For those who are interested in Young Adult writing, I have a guest blog post on editor Ralph Gallagher’s blog as Kira Harp. I tried to put my finger on the differences between writing my adult romances and the YA fiction.
As a moderator for the Goodreads YA LGBT book group, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what defines YA fiction. We recommend books to the teens on the thread, and select Books of the Month. Often a book looks like a good fit, but fails on the test of appropriate content (and it doesn’t help that everyone has slightly different standards.) If you’re interested in my thoughts on the subject, check out Ralph’s blog.
Incidentally, if you like YA fiction consider joining our Goodreads group. We post free short stories every month from member authors. I have 3 Valentine’s shorts posted for a challenge of writing V-Day stories involving a devil/demon. I had to write 3. The challenge was for under 1000 words. You guys know me – the first was 2300, which I whittled to 1800 before giving up. The second was 1300, the third made it in under at 997. In the end we set up a thread for the over-runs as well, so all 3 got posted.
We also have monthly stories from a photo challenge. This month is f/f; the previous three were m/m. There are some very nice stories from several of our members who aren’t published yet but sure as heck should be, and from other group authors. We also have discussions and a growing bookshelf. It’s an open group – everyone welcome. Our members range from age 13 to “not gonna tell you.”
On another positive note, Unexpected Demands – Hidden Wolves 2 is back from proofreading and going to formatting. I’m still hopeful we may get it out by the last Friday in February, but it may be tight. (The proofreader was a little bit backed up.) Since MLR now releases books only on Fridays, if we miss this one it will be the first week of March. And The Rebuilding Year is close to release. A couple of advance reviews have been good, so I’m looking forward to finally setting that one free.
I will definitely be joining this group. I already have joined M/M romance because of you. 🙂
BTW, I have FINALLY read Life Lessons and Breaking Cover (and the free stories) and I LOVED Mac and Tony. I am a fan of you. Definitely.
Oh, and I also loved Possibilities. I was eager to know how you will handle the guilt of Cade to move on after the death of his lover. It is a touchy subject for me because I truly think I would never be able to handle this guilt, I would be afraid of forgetting or acting like if my lover have not existed. I was not disappointed, even if I must say that Lorin’s behaviour made probably things easier.
Must read your other books now…
I hope you are enjoying the Goodreads M/M group. There are lots of resources there for readers and writers.
And thanks for all the kind words about my work. 🙂 I did make things a little easier for Cade (both by making Lorin the guy he was and by making Joel +) but it was a way to fit things in a short story. Otherwise it would have needed a novel, I think.
Yeah, I enjoy all the ressources I have found there so far, but I must admit I don’t participate much on the group or even on goodreads…my english sucks and I’m kinda shy…
I know you did things easier because it was a short story, but it doesn’t mean I have not enjoyed it. 😉 And I loved the epilogue. It was perfect.
Don’t know if you have read “Life after Joe” by Harper Fox. I was deeply touched by Aaron and the way she handle this guilt.
You can participate on GR as little or as much as works for you (and I wish I wrote any other language half as well as you write English – you really needn’t worry about that.) Even just lurking you can find good things.
I loved “Life After Joe” – Harper Fox is one of my favourite writers. She has an amazing lyrical writing style. I’ll read anything she cares to write.
Thank you, I guess all those english M/M books I have been reading are helpful despite what my husband thinks 😉
And no worries, I lurk a lot.
Still have not read her other books, but they are on my to read list.
Clearly you need to read a lot more of them to continue your language studies 🙂
And Driftwood is perhaps my favourite Harper Fox book, should you be trying to decide.
They are the only ones I read right now!
And Driftwood will be the next HF’s book I’ll try. 😉 Thank you.