My main project is a 2 part nostalgia driven novel. I guess it would fall under YA/ Historical Fiction but that seems a loose fit. Perhaps a more complex, less mass market 'Ready Player One' set in the past rather than the future, might be a more helpful description. Part One is set in 1983 around an arcade and a high school in San Jose and follows a British Goth girl and the three video game geeks that obsess about her during the last week of school and over the summer. It's a nerdy coming of age story with lots of fun pop culture references, but with some later fairly dark plot developments. My 2nd draft is almost ready and it clocks in around 50k words. I am half way through the second half 1st draft, which is set in 1995 and follows the grown up characters from the first part in a tale of revenge and a quest to save some kidnapped children. It's slightly darker than the first half but still has lots of fun, pop culture/video game parts. It'll be beta ready 2 months from now. They're very separate stories, and I do not yet know if they'll be split into two short novels or one two-parter ala Stevie K's 'IT'. I'm looking to get feedback for the 1st half while I work on the second. It also means less of a commitment for any Beta readers. I'm ideally looking to find a long term quid pro quo critique partner, where we genuinely like each other's style and can offer solid, honest advice, but I understand that might be a long shot. I'm also happy to look at one offs on a word for word basis. I use Pro Writing Aid so I can do pretty quick proofreading for grammatical errors etc if thats what YOU need. I can offer better than word for word if you only need grammar/spelling. I'm NOT looking for proofreading of my own work, but very much story/character related feedback. As you can probably tell by the synopsis, I'm having a hard time categorizing it, so really need a fresh eye! I also have a 34k novella and a load of short stories which could all use looking at, all in the sci fi, horror, action, thriller kind of ballpark.
Did you get pm replies to this and are you still looking for a mutual arrangement? You're describing an arrangement that is interesting to me, though I guess finding the right partner could be a case of trial and error. There's always the risk of turning it into some kind of support group for the tragically deluded. You loosely describe your current wip as young adult and I'm not sure whether that disqualifies me on two grounds. Historical I can handle. At the very least, I remember 1983 like it was only 38 years ago. I have a few short stories and a longer piece of about 12000 words that might not fit a straight narrative. It's a big ask, so I haven't asked for a review, particularly as it's currently got about six paragraph breaks and it's killing me to concede that it might need more. Possibly not of massive commercial appeal but I've a better chance of winning the lottery than making money from writing. My interest is in self-expression rather than market place. But I still want to write it well and for my writing to resonate with readers, even if it's not for everyone. That longer piece I'd describe as the confused rambling and reminiscences of an ancient man who is possibly dying. What I'd like is a reader to refer back on what, if anything, worked or even at what point they stopped reading and decided to do tax returns as a more satisfying alternative. Sometimes diverse perspectives can be useful. So, having given the elevator pitch, if you're still reading this, let me know if you want to try out a couple of shorter pieces to test compatibility. No longer term commitment required and, if either or is completely unmoved, call it a day and stop before the hurting hurts.
