Novel Ladies is now YA or Bust — we’re continuing on past NaNoWriMo with the goal of getting published — or die trying! (ok, not literally, but you know XD)
Twitter will probably be the best place to keep up with our endeavors. We may cross-post some content to Tumblr, but primarily YA or Bust will live on a self-hosted Wordpress blog.
It must be December, I’ve stopped writing daily, we had our annual “thank god it’s over” party and the Christmas lights are up.
Which means that NaNo is finally done and whew, what a month! I finally eeked out a win with just a day to spare after getting in 3-4,000 words a day for the final weekend.
Aside from the “win” I’m glad to have so many scenes completed on this story. There’s just a handful more to write until I can consider it “done” and ready for editing.
But until then I need to spend some time sleeping, decorating and giving some attention to my very patient pups who were only slightly neglected during my month of noveling.
Happy Holidays and hope your NaNoing was a success!
It’s November 26th, 1:25 as I write this and approximately fifteen minutes ago I hit 50,002 words in NaNoWriMo… For a few days before the start of November I thought I would never have this moment, that there was no way on earth that I would be able to write 50,000 words in one month, even with a week and a half off at the start… And now I’m here… Wow. This is a good place to be. There’s Crabbies Ginger Ale, bakewell tarts and I ran round the house dancing and singing loudly to 30 Seconds To Mars and Florence And The Machine. I laughed, I cried, (seriously, I did. I think it’s the relief and the knowledge that if I wanted to I could just stop right now…), I hugged my Halloween Hello Kitty, (Hello-ween Kitty?), because the cat’s asleep on the radiator bed and when I asked her if I could hug her she gave me a look that implied it really wasn’t going to happen… And now? Well, there’s champagne in the fridge for midnight on the 1st of December and at least another 10-25,000 words left to write to finish this story and I have about four and a half days left… Can I finish a whole novel in a month? Let’s see shall we.
I’m finally here at the scene which has been haunting me for at least six weeks and probably longer. I downloaded this song at the end of September and now I’m ready to write the scene which was inspired by the music.
Now, I just have to not screw it up!
This is why I’m writing my novel. This time a billion.
When I started writing my novel, I didn’t even know what my heroine looked like. I waffled on how she should look, because the default for me, personally, is to write female characters who echo my experience as an overweight giant who is OK looking but not OMG GORGEOUS and certainly not a manic pixie dream girl. But in YA, the norm is… not me.
I find it notable how most YA heroines are: diminutive, dainty, short, petite, ultra feminine, have delicate features, thin. Even when they’re not explicitly described as any of the above, in cover illustrations and movie casting, they inevitably become any or all of these things, especially thin. But usually we are told what our heroine looks like and she is usually: short/small in comparison to the male romantic lead and thin/not fat. In the last three weeks alone, I’ve read three books that have all been variations on this theme. It’s becoming frustrating.
Exceptions I’ve in the last year: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey and Liar by Justine Larbalestier (the latter set apart for being mixed AND being tall/muscular).
I wonder about this, and have for sometime. Are the authors creating these heroines writing girls who resemble them, or are they writing the girls they wish they could be? Acceptably sized, feminine ideals? Because I’m pretty sure all YA authors AREN’T 5’3” and weigh 120 pounds. In fact, I find it jarring when I see that an author looks like me, but writes a heroine who is the polar opposite. Still, I too feel the urge — it’s so tempting to give your heroine the face, hair and body that we’ve always wanted to have (and make all the boys fall for her). But as a reader, I find it hard to connect with the girl who has it all.
Then again, are they writing what one might call the “average” girl to appeal to the average girl reading? Possible. But every girl I know who reads YA voraciously does not fit contemporary body standards. Surely, they too are not finding themselves represented in fiction.
As not-the-average girl, I find it frustrating. Where are the heroines who worry about being BIGGER than the boy they like? Who can’t be picked up and carried by him in a romantic/emergency situation? The girls who aren’t particularly feminine or dainty, and in that find strength? (and the tom boy who is sekritly gorgeous and also, of course, thin isn’t really subverting the trope)
I’ve ended up making my heroine a tall, bigger built, muscular girl with an average face. It fits my story well, actually, and feels organic, but I also hope she is a character that many girls can relate to. I’ve not made her overweight because I’ve done the insecure fat girl thing in other works, and her being athletic suits my narrative purposes… but the idea is that she weighs 180 lbs — MORE than the male MC.
(if anyone has a good example of recent YA with a non-normative female MC, let me know!)
Although mid month passed earlier this week, I’ve just now passed the 25,000 word mark. Now that I’m home from a week of travel it *should* be easier to get in my words but with work picking up it’s still a challenge.
I’m finishing up the first act, just wrapping up all the ‘in between’ case scenes and then my characters get to go to Florida!
Palm Trees. Bars. Beaches. Mojitos. Bikinis. Dead bodies.
Let’s see if some public shaming will help. I “promise” to get 31,000 words by midnight Sunday or y’all can verbally flog me. Deal?
erraticartist asked you:
Dear Aunty MJ, I’m having the OPPOSITE problem that you blogged about a few days ago, in which you talked about finding books that have similar themes to the Novel that is being written right now. I find that I am stealing elements from novels that I really enjoyed in…
Another fantastic bit of advice from Maureen Johnson.
Where is the line between inspiration and copying? I have been struggling with this on several of my recent projects. I have a plot construct. I’m brainstorming. “Well, how can I get Character A to Plot Point 1? Oh, Character A was (insert plot conceit here)! Oh, and then (another plot conceit)!” Plot conceit 1 is similar to one I saw in a book I read recently, but the rest of the plot is completely unrelated. Inspiration.
But what if plot conceit 2 is *also* very much like something in the same book? Am I really coming up with things on my own (maybe a curse of the setting/genre?) OR have I been unduly influenced and am I entering copying territory? No one wants to be derivative.
It’s a fine line to walk. Often, it is one reading a book and being unsatisfied with the execution, or simply seeing another way a plot could have spun with different characters that leads to some pretty great works of literature. “I could do it better” can be great motivation to Write A Damn Novel, but it’s not kosher to write essentially fanfiction thinly veiled as your own, original work.
Anyone have thoughts?
