Another year I would probably go there with a finished piece rather than WIP, as next to all the beautiful polished pieces my WIP felt very rusty, but I have to say getting feedback on the WIP was v. useful.
In the meantime: I have been tagged (or handed!) the Magic Eight Ball by the lovely Suzanne Furness!
The Rules
1. Post button + link to http://blog.jayceedelorenzo.com.
2. Share excerpt of WIP or something you are struggling with and can't get right
3. Ask a Question about your excerpt
4. Tag 8 people
I am going to be slightly different. I have 2/3 ideas I have planned, thought about, and now am writing they Just. Aren't.Working (two are the same as I took to Write On Con). So here, dear blogger friends, are a brief description of the ideas and a very brief sample of each. I guess my question is please: What GRABS you, or doesn't, about any of these?
Hoping someone's comment will spark off... something in my brain to get me back into them. Or one of them. So I can Write On, you see!
And I TAG: EVERYONE. Or ANYONE who wants to do it. Seriously. And please link ME so I can see it and feedback.
1) YA Contemp: CaraStoneSucks.com
Brief:
When 'Anon' sets up a website dedicated to hating her, Cara determines to find out who it is and get her own back. When the mean comments turn to threats, is Cara going to have to fight for her life, not just revenge?
Sample:
Whoever said 'words will never hurt you' never had a website dedicated to just that. Hurting me. The words were bullets, shooting off the page and through my skin, which wasn't as thick as I thought. They tore into my heart, making a hole in my soul, tearing it into pieces. The site made me hate myself, for whatever I'd done to cause this. Why won't they stop? Why can't I make them stop?
I clicked the link. The headline on the website had changed to: Cara Stone Deserves It. And in Two Weeks She'll Get It.
Deserves what? What was going to happen in two weeks?
2) YA Sci Fi/Psychological Thriller - Cracked Counterfeit (Genre problem? confusion?)
Brief:
Suffering memory loss, Emma is convinced she's not who she's told, and cannot figure out why the doctors, including her apparent father, want to convince her she is. Once home, she discovers she's already been through this and left herself clues. When the clues point towards Emma being a clone, she has to ask if she is actually just losing her mind.
Sample:
I examine the photo. I tap to enlarge my chin and a half-inch white scar is visible below the curve of my bottom lip. In the mirror, I don’t have a scar on my chin. I don’t have any marks on my face. I remember thinking how lucky I was to escape the accident without a scratch.
Fear prickles like small needles across my back. Where’s the scar gone? If this girl isn’t me, who is she?
3) YA: Sci Fi (does it sound dystopian? write what you love and all but should one avoid this?) UNTITLED
Brief:
In a world where your online comments and status updates dictate your role in life, Lara can never say the right thing. The job profiling tests on her statuses reveal her to be good at precisely nothing except being lippy. Using this to her advantage, she builds up a large following who love it when she tears down the system. Until a large corporation offer her money to advertise its products, wanting to cash in on her anti system 'image'. This is money Lara's family desperately need. Will she be a sell out and take the job?
Further, why does Mr Perfect Profile (in every way) the President's son insist on hanging about? Why does everyone, including Lara, want him when he's such a do gooder?
Sample:
"You think I don't want to be seen with you? I'll prove it."
He took out his InfoPad and typed his status, right in front of me, his long, delicate fingers entering: Hanging out with Lara, she's not as angry as she looks.
He ended it with a smiley face. A smiley face. People who used emoticons should be strung up by their fingers, however cute they were and however much I wondered what else those fingers were good at. Emoticons were so two decades ago. He flashed me a wide smile, his even white teeth gleaming, and my stomach squirmed. Why did everyone want him? Why did I want him?
That's all folks! Thanking anyone who comments and apologising if this went on a bit long. Please do link me to any of yours.
I think the idea of #1 could make for a very interesting YA Contemporary. #2 is a close runner-up. One thing that might help you decide is to write a query for them. That way, you're forced to consider the main plot of the story, and identify MC, antagonist, crisis, and what the heart of the book is. For example, the fact that someone has set up a hate page for Cara is certainly troubling for her, and the fact that they are threatening *something* in two weeks would definitely be cause for great concern. But what is Cara going to *do*? This I think is the missing element that would need to come out in a query. We sort-of know the stakes (the threat isn't spelled out), but I need to see a conflict (does she plan to run? or find out who's created the site so she can get revenge? or something else--before the 2 weeks are up). I understand these are just ideas, but perhaps the one you find easiest to write a good query for is the one you should work on?
ReplyDeleteJust my thought. :)
Colin that is a very helpful suggestion! Part of the trouble of being UK based is that ultimately, I won't write a query letter I'll write a covering letter, which seem to me to be a bit different, so I have never really practised those query letter skills. Still, covering letters need an element of query and it now strikes me what a useful exercise it can be in general! Thank you v. much.
DeleteRight, here's my opinion:
ReplyDelete1) I read this one at WOC and I loved the idea, but I couldn't figure out why these generally tech-savvy kids couldn't just trace the IP address and find out who Anon is. You can Google how pretty easily, so why didn't they? (And if they can't, police can once threats start.) If you go forward with this one (which I don't think is a bad idea, and I LOVE the title), it's something to consider.
2) Didn't see this one but would be curious to see where it goes and why she's being recloned and why does she feel like she belongs somewhere else? Also, why does she come out already grown and not grow from an embryo (as most clones do these days)? It's a nifty idea, and I'd love to find out.
3) Does not sound dystopian, just near-future. Unless the world/government has changed drastically after some catastrophe? Here's a good post by Sara LaPolla about dystopian http://bigglasscases.blogspot.com/2012/08/are-you-writing-dystopian.html . If you go with this one, I'd consider upping the tension between Lara and the president's son. I don't know if do-gooder is enough of a reason to outright reject someone.
I don't know if any of this helps, but I hope it does. I'm eager to see more! :) (<== non-ironic smilie)
Thank you, this is all so helpful!
DeleteAnd certainly some of the things I have been considering myself. I do need a 'plot reason' why the person won't be easily findable for 1.
Thank you for the points re 3, I definitely to find a reason for conflict between them. Opposing sides of something. I think she needs more of a 'goal' too. 3 might be the one I shelve for now.
This is really helpful, thank you.
The one that appeals to me most is number 2. I think this could make a great story. I assume from your brief that the girl in question was involved in some sort of accident which left her dead and somehow she was cloned! But how and who by? Why is her father lying to her? Lots of interesting plot twists here I suspect. I would love to read this!
ReplyDeleteNumber 1 is an interesting idea and I liked your working title. But presumably if someone were doing this the police would become involved? Or maybe your protaganist is trying to hide something from them too!
Number 3 didn't fit my idea of dystopian from the information you gave. I wasn't as excited by this one as the other two but that was just my opinion.
Anyway hope my ramblings might help. It's great to have a choice of brillant ideas bursting out. Well done. Colin's advice above does seem to make excellent sense and might help you move forward with the idea that excites you the most.
Good luck and look forward to hearing how you go.
Thank you for tagging me for this and for the useful comments!
DeleteCertainly the suggestion for 1 of the MC hiding something is an interesting one ;)
Glad you like 2, I am quite taken with it. I will see how I get on.
I absolutely love the first idea - though as Delia said, kids are tech savvy, and would probably find a way to locate "Anon" - but I hope there is some way around this, because it's genius! I also want to know what this girl has done that made people create the website? Are people jealous of her, has she spent most of her life bullying other kids who are suddenly seeking revenge? There are so many possibilities!
ReplyDeleteI like the other two ideas too, most especially the psychological thriller! :D
Thank you Kyra for your encouraging comments. Now to get on drafting ;)
DeleteThanks for sharing. *1 is really intriguing, subject to, as others have said, being able to overcome the tech stuff. But I'm guessing that even if she finds out quite early on who's at the root of things, there's potential for lots of tension and peril, esp if this turned into some sort of cat fight. *2 was my favourite. Is she going to be a clone or not? Who's pulling the strings? Oo-er! *3 Is this going to be a love story or something more edgy? (Not that it can't be both, of course). This was the least engaging for me. But all three are great - keep us informed of progress!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for commenting and for your thoughts, really helpful. Will keep you informed!
DeleteThanks for sharing all of them. You have a reserve of ideas that should keep you busy for a couple of years! I read your #2 at WriteOnCon and was quite taken with it, but I'm partial to thrillers... :) If "publishability" is a consideration, I would stick to #1 or #2. It was clear at WriteOnCon that dystopian is falling out of favour, for now, and to me this sounds dystopian.
ReplyDeleteBusy for a little while at least ;) Thank you for the tip, I think 1 and 2 are calling me the most at the mo!
Deletethose are great! you are definitely full of great new ideas!
ReplyDeletemy fave is the 2nd with the cloning
and then the third w/the romance!
you better get writing!
who is the loudest in your mind? thats how you start! but i would take breaks and work on the others too... even if just to outline when you get inspired by them.
you're a busy girl!
Thank you for commenting. I am full of ideas but none of them quite working. Just need to get on with a first draft I think!
DeleteFirst of all, the writing in all three is excellent. I like the first one the best. The idea is intriguing and timely and of the three of them that seems like the one that is the most fleshed out.
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying so, that's kind of you. I appreciate your comments!
DeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteI'm hopping over here from GUTGAA and thought I would get an early start on visiting blogs. Nice to meet you...you have a lovely blog!
Donna L Martin
www.donnalmartin.com
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
Nice of you to stop by! I look forward to GUTGAA!
Delete