Today officially marks my first full month of writing for Yahoo's Contributor Network. I started the project in the hopes of someday getting my name out there. I also started it simply because it sounded fun (after all that's why I write, it's my passion). And I started it to give me something to work toward that is much smaller than the often-overwhelming task of working on my novel.
Completing articles, getting pageviews, taking assignments...those are all small victories I can achieve in just a week or even a day. It makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere. And while I love my big projects and refuse to give up on them, I need something small along the way. It's like floating down a river in a canoe all by yourself. The finish line you're searching for could be days or weeks away, but if you didn't hit the occasional checkpoint you'd drive yourself mad, feeling like you're going nowhere.
My goal for the first month of writing for YCN was to write what I could, as often as I could (while still ensuring quality, not just quantity) and to reach 1,000 pageviews. I felt like I could achieve that, though I expected the pageviews to be a little difficult. I was really going to have to do some self-promotion there. (Speaking of self-promotion, I'm going to link my profile for anyone interested.)
Yet now, looking back on my first month, I am in complete and utter awe of the achievements I've reached. I never dreamt so much could happen so fast. While I don't "expect" that it will always be this way, that I've done this in just 30 short days excites me beyond belief. It makes me wonder just what I can really achieve.
1) We'll start with pageviews since that was my original goal. I hoped and strived to reach 1,000. There was one day I even got 81 page views just in that day. I couldn't believe it! Then I had a hit article entitled Sports Meltdowns: When Pro Talent Meets Amateur Behavior that suddenly made my page views jump. And I don't mean that I was getting 100 or 200 page views then, though I would have been thrilled beyond belief with just that. No, I was getting thousands. Per day. Granted I know people love to read about stupid things other people have done, especially famous other people, but thousands? It took me about 3 days to even realize where this article was posted to receive so much attention. That was my next shock.
2) When you go to the Associated Content home page, it looks much like any other news home page. You have your front page articles, then you have 11 main categories with subcategories under each. It's a quick and easy way to get noticed if you're lucky. I got lucky. My sports article became the #1 featured article of AC's Sports page for just over a week. It was finally taken down today. But just before someone else received the coveted sports spot....I received the #1 featured article spot on the Creative Writing page...another one of the top 11 categories. How to Write a Sestina, which I've posted on this blog before, took off. One of the biggest reasons? One of the assignments released to contributors linked back to my article as the "how to" for completing the assignment. I felt honored. I truly can't even put into words how excited I was to see that.
3) I broke out of being published only on Associated Content. My sports article found its way to Yahoo! News and I currently have two local articles published on Yahoo! Sports with a more generic one I just submitted tonight for the same. It really is like everything is falling into place at just the right time.
My 1,000 page view goal was dwarfed in this month. The final count as of last night was 50,575 page views on Associated Content with 275 views on Yahoo! News and I'm not sure how many on Yahoo! Sports (that site has not updated reports for me yet).
Writing on Yahoo is a joy. I get to write about all sorts of topics and things that I love. I'm allowed to turn everyday articles full of facts into fun articles with a bit of whimsy tossed in for good measure. I get to achieve something every time I have an article published. And now that I'm finally participating in forums, I'm meeting some other pretty amazing authors as well.
So to sum it up...this month has been magical and I fully encourage anyone interested to trying writing for Yahoo. Work as little or as much as you want. Write what you want. Be what you want. I'm only one month in and I'm not about to give up on this experience any time soon.
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
YA vs. Adult -- Part 2
I received some awesome comments and emails from you guys regarding this matter. Thank you so much! I love to hear from my readers. You guys are a big reason of why I blog in the first place.
I heard several conflicting opinions and that's precisely what I was hoping for. I wanted to see what you thought as the reader. I heard that YA literature only deals with young people while adult lit is for characters that are older. I heard just about every degree of whether or not YA lit includes sexuality/sensuality, foul language, and violence. And much much more.
For what it's worth, I'll give my opinion now:
1) I think YA lit does deal almost exclusively with younger characters, but adult lit does not necessarily exclusively with older characters. It often does, but there are plenty of adult fantasy series dealing with younger characters (late teens, early twenties perhaps). Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series comes to mind. There are certainly many older characters, but plenty of younger ones as well. Yet it is still marketed as an adult series. Interesting...especially if age is the only thing we're looking at. But it's not!
2) I do definitely agree that a lot of YA lit deals with coming of age while the themes of adult lit might be a bit more wizened. You probably won't find many adult lit books dealing with prom and first love, but then again you probably won't find many YA lit books dealing with the death of children, retirement, financial independence and careers, etc. There are always going to be exceptions, but I feel like you guys hit this one pretty spot on.
3) Violence, foul language, and sexuality. This one is tough. It used to be that this was mainly reserved for adult lit while YA lit got the watered down or glossed over versions, but I don't think that holds nearly as true now as it used to. I don't think you're going too find many YA books written like Stephen King novels where the language can be as plentiful as weeds and as colorful as the rainbow, but that's not to say YA authors are getting shy. The same goes for sexuality. I probably will not find many Laurell K. Hamilton-esque steamy sex scenes in YA lit, but don't look for those YA moments of sensuality to be as glossed over as they used to be either. As for violence, I think it depends on the genre and the mind behind the violence more rather than YA vs. adult anymore, though YA is more prone to carry fewer scenes of intense violence when adult books may be a bit more prolific with it.
All in all I don't think there is any straight answer and all of your opinions reflect that. Sometimes it is very easy to say which category a novel falls into, but too often there is a gray line. I'm probably thinking about this a lot more right now than normal because I am definitely one of those gray-area authors. The NaNo novel I plan on working on this upcoming November is definitely YA. But my NaNo novel from last year (that while I am still working on the first book has already informed me it demands to be at least three books)...is a bit funny. Younger characters. Some YA-friendly themes, some more adult-friendly themes. No gross amounts of heavy violence, sex, or cursing, but all three of those are definitely in there. I don't like writing those things in just for the sake of shock value or marketability, but I will write them in where I think it is very true to character and necessary for that character to stay IN character.
I suppose it all boils down to I just need to keep writing and see what directions the story takes. Yet even if my story ends up being easy to classify, there are so many more out there that are not so easily classified. Lots to think about!
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
P.S. Tomorrow will be a long post about my first month's experience with Yahoo! Contributor Network. I know some of you have been asking for more details and I have plenty to give!
I heard several conflicting opinions and that's precisely what I was hoping for. I wanted to see what you thought as the reader. I heard that YA literature only deals with young people while adult lit is for characters that are older. I heard just about every degree of whether or not YA lit includes sexuality/sensuality, foul language, and violence. And much much more.
For what it's worth, I'll give my opinion now:
1) I think YA lit does deal almost exclusively with younger characters, but adult lit does not necessarily exclusively with older characters. It often does, but there are plenty of adult fantasy series dealing with younger characters (late teens, early twenties perhaps). Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series comes to mind. There are certainly many older characters, but plenty of younger ones as well. Yet it is still marketed as an adult series. Interesting...especially if age is the only thing we're looking at. But it's not!
2) I do definitely agree that a lot of YA lit deals with coming of age while the themes of adult lit might be a bit more wizened. You probably won't find many adult lit books dealing with prom and first love, but then again you probably won't find many YA lit books dealing with the death of children, retirement, financial independence and careers, etc. There are always going to be exceptions, but I feel like you guys hit this one pretty spot on.
3) Violence, foul language, and sexuality. This one is tough. It used to be that this was mainly reserved for adult lit while YA lit got the watered down or glossed over versions, but I don't think that holds nearly as true now as it used to. I don't think you're going too find many YA books written like Stephen King novels where the language can be as plentiful as weeds and as colorful as the rainbow, but that's not to say YA authors are getting shy. The same goes for sexuality. I probably will not find many Laurell K. Hamilton-esque steamy sex scenes in YA lit, but don't look for those YA moments of sensuality to be as glossed over as they used to be either. As for violence, I think it depends on the genre and the mind behind the violence more rather than YA vs. adult anymore, though YA is more prone to carry fewer scenes of intense violence when adult books may be a bit more prolific with it.
All in all I don't think there is any straight answer and all of your opinions reflect that. Sometimes it is very easy to say which category a novel falls into, but too often there is a gray line. I'm probably thinking about this a lot more right now than normal because I am definitely one of those gray-area authors. The NaNo novel I plan on working on this upcoming November is definitely YA. But my NaNo novel from last year (that while I am still working on the first book has already informed me it demands to be at least three books)...is a bit funny. Younger characters. Some YA-friendly themes, some more adult-friendly themes. No gross amounts of heavy violence, sex, or cursing, but all three of those are definitely in there. I don't like writing those things in just for the sake of shock value or marketability, but I will write them in where I think it is very true to character and necessary for that character to stay IN character.
I suppose it all boils down to I just need to keep writing and see what directions the story takes. Yet even if my story ends up being easy to classify, there are so many more out there that are not so easily classified. Lots to think about!
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
P.S. Tomorrow will be a long post about my first month's experience with Yahoo! Contributor Network. I know some of you have been asking for more details and I have plenty to give!
Monday, May 9, 2011
YA vs. Adult
This is something I've been curious about for quite awhile and I've heard multiple debates on the matter, but no one ever seems to be able to completely agree. All genre specific advice aside, what exactly is the different beteween young adult fiction and adult fiction? What separates one from the other?
I'll give you my thoughts in the next post, but for now I would really love to hear what YOU think. How does a publisher tell the difference between YA and adult fiction? How do you as the reader tell the difference?
(For the record, when I say YA I'm talking probably at least the 15 and up crowd, not the younger end of YA which falls around 12.)
I look forward to the responses; let's start our own debate on this!
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
I'll give you my thoughts in the next post, but for now I would really love to hear what YOU think. How does a publisher tell the difference between YA and adult fiction? How do you as the reader tell the difference?
(For the record, when I say YA I'm talking probably at least the 15 and up crowd, not the younger end of YA which falls around 12.)
I look forward to the responses; let's start our own debate on this!
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
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