WIP IT GOOD Blogfest

The WIP IT GOOD Blogfest is a one-time blog meme opporutnity for authors to share some information about their current manuscript Works-in-Progress. Hosted by DL Hammons & Elise Fallson.

I know I keep doing blog memes on this blog and I'm so sorry, everybody! One of these days I'll have original content again--I swear. 

In the meantime, I decided to do this fun blog meme at the last minute because I am a bad blogger and can't come up with blog content to save my life. But, at least this is something, right? So, I will answer the questions pertaining to this meme about one of my many unfinished WiPs (and I have several, but this one I'm currently working on). This is my newest one.


1. WIP Title:

Rise of Iron (1st book in a planned series)

2. Word Count (projected/actual so far):

8,212 actual words written thus far. Should be topping out over 100,000 by the time it's finished.

3. Genre:

Young Adult sci-fi apocalypse with some fantasy elements. 

4. How long have you been working on it?

I think since last month, April 2013. 

5. Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book?):

A teenage girl saves a man's life by turning him into a machine (a cyborg) so he can eliminate all the evil robots destroying the entire city of Los Angeles. 

Yeah, that's basically what this wacky story is about without all the frill and fluff of language!

6. Brief Synopsis:

Mindy Collins refuses to leave the city even after the metal has come to life and has already destroyed most of Los Angeles. She chooses to stay and fight, but she's not strong enough on her own. When she saves a man's life after being nearly killed by one of the cities many living metal robots, she has no choice but to recreate him into a living robot, too. With the strength of ten men, he's the only hope the city has of actually exterminating the conscious steel that is determined to wipe out all organic beings on Earth. 

7. Are you looking for a Critique Partner?

No. Have that squared away already.

8. Are you looking for a Beta Reader?

Yes, if anyone is interested! I'm open to having more than one.


Anyway, this is what I'm working on right now. It's coming along slowly, but I guess that's how I work. I find I need at least 9 months to create an entirely new world before I feel l've got it all figured out. So, I'm still conjuring my story and world building and will be for some time to come. 

What are you writers currently WIPping?

 

Matching Music

Today's post is just something to post in the interim of waiting for the next IWSG post for June. I'm starting to like that meme......

Since I struggle for what to blog about I figured I'd post videos of songs that I like to associate with my current work in progress, which I'm calling Rise of Iron. It's an apocalyptic (NOT post-apocalyptic) Young Adult sci-fi with a fantasy-ish element to it.

It takes place in Los Angeles, California in the heart of the city. I don't normally like urban areas, but L.A. has always been special to me for some reason (it's the nearest one to me). Big cities are so full of people, they tend to take on a life all their own, don't they? The streaming cars on the highways can be likened to the blood coursing through our veins, keeping us alive. It's like big cities are very large, living organisms, so my story takes this a bit literally. *wink*

Anyway, here are some tunes I like to listen to as I write it! 

 

    

Celebrate the Small Things! (#2): Editing Edition

"Celebrate the Small Things" is a blog meme hosted by VikLit at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author

I've got another small victory to celebrate this weekend.... I'm so, so tired--just exhausted--because I finally finished a two-week intensive edit of my manuscript! 

I've been working on Camy Tang's (aka The Story Sensei) Deep POV Worksheet and I can tell you it. Is. Brutal. But, I highly recommend it to every writer no matter your experience level because I'm positive you will see your writing in a whole new light. I'm seeing just how shallow my POV has been all this time, and even how shallow a lot of the writing is from novels I've been reading lately. 

I never even got to the last tip, #8, because I just can't even understand it all that well and I figure I'll have to try it out during a future editing round. I need to rest and let my critique partners look at my WiP for now.

It's a small accomplishment, but feels like I just dug a tunnel through a mountain. Whew! I'm really happy, but I hope I get faster at this with some practice......


What small thing are you celebrating this weekend? 


Join the "Celebrate the Small Things" Blog Hop Every Friday! 

The rules are simple: you post something small you'd like to celebrate - tidying that cupboard, finally getting to the gym. You join the linky list. You hop around other people's blogs and say YAY and CONGRATS and join in the happy feelings.  
 

Insecure Writer's Support Group (#6)

Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. 

But, really.... Don't they? 

IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

This month for IWSG, I'm going to vent about something that has been nitpicking at my sense of security (what little there is). 

I write Young Adult fiction--that's how I roll. I read it like it's going out of style (it ISN'T, trust me). It's in my bones to create stories about young people on the verge of becoming adults. Maybe it's because I simply refuse to think of myself as being any older than 17 and I've been thinking that way since I was...17. I'm just an old kid, not to mention a lot of adult fiction--a lot--feels too adult for me.

My fear is that I'm getting too old to be authoring books for teenagers anymore. This year, I'm going to turn 20 years older than the age I've been mentally stuck at for 20 years! All I see out there in the pantheon of YA writers are a bunch people much closer to their teens than me. Am I doing something strange here?

I'm not concerned that I'm out of touch with the teenage mentality. I'm more concerned because I am still in touch with it and, societally-speaking, really shouldn't be anymore. I guess I feel like some out-of-place person trying not to be too tragically unhip, but failing because I ain't gettin' any younger. (Do you guys even know what tragically unhip means anymore?)

Should authors move on to writing adult fiction because they have become too old to write for teens? Does that even happen? I don't see any 70-year-olds tearing up the NYT best seller list with their latest teen craze. Despite this, I want to write YA. I don't want to write for adults. Adults don't need anything from me. I feel like I have more to say to the youth of the world and I love how fresh every adult experience is to them. 

Don't hate me 'cause I'm old.......

What do you think? Is it weird for older adults to write for teens? Are we too out-of-touch for YA?