The Strange and Unusual

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So I’m working on a new project right now. I’ve got 10,000 words and I think it’s going to end up being the longest thing I’ve ever written, assuming I’m able to finish it and all of that.

Right now I’m trying to get the first five chapters done so I can send them to my agent for a thumbs-up before continuing on. This book is going to be pretty cool, I think, but there’s one part that’s a little strange and I just want to make sure she sees it as a good strange and not a bad strange.

But really, does anyone see anything as too “out there” anymore? I mean, in books now we have tons of vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, and all kinds of other creatures. I think it may be all in how you execute it.

I’m really glad I have an agent who is willing to look over early chapters and/or a synopsis to give feedback and help shape a project so it goes in the right direction. I’ve written entire novels in the past that simply had parts that were too strange. In trying to be different, I went too far.

And as Agent Nathan Bransford posted recently, the kind of books people love are those that have a familiarity about them, but add a new twist of some kind.

Do you ever worry your story is too far-fetched, or has an aspect of it that might be so? Do you think these days, in YA, pretty much anything goes?

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career