An Agent's Inbox #2

Dear Anonymous Agent,

THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON is a 70,000-word, young adult dystopian fantasy novel. It can stand alone, but has trilogy potential.

If sixteen-year-old Lori Gibbs fails to impress the judges in Easten’s Talent Show, she’ll hang. She can fly though, so she’ll probably impress.

What she can’t do is sit back while they hang her new best friend, a fellow contestant. Davis is a smart, timid boy whose talent is holding his breath. While he thinks he’ll impress, Lori knows his talent is just as lame as his love for Easten and even lamer than the kid who can pick up marbles with his toes.

Lori decides she’ll share her powers with Davis during the show and convince the judges they can both fly. If she doesn't try to save him, she'll lose her only friend and become a part of the system she's vowed never to follow. But if she gets caught, she'll hang alongside him.

Lori confides her plan in two other contestants: her roommate, and the guy stealing her heart. Unbeknownst to her, one of them is a spy.

The first 250 words are below. If you would like to request more pages, please let me know. Thanks for your time and consideration!

Best,
K.A.


THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON

My talent was about the only thing that made my parents happy. And in my sixteen years of experience, I had learned their happiness usually ended in my suffering. So when they called me for dinner, their voices high and excited, a hard knot formed in the pit of my stomach.

I walked into the kitchen where they sat at the table, holding hands and smiling. The knot in my stomach grew.

“Lori,” Mom said, “come eat.”

I stayed where I was. Our best silver platters were piled high with fish, chicken, and rice. Fruit and rolls topped our porcelain bowls. And our crystal pitchers were filled to the brim with tea. Eating well was not rare for us. Eating for a family of ten was.

Dad cleared his throat. “Your mother and I,” he said, “have decided--”

“Wait until she sits,” Mom said.

I didn’t sit, and I didn’t touch the food. It wasn’t like it was poisoned. If I died, my talent would die with me, and then I’d be about as valuable as the platter of dead fish. But if they were going to wait until I sat to tell me what they were about to tell me, I’d stand for the rest of my life.

They exchanged a glance and then looked back to me.

Dad sighed. “It’s time,” he said.

I leaned against the table and tried to soften my glare. “Time for what?” I asked, even though we all knew I knew.

“We’re registering you in the Talent Show,” Mom said.

An Agent's Inbox #1

Dear Agent,

Betrayal is a concept Taylor Anderson knows all too well. Thanks to a lie orchestrated by her best friend, Sunny, her friends won’t look at her, her classmates won’t talk to her, and the boy she might love won’t return her calls.

Betrayal is the reason Taylor wants to disappear, and after an accident her quiet wish becomes a reality.

But instead of disappearing to a peaceful place filled with puffy clouds and harp-playing angles, Taylor opens her eyes to find an endless gray staircase climbing up, up, up into a clear blue sky. Turns out Led Zeppelin totally nailed it.

Until the ghosts appear.

Not the ghosts of other people trapped on the stairs--Taylor would welcome a visit from anyone who might be able to explain why she can’t turn around, where the mysterious voice comes from, or how snow can fall when there’s not a cloud in the sky.

Instead, the ghosts of the people she wants to forget swirl before her and plunge her back to the horrible week before the accident. Turns out that disappearing from your life doesn’t mean you get to leave it behind.

But the staircase is more than the haunted punishment it first appears to be. Within it lies a second chance to uncover the true value of everything Taylor thought she wanted to leave behind, but first she must learn the truth about Sunny’s betrayal, and find the strength to forgive the unforgiveable.

Unless the staircase and the ghosts of her past break her before she can reach the top.

WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS is a 61,000 word YA novel that includes both contemporary and fantastical elements. The humor, emotion and character transformation will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver’s BEFORE I FALL and Gayle Forman’s IF I STAY.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

All the best,
S.S.


WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS

I never noticed how pointy my elbows were. They were thorny things, jutting out from my sides like useless wings. I flattened them against my body, not wanting to give anyone yet another reason to avoid me.

It didn’t help.

A line of three girls made an unnecessary showing of skirting past me, exchanging smirks with the subtlety of elephants. Once out of viewing range I heard the hiss, hiss, hiss of heated whispers passing between them.

That was her, right? She’s the girl?

I fought the urge to spin around and shoot venom right back at them, but I didn’t want to waste my words on three girls I wouldn’t have cared about yesterday. Besides, Sunny was the snake I wanted to bite.

No one was at Sunny’s locker when I passed by. Without the swarm of bodies and hum of morning activity it looked like any other locker in any other hallway. The only sign that it meant something more was the key-scratched heart and initials I had carved into the tan paint earlier that year.

I <3 J.C.

Had Sunny gotten to him, too?

The hallways seemed longer than they had before, twisting labyrinth-like between the classroom wings. Posters hung above archways, their edges curling into the hand painted block letters like they were ashamed of the drips and wrinkles in the imperfect writing. I straightened my shoulders. I would not be like the posters. I would not be ashamed of something I had not done.

"Give Me This Mountain"

I don't like to interrupt rounds of "An Agent's Inbox," but the blogging bug bit me last night, and I couldn't hold this in. Besides, since so many of you are hanging around to see how the contest plays out, I figure I have a captive audience:) Hope you enjoy!

Not long after Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he sent a small group of scouts to the land of Canaan to see what they could see. All but two of the scouts returned with the report that the Promised Land was crawling with giants and dotted with mighty fortresses that wouldn't easily fall. Caleb and Joshua's report was quite different--they believed that, God willing, they could conquer the Anakim and claim the land of Canaan for themselves--but the children of Israel sided with the other scouts. They wouldn't risk destruction. They would simply wait.

And wait they most certainly did. The children of Israel ended up wandering in the wilderness for the next forty years, waiting for that faithless generation to grow old and die.

Caleb and Joshua did grow old, but unlike their peers, they didn't die. The Lord preserved them so they could inhabit the land of Canaan and reap the rewards of their faithfulness. And even though Caleb was old, as he stood on the edge of the Promised Land, ready to assist in the final offensive against the mighty Anakim, he said, "Give me this mountain."

Give me this challenge.

Let me prove to myself and to my God how very much I want this.

As I read that story last night, I felt very much like Caleb, but on the edge of Publication. After all, I slugged it out in the query trenches for what felt like forty years. I wrote manuscript after manuscript after manuscript after manuscript. I survived. And yet, as I look back on where I've been, then at how far I have to go, it's just starting to dawn on me that the biggest battles are still ahead.

So I say with Caleb, "Give me this mountain!" If mine is not going to be one of those overnight success stories, so be it. I'll dig in and fight. I will not go gentle into that good night. I'll hang on. I'll climb.

Now Accepting Entries

UPDATE: That's it! We're full! This is the fastest one of these rounds has ever filled up. I've responded to every e-mail sent before 10:40 a.m. EDT (or 7:40 a.m. PDT). Look for those entries to go up on Wednesday!

I'm now accepting entries for August's round of "An Agent's Inbox"! Here's a quick refresher:

The Rules

1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).

2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN APRIL’S ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOU HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. I have a pretty good memory, and I will disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, August 14, I may allow previous participants to enter, but I’m not going to make that decision right now.

3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 10:00 A.M. EDT (OR 7:00 A.M. PDT). Once the entry window opens, I'll accept the first 20 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window opens or after the first 20 slots fill up.

5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it won't have a post number.

6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.

The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the prizes. The Agent might pick 20 winners, or he or she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, or he or she might only ask to see another page. It all depends on how good the entries are.

Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as he or she would a normal batch of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your query and first page.

The Genres

YA Fiction (all subgenres)
Women’s Fiction
Adult Commercial Fiction
Adult Science Fiction
Adult Fantasy
Adult Cozy Mysteries
Adult Romance

To enter, please send an e-mail with YOUR QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. And please, please, please remember to PASTE THESE ITEMS IN THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL.

"An Agent's Inbox" Contest Alert

THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR ENTRIES! I’M JUST GIVING YOU A HEADS-UP. THE CONTEXT OPENS NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 13.

It’s been a while since we did one of these, so here’s a quick refresher. “An Agent's Inbox” is exactly what it sounds like--next week, I'm turning the blog into an agent's inbox, a public one. We'll get to see 20 queries along with their first pages, and we'll get to hear what a bona fide agent thinks of each one.

The queries and first pages will be yours, of course. I'll accept your entries this Monday, August 13, and then I'll post them next Wednesday, August 15. The entrants and anyone else who wishes to review them may comment until the following Tuesday, August 21, when I'll announce the winners. Those winners will be chosen by The Agent, who will remain nameless for now, and he or she will offer whatever prizes he or she wishes.

The Rules

1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).

2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN APRIL’S ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOU HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. I have a pretty good memory, and I will disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, August 14, I may allow previous participants to enter, but I’m not going to make that decision right now.

3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 10:00 A.M. EDT (OR 7:00 A.M. PDT). Once the entry window opens, I'll accept the first 20 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window opens or after the first 20 slots fill up.

5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it won't have a post number.

6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.

The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the prizes. The Agent might pick 20 winners, or he or she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, or he or she might only ask to see another page. It all depends on how good the entries are.

Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as he or she would a normal batch of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your query and first page.

So get those queries and first pages polished up, then meet us back here on Monday, August 13, at 10:00 a.m. EDT! At that time, you may send your entries to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. Looking forward to it!

The Genres

YA Fiction (all subgenres)
Women’s Fiction
Adult Commercial Fiction
Adult Science Fiction
Adult Fantasy
Adult Cozy Mysteries
Adult Romance

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!

"Can You Hook a Teen?" Winners!

And yes, I did say winners, with an S. Without further ado, I’ll hand things over to Kate!

I really don’t know how else to start off this announcement, other than to say that you guys are awesome. I’ve judged a few of these contests before, and generally I go through and read each entry, making note of the ones that grab my attention. By the time I got halfway through this batch, I realized I had written down the names of virtually every single entrant. Take some time to read through these first pages. They’re amazing! I loved pretty much all of them, which makes picking a winner nearly impossible.

With this in mind, it’s important to remember how subjective these contests are. I judged based on my own personal preferences and my current mood (sometimes I’m in the mood for sci-fi, sometimes fantasy, sometimes contemporary...changes from day to day). There are so many different factors in this process that have nothing to do with how good your book is.

For instance, if I’ve been reading a lot of sci-fi manuscripts lately in my freelance work, I find myself subconsciously gravitating towards other genres. If a pitch sounds similar to something I read last week, I might skip over it simply because I’m ready for a completely different manuscript. I really did enjoy 99% of these entries, so my selections mainly reflect the stories I’m most interested in reading at the present moment.

I’ve included here a short list of submissions that caught my attention. Also, due to the sheer volume of good entries, I have decided to award two second place prizes, with each person receiving a submission package from Teen Eyes (critique of the first ten pages, query, and synopsis). Thanks so much for entering, and for letting me read your astounding work!

(Also, I have decided that Moira is the new hot YA name. It’s not particularly common in real life (my sister’s name is Maura, and she gets called Moira all the time), but it cropped up in three different entries.)

Entries I love-love-loved:

Mara Rae
Christina (THROUGH THE EDGEWOOD)
Robin Hall
Michelle Mason
Angelica Jackson
Wendy Knight
Dannie Morin
Rachel Russell
Robin Weeks
Stacy Stokes
Lauren Harris
Sakura Eries
Mandy Mikulencak
Rena Rockford
Jennie Bozic
Kate Larkindale
Mia Rose
Bill Scott
Kathleen Doyle

Second place winners:

Ki-Wing Merlin--I love MG, and especially magical realism. My favorite MG stories tend to be sweet, heartfelt books (think MOORCHILD by Eloise McGraw), and I just loved the idea of a little girl who responds to grief by (quite literally) flying. I have no idea how this story will progress from its initial premise, but I’m eager to find out.

Sarah Nelson--MORALLY AMBIGUOUS PROTAGONISTS FTW!!! Okay, I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for morally ambiguous protagonists. Some of the most interesting characters are dark, perhaps even sinister, and Sarah has both the technical writing chops and the voice to back up an interesting premise. (“I’m Claire Alexander. Your friendly neighborhood murderer.” How can you not love it?)

First place winner:

Sarah Turnbull--I am just totally in the mood for Victorian era fiction, along with unique, descriptive prose. It’s what I’ve been craving this week, and Sarah hit the nail on the head. I like secluded islands. I like plagues. I like dark fantasy. I like pocket watches. I like that the Governor said “Bless you, doll,” to the little peasant girl, rather than being the stereotypical nobleman who avoids the disgusting low-class children. With those three words of dialogue, Sarah has already helped establish a character’s voice. He does not say “thank you,” which would be the generic response. Her word choice here really helps bring the scene to life. I pretty much just like it, so we have a winner!!!

Again, thank you so much for letting me judge this contest! I truly have never seen a more talented pool of entrants. For those of you who read through the submissions, I’m sure we all have our favorites, which just goes to show how great these first pages are! Winners, please e-mail me at katay444(at)gmail(dot)com or teen-eyes-editorial(at)hotmail(dot)com. Can’t wait to read more!

And there you have it! Thanks again, Kate, for taking the time to read all these entries, and thanks to all of you for entering and reading along. Your response was overwhelming, and we truly appreciate it.

P.S. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more details on next week’s round of “An Agent’s Inbox.” It’s going to be great!

Interview with an Agent: Linda Epstein

Look, it’s another installment of “Interview with an Agent”! I’m on fire! :) Today’s interview features Linda Epstein of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. I think you're going to like this one...

KV: How long have you been agenting, and how did you get into it?

LE: I’ve been agenting since last Fall (2011) and had been reading manuscripts for other agents for two years prior to that. I’d always been a huge reader and writer but life took me in a number of other directions for a number of reasons. I realized a few years ago that if I really wanted a career in publishing, which had been my dream when I first got out of college, that now was the time. So I went for it!

I’ve added up my years of being a freelance writer and editor with some work in a bookstore plus a few years of being the oldest unpaid intern in Manhattan to finally get to be a literary agent. I’ve worked very hard to get to this beginning point and it’s fully my intention to soar.

KV: How would you summarize your personal agenting philosophy? What do you expect from an agent-author relationship?

LE: I’m very hands-on and very communicative. My clients know I’m going to be poking and prodding at their manuscripts, reading it many times, editing, line editing, questioning them. And also, they know they can count on me to give them the truth. So if I think something isn’t working I’ll let them know.

I also keep them apprised of what’s going on when I’m submitting their manuscripts to editors, every step of the way. They know they can count on me for emotional support, hand holding, and bad jokes. They also know they can call or e-mail me any time and they’ll hear back from me right away. I guess my agenting philosophy is we’re in this together, we’re a team.

KV: What client work do you have coming out soon? What drew you to those writers and/or projects?

LE: As a new agent I don’t have a long list of books to brag about. Yet! But I’m delighted to say I have a fantastic YA book coming out in Summer 2013 called OPENLY STRAIGHT (Arthur A. Levine) by Lambda Award winning author Bill Konigsberg.

The first thing that drew me to work with Bill is his incredible mastery of voice. Bill captures an authentic teen voice like nobody’s business. He’s just such a talented writer. Then he spins his story with humor, introspection, and poignancy. And he writes dead-on funny dialogue. The icing on the cake for me is that this story features a gay main character, and I have a particular commitment to representing books that include, are about, or are geared toward people in the LGBT community.

KV: What genres do you represent? What genres do you definitely NOT represent?

LE: I represent MG, YA and adult fiction and very select non-fiction. I’m mostly interested in literary fiction, upscale commercial fiction, anything with a feminist bent, fantasy, science fiction, steam punk, historical fiction, and LGBT fiction.

I’m not really interested in picture books, romance, thrillers, mysteries, horror, Western or Christian fiction.

KV: What query pet peeves and/or pitfalls should writers avoid when querying you?

LE: Put it this way, if you don’t follow my submission guidelines I just delete the query. I also don’t care for it when people are either too smarmy or too cocky. Query letters are business letters. I want writers to give me the facts in a way that piques my interest. That’s it. Nothing tricky or weird.

Oh, and just because a writer reads my blog or is friends with me on Facebook or follows me on Twitter doesn’t mean they actually know me or are my real-life friend, so don’t be too familiar. That just feels creepy.

KV: What are you looking for in a manuscript right now? What are you tired of seeing at the moment?

LE: I’m looking for really good writing. I’ve gotten a lot of great ideas that are poorly executed, which is so disappointing. I’m looking for something really original; or even something unoriginal but told in a unique way!

I’m tired of getting queries for things I don’t represent and I don’t really need to see any more demons or magical amulets at the moment.

KV: What’s the best way to query you?

LE: Queries should be e-mailed to linda.p.epstein@gmail.com and put "Query" in the subject line of your email and the first twenty pages in the body of your e-mail. The query should include ea one-paragraph bio and a one-paragraph synopsis. For non-fiction books, the entire proposal should be attached to the query as a Word document and should include a sample chapter.

Thanks again, Ms. Epstein, for these fantastic answers. I’m sure a lot of writers will relate to the roundabout path you took to agenting and appreciate your hands-on approach.

Good luck to all you queriers, and have a great weekend!

(Work-in-) Progress Reports: Bonnie and Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 13,000 for Bonnie, 44,000 for Clyde

Status: Collecting my reward:)

Attitude: Relaxed and optimistic

I finished Clyde’s second draft about two weeks ago, took a week to mull things over, and dove back into Bonnie last Thursday or Friday. True to my word from May’s report, I didn’t let myself go back to her until Clyde was out of my hands.

So Clyde’s with beta readers (hi, Ben, Liesl, and Myrna!), and Bonnie’s coming along. And my streak of firsts continues. This is the first time I’ve ever worked on two projects simultaneously, and it’s also the first time I’ve ever bounced around while writing a first draft. I tend to write very linearly, from page one to page whatever, without skipping a single scene, but I’m not doing that with Bonnie. In fact, I’ve given up on numbering the chapters altogether, since I can’t tell right now exactly where they’re going to fall.

I suppose it makes at least a little bit of sense, since Bonnie isn’t a linear story, anyway. I’m telling the front story going forward and the back story going backward from two similar events, interweaving related scenes as I go along. But therein lies the problem. Right now, all of the ideas my subconscious is spinning out are related to the front story, so I’m running with those. Surprisingly, this jumping-around isn’t driving me crazy. I’m (mostly) going with the flow and letting things happen as they will--which, if you know anything about me, runs directly counter to my usual MO:)

I don’t know how long this carefree productivity will last, but I’m definitely enjoying it while it’s here. If this keeps up, I may have to move the family to Hawaii so my location will match my mood…

What about you? How are your projects coming along, and how do you feel about them at the moment?