I don’t think the lesbian angle would be all that hard an idea to sell. You should see some of the topics in the last few years in YA fiction!
If that angle is taken, I would never let the two girls actually have physical contact in the book. I mean not just sexual contact, but I would keep them in their own worlds throughout. Their love would be expressed only in words between them.
I’d read this one!
Tapu has nailed it.
The Boy in the Bell has a nice ring to it, yes? 
It’d be fiction. So. . . . All types of leaps can be made.
The way I was dreaming it up was there’s going to be an annual race that everybody shows up for because it’s the only race the emperor partakes in. They all wanna see him up and close. But outside of him and his top soldiers and the top charioteers, only one person from everybody else gets chosen, a lottery. This young farm boy is that person. It would really have very little to do with slaves, except all the people who are slaves are hoping he (the young farm boy) wins.
(
I’ve seen Ben Hur. I think it was actually on last night. I like it very much. The chariot race is what I like the best. I don’t think young adults would like Ben Hur, though. Plus, the main character of my story would be a teenager, which changes the complexion.
The chariot race would just be one aspect of the story. There’d be family, friends, deceit, betting, historical information, romance, the major choice for the farm boy in whether he lets the emperor win out of respect or he tries to live his dream, horses, nature, the life style of the emperor, not to mention . . . the writing.
I’m not familiar with the second example you gave.
The second story would take the reader on a voyage back to old Amsterdam, slave ships, deceitful people, the paranormal, romance, many many things . . . plus the writing.
No. I suppose not.
Though, like an exclamation mark, I think it adds extra emphasis. And many exclamation marks add lots of emphasis. So I guess my reasoning was, many question marks add a stronger emphasis for people to answer.
With that many changes in how things really were, I suggest you set the book on another planet. Yes, you are writing fiction, but kids reading your story might get interested in the Circus Maximus and/or chariot racing and, after doing a simple Wiki check, realize you have no idea what you’re talking about. Good writers actually research the fact before writing the fiction to avoid embarrassments like this.
No. I suppose not.
Though, like an exclamation mark, I think it adds extra emphasis. And many exclamation marks add lots of emphasis. So I guess my reasoning was, many question marks add a stronger emphasis for people to answer.
Please try to quote the person you are responding to. It makes it easier to follow the conversation.
Thanks.
I think the first chapter or two could be played out where she doesn’t know the real name of the boy in the bell. So she has to call him that at first. Then, maybe communication between them is made clearer somehow, and at the end of the chapter, she knows his name.
Repeat that motif for when she finds out about the other girl, by name. (end of chapter)
I practically have this book written.
Ummm. I don’t know about that. But I appreciate your reply.
As far as multiple punctuation goes, some people have more spirit than other people. That’s my take. Nothing to do with right and wrong. Nothing to do with novice and expert.
Kind of funny. Usually when I think of a story, I usually can picture it 50 different ways. I didn’t picture it at all the way you described.
I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable writing a lesbian story.
Also, I wanted it to be very mainstream. Like you said, it’d be risky. I’ve taken risks in the past. I hate to sink another year or two of my time into something I could’ve given a better chance.
LOL. Just curious. How is The Boy in the Bell any different than The Girl in the Bell? How does the first have a nicer ring?
(bolding mine)By “historical information” do you mean you will research the subject before writing about it, or do you mean that you will be inventing historical information to make the story interesting?
Alliteration.
I get your tone: you’re trying to stick it to me. Excellent.
That being said, I disagree. It’s fiction. Variables can be interchanged, and no one thinks the less. The story is either enjoyable overall or it’s not.
Just say it out loud. Alliteration is always good.
Just because the word ‘boy’ begins with a B, and so does the word ‘bell’, therefore, it has a sweeter ring, I don’t hear it.
I’m a master of phonetics.
You couldn’t even master the title of your own thread, putting multiple question marks at the end of a sentence that wasn’t even a question…unless that was a poor attempt to ask if the title was a question, of course.
Believe it or not, good writers do not write without either doing research or having previous knowledge on the subject they are writing about, and this includes writers of fiction.
A combination of both. Historical information will be researched to give it an air of authenticity, but at the same time, there’ll be plenty of make believe.