"To Alysia From Laura and YALitChat!!"

"To Alysia From Laura and YALitChat!"

"Ally Broadfield, The Magic Pony, MG fantasy based on a Russian fairytale   When a bully breaks twelve-year-old Nick Turner's priceless Palekh Box, Nick wakes up the next morning in the fairytale portrayed on his box. Thrust into medieval…"

"I agree with Mike. I think the story determines which POV will work best, so don't be afraid to experiment with both to see what works best. You go Sheri!. There's been so much growth in the YA and MG genres that I think anything goes as…"

"I like all of her books, but Perfect Chemistry is my favorite-it's a bit grittier than the others. The sequel, Rules of Attraction, is also good and was just nominated for a RITA today (I believe Perfect Chemistry won a RITA a few years ago). I…"

"Simone Elkeles does a great job with the alternating first person POVs."

"If your cynical protag is sarcastic and snarky, then I like "Adventures of a Cynical Bystander" (this title promises humor). If she's more introspective and serious, I like "It Takes Four Years" (as a symbol of her journey)."

"I vote for #1. I think it sets the tone--Cash wants to escape from TX and find adventure. If I remember your original first five correctly, Cash was grounded as a result of his behavior because he was bored, so the grounding is just a symptom of the…"

"Thanks for your comments. Try to enjoy the conference-I don't think anyone there will bite! "

"Thanks so much for your comments! You're absolutely right about setting. I tend to skip that in the first draft and add it in later, but since an editor is going to be reading that first page, I should probably add it in now. I noticed that you…"

"Beth, Check out this article by Annette Fix in the WOW Women on Writing Newsletter. It's a great article, and it also provides a list of resources to help you with your editing. I took an on-line class with Annette (on a different topic) that…"

"Simone Elkeles did it really well in Perfect Chemistry. It's alternating 1st person POV of the two main characters."

"I've also always been a non-linear writer, but I make it more difficult for myself by writing random scenes as they come to me. I don't always know where they will go in the story. It makes it difficult when I get near the end, because I…"

"Too much backstory all at one time pulls me out of the story. Awkward sentence structure that I have to read more than once to understand does also, as do italics. BUT, I read really fast, and if it's a great story that has that something…"