I’ve been looking for First Readers for a while for my adult work with little success but I really haven’t bothered with my young fiction. I think part of the reason for that is I’ve been focusing too much on adult fiction. I’m not sure why that is; I enjoy writing stories for a younger audience so why don’t I do more of it?
That’s about to change.
I had a couple of story ideas that really reached out and grabbed me by the collar. Both ideas were for younger readers, one for age 9 – 12 and the other for young adults. As soon as they hit me I jotted them down as I usually do and got on with my day. But, as I worked, I couldn’t shake them. I kept thinking about them.
I decided to pitch the ideas to my kids since they were the intended audience for both stories. I told my son the story for his age group as far as I had imagined it. When I finished he asked “Keep going Dad. What happens next?”.
Very cool!
I had to admit that I didn’t have the entire story quite worked out yet. He assured me that it was a story he would read. My daughter agreed. I was on a roll so I told them the other story idea. My daughter was skeptical at first because she thought it sounded like something she had read before. When I further explained the idea, both kids were on board for that one too.
A day later, my son came home from school to announce that he had told his buddies about the first story and they wanted to read it too.
I think my First Reader problems for my younger fiction are over. It also appears that I have some built in marketing machines in my family too.
I’m really excited about both stories. I’ve decided to write the Young Adult story for Nano this year. I already have a pretty solid premise that I’m going to build on and have outlined for November.
Why am I waiting so long?
Well, I started writing the story for ages 9 – 12 yesterday. I’m going to try and bang that one out in a month. My goal is to have it finished, edited and polished before fall so I can start sending it out. I’m also reworking my adult fantasy (to be done by October). There’s also a few of my short stories that I’m going to edit for submission. Ideally, that will mean that I have three books and a hand-full of short stories making the rounds before Nano starts.
Oh yeah, and it’s summertime so I will be trying to get a couple things done around the house too.
That ought to be enough to keep me busy for a little while.
