No Idea What to do!

[xKatiexBellx]

Hey, I'm writing a story right now and all my friends love it. They say I'm a great author and when I finish it I should publish it somewhere.(Right now, I only have around 100 book-sized pages. about 50 pages away from part 2/3. I want around 150 more pages.) It's called the trilogy of Unreal Dreams. (never mind the name.)
I'm not so sure about publishing it though, just because I'm only 13, and even though I love writing and even my Mum, teachers and other friends have said it's excellent, I'm not sure about publishing it. They say just start with Teen People magazine/scholastic or something like that, but I'm too afraid of critisism about an amateur young adult story that isn't worth it. I'm surprised that my friends are more proud of it than I am. Should I try to maybe tell some people about it, or should I wait until I have more experience?

ACK, It's so confusing!!!:confused:

[lithorose]

Talk to your English teacher. They usually have good resources for young writers. Or at least they should. A hundred pages huh? That's excellent! I don't think I wrote anything I wasn't forced to until about 15.

Maybe Lanen could pop her head in and give some advice...

ps- the title is intriguing.;)

[Kristin]

I didn't realize you were as young as you are. That's a good thing because it means you are writing at a level beyond your age. :)

As for publishing ... who knows? There's some 14-year-old (or something) who recently had a novel published and now she's a media darling. On the other hand, most of what is good or even excellent work for 13-year-olds might not be good enough to be published. And that means nothing about your talent. If your writing isn't "good" enough to be published at a young age, so what?

Here's what the important stuff is:
1) You have talent. Lots of people have told you that. And that talent probably means you have a good chance of getting published some day.
2) You have discipline and can produce. No matter how good or bad some writers are, it can be really hard to actually write (especially 100 pages).
3) You love writing. It's really important. The best authors are the ones who love writing, who have written (not necessarily for publication) their whole lives.

I'm impressed.

[xKatiexBellx]

Originally posted by Kristin
On the other hand, most of what is good or even excellent work for 13-year-olds might not be good enough to be published.

Well, I'm glad you think that too. I tell my friends the publisher I try to sell it to would probably think it's a bit... amateur. I dunno. I try to tell my friends the 13 year old mind probably won't count as much. Oh well.

Originally posted by lithorose
the title is intriguing

Ummm, OK, thank you. My favourite part of the book is part one. Lucile Dreams. It has more action. It's funny, I hate watching horror films, but I love writing about gory stuff. In Lucile Dreams, it explains her parents' death, she gets shot, uhh... 4 times i think. No wait, three, and her boyfriend, Jack, shoots himself when he's drunk (and, of course, a bit depressed) and then Lucile's brother's hung. I like that part. :D heh.... oh well. It would take me a while to explain. I think I'm going to kill Lucile in my third part too. Not that bad though... never mind :p

I kinda just want to keep it to my friends and I though. It's better that way. Just for our entertainment.