Well, I did say that you'd be hearing from me again soon...
After you kill some of those darlings you have to add some more or tape some old ones together.
Because of the language my characters use (there some definite swearing) as well as a scene or two that's pushing the young adult envelope (at least in the traditional sense, in the definition of young adult and ya lit in the publishing world), I've decided to age up my characters a bit.
Instead of them being high school sophomores (16ish) my characters will be college sophomores (19-20). It could still be considered young adult, to some agents/publishers/readers. It could be considered that weird age-group that's not quite young adult and not quite adult (like "Red, White, and Royal Blue" or the All For The Game series--both queer, both dark, both steamy). Therefore, I've been replacing all of the high schools/schools with college and changing the classes to courses. Sometimes it's easy; sometimes it's not.
Obviously, changing their AP English class to an Intro To English Lit course was easy. Making the property damaging food fight (the blurb to my manuscript is below) still severe enough to warrant needing intervention from an adult authority figure, hence the community service requirement, but not severe enough that they'll be charged with a full-blown felony, since they're of-age/adults in the eyes of the law.
It was tricky (still is) and required a shit ton of research/reading online student handbooks to figure out how demerits works in college (can't exactly threaten a college sophomore with a detention, now can you?). It's also opened my eyes to some other revision things (hence the Killing Your Darlings post), like how weird some of my anti-passive-voice solutions look (my MFA program--which I love, loved, will always cherish--made me so afraid of passive voice that now some of my manuscript sounds awkward; sometimes, you just have to use to-be verbs and say 'fuck it'--besides, published authors use it more than you think)
My one best friend told me that the double/triple revision slash overhaul of Two Moves Ahead would be my 2022 goal. Who makes New Years Resolutions during this section of December for the new year? Me apparently.
When I'm done with....all of that....I'll need help again.... Reading through my manuscript, answering a few questions, making a couple of comments, etc.... If you are at all interested, please send me a message, and we can discuss this thing further. Thank you!
[[[ My manuscript, "Two Moves Ahead" is a queer, magical realism YA romance novel following Cyrus Lux and Chander Nox.
Cyrus was born from the sun, and Chander was born from the moon. With a feud to rival that of the Montagues and the Capulets, their two families quarreled and clashed for centuries.
After a massive, property-damaging food fight at their college, Cyrus, Chander, and their friends work off their community service hours doing maintenance at a kid's summer camp. Strange situations and spilling secrets bind Cyrus and Chander together. With a few complications, confessions and confrontations along the way, they fall in love.]]]
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