Lee Subin was inspired to enter into music by her favorite musician, Ashley Carr. Despite the fact that they make completely different types of music (Subin is on the violin and Ashley goes with keyboards/synthesizers) and the fact that Ashley barely knows she exists, Subin is obsessed with his work and finally gains the motivation to work hard for something in her life. She dreams of one day meeting the man who finally got her to stop being such a slacker. Except that Ashley's sudden, untimely death cuts his blossoming career short and leaves Subin without a goal to reach for. How can she cope with his death when her friends have never even heard of him? What is she going to live for now? Bleh, I'm not good at blurbs. Anyway, I'm looking for a beta reader for a ~78k short story....er, novella, about a Korean music fangirl who struggles with aimlessness and purposelessness in her life, all while grieving the loss of someone who she really just admired from afar. It's a bit ambitious, since I don't play violin myself, but that's how it turned out in my head. I pretty much just need someone to see if the story makes sense, and find any weak parts. Also I have no idea where in the world I would publish a thing like this, so I'm open to ideas on that end.
Sounds like this would be YA (Young Adult). Also, at 78k words, it's a novel, not novella. I understand it's slightly below the typical word count of 80k but really, it's close enough to be counted as a novel since 80k is only the average word count of a typical novel, without regard for the market, age bracket or genre. For YA, 60-80k would be average.
Oh, if you say so. It honestly ended up being longer than I intended...it was supposed to be a short story. Short stories in their own way are harder than longer stories, in that you have to come to the point quicker. Interested at all in a beta?
You really need to work on those blurb writing skills! By explicit I'm guessing you're talking sexual content? None of that, I assure you. I googled romance and still don't understand but it doesn't seem a fit. I do swear and most of what I write contains swear words, though I don't think it's excessive or gratuitous. I write short stories but a couple lost the run of themselves and ended up in novella/novellette classification. I'm still working out my style and find very different tones in different pieces and not sure if that's a strength or weakness. I'm liking a rambling, stream attitude, both in reading and writing. Looking for broad feedback much as what you outlined in your first post. Let me know by PM if you want to give it a try.
I don't like to commit to a whole book before I know the quality of the writing. In terms of genre, I would be a good enough match as I'm familiar with Asian cultures and a little about K-pop, and I also used to love YA and read a lot of it. I'm happy to do the first 3 pages if it helps?
