Thursday, September 23, 2010

Umpteenth read!

Yes, I'm reading my book again! I'm only writing what I want to read, so why shouldn't I read it? :-)

Seriously, though, I've noticed that the book "reads easier" starting about half-way through. This may be partly due to the original draft being written in present tense for the first 11 chapters, and partly due to writing skill and comfort level increasing as I kept on writing.

Finding my writing voice has definitely been a journey! My only question now to myself, since my iPad won't give me the answer, is whether the next edit should focus the book more towards Middle-grade readers, or YA readers? At this moment in time, I don't have the expertise to make that decision myself.

No matter how many blogs I read, or how many red pens I wield, I'm not a trained editor, (at least not yet!).

3 comments:

  1. I love reading my book too. Sometimes I get caught reading it when I should be writing more of it! Good luck with your edits, and thanks for your comment on my blog today!

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  2. Hi Michelle! Do you mean that you're not sure whether your story is YA or if its MG because you're not sure about the story itself or about the difference between YA and MG? I wasn't so sure about the differences between them either until I found this blogpost on it. Thought I'd pass it along!

    http://hannahmosk.blogspot.com/2010/09/mg-vs-ya.html

    I wrote a YA fantasy, and then had to rewrite it to make it more YA than fantasy genre (meaning less descriptive). Next time around, I hope to totally decide on genre before writing. If only it were that simple!

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  3. Thanks for the link, Dayana! Should be helpful. My current draft is "on the fence" and should prpbably be edited to focus more on one segment. It's currently only 29,000 words, which is about right for younger MG readers. I've decided to start an edit. I just need to decide whether to go thematically YA, which would push the word count up and double the length of the book, or if I should stay with the MG themes and only add another 4,000 - 5,000 words. I'm hoping to hear back on my query in the next few weeks, because I don't like waiting. Need a Yes or a No on my query so that I can refocus.

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