“It’s finally here! It’s finally here!” – Me, running around my house this morning.
It seems like forever ago that I first announced Novel Boot Camp. I asked for topic ideas, your most common editing problems, and I spent hours upon hours (upon hours) writing and perfecting the course. Whew! It almost felt like Boot Camp was never going to arrive!
But here we are at the kickoff party – you with your manuscripts in hand and me ready to do nothing but eat, breathe, and sleep (or not sleep) Novel Boot Camp for the next month. It’s going to be a wild ride!
Before things get too crazy and some of you are inevitably reduced to tears with a bloody manuscript in your hands, let me say that the excitement and enthusiasm for Novel Boot Camp has reminded me of why I do what I do. It is the passion and dedication of writers like you that keeps me blogging, editing, and mentoring. You guys are the greatest!
To celebrate the kickoff party, keep meeting up with writing friends and critique partners (though I know some of you are at more than capacity in that department!) and let your friends and family know that you’ll be putting your pen where your passion is and might be a bit busier (and crazier) than usual. In order to keep the blog comments focused on the workshop, post your kickoff party excitement on Twitter and the FB group.
And now on to our first workshop!
Workshop #1: Genre Guessing Game
June 30 – July 6
For our first workshop, I want to focus on the most important aspect of editing – seeing your novel from the outside.
This is no easy task! You’ve toiled and slaved over your novel. You know it inside and out. If you’ve been editing it long enough, you can probably recite passages from heart. All of that is lovely and wonderful and passionate, but terrible for editing.
So for this first workshop, I want you to send your book out into the world – just a tiny piece of it – to see how it’s perceived by those outside yourself, by the people who know nothing about it.
Participants will submit the first 200 words of their manuscript. Guessers will attempt to identify the genre, tone, and basic plot of the novel. The objective is to have a bit of fun while exploring how your manuscript looks from the outside. Do people think your romantic comedy is a horror/thriller? Do readers expect your story of redemption to be a story of revenge?
Remember that how the Boot Campers perceive your novel is likely how agents and editors will perceive it too. We’ll be talking about why the reader’s perception of the first page is important in our first lecture tomorrow.
Warning: This is a new and totally untested workshop process. Please bare with me if there are any technical kinks or if things seem awkward. I wanted to do something unique so I hope it works!
How to Play the Genre Guessing Game
***Read the FULL directions and follow them or you will not be eligible to participate!***
Firstly, I understand that not all readers are comfortable sharing their work online. If you do not want to submit, you may still participate in the guessing.
How to Submit Your Opening
To streamline the process, decrease cheating, and increase participation, I will be posting all of the first pages anonymously (meaning that no one other than me will know whose first page is whose). If you attempt to submit your own first page, it will be deleted!
The submitted novel openings will be posted as quickly as possible, but since it must be done manually, there will likely be some delay.
Submit your novel’s opening in the form below. It will go to my email and I will manually post the first 200 words only (not your name, genre, tone, etc.) into the comments section.
Note that your novel’s opening is the very first 200 words. If you open with a prologue, use that rather than your first chapter.
How to Guess the Genre
In the comments section below this post, leave a reply to the novel openings submitted and post some or all of the following:
- Guess the Genre – Is it a contemporary romance? A YA paranormal? A horror/science fiction hybrid? Post your best guess. If you think it’s middle grade or young adult, please also include a genre (adventure, comedy, romance, etc.).
- Guess the Tone – What do you think the overall tone of this novel is? Is it creepy? Heartwarming? Spiritual? Disturbing? In other words, what adjective would you use to describe the book?
- Guess the Basic Plot – What do you think this novel is going to be about? What do you expect to happen?
- Do NOT post a critique of the opening or any comments about the writing quality or style. We will have a novel opening critique later in the month.
Please do not post your guesses anonymously unless you do not want to be eligible to win the prize for best guesser!
Sample comment/guess: I think this is a middle grade adventure story with a dark tone. I expect it to be about how the main character learns to overcome his fear of the water to defeat a sea monster.
What Should Writers Take Away?
The reader’s perception of your novel is more important than your own. Keep an eye on your novel’s opening this week to see how Boot Campers perceive your work. Is it right in line with your vision or way off?
Is the novel going to deliver what readers seem to expect? We’ll be talking about the importance of the first page’s promise in our first lecture tomorrow.
Prize – Free Edit of Your First 1,000 Words!
This workshop will have two winners! Due to the labor involved in posting, moderating, and then judging the posts, it may take me until after Novel Boot Camp to choose and notify the winners. How long it takes depends on the level of participation.
Award for the Best Guesser: This prize will go to the Novel Boot Camper with guessing power from the gods. In other words: the camper with the most correct guesses.
Award for the Best Opening: This prize will go to the opening that had its novel, genre, and basic plot guessed correctly the most often.
Both winners will receive a free edit of their first 1,000 words.
Connect with Other Novel Boot Camp Participants
Need a writing friend? Got a question? Need a shoulder to cry on? We’re there for you!
I will be answering writing and editing questions on our Twitter hashtag as time allows. Due to the insane volume of emails I’m receiving, I cannot provide free advice or assistance via email. Thank you!
What is Novel Boot Camp?
Novel Boot Camp is a free online novel writing course focused on identifying and correcting problems in your novel. Learn more about Novel Boot Camp and find past (and future) posts here.
Ellen Brock 
The forest whispers to me as I make my way down the narrow path.
The logical part of me knows it’s nothing more than the wind rustling the leaves overhead. The other part of me shivers. I give my head a shake. Come on, Win. Get a grip.
As I stumble along the winding trail, an ancient, gnarled, all too familiar tree comes into view. The rotting, moss-covered stump beside it confirms my suspicions—I’m right back where I started.
“Ssstupid girrrl,” the trees hiss, echoing my own thoughts.
I might as well face it—I’m screwed. Not only am I lost, but I have no phone, no flashlight, and daylight is fading fast. Why, oh why, did I ever step into this forest?
But, I know the answer to that question. The sun’s rays were beating down on me as I took my evening run, so I ducked into the shade of the woods beside the road for relief. The question I don’t have an answer for is why I continued to walk through the forest instead of heading back to the road to finish my run.
Something about the quiet stillness and the dappled sunlight dancing across the mossy floor entranced me, filling me with an irresistible urge to explore.
Genre: distopia fantasy
Tone: dark
Plot: the narrator is pushed into a magical land with talking trees who like to call her a ‘stupid girl’. These trees don’t like her, actually, no one really likes her except for her love interest who she inevitably meets in this new place
This is a NA Urban Fantasy, with a light/mysterious tone. She finds herself called to the forest where something is waiting for her/she’s meant to be.
YA/fantasy
mysterious tone
Something is calling Win into the forest where she will discover something magical/scary.
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Tone: light, mysterious
Plot: Finds herself meeting a supernatural being or portal to another realm. Romantic encounter with consquences.
Thriller. Eerie. This girl is alone, lost in the woods. Perhaps she is not alone?
Murder Mystery. Everybody knows that runners are the ones who find dead bodies. Protagonist becomes an amateur sleuth, solves the case with the help of a hunky (but kind of geeky) sidekick, and launches a career in investigation.
Genre: Action, Survival
Tone: Serious
Plot: It’s a story of survival when lost in the forest without any food or water.
Modern Adult Fantasy. The narrator, Win, discovers she has hidden or unknown powers that the forest begins to bring forth, the more she gets lost the less human she becomes, eventually emerging into a land of magic and mystery as a new being
Supernatural Thriller with mysterious creepy tone. Something’s wicked is going to happen to Win and this isn’t the first time she’ll regret going into those woods.
GENRE: Fantasy
TONE: Expectant
BASIC PLOT: Our hero is about to go down the rabbit hole…
YA psychological thriller with a dark tone. Girl gets lost in forest and sees something she can never forget that haunts her.
Genre: Fantasy.
Tone: Apprehensive
Plot: Main character discovers another world in the woods.
G: Urban fantasy
T: Mysterious and romantic
P: Win gets deeper into the woods drawn by magical force. She meets there a tall and handsome man. She’s scared, he does not harm her but there’s something about him that makes her skin crawl. As the night falls she knows she’s no other choice than to stay with him. She doesn’t trust him but at the same time his her only protection fro the wild life. His unnaturally pail skin makes him look like a ghost. He brings her over to a cave and tells her that she’ll be safe there. Eventually she falls asleep but an uneasy feeling woke her up. He was gone. She looked outside and saw rainbow of colors in the distance. It was beautiful, she couldn’t resist but to go out and explore…
Genre: YA Fantasy
Tone: Mysterious
Plot: She’s drawn to the forest because the trees actually are talking to her. She discovers she can hear them speaking and they tell her about some horrible event that will take place if she can’t find a way to stop it.
Jon Wolfe, a fabricator – thirty two, black hair and grey eyes – was under a thirty foot high, wheeled sheet metal shelter in the yard. It was lunch-time at Nu-Cor Steel. All of the fabricators wore leathers; suede over-coats that protect from most of the heat, sparks and embers. The protective clothing showed the abuse of years, with rips and burns. Some of the labourers sat nearby. The fabricators weld, mostly, while the labourers follow behind and grind the welds smooth. Sometimes the fabricators build jigs or cut the steel to shape. A light rain in the late summer Seattle sky cut out a decent view of the Rocky Mountains. The smell of ozone still hung faintly in the air but the sounds of industry were on hold.
“Jon, I don’t want to sound like a dick, but give up on Lucy, man. It’s been three months. Move on,” Peter said. He was a hunter and usually had some venison or game that he would share with the other guys. “Tons of women would love to date a skinny assed guy like you. You’re tall, dark and handsome. Get back in the saddle, buddy.”
“Peter’s right, expect for that bit
Genre: Adult Romance/Erotica
Tone: light-hearted story
Plot: Jon is getting over a relationship. I think this will be a book about his adventures with women, maybe, while trying to find a meaningful love.
Romantic comedy. Anticipation. Jon has been ditched by the love of his life. We will follow Jon on his road to finding true love.
I’m going for mystery with a comedic tone and romantic undertones. Which, to me, is like pairing steak with red wine. Great way to spend an evening.
Adult romance/Sci-fi. Jon is forced to give up on Lucy when she is killed by a revolt of the previously friendly aliens, he falls in love with another of his freedom fighters
Romance, light-hearted tone. There’s going to be a love interest introduced soon.
GENRE: Adult Romance
TONE: Predictable
BASIC PLOT: Jon is about to find The Girl For Him.
Genre: Adult Romance
Tone: Satirical
Plot: Main character finds a new love, and possibly a new job.
G: Romance
T: Light
P: Jon is trying to forget about Lucy. Eventually he meets a girl that is perfect for him but he keeps compering him to his ex. After time he becomes attached to a new girl in his life and that’s when Lucy is back in the picture. She wants Jon to give her another chance. His torn between the love of his life and his new relationship that just started to form.
Adult romance
light
Jon is heartbroken over his ex, so to get him to move forward, his friend, Peter, sets him up on a blind date. She’s all wrong for him, and a bit wild. He decides not to see her again, but she’s persistent and keeps showing up in his life.
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Tone: Serious
Plot: Jon is looking for love and finds it in a mysterious woman with secrets. He starts to uncover her past and must decide whether to turn her in or stay silent.
Mindy
The elevator dings and I look up from the seven hundredth letter Mom will never receive, dropping the quill. The old-timey bits add flair to a job otherwise saturated with technology, though I doubt anyone else notices. When the silver doors part, a girl with copper hair stares me down, her slate eyes accusing.
“Where the hell am I?” she asks, charging forward. The Gatherer who corralled this one had his hands full. At sub-level, souls bounce around, their unspent life energy propelling them like calves at a rodeo. By the time they’ve reached me, they’re coherent.
The doors shut, the thud making her jump. Behind them, the elevator returns to claim another.
At least the crescent-moon desk stands between us. She doesn’t walk past it. And even if she tried, the Wall is up.
“Welcome to Stonybrook Cottages, where our goal is to find you the most amazing home possible,” I say.
She raises an eyebrow, which, I notice, could use a wax. “For real?”
“Not at all. You don’t shoot up two hundred stories to buy a house in the sky.”
A piece of her breaks—the Moment of Clarity. Everything gets a nickname when I’m bored.
I’d guess paranormal. Unsettled. If you’re in this world, you’re dead and you’re at the Pearly Gates.
Genre: New Adult ~ Dystopian?
Tone: funny, mystery
Plot: I think, this a commercial plot set in the future? People are not aware of why they’re in this building, mystery. They’ve been led to believe a lie. Mindy is de-sensitized and treats everyone with a nonchalant manner, but that will all change.
Funny Dystopian romance told from girl’s POV, and later from that of the romantic interest.
New adult fantasy. She’s going to meet someone who she can’t have for some reason or another but after lots of trials and tribulations they make it work.
YA Fantasy tone comedic. Narrator is serving in place of the christian St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, here able to relate the tragedies and comedies of visiting guests and dignitaries who are eternal visitors
Sci Fi – humorous tone. A connection with this new girl will cause the POV’s world to turn upside down.
Fantasy/paranormal. Humorous. I think it’s based on mythology/superstition about the afterlife. Things start going wrong with wherever they are, and the narrator tries to fix it – maybe a romance/friendship between the girl and ‘I’.
GENRE: SF
TONE: Descriptive
BASIC PLOT: Walter Mitty type is about to have his boring Day Job Universe shattered.
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Tone: Satirical
Plot: About the gatekeeper to the afterlife perhaps?
G: Sci Fi
T: Humorous
P: Mindy died in an accident and wasn’t aware of her situation. Now she enters the after life world. She is lost and confused. They fall in love. Mindy is desperate to go back to earth and get her life back. The “Retailer” is trying to help her, along the way he has to brake few rules.
Genre: Paranormal
Tone: Mysterious, humorous
Plot: What really happens after you die. The main character is an angel of death, who, as it turns out, is a spirit world office worker.
Sci-fi/fantasy
dark, humorous
When people die, their souls are held at different levels for processing. The narrator is in charge of finding the souls a new home-another body, but is tired of this job, and having to break the news to the recently deceased that they’re, well, deceased, and decides to do something a little different this time.
Genre: Sci-Fi
Tone: Funny and futuristic
Plot: The story takes a look at what happens when souls are reincarnated. Mindy is in charge of setting them up with a place to stay until they are sent back to Earth.
Chapter 1
Leave the Past Where It Belongs
So far this morning, Bea had bashed her head on the corner of the bathroom cabinet, while duelling with the biggest wasp in world history-naked, tripped over a book left on the floor by the bed, sending her flying, and to top it all, she was out of sugar. It was going to be an interesting day.
“God, what am I doing?” Bea groaned into her cup. Her normally alert, big, round, chestnut eyes had become aching, purple slits that refused to greet the morning. She desperately wanted to avoid today altogether, but knew that hiding away wasn’t an option this time. All night she tossed and turned wondering what the day might bring. Another argument? A night filled with false smiles, a pretentious façade hiding a disastrous past.
The day of Leanne’s twenty-first birthday had finally arrived. Leanne was the little sister of Brandon, Bea’s ex, and the avoidance of their old haunts over the last six months, may have been nothing, but a prolonged torture of the inevitable. Bea had become a semi-recluse. Not a condition that she actually minded, any escape from Brandon was heaven after the two years they spent together.
Adult Romance
light humorous
Bea is dealing with a break up trying to put some pieces back together. I think she is going to find love but have a fun journey with a lot of mess ups.
Genre: New Adult
Tone: Witty, romantic
Plot: Concerning Bea’s journey towards growth in some way. The birthday party causing some sort of initial twist.
Romantic comedy. Funny. Bea has been avoiding this for months. I think we’ll be following Bea along for another chance at love.
New adult romance that switches between light and serious tone. Bea figures her identity as a single female before meeting the man of her dreams. She might not be willing to risk her independence for love, but it becomes hard to resist the new stranger in town.
Romantic comedy. Bea will hook up with a young(er) guy after the party, but later snag the guy that will really be her match.
YA Romance tone Comedy – Bea finds love in the most unexpected of situations, at the hospital after she has a dancing accident at the 21st birthday party trying to impress Brandon who is with another woman.
Adult contemporary. Light tone. Sort of ‘journey of self-discovery’ for the main character, getting over some former conflict.
GENRE: Adult Romance
TONE: Resigned to fate
BASIC PLOT: Bea’s world – on the verge of collapse – is about to come alive.
Romance with a humorous tone. Bea’s going to find a romantic interest at this party.
Genre: Adult Romance
Tone: Comedic
Plot: Bea finds a new love interest, but Brandon interferes out of jealousy.
G: Romance
T: Light
P: Bea has attention to get romantically involved with anybody after her disappointing relationship with Brandon. She couldn’t predict that the day that she was dreading so much will make her hart skip a bit. That’s where she meets him, the most amassing man, funny, smart and just so damn good looking. There was an instant connection between them two. The only problem is, his Leanne’s new boyfriend that she heard so much about.
adult romance
some dark tones, but with humor and light tones as well
Bea escaped from a bad relationship, one that’s left her with scars, but she’s trying not so successfully) to move on. Unfortunately she still has ties to her ex and she’s dreading going to an event where he’ll be in attendance. While she’s out for this event she meets a man. The story goes on to chronicle thier relationship and how she overcomes her fear of getting close to someone again.
Hope. It’s a pathetically ironic name. A slap in the face, when it belongs a girl who will never see me as anything more than a friend.
The door to the bar complained as it was pushed open from the outside. A gust of bitter fall air whipped in, causing me to turn. I watched a crowd of eight or so squeaky-clean, Harvard brats laugh their way down the stairs and squeeze into one of the red vinyl booths on the front wall. I shook my head in annoyance and pulled a Marlboro from the soft pack in my jacket pocket. They could’ve just danced out of a fucking Gap commercial.
“Mick!” I yelled over the bar, while digging the Bic from the front pocket of my grease-stained jeans. “You got another table. Get off that box and get out here, or Red’s gonna kick your butt into next Tuesday.”
I swallowed the last of my beer and stood up to reach the taps behind the bar, splashing another couple inches into the bottom of my pint glass. The swinging doors to the back room slapped against the plaster wall as she walked into the bar, catching me mid-pour.
Romance/thriller
Tone is moody
Main character seems like a down on his luck kind of guy who’s got a thing for someone out of his league. Or is a new woman walking through those doors that will put him into a love triangle?
Genre: Adult Drama
Tone: witty,
Plot: Realistic, he will perhap’s fall for all the things he hates after drowning his sorrows.
Romantic comedy. Funny, light-hearted. Hope is at the center of a whirlwind romance.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Tone: Realistic, moody
Romance with an ironic tone. It’s about a guy who never gets the girl but he makes it his mission to convince her he’s worth taking a chance on.
Adult Contemporary Fiction/Romance /comedy -a mix of a male Sex in the City and when Harry met Sally. The narrator goes from date to date/woman to woman trying to find true love but has to come to terms with loving himself before anyone else can love him. His long time friend helps show him and THEY fall in love, eventually.
Romance sarcastic tone. Against his better judgment, the POV is about to meet a romantic interest.
GENRE: Adult Romance
TONE: Menacing
BASIC PLOT: Unrequited Romance propels tough guy into 4-letter-words of adventure.
Genre: Adult Romance
Tone: Dejected
Plot: Main character will ether win Hope over, or find another love interest.
G: Romance
T: Light but moody
P: Love triangle. MC is so fixated on Hope that he doesn’t realize that there is another woman in his life who is madly in love with him. His to her what Hope is to him. Hi puts all his efforts and attention into winning Hope over and missis all the signals that the other girl is sending him.
Adult contemporary/romance
lighthearted, humorous
The protagonist obsessed with Hope, the one he can’t have. Becuase of this, he misses out on opportunities with other women. After a lot of misery, he finally figures out that the woman for him was right in front of him the whole time.
February 17, 44 AD
4:53 PM
Gesoriacum, northern coast of Roman Gaul
[future site of Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern coast of France]
Near Caligula’s Lighthouse
Titus sighed with relief as he removed his sandals. He massaged the toes with large, calloused hands. The cool afternoon breeze felt good on his aching feet as it whistled through the open flap of his tent. He grinned, listening to the good natured banter outside, as the other members of his squad prepared to visit the slave quarters on the far side of the camp. The Greek slave women just brought in were rumored to prefer Romans – but Titus had his doubts.
He brushed at mud on his boiled leather breastplate. ‘Take care of your equipment and it’ll take care of you.’ If his Centurion had said it once, he’d said it a hundred times. A veteran of several campaigns, Titus knew the truth of it. ‘Especially here in Gaul.’ He carefully set the scratched and nicked armor next to the rest of his weathered kit at the foot of his cot. Standing, he wrapped a towel around his loincloth.
Historical fiction, with a generally comedic tone (why else have a specific minute of the afternoon given in such a story?). Titus is going to fall in love with a slave, have a bad time of things, get in a battle or two, and retire to live the good life in Rome.
Genre: Adult – Historical Romance
Tone: witty moments
Plot: He will fall for a woman that is initially an enemy. It will change everything he believes in and make him re-evaluate what he fights for.
Historic fiction. Tension. We will follow Titus through his trials and tribulations for the capture of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Genre: historical fiction
tone: serious
Plot: We follow Titus’ human struggle as a Roman legioneir.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Tone: Realistic
Historical fiction with a comical tone. Titus falls in love with one of the Greek slaves and tries to steal her away so they can start a life together. While they are running, he feels a duty to return to his troops and fight with them. However, part of the enemy includes his love’s male family members.
Historical fiction. Humorous tone, with some military campaign/romance as the main conflict.
Adult Historical Fiction – Conquest and Conquer of France and the fall of the Roman Empire
Historical something could be romance if he rescues one of the slave girls, could be military if he goes to battle, could be mystery if he comes back and his armor is missing. Tone is serious, plot could really go anywhere from here.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Tone: Relaxed
Plot: Seems like a peaceful break from constant battle and travel that will soon resume.
G: Historical Fiction
T: Serious with few light moments
P: Titus falls in love with one of the Greek slave woman. He try’s to convince Centurion to free her. When he realizes that it’s never going to happen he decides to brake all rules and brake her free. When Centurion finds out what Titus had done he sends Tituss formal friends on a mission to capture him.
adult historical fiction/adventure
serious tone with a dash of humor
Story follows Titus as he fights in battles. There will be a lot of violence and drama in this story.
Have you ever seen a little girl twirling in the middle of the supermarket, a tutu over her jeans and a plastic tiara on her head? Unconcerned with the world around her and humming a song from a princess movie?
I was that little girl. And if I’d known then what I know now I’d have traded that tutu and tiara for a thick skin and some karate lessons. Because if I’d ever really looked at myself in the mirror I would have realized that I’m not that kind of princess at all. And I was going to have to become a whole lot stronger to survive being what I really was.
Before everything changed my happiest moments in life were always spent elbow-deep in modeling clay, because those were the moments I got to spend with my dad. Dad made ceramic flower pots and Mom grew plants to put in them, which we sold at our shop, Brökkenwier Boutique. Between you and me I thought a potted plant had about as much magic as a cold, half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich. But give me a lump of wet clay and I’d be sculpting a frog prince or a unicorn before you could say, “dirty fingernails.”
Genre: YA
Tone: change, romance
Plot: Eventually, she learns that she can also be the princess that she used to dream of being. Life, after the death of her father, has made her believe that the lighter side of life is just fantasy. Coming of age.
Young adult, thriller. Curious. This little girl had an idyllic life until something changed. She now is in survival mode and she will find strength she never knew she had.
YA/Fantasy
tone is nostalgic
Character has a paranormal ability that will come into play, when really she just wants to be normal.. She may be the princess of a supernatural race that is dying out.
NA finding yourself type story. She lost her dad and or/was a victim of sexual assault of some sort. She’s trying to move on but finds it hard to open her heart to anyone else. She meets someone and after he finds a way to win her heart, they are together.
YA Fantasy – light hearted & humorous – magical elements – she falls on hard times and has to find a way to fend for herself
NA contemporary with a bittersweet tone. Main character has to figure out how to get through her father’s death and find a new job, while helping her mother get through the tragedy.
Contemporary. Nostalgic and quite cynical. The narrator had some incident that’s made them bitter, and now they have to work it all out. Most likely meets a guy.
YA coming of age / tragedy wherein the narrator goes through a tragedy (possibly the death of her parents – perhaps their divorce) and must come to terms with her own feelings of guilt and culpability.
YA there’s some fantasy elements being introduced (unicorn, frog prince, magic) She’s going to have a quest of some kind to make her nostalgic for the good old days. Dad will probably be a recurring theme. Tone is nostalgic and longing.
GENRE: YA Adventure
TONE: Contemplative
BASIC PLOT: Coming of age adventure for our heroine
Genre: Coming of age
Tone: Contemplative
Plot: Traumatic event transforms main character.
G: I’m not sure it could be a) YA drama b) YA paranormal
T: Serious
P: depending on genre. If it is a drama:
a) she was in some sort of accident, maybe a car accident that cot on fire. She survived but is scared. Everywhere she goes people turn their heads and whisper. Her class friends turned their back on her because of her looks.
b) she becomes a target of underground demonic creature. She’s now a warrior princess.
YA fantasy
mysterious, magical
The protagonist grew up thinking she was a normal girl, until the day she found out she wasn’t. She’s not enirely human. This discovery leads to a whole new life full of danger. There will be a lot of adventure and excitement as she navigates this new “world” and learns to deal with her new identity.
Alex…, Alex…, “Isaac Alexander Hamilton! Get your butt down here right this instance!” called the exaggerated voice of Sarah Hamilton, Alex’s mother. “You have a very big day ahead of you today.” This is the day that will change all of our lives forever.”
Oh how right she will ever be…
Alex was nuzzled in his comfy twin bed, with his leg hanging out of his red and blue superman sheets. Alex loved super hero comics. He could tell you just about any fact about any super hero out there. Alex began to roll over on his back and pressed his soft blue pillow over his eyes as the morning sun started piercing through the partially raised window blinds. The birds were chirping and he could hear the motor of the neighbor’s lawn mower just outside. It was a beautiful spring day, but Alex didn’t want any part of it, because today was the day he had to pack up and leave everything he loved behind.
Alex was not only leaving his house that contained so many memories. He was also leaving his friends at school, trips to the mall, and the walks to the Ice Cream Shoppe, a few blocks from where he lived.
Young adult. Sad. Alex is leaving everything familiar and will have to adapt to a new way of life.
Genre: MG
Tone: Light
Plot: Growing up, learning about change
Young Adult Adventure/Fantasy Alexander Hamilton and family are moving to a new land that holds untold secrets for the boy to reluctantly discover, along with the growth of his own powers/forces.
MG. Not sure about the tone, whatever middle grade normally is. Obviously, the main character moves somewhere new, and then after that maybe has some conflict over adjusting, or possibly a new family conflict.
YA Coming of Age, hesitant tone. He’s about to go on some journey that will change him.
GENRE: YA Adventure
TONE: Slice of Life
BASIC PLOT: Young Alex is about to enter the world as an adult. Romance and adventure await…
Middle grade fantasy with a comical tone. Alex finds out he has superhero powers and it is up to him to save to his new town.
Genre: YA Coming of age
Tone: reminiscent
Plot: Some sort of even changes life and launches main character into adulthood.
G: YA Fantasy/ adventure
T: mysterious
P: Alex is moving away from everything he ever knew. As he struggles to find himself in a new place something happens. The incident brought up on him powers that he only could dream of, he becomes one of the superheros that he only read about in his comics. He tries to find himself in this new role. He fights crime at night and tries to fit in during day. Finding new friends is not an easy task.
MG
light, anticipatory
Alex has to leave his home and friends behind, but wherever he’s going is going to bring a lot of adventure into his life.
Before Eve there was another.
Genesis 1:27
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.
The Book of the Unread 2:1-3
I once was dust and now I am life. The breath of the Lord has filled me and now I am life.
I felt the soft plants of the earth beneath my newly created body. The feeling was cool as dark compared to the warmth of light that fell upon me. Opening my eyes I saw the glory of the Lord. I saw the vegetation of the land and its creatures. I saw Adam.
We watched as our hands, clasped together, separated from the dust of the ground to form our flesh. We once were one and now are two. My hand atop, I flexed my fingers, letting them curl around his as the earth finished sculpting my mate.
Leaping to my feet, I burled around in the joy and the glory that is life before falling to my knees to hear the words of my Lord.
Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The Book of the Unread 2:5-11
The next words of my Lord stabbed my heart with injustice.
Genre: religious/spiritual, with strong feminist themes
Tone: introspective and angsty
Plot: The woman (perhaps a variant on the mythical Lilith?) is rejected by Adam, or perhaps rejects Adam in rebellion toward an unwanted divine command, and is supplanted by Eve. She must find her way in a male-dominated world.
Philosophical. Intriguing. This is a religious story with a twist. The last words make me think all hell is going to break loose.
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Tone: lost knowledge, the mysteries
Plot: I think this could be about Lilith, the woman created before Eve? She refuses to remain dominated by adam and the reader will follow Lilith’s life after Eden?
Young Adult Horror/Suspense Tone Dark – This is a vampire story, the birth of Lilith- in her own words
GENRE: Religious Historical Romance/Conflict
TONE: Bitter
BASIC PLOT: the Lorelei Myth retold
Alternative Christian. Last line introduces a dark tone. The life of the “other” is about to be turned upside down and she’ll have to have a way to survive this coming “injustice.”
Genre: Religious Fantasy
Tone: Mythological
Plot: About another woman before Eve and her struggles.
G: Religious fantasy?
T: mysterious
P: She doesn’t agree with The Lord and has to choose between her love for him and her own sense of justice. The conflict first “arrives” within her. She fight with herself before making decision that will change her life forever. She chooses herself over the will of her creator. We’ll follow her throughout her struggle to find happiness outside of Eden.
G: christian fantasy 😉
religious fiction
serious, dark
Just like twisted fairy tales, this is a twisted creation story. This 1st woman doesn’t like what her Lord says, and does not take it well and seeks for this justice she’s denied.
Somewhere north of the river, a bell tolled. The young scholar woke with a start. The sky was still filled with a bright but impenetrable mist, and he could see no farther than his own right hand. The riverboat rocked gently beneath him as he rose from his couch. When the eighth chime rang out and the bell fell silent, he groaned. ‘Hercules! When are we going to get there? We were supposed to arrive at daybreak.’
‘Can’t help you there, young master Quintilius.’
Marcus peered blindly through the mist at the old riverman, who was standing, still invisible, at the tiller only a couple of yards away.
‘Certainly, captain,’ he said. ‘But I was to arrive at the university by noon today.’
‘We’ll make it then, lad. I offered a double libation to Sarapis last night, and he’s got good connections with Lady Fortune. And just to be safe, I tossed in a few pennies for the river-god. We’ll be in the city in no time. Only problem was those confounded German porters we’ve got down at Londinium, you know. Must have cost the harbourmasters a pretty penny, and all they do is flex their muscles and show off their blond hair.’
Young adult, historical fiction. adventure. We’ll be following young master Quintilius on his voyage to strange lands.
Genre: YA Historical
Tone: mystery
Plot: Following the life of young Quintilius on his journey and his encounters.
Young Adult Fantasy/Adventure – A boat full of travellers get lost in the mists of time and must find their way back to the university before it is too late for the professor to assist his peers in stopping the coming of the end of the world.
GENRE: Fantasy/Myth
TONE: Expectant
BASIC PLOT: Greek mythic characters mix with ancient Western European culture
Historical fiction with a suspenseful tone. The main character will go on a journey, encountering many obstacles in a mythological fashion like Odysseus.
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Tone: Adventurous
Plot: Seems almost like an odyssey type story .
G: Myths and Legends/historical fantasy
T: mysterious with adventure
P: On their way to the university they are stopped by Germans. They take Quintilius and Hercules into custody bringing them far away from their destination. They will try to brake free and when they do they will have to overcome few obstacles.
YA historical fantasy adventure
mysterious, expectant
The boy, Marcus, is the protagonist, and we follow him as he goes to university where he experiences unusual happenings and adventure.