0

My son who is an aspiring author likes watches the videos from The Great Courses.

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/

He has so far watched:

Writing Great Fiction

How to Write Best selling Fiction

Writing Great Essays

It may be clean, but still more mature because of the nature of the content and the protagonist's goals.

13-15 is such a frustrating time because you've hit puberty and are sort of almost an adult, at least hormonally close to one, but you're still very childish in a lot of ways, and the world doesn't cater to you (this conversation being an example), yet expects you to "grow up" and start thinking about a future you've never had to consider before. It's a difficult time to navigate, trying to understand the world around you, navigate friendships, young romance, the lack of independence, the need to rely so much on parents to do anything, and yet striving to find your own individuality and figuring out who you are. It's a massive transition from childhood to the beginning of adulthood, and it's scary.

ETA: I wrote a steampunk series. the first book is The Brass Giant (Amazon link)

I'm drafting my own DIY MFA program. I'm mostly self-taught for my day job, so I'm pretty familiar with how I learn. Which is reading about it to get ideas percolating, then seeing someone else do it, and then doing it and getting feedback. I am considering enrolling in a writing course, but I'm also looking for other supplemental coursework/books/etc. I've written something like...cough 6 novels cough, but really need a skills...reboot. Since the ones that weren't terrible were boring. So I am mostly focusing on pacing/plot/telling a more interesting story. Here's what I have so far:

• Books on Writing:

  • Story Genius - Lisa Cron
  • Wired for Story - Lisa Cron
  • How Not to Write a Novel - Howard Mittelmark & Sandra Newman

• Courses on Writing:

  • TBD

Halp please!

There is a book called Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose and she discusses dialogue and shows examples from books of dialogue being well done and talks about why it was well done - I highly recommend this book. Good luck!

This might be a topic for a different thread, but I've always wondered how much writers actually get from these kinds of books. The only writing book I ever read that impacted me was Stephen King's On Writing and pretty much only the part that told me not to be afraid to be weird in my writing. I'm a little skeptical of books that teach writers the "rules" of writing.

I have a few standbys I've found really useful.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers,

On Writing,

Spooky Art,

Hero's Journey,

Save the Cat,

The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics

and a couple good TV writing books. Those are the only ones I like, but I often re-read them. If Joss Whedon wrote a TV writing book, I'd read it.

I love The Hero's Journey. Haven't read The Writer's Journey, though I might have to now=) Netflix used to have a show up where Joseph Campbell talks about plotting with The Hero's Journey. I don't know if they're still there or not, and I don't remember the name, but it's worth looking into.

I really like Blake Snyder's Save the Cat, which is originally for screenwriters but ports well to fiction. And Stephen King's On Writing, not so much for the craft as for inspiration. When I was younger, I loved Rita Mae Brown's Starting from Scratch but I will admit her insistence that every author needed to own a (2000 dollar!) copy of the OED made me feel inadequate for a looooooooong time.

My WIP has two titles at the moment, I'm undecided between the two. One is "Your Mess is Mine" inspired by the Vance Joy song. The other is "The Poet & The Keres" which sums up the plot "A teenage boy follows instructions from the mysterious girl calling herself The Poet after his father’s suicide," with reference to some Greek mythology that's referred to within the book itself. If anyone's interested you can find out more about this project here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/writerpoetstoryteller

I haven't read it (yet) but Call Me By My Name by John Ed Bradley is supposed to be really good. It's set in Louisiana in the 60s and I'm pretty sure it also deals with a interracial romance and how people viewed it during that time.

I freaking love Limyaael's Rants. I tried reading Goodkind and failed. Next up is Jordan so I can form an Educated Opinion. Right now, most of my vitriol is leveled at Kvothe.

...Sometimes I hate my reading list. (Although, The Forbidden Library was good, FYI.)

I never used comps in my queries, but I don't think they will hurt if chosen well. There is a list of YA thrillers on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/ya-thriller. "The Name of the Star" is my favorite YA Thriller (I don't think it's on this list though).

From what I've heard, you want something as close as possible in either concept or setting, but you have to make sure you distinguish your book from the comps. You don't want to say that your book about a regular girl falling for a vampire boy will appeal to people who liked Twilight because, well, then it just points out to the agent that your book is not original.

And I agree that you should never use the best selling book of all time as a comp, but I have also been told that you must use books that sold very well. If you choose a comp that tanked, you are telling the agent that your book might tank too.

Good Evening/Afternoon/Morning, I write under the pseudonym Craven N. Faust. I am a current university student aspiring to be an author. I am currently working on my first Novel, CODE: A Hidden Language. This novel, mainly geared towards Young Adults, is of the scifi/fantasy genre. I am relatively new to reddit as a scene in general and definitely new to this specific subreddit. I am very excited and hopeful about my current writing endeavor and hope to complete it within the year's end.

Premise: Imagine if the universe and everything within it was written in a code akin to a computer program, a language, a programming, sentient and adaptive in nature. Now, imagine the possibilities that would present themselves if you could manipulate the world around you, influence it. What if we all could? Have you ever noticed, perhaps, the individuals that seemed to defy probability with their propensity for luck, the athletes whose abilities bordered at the edge of human capability? How would you respond if I told you that there was more than just chance at play, more than pure skill? Life is a numbers game, a battle against the odds. No one gets that lucky. No one’s that talented. Those of us who are truly amazing make our own luck.

I have newly created a twitter just for my handle, @CravenNFaust

I periodically upload chapters, allowing them to be reviewed and critiqued, on a site called Wattpad. I find that this aids me in motivation and allows me to write at a steady pace. I hope all goes well for everyone here and feel free to stop by and give my current chapters a read! Thank you for time!

Have you seen the Kindle Matchbook program? It trends towards $2.99 when you've already purchased the (new) book rather than free, but I still wish more books were included in it.

Inkscape. I should probably switch to Gimp (which is also free), but I installed it and the interface looked intimidating. I'm just messing around with it on my own instead of following any tutorials or anything.

I'm calling your story racist, not you. Portal fantasy is racist because we have unskilled kids that are usually white coming to a different world and being better than inhabitants at solving their problems.

This is the issue that I have with your story that's a portal fantasy. It's basically kids saving a world that have no skills at all. They're white usually, and because they're outsiders then they're best at solving the world's issues even though the native inhabitants know more about the world than the kid does. The native inhabitants are basically side-characters in their own narrative where they should be the main cast. Does that make sense?

It's very cool that you're trying to write a book but you can't write middle schoolers as ya protagonists. Age is an really important factor in kidlit and the subject matter doesn't matter. You say that there's no middle grade books about realistic bullying. scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/school/books-about-bullying-middle-schoolers.html You're either not reading your market well, which you need to do because you'll not find a middle schooler in a ya book.

So, YA is for 14-18 years old that means no middle schoolers as your main character. Agents will not buy your work because you're not writing a book that fits the market. Nor, will high schoolers read books with a middle school character. They're your audience that want characters like them. Look, you don't get to write whatever if you're going to traditional publish your books. You have to write to the rules of your genre market.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/whats-the-difference-between-middle-grade-fiction-vs-young-adult-fiction#what-is-young-adult-fiction You might wanna read this to understand why I'm telling you that your novel is middle grade. Age is an important factor when writing kid lit.

Yes!!! I've seen the most improvement in my own writing when I've studied books that I love. One of my favorite writing books is Learn How To Write A Novel By Reading Harry Potter (https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Write-Novel-Reading-Potter-ebook/dp/B07HYQXJ74). I really wish there were more books like this.

Here's a link to the pre-order page at Amazon -- it's got the flap copy and a first chapter sample...

I don't have first hand knowledge or advice, but I asked my husband (who has done some research into accessibility) about speech to text software and he said Dragon Naturally Speaking has been kind of the gold standard in the industry for a while. It looks like Amazon has the Home Version available for pretty cheap if you want to try it out. It's an older version (vs. 13 rather than 15) but the price point isn't terrible for seeing if it fits your needs.

The first scary book I've ever read, pretty much! It's by my Pitch Wars mentor, The Forgotten Child. I love it so far. Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Child-Riley-Thomas-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07GNC5GN6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1545420220&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=the+forgotten+child

I am reading <strong>Rift in the Deep</strong> by Janelle Garrett. It is a refreshingly well-written selfpub fantasy. I absolutely love the characters and their development, though the pacing is a bit slow for my personal tastes. Highly recommend.

I listen to Audible a lot. Currently listening to Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride. Just finished Lindy West's Shrill. Reading 'The Classic of Mountains and Seas' (about Chinese mythic geography.) Perpetually reading Stephen Pressfield's The War of Art. Also reading Star Wars: Princess Leia and Saga.

1. Just read a lot.

2. Just write a lot.

3. Read On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Your uncertainties, your cluelessness, your confidence and whatever other things that cast you in the dark, will be cleared.

You think you suck? Congratulations. This means your skill as a writer will only become better as you work with the above. It will never be lesser than where you think you are now.

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The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell (fantastic for symbolism and archetypes)

Save the Cat by Blake Synder (godsend as a screenwriter and basically my blue print for dramatic structure no matter what I'm writing)

Spooky Art by Norman Mailer

On Writing by Stephen King

What do you folks think about my book? https://www.amazon.com/Glyphics-J-Richard-Singleton-ebook/dp/B006M5L76S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1510955770&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=glyphics&amp;dpID=51E4Kmrq0OL&amp;preST=_SX342_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch

Is the cover just terrible? Description?

EVERYONE SHOULD READ KAT AND MEG CONQUERS THE WORLD WHEN IT COMES OUT ON NOVEMBER 7!! IT IS SERIOUSLY DELIGHTFUL. HERE. HERE'S AN AMAZON LINK. AND A GOODREADS LINK.

If your pockets are full of money, buy this: https://www.amazon.com/Glyphics-J-Richard-Singleton-ebook/dp/B006M5L76S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1492810346&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=glyphics

if you're po, check out my blog jrichardsingleton.blogspot.com

Hello everyone, my name is Nicole. I'm a self-published YA Fantasy writer. I have a series I'm working on called the Ponith Series. There will be 5 books in the series. The first book is published on Amazon, called Yazen and I'm working on the second novel now (Volux), hoping to release it in the beginning of 2017.

I work in the medical field full time and then come home to my husband and daughter (who will be 11 months old next week). I write in my spare time. I love spending time with my family and friends, watching movies, writing, reading, listening to music, spending time outdoors and much more.

You can visit me at my website, http://www.creativenovelist.com/ and say hi. It's nice to meet everyone and hope to make some new friends. :)

edit: typo above

My book was released this week. Please take a look: SEER: The Ghosts of Gray Fable. Also up on Goodreads. Thanks for checking it out!

Thank you! So thrilled that there are so many fans of “Out of the Easy” here! I spent three years researching the novel and the research was SO much fun! Willie, the madam in “Out of the Easy,” was inspired by Norma Wallace, who ran a brothel in New Orleans for many years. Writer Christine Wiltz wrote a fantastic nonfiction book on Norma that I used for research. It’s called, “The Last Madam, A Life in the New Orleans Underworld.” Here’s a link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KQZY3F2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&amp;btkr=1

And as for modern magic, hm. Most of my actual, physical books on this are just about plants. Although I do have this "Encyclopedia of Witchcraft" that I got for Alchemy research, and it has a lot of good starting points for folklore and history. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062372017/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687602&amp;pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&amp;pf_rd_t=201&amp;pf_rd_i=0007192932&amp;pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_r=143WXD3SSX7DZQ593VQ9

There definitely is a lot of information out there, and in my experience it's because it's such a deeply personal thing for people. Like, as subjective as the clothes you chose to wear—it's whatever you're comfortable in. I like plants, essential oils, and tarot cards! That's my thing. I'm also a big fan of the moon, conceptually. But other people are really into crystals, runes, or sigils...they find a lot of meaning and significance in that. There's like, a book on bath magic. Spells you do in the bath. It's so niche! I would say that whatever your partner is interested in, like, if there's an aspect they're drawn to in particular—start there. Tumblr actually has a great..oh what are they called...um, pop culture witch? pop witch? city witch? Idk! but they're great. I've seen teenage girls writing their own spells with 1D lyrics.

Whoa. That is funky. The idea is pretty cool (there's a Ray Bradbury short story about a guy who builds a time machine in order to save the lives of several suicide writers: Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy and others that immediately came to mind). The jokes are quite well done, especially the moving carriage bit.

I really like this overall, though there are a couple of continuity concerns that bear looking into (even if they're not addressed here, they may not have been addressed in your mind): First of all, how did Darcy get into Wonderland? How, too, did the narrator? How does the narrator produce the book out of nowhere? Does he have some sort of magical bag of holding, or an extradimensional bookshelf or somesuch? (I'm a bit of a stickler for details, apologies)

Most importantly, how will the last part impact the story, if the fiction characters are stuck in perpetual pagespace where they cannot learn or grow? Perhaps you have an answer to this, but it seems like it would create a number of problems for you, the writer, that would be quite difficult to work around.

Good luck and keep writing. -Brent

With the contempory YA/disliking fantasy thing... I would strongly recommend that you give The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma a try. Good writing (I'm picky about what gets that label), and until I got to the end, I wasn't sure if it was "officially" fantasy or contemporary. I've been using this comparison a lot, but it really is Black Swan meets Orange is the New Black with actual ballerinas in juvie.

Everyone who liked The Phantom Tollbooth should run out and buy A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears, which is written and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. My mom got it for me when I was about 10 and it was the first book that had me actually rolling around laughing out loud. Before then, I didn't know that novels could do that to me.

It counts if you think it does!

Is it split in two parts, or bouncing back and forth?

Looking For Alaska was split into "Before" and "After" blocks, and Little Peach had three options for any given chapter: reminiscing back in time, linear events of the past two months, or addressing the reader.

I'm guessing you mean 5 to 1? The blurb looks interesting and congratulations on your upcoming debut!

Magonia is a recent urban fantasy (and blurbed by Gaiman!) so that might be a good one to read too. It seems to be better to have recent books as comp titles.

Reading this query, it seems more like Arie's getting some well-deserved payback and Wesley is still the butt of every joke. This is a huge problem because it reads like Arie's meant to be the main character and there is absolutely nothing to like about her - not even a clever voice.

Then in the last paragraph, you say there are 3 points of view, suggesting that Arie, Kieran, and Wesley should have equal page time.

Overall suggestion: rewrite your query with at least 1 short paragraph (1-3 sentences) from each character's POV, then pull it together with your last paragraph, which works well.

Also, with the multiple POV, long time span, and finally piecing together the breakup, I would strongly suggest you read I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. Not a particularly similar plot, but a very similar mechanic.

Che Guevarra was in his 20's while traveling, but his memoir <em>The Motorcycle Diaries</em> has a lot of the hallmarks of compelling literature for young adults -- self discovery, a struggle with a life-threatening illness, and anger at injustice. (Also a good movie with the incredibly hot Gael García Bernal.)

Is it necessary to call Kat a "video gamer?" Can't she just be a "gamer?" I still don't like the way

>but for some reason--one Mississippi... two did I lock the door ... three Granddad is dying...--doesn't always work.

is structured.

Meg's intro paragraph is great at painting her as clingy and potentially annoying.

Third paragraph is fine; fourth paragraph seems jerky/fragmented, just in the way the sentences are structured.

Also, graphic novel suggestion: In Real Life

What books did you get? :o Some of these titles have been surprising me with how many places they fit... And then Out of the Easy didn't fit anywhere except historical!

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I mean, there's Felix in Waistcoats and Weaponry (smudging and all!), but I'm hard-pressed to think of other examples.

Have you read How I Live Now? The MC there "makes drastic measures to try and figure out her life by moving into her eclectic aunt's cottage in the English countryside..." Then WWIII breaks out. "How I Live Now" meets "some other assassin title" could get across the modern dystopia + survival aspects.

Like grimdark? Half a King is doing just fine as a YA grimdark title. I seem to remember A Great and Terrible Beauty being pretty dark too, albeit in a different direction.

Yes! Sadly...and his top recommendation was a brace (this one: http://www.amazon.com/Bracoo-RH135-Reversible-Thumb-Stabilizer/dp/B00JQM9126/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;smid=AODDMJOM13BVT ) so I guess I'm on the brace-wearing wagon... :/ But hopefully it'll fix the problem! He did seem to think with rest and the brace, the issue would go away in 6-8 weeks.

Grasshopper Jungle or Tangerine, maybe? I haven't read either of them, but the vague bits I do know about them sound like they could be workable. And the mind-controlled super soldiers have some definite links to Divergent, but I don't think you'd want to use that as a comp.

I'd argue that Sabriel and Girls Like Us didn't have romance, but I can think of more adult examples. Even in the narrower "adult books that appeal to YA readers" category.

I think this works, but I'd be very aware of comparisons to the Lunar Chronicles (Cress and Fairest *proooobably being most relevant) what with lunar colonies and mental powers.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 is another one of those books on the cusp between MG and YA...

And published in 1982 - before either distinction was really a thing.

I like this. Make sure you're aware of the short story "Tawny Petticoats" in the Rogues anthology though. It's about a loan shark and security auditor in post-apocalyptic New Orleans... With zombies.

Beth, I feel your pain - as a writer AND a crocheter AND a person who types a lot because of my job I get a lot of wrist pain. Braces suck so so much because it restricts your movement and makes it impossible to do some things.

Some things I do - take frequent "stretch breaks". Put your hands palm to palm like you are praying and push them against each other. Pull your fingers backwards towards your wrist and hold for a few seconds. Also try placing your hand palm down on a flat surface and stretching.

I've also heard great things about these bamboo supports. They are not as restricting as the brace.

What sort of books are you comparing your voice to? Maybe it would help to come up with different comp titles to help target your query. Some examples of fast-paced, distinctive voices: Kurt Vonnegut, Stacey Richter, Feed, Mark Lawrence, Chuck Pahlaniuk, Christopher Moore. Most of those are "adult" titles, but there's nothing wrong with "YA title meets author" or something to that effect. Try flipping through a few pages at the library or Amazon sample pages and see if anything sounds similar.

I agree with /u/joannafarrow that an excerpt would be a huge help. You don't have to wait until Thursday.

OK, I've been looking forward to this AMA all month. Boy Proof was one of my favorite books in high school and still one of my frequent rereads because it "spoke" to me. It was (still is) so rare to find an authentic geek voice and I really appreciated that the story wasn't another "Waaaah! Everyone is mean to me for no reason!" plot and more like "You really brought that on yourself, you know. How are you going to fix it?" So, uh, thanks for that.

Any other books about super-nerdy teens that you'd recommend?

Also, since you usually write about girls and have a fairly unisex name, do you think that helps bring your books to a larger audience, or is that an increasingly-irrelevant factor in the 21st century?

Are there any particular places from which you draw inspiration for settings or characters?

It's marginally better, but there's no real double entendre or flashiness to it.

Also, related graphic novel suggestion: In Real Life by Cory Doctorow. I highly doubt the plot is anything similar, but high school, friendship, and gamer girls without any world-ending stakes made me think of it.