Interesting YA Facts

(Don't forget about Alan Baxter's blog tour - we're up to day 7 already. Only two more days till his guest appearance here.

Don’t forget that for the duration of the tour (until July 29th) you can get ebook editions of both RealmShift and MageSign for just US$1 each. This is an offer exclusive to Smashwords. The beauty of that is that Smashwords offer the books in a variety of formats, including Kindle friendly .mobi editions. (If you're lucky enough to have a Kindle...)

To get your special priced copies all you have to do is enter a discount code at the checkout. This will change the price from the usual US$3.50 to a special price of US$1. Go here for RealmShift and enter code ZR95S at the checkout; go here for MageSign and enter SF97B at the checkout.)

But this post isn't about reminding you of things wonderful and adult fiction related...

I've still been pondering the lengths of novels in different YA categories. As many of you have pointed out, if my current WIP finishes at 40-45K, some agents may consider it a novella. If I over expand with a new subplot or ten, then some agents would consider over 80k to be too long.

As an aspiring novelist, we should be looking to remove as many hurdles as possible - writing the damn thing in the first place followed by all the revision, editing and rewriting is hard enough, you don't need to be cutting off your nose to spite your face in regards to finding someone to sell it when you're finished.

So, I figured I'd try and find out what the norm is and an easy way to keep that information up-to-date. General consensus is somewhere between 40-80k will have an agent, somewhere, willing to have a look, but I want to narrow that range so we have a greater chance of success.

Firstly, regardless of the numbers you come up with and how long your beloved masterpiece is, always check individual agents/publishers guidelines to see if your manuscript meets their requirements.

Now, exactly how long should that manuscript be?

Over at Modern Matriarch is an article discussing this topic. The important bit of information here is this:

So how do you determine which length is suitable for your book?...Find five or six books within your books genre, and then follow this simple formula:

Book pages x lines on a full page x 9 = number of words

To simplify this further - a standard size mass market paperback has around 36 lines of text per page making your formula: Number of pages x 36 x 9

For example:

Fahrenheit 451 - 192 pages x 36 x 9 = 62208 words
Where the wild things are - 48 pages x 36 x 9 = 15552 words
Brave new world - 288 pages x 36 x 9 = 93312 words

How about some more recent titles.

Twilight Book 1 - 544 pages x 36 x 9 = 176256 words!
Harry Potter (1) - 309 pages x 36 x 9 = 100116 words (book 7 has 784 pages!)

What about recent releases from lesser known authors:

Resurrection (Wicked) by Nancy Holder - 416 pages x 36 x 9 = 141264 words!
Totally Fabulous by Michelle Radford - 256 pages x 36 x 9 = 82944 words

So far, all the YA books I've looked at have been what many would consider on the longer side, apart from the classic "Where the wild things are" which only has 48 pages, but then that isn't in a standard format and is more for younger kids.

So lets find some on the smaller end. (Thanks to Jamie for the classics)

Of Mice And Men - 112 pages = 36288 words
Animal Farm - 128 pages = 41472 words
Lord of the Flies - 190 pages = 61560

More recent...:

His name was death - 128 pages = 41472 words
Jade Green - 176 pages = 57024

So, yes - Cate is very correct in her statement that 'a story will be as long as it's supposed to be', and you need to research the agents/publishers so you send it only to those who will look at the manuscript length you've written.

But many don't publish the lengths they're after so I've gone ahead and looked at a whole bunch of recently published YA novels and have come to the conclusion that the range to hit the majority of agents/publishers will be more like 50-65K. (155 pages - 200 pages)

Conclusions:

For those of you who just sit down and write without an outline - just sit down and write - and know that I hate you ;cP

For those of us who need an outline, you need to be looking at around 20 chapters with 2500+ words in each. This should give you something that is fast paced, snappy, and if the content is right, a page turner readers will enjoy.

As an outliner, or a plodder as some people label it, I very much go by the formula Alexandra Sokoloff suggests as part of her story structure technique. With a target of 20 chapters it becomes a simple breakdown of Act 1 being around 8 chapters (first 60-80 pages), Act 2 being around 9 chapters (page 61-125 or 81-170)and Act 3 being 3 chapters (126-155 or 171-200).

Does all this sound like I'm being overly formulaic? Do I sound like I'm trying to make this too much like slot A goes into flap B? Is art something that should not be tied down with such mundane constraints?

I agree, but I also want to be published and these are the numbers the industry is tending to publish. I'm not saying if you write something of 40K (or 120K) that you won't be published - I think I've shown plenty of examples to say otherwise, but the majority of current debut authors in YA fiction are within these parameters and the majority of agents/publishers are requesting to read manuscripts of these lengths.

If nothing else, it's a starting point to aim for.

Make of it what you will...

YA Fiction

Lots more research done - surfing the web is one of my true skills - and I've discovered a couple of things.

There is no definitive word length for YA. Books have been published from 20k up to and past 100K. The majority of sources quote 40-60K as the norm. Surprisingly few suggest checking with the guidelines on prospective agents or publishers websites (I would suggest this be a step set in concrete).

Secondly, a good YA story will take as many words as it takes to tell the whole story so write the manuscript, polish it till it shines, and then worry about word length.

Doesn't that second one sound like good advice for all fiction?

So if you take care of the second point, the first point will take care of itself, and don't believe everything you read on the web. There are a lot of uninformed people out there who are either guessing or purposely spreading bad information...150K as the norm - as if!

Back to work...

Not Fair

Aaron, you had a big hand in this - if it doesn't work, I'm going to come find you, but if it comes together as it seems to be in my head - I'm going to come and find you...and kiss you.

Last week I edited a YA manuscript. Only recently I also commented to friend that I couldn't write YA - it just didn't come out right. (I'm the guy who sat down to write a unicorn story for my daughter and ended up killing most of them with Chimeras', by ripping out their horns and severing their heads. I ended up writing her a little poem about unicorns in the snow instead.)

Then I wrote a flash fiction piece I intend to sub to the AHWA flash fiction contest. It is an adult thinking back over his life as a kid which leads to a big final scene. But all the things a kid experiences and has to put up with came flooding back to me. A huge majority of this flash piece could be looked at as YA - although it's not in the end. (At least I don't kill any unicorns in this one)

Last Wednesday, Aaron blogged about romance writing. I made a silly comment which I'll include here in the spirit of full disclosure:

I'm toying with the idea of writing a good dark romance. It's kind of like toying with the idea of writing a porn film with a story. A noble thought, but maybe impossible to actually achieve.

Still, good writing should always win in the end, so if I take the major plot points in all these formula romances and add a dark twist, with a real story, then shouldn't that stand out from the herd and sell?

If nothing else, it would give me something to use my erotic writing skills for...

Then this new paranormal romance anthology was opened for submissions, with initial notification coming out through the Southern Horror Writers Yahoo Group. According to JT, it was a sign.

Then last night I saw an ad for a new TV series which was so close to my original idea it was scary. Saving Grace (I've provided the link here but I'm not reading any of it. I don't want to be subconsciously influenced). I've never seen this before, but the core premise was so similar I almost went searching for a noose. Needless to say, until I've got this outline rock solid, I won't be watching the series.

But, on closer introspection, there are differences - big differences. My story is YA, Grace is most definitely not. Mine has a romance, Grace has sex (from what I've seen on the ad). My main character is male - Grace isn't, my MC is dead, but not in a zombie way, and not in a in-need-of-redemption way, but in a way I'm yet to pin down, but I'm working on that-kind-of-way. (I know, big part of the premise, but it's still coming to me, and even if I did have it, I don't want to give it away here.)

I'm also not sure if I can condense it down to 8500 words for Scary Kisses. I can see a YA series here, clear as day. I'm thinking any story for the anthology would have to be a later-down-the-track-type-of-thing, a single incident in an ongoing history of this character.

I've already outlined the first book. I'm already seeing places to add in foreshadowing, humour, romance, clues. I've already started to shape minor characters to help build the bigger picture. The story, and the characters, don't even have names yet! Honestly, I have committed a 553 word/ 3 page outline to file. :c)

The kick off for book two has already been included.

No - I'm not abandoning AKL - God no! This is my project on the side. This little YA series will be what I play around with when I hit a hurdle in the creative-juices-flowing-type circumstances. I will do backgrounds and profiles on all the characters, the world they live in, the situation, possible scenarios in the future. I will story book the whole thing. It is set in my home state, to begin with, so I'll be doing little research trips.

Cate has TPA with wonderful quirky characters she has revisited over and over again. This will be mine - I hope.

Fingers firmly crossed.

Just About...

Last night I finally got hold of the data I require to finish the assignment I need to resubmit. So I got home and worked steadily on getting it done. Reading the fine print on the requirements to ensure I did everything required, I was surprised when I noticed the clock - 12:20am.

I had to be up early this morning and it always takes me an hour or more to get to sleep. So little wonder the assignment is almost finished and I'm now at work with my eyes hanging out of my head.

I lugged the whole thing to work with me, so I can finish it off, package it up and mail it out today. Starting next week, I want to concentrate on my own writing again.

In other news...

As promised back on the 30/10 with the post Great Idea - I can now pass on my thoughts on subscribing to the free version of the Publishers Lunch: When I complete my first manuscript to a level I'm really happy with and I'm ready to shop it around to find an agent - I will be paying my fees and joining as a fully fledged member to this organisation.

If you want to be up-to-date with what's going on in the industry - this looks good.

But the free version is only a hint at what can be found with the membership. It's a teaser, an advertising ploy. There is a little bit of publishing related news, and it's mildly interesting to know there were 46 new deals done yesterday in the publishing world, but there are no details in the free version. It gives you some book titles which sold and the author's name but out of the 46 deals, it gave book title and author information on half a dozen. That's it.

There was three news items, 1 job ad for a position in New York, and two sections on the benefits of joining the organisation as a fully subscribed member.

I don't have a problem with it being an advertising tool. I can see it would be a worthwhile expenditure to be a member of when I am looking to sell a manuscript. Just not at the moment.

So the final judgement is to go ahead and register for the free newsletter as the occasional piece of information may be useful to you, but when you're ready to shop around your masterpiece, then join as a full member so you can avail yourself of the deal details, and who sold what to whom.

Lastly - still working on a YA link salad. Some very interesting stuff out there. Stay tuned.

BT

And So It Begins

Two posts from the same blog dealing with YA writing - and showing I know/knew nothing about by pointing out I was already asking the wrong questions and had incorrect assumptions.

Ally Carter who blogs over at Ally's Diary is ready to open up your mind to being able to write for the YA market.

Try these to give you the beginnings of understanding.

The Wrong Questions: This one blew my preconceptions out of the water.

Questions That Aren't Getting Asked At All: and this one clearly defines what a potential YA writer needs to know.

This throws a whole knew light on things. As many of you already know, a lot of my writing revolves around children or teens already. It may very well be possible, I'm already writing YA stuff. Some of it is definitely adult stuff with teens or kids involved but some is definitely with a teenage main character dealing with issues from a teen perspective.

The longest short story I've written so far is called "Confused Love" and that is definitely about a teenager with grownup issues from a teen perspective. At 9000+ words I cut out a lot of stuff I could rework and put back in to make it a longer work. 50-60,000 words for a YA novel shouldn't be difficult. It's NaNoWriMo in whatever time frame I want.

My current Historical Dark Fiction piece called Newland has a teenage girl as the main character. It's currently outlined to come in at 90-100k. A big point made in Ally's posts was to ensure something interesting was happening on every page for a YA novel. Although only in the first draft and obviously in need of revision once I get the story on paper, I think I could cut it down further if required. Still Ally also mentions that with the release of Twilight & Harry Potter, word count limits aren't what they used to be.

Could it be that I'm already a YA writer????

More research required...

Appeasing The Inner Demons

Tonight I have been a good boy.

I came home and did some market work for AHWA.

Then the lad and my little one had to go out for a couple of hours exercise. On returning, I organised finishing off preparing the scrumptious dinner my wife had already done for us (insert heat up already made dinner here - it was very nice) while my lad did his thing on the computer.
After dinner, I gave the boy a set time to finish up which I stuck to. At this point I hadn't played golf at all.

I then got to work. I packaged up the resub assignment I'd finished on the weekend and commenced work on my next assignment. It's a wonderful thing when you read a prompt and an idea suddenly pops into existence.

What was strange was this idea had nothing to do with dark fiction. The assignment called for a 500-600 word start to a story that introduced a character and showed my ability to portray tension and suspense, written in the third person POV.

First draft done and is now with my first reader - my wife. Only 3rd, 4th, & 5th drafts leave this house.

The other day I had another thought. I asked my youngest to borrow a couple of YA\children's horror books from her school library so I could read them over her school holidays. She brought them home today. YA\children's books seem to be huge at the moment so I wanted to read a couple to see what they contained and if I would be able to do them.

I don't have any specific ideas for a children's book, but plenty of people keep telling me I should look into them--so I'm looking into them. Stay tuned for reviews.

So my writing work for tonight is done :c) Time for golf!