Back to person(s)

We've got some discussion about first person versus third person, which I think is interesting, so let's string it along.

So, my debut novel is YA, and when I turned it into first person, it came alive. Now, however, I'm writing a middle grade, and when I tried first person it was flat as a board. My YA protagonist is 16; my MG protagonist is about to turn 13.

Now, they are also slightly different genres - the YA is historical/mystery; the MG is contemporary/realistic fantasy. And the voices are vastly different: in the YA, as historical, my protagonist speaks with more formal dialect (she's upper class), and in the MG that contemporary voice can come across as slangy.

The other issue may be character - in the YA, I had to really dig her out. In the MG, she's more alive for me right off the bat.

I'm interested to hear what folks think!

So, now...

So after all the edits and rewrites (and they were sometimes painful, but always necessary), Alyssa sent out the manuscript to a select group of editors.

This was my nervous time, actually. And a few of the editors rejected it right away, which, natch, was disappointing. In November, Jen Bonnell of Puffin expressed an interest, a first glimmer of hope.

It took another 5 months and another rewrite at Jen's request, but now the book is with Puffin. And brilliant Alyssa had me write the synopsis for a sequel, so the deal was for 2 books! Yeah!

Of course, I'm trying to fill my time (waiting to hear from Jen) with other work that hasn't yet come together, which is hugely frustrating. Bleeding through my pen...(or through the keyboard...)