Welcome to my stop on the #buqoYA Perfect Moments blog tour! This ebook bundle is available from buqo now at this link: bit.ly/buqoya5. Taking over the blog today is author Audrine Pascal! But first:
How different ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO is from my other work
Audrine Pascal
The last time I attempted to write Young Adult was back when I actually passed as a young adult. So to answer how different Anything You Want Me To, my #BuqoYA manuscript, would require a nice, long chat over coffee and maybe three slices of blueberry cheesecake. However, I’ve condensed the lengthy discussion to three points, as a guest post here in Mina’s blog.
1. Help!
My main character, Via, is almost half my age – she’s 18; I’m 33. She’s worrying about being properly dressed for a year-end party; I’m worrying about my nine-year-old son winging middle school. I’m so much different now than my teenaged self. And the world is understandably different too.
Yes, I needed help. I asked beta-reading assistance from three people whose ages fall under Young Adult: a #BuqoYA cowriter, a Wattpad follower-reader and my management trainee at work. One had nothing but praises for the manuscript; one made one comment that I arrogantly brushed off at first; and the last one echoed the critique of the other, which made me do an overhaul of my story mere hours before the deadline. Just take a swipe at guessing who did what.
The whole point is this: I couldn’t consider myself a subject matter expert, so I got some help from my target market. And I listened. I almost didn’t, because I almost never do. But that one input completely changed the tone of the manuscript – and I’m so thankful it did.
2. Epic cramming.
I expect myself to cram whenever I write fiction. This time around, though, the cramming reached epic proportions, precisely because of that one comment I chose to ignore initially, but persistently gnawed at my brain until I caved in and gave it some serious thought.
I wrote the entire night. With three hours to the midnight deadline, I was nowhere near done.
My brain was fried, my eyes were bloodshot. But I continued to type like a frenzied fiend, intent on finishing my story. At 1:30AM, I emailed my manuscript, crossed my fingers that Mina would allow the slight delay and immediately fell asleep.
The whole point is this: I will not do this ever again. It is not healthy. A little bit of cramming is fine, because it amazingly works for me. But I was a zombie at work the next day and there’s no acceptable excuse for that.
3. No NA stuff.
When I rekindled my affair with writing romance some five years ago, I wrote about what I knew and that meant New Adult. Until this very day, I write in default New Adult. So imagine my dismay when my #BuqoYA beta told me that my manuscript was too “mature”.
No swearing, particularly the F word. No sex. Not even the mere mention of it. No wild party antics, like wet t-shirt contests or making out for the sake of making out. No minors drinking.
And it is an absolute sin if the main character shows signs of being shallow.
Wait, what? Isn’t Via supposed to be a teenager? Don’t high school kids have raging hormones? Can’t her tumblr posts be about cute polka-dotted sneakers instead of an economic forecast for the election year that is 2016?
In the end, I didn’t delete everything my betas prescribed. The final manuscript is so much tamer than its original draft, though. I tried on a high school senior’s shoes again – and yes, joining a wet t-shirt contest wasn’t really part of that world… yet.
The whole point is this: I thoroughly enjoyed writing outside my so-called comfort zone, including the massive overhaul and the steamy sex-less outcome. But then again, I am still me, so don’t be surprised that Anything You Want Me To is not as wholesome as the usual Young Adult fare. Wink, wink!
***
PERFECT MOMENTS
Sometimes you’ll meet your match: at detention, on the badminton court, in a resort hotel in Davao, at a lab, in a foster home, at an epic party. You’ll never know. But always keep your heart ready for that perfect moment. Read these stories and experience the bliss of first love.
A Moment Like This by Sue Donymko
Kris Mercado and Noel Abad are trapped in a posh resort hotel in Davao City during a particularly bad flood. After spending almost everyday together, they realize that they are undeniably attracted to each other. But reality bites as usual, and they now have to decide whether to chalk their romance up to forced circumstances or to explore what could be the sweetest love they’ve been looking for…
Anything You Want Me To by Audrine Pascal
Oh, Via. Such in a hurry to have a boyfriend. Now look who got dumped on social media, just before the epic party happening tonight.
So why is she hanging out with Franco Castañer? It’s all good – Via’s always been immune to all that yummy goodness, him being her best friend’s brother and all.
But is Franco actually being flirty? Or is she just reading too much into this? How exactly do you decode the species they call boy?
Vodka shot, anyone?
Something Real by Charm Jacinto
Hailey’s principle is heart over mind. It’s Rick or nothing at all. Brett’s scholarship comes first. His, was mind over matters of the heart. A laboratory experiment in Physics brought them together making their lives entangled with each other. From lab partners to having a crossfire of misread signals to friendship. Will they ever find the perfect formula when it comes to the principle of love?
Match Point Mishap by Madelyn Tuviera
“Shit happens to the best of us,” goes a saying, and Lester Torres, a now-starving student-artist, cannot agree more. The family business has reached a steady decline. His parents are distraught. His education is at the risk of being put on hold because tuition’s too expensive, impractical. Something they are no longer able to afford. Unwilling to give up, he tries to apply for an athletic scholarship in the hope of keeping the dream alive. He was in the high school badminton varsity team, after all. Might as well put his dormant skill to good use, right? He aces the first few matches, winning them in a breeze, and thinks that he’s got this scholarship in the bag already. Easy as pie.
Enter a talented player by the name of Wency David, and Lester lands the first missed service of his game.
Someone to Care by Jessica Larsen
After her parents die in an accident, Jennelle is passed around by her relatives. Hindi siya tumatagal ng isang taon sa piling ng mga kamag-anak bago siya itulak ng mga ito patungo sa iba. At fifteen, nalibot na yata niya lahat ng isla sa Pilipinas. Not that she cares, because she has learned from the moment she loses her parents that not getting too involved with anyone will keep her from getting hurt. Subalit nagbago ang lahat ng iyon nang makilala niya si Valentine, ang adopted son ng distant relative niya kung saan siya sunod na titira. Like her, Valentine has been orphaned at a young age, but unlike her, Valentine loves to keep everyone close—except her. And as if sharing a home wasn’t enough of a torture, they would also be attending the same school.
The Offside by KZ Riman
All I wanted was to move on to sophomore year. And, of course, to have Soccer God Mattheus Estevez back into my life, despite my brother’s incessant demands that I stopped dating jocks. What I didn’t count on, though, was to go through detention work with Geovanne Estevez, Mattheus’ identical twin brother, just so I’d realize both. And what I found baffling about it all was how Geovanne seemed to be putting a lot more effort into it than we had all bargained for, making this detention the best one yet.
Sue Donymko lives and works in Manila, Philippines. When not writing or working, or working some more, she eats, watches a lot of television, sings — much to the neighbors’ dismay — and reads until she falls asleep.
Charm Jacinto’s first choice of books are historical romances written by Barbara Cartland, Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux way back in college. She graduated as BSBA major in Human Resources Development but had an epiphany that her path leads to still helping people but more on the medical side. Her life became more meaningful because of her husband and daughter who encourages her to be the best that she can be.
Madelyn Tuviera is a twenty-something woman whose ideal way of spending a day is sipping coffee while writing (and trying not to spill coffee on said output). She started writing when she was in fifth grade and hasn’t looked back since. She’s grossly fascinated with drama, romance, and tiny creatures that can be tamed and kept in capsules. She does not grammar on weekends. But she does think of writing 99.9% of the time.
Jessica E. Larsen is a hopeless romantic, who will forever be young at heart. She enjoys traveling a lot, drawing inspiration from places she visits and interesting people she encounters. She loves to read, and writes in different genres and spends hours arguing with her characters. At times she likes playing the villain and gives them a taste of hell when they refused to listen to her demands.
Jessica was born in the Philippines and lived in Spain since she was eighteen.
This romance, erotica and fantasy author spends each moment of her days writing. She spends her free time — if she ever gets any pf that — inside her room, where she reads steamy novels and watches romantic comedies.
KZ is a pure-bred Filipina who lives with her family in Tarlac City, Philippines. Growing up, she has dreamed of becoming a novelist and screenplay writer, and has written countless stories, which she shares with her friends. Now, she dreams further by sharing her imagination to the world.
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