E. C. Myers – author of the acclaimed “Fair Coin” and “Quantum Coin” – returns to the Big Chair to bring his superb insights and aesthetic to help Brion and I workshop a very cool YA SciFi tale offered up by podcaster and Gentleman Twitter-kin Richard Green. Richard brings a delightful tale of an alien school field trip on Earth that goes horribly wrong that inspires a great discussion about the qualities of YA stories, defining character arcs and relationships, and a superb exploration of how to take a great idea and make it even better (which is kinda what we do, right?). Literary Gold is pretty much a foregone conclusion. (and there’s even MORE writerly goodness embedded in E. C.’s Showcase Episode!)
PROMO: The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine
Workshop Episode 46 (Guest Host: E. C. Myers)
[caution: mature language and themes – listener discretion is advised]
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On E. C.’s project board…
- Working on a tale (tentatively) titled “How We Used to Be” about a culture where, when you turn 20, you remember your previous lives
- Also another work (on the back burner) about a twins and mistaken identity
- 5 or 6 other books always in peculation mode
Conventions…
- Reader Con (July 11 – 14, Burlington, MA)
- World Fantasy Con in Brighton, UK
- Dragon Con
- (maybe Balticon!)
… and Richard’s awesomeness:
- “The Geek Out with Mainframe” Podcast
Interesting stuff in this episode, especially in the whole swing between YA and middle grade. I sometimes have had a similar problem with stories being between YA and adult, so maybe that’s why I’m interested.
Richard, I’m also gonna say the story might need a little a more competence/darkness in villains if you want it to be YA. Also, that would help flesh it out length-wise.
Thanks Tim. I agree.
I don’t have much to add, most of it was covered in the podcast. Sounds fun, although it does seem more middle grade than YA so far. The only thought I had (and this is just a thought, maybe not even for the whole book or anything) was it would be interesting to see things from Artie’s point of view. Especially if he did end up being the way they defeat the bad guys. Think how much fun you could have telling “The Little Mermaid” from the POV of Sebastian the crab.
I’ll consider adding some “Artie’s log” entries interspersed as little breaks in the text. Even if the Kimber and Artie log entries don’t make the final edit, I’d have a LOT of fun writing them 🙂
If you want to understand the difference between middle grade and YA compare Harry Potter book 1 to Harry potter book 6.
The book I’m going to recommend you read is not YA or middle grade. It is “The Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis. It is about a female grad student (History Major) who gets to be the first person sent back in time to Medieval England, and gets trapped there.
Thanks, Peter. I haven’t read “The Doomsday Book” but I think I’ll really enjoy it 🙂
And the comparison of the Harry Potter books & their transition from mid-grade to YA work. I’ll just have to see where this story ends up in the spectrum. A lot will have to do with how beefing up the alien invaders affects things.
Richard,
It sounds like a great story you have. The panel covered things pretty thoroughly. The only thing I would have liked was some background on the mean girls. How do they fit into Kimber & Co. saving the world? Do they help or hinder? How do they change by the end of the story? Do they become more mean, or do they mend their ways?
Or Hagros could eat them. That would be satisfying, too.
I have definitely got to work on the mean girl sub-plot. I think it has more potential than I had originally thought, so I’ll definitely be flushing that part out more.