I'm on the (hopefully) final edit of writing a YA book and wondered if any people still hanging around my blog would be interested in being part of the test reader circle. I thought it might be useful to include some new blood this time instead of just sticking with people who have read my work before.
The book: Currently titled In Bloom, a YA sapphic science fiction book by meeee.
The elevator pitch (longer description below):
The new girl in school is hot, but fifteen-year-old Kamber Valerian isn't supposed to be dating humans (or girls, of course). She's a member of the Kinfolk collective: an endangered species that almost died out 600 years ago when humans colonized their ancestral world. Her culture expects her to settle down with a local Kin boy and fulfill their race's promise to the Goddess, which is a tall order for someone who likes girls; while she treasures her spirituality, Kamber fears she's trapped in a fertility cult, with her path to maturity blocked if she refuses traditional marriage. Is the chance to date Joanne worth rejecting her sacred duties and possibly destroying her relationship with her family?
Notes:
- This is my first third-person novel.
- This is a science fiction story set in the distant future. The worldbuilding for it is very quiet, and I’m worrying that the reveals are a little too as-you-know-bob.
- Lots of dialogue.
- It’s more romantic than I thought it would be—the romance is front and center, and early.
- Its first draft was 200,000 words. It's now down to about 134,000. I'm hoping to hack it down into the high 120s before sending to the test audience.
- I’m not good at naming alien places. Who names a continent “Dry Lace”? It's a translation, screw you.
- The aliens are really humany in this book, but they can't reproduce with humans and do have significantly different biology. I didn't put it in the book but I do think they're distantly related to humans somehow.
- There's no "superpowers" exactly but the aliens do have a couple weird abilities. They can convey heat in special ways (and also therefore make fire) and can communicate with each other, animals, and trees using signals in their breath. It's weird and cool.
- While it's tempting to assume a "colonizers almost wiped us out" storyline would necessarily appropriate Indigenous narratives, the protagonist's framing of it is more closely tied to the Holocaust, which I draw from through my perspective as a Jewish woman.
- I am obsessed with Steven Universe, which has a lot of space lesbians in it. I am also writing about lesbians in space. And yet, it is nothing like Steven Universe.
- Yes there are asexual characters in it, sheesh.
The process:
- You comment or message me expressing interest
- I get your e-mail details
- I send you the first 2 chapters
- You provide thoughts and feedback on the excerpt and let me know if you want the rest of the book
- I include you in the acknowledgments (if you want) when it's published, bam
What I want:
- Positive comments on what jokes, interactions, characterizations, worldbuilding elements etc. you like
- "Sensitivity reader" type comments if you're worried something will be offensive or land poorly in a way I might not have thought of
- Unanswered questions about the world or characters that you think should be answered
- Developmental editing–type commentary if you think it needs it
- Commentary on appropriateness for test audience (re: sexy content, language, language complexity)
- Especially interested in perspectives from sapphic readers who grew up in a conservative or religious family
- Random uncensored thoughts
- Flagging confusing sentences, wording, or vocabulary (do not focus on this unless it really leaps out at you)
What I don't want:
- Proofreading-level comments (please, please don't waste your time with line edits or punctuation suggestions)
- Rewording suggestions based on how you would have written it
- Weird judgmental/bigoted shit about how I shouldn't write gay books (obviously)
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