Thread: My chances of getting this published as a teen? (LONG POST WARNING!)

First of all, hello!

I'm currently 17 years old and live in the United States. I've been planning in a rather scatterbrained fashion for the past year a book I've wanted to write, but recently sat down and somewhat organized them. I've been writing 'scenes' in fragments as inspiration and time comes to me, and the pages have numbered up. I would like to bind them all into a cohesive story, as originally planned, write the rest of it, and have it published...but what is the likelihood of this story being published AND being a decently successful (meaning more than zero copies sold) work?

Because I've heard/read that putting excerpts from a story online could be detrimental to one's chance of having the exposed work published, I'll only reveal enough information about it for you to gague whether or not this is something that would ever get published and sold.

Admittedly, I'd rather write it and keep it to myself for my own adoration, but I hate my job. Much of my inspiration for this was taken from actual people/events in my childhood and present life and ambitions for the future, so it's close to the heart. Don't attack it too vigorously, although critique is welcome!

It's actually quite complicated...I don't want to make this post epicly long, so I'll do my best to condense it:

• Jonah - the traitor.
  
  • Born one of two twins, Jonah was neglected in light of his brother's frail health, gifts (he is clairvoyant), and mystical significance to the townspeople.
  • Jonah, too, has a gift: he can see spirits and auras. But how to use his gift is much less plain than his brother's psychic ability, and this confuses and frightens Jonah as a child. His gifts are dismissed as hallucination and madness, socially isolating him.
  • He becomes socially anxious and withdrawn as an adolescent, but takes an orphaned girl, Maria, under his wing. For two years she is literally his only companion in the world, and his love. When she is murdered, he is her only mourner.
  • In shock and despair, he runs away after burying Maria beneath a tree they always used to play on. Directionless, he follows a particular spirit away from his homeland and comes upon the Hermit, where his journey begins.
    
    • He essentially spends his life chasing the reasons why Marcus and Maria died, looking for answers from the spirits and the teachings of religious prodigies of the past (studying gnosticism/hermeticism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, etc.). This is his search for truth.
    • Why he is deemed a traitor shall be witheld
• Maria - the angel.
  
  • Not much is known about Maria because she is mute, orphaned, and the story is never written from her point of view. She is often absent-minded and thought to be mentally underdeveloped, which most assume is why she was abandoned. She represents innocence and angels (she is Jonah's angel).
  • Her murder is an accident; a random shot out of nowhere. This randomness and ambiguity was purposeful.
• David - the prophet.
  
  • This is Jonah's brother. Born in very fragile condition, David is bedridden and completely taken care of by others, and lives a very sheltered life. He spends his time reading, painting, and telling people their fates with inherent apathy.
• Marcus and Ethan - God and the Devil.
  
  • Marcus is not literally god, nor is Ethan the 'devil', but Marcus is looked to as god by Jonah in his childhood, when he did not understand the concept of god. Marcus is actually a hierophant and preist. His presence in the plot is negligent - actually, I didn't give him any dialogue. He simply represents god to Jonah. After Marcus's suicide and Maria's death, part of Jonah's journey is in his pursuit of information about Marcus's life and he becomes a hierophant himself.
  • Ethan is Marcus's son whom, naturally, Jonah sought. In short, his philosophy is an exaggerated version of LaVeyan Satanism. The idea of his character was actually inspired by Marquis de Sade. He is not an 'evil' character, but symbolizes the Devil.
• Kevin - the detective.
  
  • Kevin is the detective on Jonah's case much later in time, when bodies begin to pop up. He does not believe in any religion or paranormal or spiritual existence, and approaches Jonah's case from a psychoanalytical perspective. His encounters in the hunt for Jonah do make him question himself somewhat, but in the end he remains unchanged.

These are not all of the characters, but a selection. Two major characters are still missing, but length is an issue with them.

I study religion, philosophy and metaphysics independently and really wanted a tale that would incorporate and reflect this.

A large portion of the symbolism is borrowed from various systems of divination and 'magic', such as the fact that both Jonah and David are both "indigo" children. A lot of hints about the characters' fates and identities are dropped in the diction with references to their auras, astrological positions, and mystic numbers.

So...even given all that's missing, would you say this is worth even trying to get published? As a non-adult without a literary degree, I'm guessing I'd be under more scrutiny.

Thanks.

I, too, pondered about my slim chances of getting published. I am a young gun, too, with no experience. However, my view on that changed when I encountered this book entitled "Elixir" in a poster ad here in The Philippines. The book was published by a local company, Central Books, and it was apparently a good book, since a sequel was coming out.

Believe me when I say this: The biography of the author that was placed in the bottom of the poster said the author, a girl, was just 14 years old.

A hoax? Check out these sites and see for yourself:

The Elixir - CentralBooks

The Elixir - Angeli Dumatol's Debut Novel - Wordpress

If a 14-year old high school student can do it, and succeed at that, then I think you should have a fair chance as well, don't you agree?

You're age has nothing to do with getting published. In fact if you're young a publisher will use that in thier marketting. The quality of your finished novel and how you aproach an agent or a publisher. I stress that it's the finished manuscript that you should be sending off into the world. No agent or publisher wil glance twice at a book proposal from an unpublished writer, not matter how old they are.

I think the main obstacle to getting published in this case is the fact that the book isn't finished. Do that, then see how old you are.