Title
REVOLUTIONARY
Genre
YA Alternate History with Fantasy Elements
Pages
148 currently. (I wrote the book single-spaced in 11-point Calibri font.)
Chapters
Erm...I have no idea. I stopped writing the chapter numbers because my book kept on shifting.
Word Count
When I first finished the draft, I was around 71K. Now I'm at 75K and I expect the book to grow to 80K by the time I'm done with this revision.
Draft Time
Early February to early May for the rough draft. That's about three months, which is very fast for me. My middle grade sci-novel took me over a year to write. And my YA dystopian...well, let's just say that I started writing that in January 2010 and I'm still not finished. *Shame*
Concept Time
The spark for this novel came to me in January. I had just finished reading The Aquariums of PyongYang, a memoir about a North Korean refugee who spent his teenage years living in a work camp. That's when a Shiny New Idea hit me: "What if I write a story about a teenager living in North Korea? What if this teen is trained by her uncle to assassinate Kim Jung Il?" The storyline has changed a ton since then (the novel is now set in an alternate history America) but I owe a thanks to my husband for recommending that memoir to me.
Random Details From The Book:
* My protagonist, Zara, is named after one of my favorite clothing stores. This is kind of ironic because Zara is a total tomboy whose beauty routine consists of brushing her hair in the morning.
* Zara is half-Japanese. I always try to incorporate an Asian character into my novels...because I'm Chinese if you haven't noticed. :)
* The love interest in the book, Bastian, is modeled after actor Hunter Parrish. I wanted Bastian to have a boyish handsomeness and a charming smile that girls simply swoon for.
* I seriously love Bastian as a character. He's quiet, shy, and soft-spoken. And he has a really big heart despite being raised by his super evil dad.
* I wrote my first ever kissing scene for this novel! That was a ton of fun. Especially since it was Zara's very first kiss. Aw.
* The book takes place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I wanted a rural setting that was lush and green and beautiful.
Anyway, I really love Revolutionary and, despite a few headaches, it has been a lot of fun to write. This is the first book I've written where the protagonist's voice has come through to me loud and clear. Sometimes I even feel like Zara is living in my head, telling me how she would say a certain phrase or chiding me when I don't get her dialogue just right. (Is that weird? Yes, probably.)
As of now, I'm working on Round 2 of revisions and I hope to complete another round before I send the whole thing to my beta readers. Honestly, I'm kind of petrified of sending my book into the great unknown. Confession: I've never had someone beta read my novel before, outside of my husband or little sister. I mean, I've used my critique groups to offer feedback on the first few chapters of my MG space opera but I've never asked a non-family member to read an entire book of mine. *Cue biting of fingernails*
Ah well. I'll get over my fears, right? RIGHT?
Right!
*Bites nails more*
