Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

 

 

This week’s topic:

How far would you go to get published?

Explanation: “We writers can form quite an attachment to our characters and stories. But we also know publishing is a business, and sometimes to make it in said business–to really build a career from it–we have to bend a bit. How far would you go to break into the publishing world?”

 

Honestly, I don’t know. It depends and will depend on the situation I face.

Here are the situations suggested by YA Highway:

1st – Jumping on the trend train

My answer: Depends on the trend. Vampires and werewolves? Forget it. Dystopians and Steampunk? I love to read them, but never tried writing them. Perhaps I even enjoyed it if I tried.

2nd – Switch to a well selling genre

My answer: I’m a genre hopper, so I wouldn’t mind switching to another genre. I write paranormal romance, UF, contemporary romance and even high fantasy. It depends on my mood. How

3rd – Minor revisions requested to sign with an agent

My answer: I would like to say that I would take a look at the revisions requested. if I agreed with them, if I thought they would strengthen my ms, then I would do it. But in truth, if I liked the agent asking for those revisions, I know I would do it to try and secure the agent (hey, I’m being honest here).

Homerun – Major revisions requested by an editor

My answer: Probably I would do it because the editor has experience and probably knows what she/he is asking, knows the market and what readers want. Though, I would try to chat about it, understand every tiny detail and explain my side of it too. Heavy revision may mean I’ll end up with a very different ms, and I wouldn’t like that. It all revolves if my story will be a better, stronger story because of those revisions or not.

 

 

Now, if you bear with me, let me talk about something bothering me these days that has to do with this how-far-would-you-go topic:

As some of you may know from a previous RTW post, I like to write New Adult, which is college-aged protagonists. I think of NA as it is, a continuation of the YA genre. I think both YA and NA are very close and have many things in common. (PS: sorry guy if I talk about NA a lot. It’s a sore spot for me).

However, I’m encountering many obstacles because of that.

Some examples:

1. I tried querying agents who represent both YA and adult and some sent a personalized rejection asking me to move down or up and stick with the known genres.

2. I sent one of my manuscripts for a contest in the YA category—my heroine is 19, which, technically is in the teens, you know, nineteen … Anyway, I made the five finalists. But then, the editor who judged the final round sent me a feedback. She said my voice is a little older than YA. I burst out laughing. I KNOW THAT! I write NA because I know I sound a little older than YA! The way my characters think are also a little more mature than YA.

3. What do I with all my five NA manuscripts? They are revised, critiqued, edited … and I can’t find a place for them.

So, what would I do to get published?

Do I switch over to YA and change my natural voice to sound younger? Do I re-write all my manuscripts to YA? How long would that take? Am I willing to take that risk?

Or do I stomp my foot and keep trying? Is it worth it to query every agent in the world if I know 95% of them aren’t that open to NA? How many years will I waste trying?

Or, as one of my beta-readers suggested, should I go for self-publishing? Honestly, I’m just putting it out here because it is an option, but is an option I’m not willing to take yet. Yet.

And another friend suggested I try YA for now, then, if and when I get published, I can talk to my agent about switching to NA. In my friend’s opinion, it would be easier to switch once you already have built strong foundations, a strong career. And, for logical reasons, I have to agree with her. But again, I would have to bend and go against what I want.

I would love to believe, as many friends already suggested, that I could be the one to break out the genre, to make it visible and recognizable (got love those friends who support you like that!), but I also have to be realistic about this. Like that saying, keep you head in the clouds with your feet on the ground. Chances are it won’t happen. Ever.

Anyway, I’m not answering the RTW question, because I really don’t have an answer. Would I bend and switch to YA? Will I? Not sure. I wouldn’t like to.

And I’m done ranting lol

Sorry I filled your ears with my problems, but thanks for listening ;)

PS2: I’ve been writing a super long post about New Adult … like I said before, it’s a sore spot to me. I won’t post yet this year anymore, I think, but I’ll let you all know when it’s up.

 

How about you guys? What far would you go to get published?

Cheers,

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.”

This week’s topic:

What are your writing and publishing superpowers (drafting? beta-reading? writing queries? plotting? character creation? etc.) — and what’s your kryptonite?

My superpowers:

1) Passion for writing. I just love writing. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. This is my dream job.

2) Ideas. My ideas and premises are all sort of original. For my paranormal stuff, I create monsters on my own (no more vamps and werewolves and angels, pls!) and create fantastic worlds and all the rest. It’s really good.

3) Opening and closing of scenes and chapters. At least that’s what my beta-readers and editors tell me. I’m quick to identify setting, identify the conflict and expose the tension, and finish with something hanging so the reader wants to keep reading. I guess that’s good, right?

4) Main Character. I add layers and layers of awesomeness and more layers and layers with flaws we can relate to. Also, they all have a hobby that enriches and adds to their personality, like singing, dancing, playing some sports, painting, collecting something, whatever …

 

My kryptonites:

1) Self-doubt. I start a story with all the confidence in the whole, then, half-way through it, I’m doubting it’s going anywhere. Will it be good? Will others like it? It’s the same when I’m querying and I have fulls out. Omg, why did I send that crap, it wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t ready LOL

2) Deadline. In the meaning that I need one. Self-imposed deadlines work for a while … and I confess I’m better when I know someone expects to see my work after that deadline. I work better under pressure.

3) Ideas. Same as my superpower Ideas, but the next part of it. My ideas are awesome, but then I start adding complications and sub-plots … and it suddenly starts to look too big for simple me to handle. It’s like I don’t feel I’m the right writer for them, like they need a much, much better writer …

4) Grammar. English is my Second Language. Some people swear they would never know if I didn’t tell them and a freelance proofreader once said my grammar is better than many American writers she already worked with (poor girl, had very bad clients lol), but I know it’s not perfect. I always hire a freelance editor before sending my work out.

5) Age. Not in the sense that it’s bad, but it brings me down when I stop to think about it too much. I like to write what some people call New Adult, but it’s not very accepted by agents and editors. Many, many people suggest I switch to YA or adult, and the thought of rewriting all my manuscripts just to adjust that freaks me out. I’ve been trying to adjust my NaNo novel from NA to YA and oh what a headache, and it also makes me blue.

6) Impatience. I’m the most impatient person I ever known. Oh, believe me, I know publishing and writing are all about waiting and waiting and waiting … but don’t you want to strangle waiting and impatience and time sometimes? I do. I wish I was a calm and very patient person. Unfortunately, I’m not.

 

As I suspected when I started this post, I found more weak spots than strong ones. And I bet that if I spent a lot of time thinking about this topic I would find many more kryptonites and a few other super powers, but these are the ones that came up on the top of my head.

 

Your turn. What are your writing/publishing superpowers and kryptonites?

Cheers,