Posted Feb 18 2010, 2:46 pm in Miscellany
I have started querying “Send” and heard back from one agent so far, who said Send is an adult romance and needs to be longer.
I’m so thrilled I got feedback instead of form rejections. But I’m so embarrassed that my research was incomplete. I didn’t realize YA meant no older than 18 and still in high school.
Another round of “Send” revisions begins…
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The challenge is which direction to go?
Do I take the characters back a few years, put them in high school and keep this a YA story?
Do I keep the characters at their current age, lengthen the text and pitch it as an adult romance?
I don’t know. I don’t know!
I’ve decided to stick to the YA theme and take a few years off my characters’ lives. In so doing, I have to rework a few plot lines, key motivators, and characters. My biggest challenge is getting Dan and Julie together. If they’re in the same high school now, why would she get involved with the new kid who – on the first day of school – is already branded a loser because he breaks up a fight between a senior and a freshman?
I love playing What if games. Right now, Julie is a dark, twisted kid who’ll do pretty much anything to earn her dad’s attention – including sleeping with the bully who provoked her brother to suicide. Lots of work ahead, but I like the shape of it so far.