So I’m in this fantastic
situation of revising my manuscript for a couple of unbelievably great agents
who loved it, but who want me to turn it into a YA novel because they feel
teenagers and adults will eat it up*.
At first I thought this
would be really easy. “Sure,” I said. “I’ll get to work on that right away!”
After cracking my knuckles, I sat down and opened my manuscript. And then I
came down with a case of Complete Brain Spaz, otherwise known as CBS. (What?! It’s
not just a network—it’s a thing, I promise!)
See, when I envisioned
doing these revisions, I thought I’d just go by the synopsis I’d prepared for a
YA version. Easy as pie (which, when you think about it, doesn’t really make
sense. Who said pie was easy? Honestly, I’ve never been able to bake a really
good … *sigh* Okay, okay, I’ll get back on track.)
My question is, how much
of a risk should you take when doing revisions? Changing a novel from adult to
YA changes a lot of things, including the dynamics of the characters’
relationships. I could rewrite the start, which would be like writing the
prequel and merging it with the current story—but then there’s the chance I’ll
be shredding what the agents loved about the novel in the first place! Argh!
I know you guys can’t
answer this for me. There is no simple solution. Part of me is hoping that by
putting this post out in the world, the right answer will come and smack me
upside the head.
But for those of you
who’ve been where I am, how much of a risk did you take?
*Caution: eating novels
may cause indigestion.
