The (Dis)Appearance Of Nerissa MacKay will be ready for beta readers as soon as Max can find time to help me format a cover.
Thus, it's time for me to dig into the first draft of another book, and I'm thinking that one will be The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook.
I have lots of character sketches and plot outlines done for this one. The WIP cover is above, the hook is written, and the 1st chapter is nearly finished.
But.
I'd really like to have a book sell more than what I've had so far, and to do that, I know I have to write *cringe* romance into the plot.
Sigh.
Yes, it's true that Becoming Brigid is for a somewhat older audience than my two Half-Vampire novels, and it does contain elements of romance. But it's still very tame.
Romance sells. Time and time again, I've seen poorly written books (both self-published and traditionally published) sell well because of the sappy romance in them.
Now, I'm not sure I could make myself write a sappy romance (because barf is not a good thing for a keyboard), but I think I could do SOME romance. And I decided from the get-go that Smuggler's would have not a love triangle, but a love pentagram. Yeah, FIVE guys are after Olivia. Five.
So, here's the question: should I make Olivia 15 and have this all G- or PG-rated, with racing pulses and a few passionate kisses? This would be truly YA. Or should I make Olivia 18, make this PG-13 in rating, and imply some off-camera hanky panky going on? And if it's off-camera hanky panky, does that make the book New Adult? (Look, I'm not going to describe any of those scenes. I'm a freakin' school teacher!)
Ah, what a quandary!
Your opinions would be appreciated. Younger protagonist? Or older? What say ye? Please leave a comment.
PS. Have you considered entering my current contest yet?
I like the idea of Olivia being 18, that age range may promote more readers from more age groups maybe?
ReplyDeletePersonally if you wanted me to read a book, I'd much rather take a novel with an adult heroine. She might be 15 or 18 but let her behave in a mature, responsible way.
ReplyDeleteI'd go with the new adult steampunk and make your protag at least 18. I think it would still have a broad YA appeal.
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