Um - I thought you did, RJ? Didn't you say that a YA novel must not have more than one protagonist, and that you shouldn't name or mention any but the most essential characters in your query?
But Niki is pretty essential, and I'll be happy to add her back in. As to your other point, I'm sorry if I was seeming defensive at all. That wasn't my intention - Deirdre and I were discussing this question a bit more tonight, and it turns out that I define a lot of things (Incarceron, Catching Fire, and The Giver, for exampe, as SF that Deirdre sees as fantasy - and that are actually marketed as fantasy. I certainly don't want to kill my chances of selling my novel by insisting that it's SF. It's not what I would call fantasy, but, like Deirdre, I'm fine with the term speculative fiction, and will use that instead. Because it's certainly not hard SF. It just happens to be set in the future, on an alien planet. If anyone picks up the book and chooses to market it as offworld fantasy, whatever that is, I wouldn't argue!
Now I guess I'll have to rewrite and try to say a little about Niki and her story - while keeping this to 300 words or less! Because she really is a big part of the plot, and it felt odd and wrong to me to leave her out. I felt as though I was misrepresenting my own book.
Thanks again for your feedback! I'm going to let this sit awhile now (sheer exhaustion, I'm afraid), and get back to it in a day or two.
no subject
But Niki is pretty essential, and I'll be happy to add her back in. As to your other point, I'm sorry if I was seeming defensive at all. That wasn't my intention - Deirdre and I were discussing this question a bit more tonight, and it turns out that I define a lot of things (Incarceron, Catching Fire, and The Giver, for exampe, as SF that Deirdre sees as fantasy - and that are actually marketed as fantasy. I certainly don't want to kill my chances of selling my novel by insisting that it's SF. It's not what I would call fantasy, but, like Deirdre, I'm fine with the term speculative fiction, and will use that instead. Because it's certainly not hard SF. It just happens to be set in the future, on an alien planet. If anyone picks up the book and chooses to market it as offworld fantasy, whatever that is, I wouldn't argue!
Now I guess I'll have to rewrite and try to say a little about Niki and her story - while keeping this to 300 words or less! Because she really is a big part of the plot, and it felt odd and wrong to me to leave her out. I felt as though I was misrepresenting my own book.
Thanks again for your feedback! I'm going to let this sit awhile now (sheer exhaustion, I'm afraid), and get back to it in a day or two.