Michelle Hauck's Blog, page 46

The Evolution of a Super Heroine from Colleen Halverson

When I started Through the Veil, I knew my heroine Elizabeth would have super powers, but I wasn’t sure what form they would possess. As a perpetual outsider her powers needed to resemble the kind of boundary pushing that she enacts within her own character arc. I think this is the first step in creating super powers. Abilities are often a reflection of a character’s inner strengths and values, and they are also a reflection of their personal struggles. At one point in Through the Veil, a powerful character reminds Elizabeth that she should “know her place” and “stay where she belongs.” She responds, “I was raised in the military…I never belonged anywhere.” This sense of “not belonging” is a blessing and weakness. It’s a blessing because it allows this character to move in and out of spaces with ease, both in the literal and magical sense. It’s a curse because, of course, one can get lost in that sort of power.
Hiro Nakamura from the since-canceled NBC show Heroes is a great example of losing one’s way upon the path, and his journey really inspired me as a writer. I wish they would have given Hiro his own show! I found the story of a cubicle drone dying to break free from the monotony of his corporate existence so compelling. Before Hiro’s powers manifested, though, we already saw him as someone who had the ability to enter a magical fantasy world through comic books. While he may have played the subservient pencil pusher, in his mind, he was free. His powers reflected his innate ability of being able to imagine limitless possibilities, and it’s no wonder that his power to manipulate space and time became his signature.
Yet, there is one incredible moment in the show where we see Hiro, after trying relentlessly to manipulate the past to create a more positive outcome, standing in a warehouse, literally lost in his own fruitless decisions. Strings crisscross around him, representations of his futile attempts to trace past events in order to change the present he somehow created. Hiro’s journey reveals to us how our greatest desires can control us in subconscious ways and how our strengths can easily become our weaknesses.
Another key influence of Elizabeth’s powers derives from Irish poetry and music. Elizabeth is an aisling (pronounced ASH-ling), which in Irish means “dream” or “vision.” The source of her abilities comes from eighteenth-century Irish Aisling poems. These poems are often written from the perspective of a man, who, while walking the fields of Ireland, has a vision of a beautiful, supernatural woman.  This woman inspires the man to rebel against foreign invaders before fading back into the mysterious world from which she came. Irish music is also filled with these sort of spectral visitors.
The song “Spancil Hill” features a person who flies across the Atlantic Ocean to reunite with his companions during an annual fair. One of my favorite traditional songs is “She Moved Through the Fair,” which focuses on a similar ghost-like wanderer. Because of oppressive property laws in Ireland, many young people could not afford to marry, so they either emigrated or lived lives of lonely despair. This song describes the incredible ache of a young man who longs to be reunited with his true love. At the end of the song, he says,
Last night she came to me
My young love came in
So softly she entered
That her feet made no dinAnd she came close beside me
And this she did say
It will not be long love
Till our wedding day
Even more contemporary examples of Irish music reveal similar themes, such as the lyrics in living-legend Tommy Sands’ song “County Down.” In this song, the singer imagines traveling along the wind from Ireland to London to call his child back home. He cries, “Can you hear me? Oh, can you hear me? As you walk through lonely London town…” It’s the otherworldly quality of these songs I wanted to insert into my heroine. While spectral visions and traveling on the astral plane aren’t necessarily particularly “Irish” phenomenon, these songs and poems served as a great source of inspiration for crafting my modern-day heroine. Irish mythology and folklore, and indeed any oral tradition, are rich with individuals who possess an ability to break through the boundaries oppressing them.
I think, in part, our current cultural obsession for superheroes and superpowers derives from a deep, human desire to retell these ancient stories. Think of Thor of the Avengers, for example, as a retelling of some of the core stories of Norse mythology. And really, aren’t a lot of super heroes and heroines not just modern day versions of Hercules, Athena, Achilles? And just like Achilles, their stories have lessons to tell us about our strengths, but also our weaknesses. Creating a superhero or superheroine, to me, is not just a random exercise, but something that has to reflect a character’s core being. Flashy powers might draw us in as readers, but in order for us to stick around, these abilities have to reflect a deeper inner conflict.



Through the Veil Blurb:
Elizabeth Tanner is no Tinkerbell, and her life is no fairy tale. Broke and drowning in student loans, the one thing she wants more than anything is a scholarship from the Trinity Foundation. But after the ancient Irish text she’s studying turns out to be more than just a book, she becomes their prisoner instead. And when Trinity reveals Elizabeth is half-Fae, she finds herself at the center of a plot to save the magical races of Ireland from a brutal civil war.

As Commander of Trinity’s elite warriors, Finn O’Connell isn’t used to having his authority challenged. He doesn’t know whether to punish or protect the infuriating young woman in his custody. When he discovers the Dark Fae want to use Elizabeth’s abilities to control the source of all power in the universe, he’ll risk everything to help her.

At the mercy of Trinity and enslaved to the Dark Fae, Elizabeth finds herself alone on the wrong side of an Irish myth thousands of years in the making. Refusing to be a pawn in their game, Elizabeth has to fight her way back to the man she loves, but to do so, she must wage her own war against the magic that binds her.

Available for pre-order now at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Amazon UK, and Amazon Canada.



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As a child, Colleen Halverson used to play in the woods imagining worlds and telling stories to herself. Growing up on military bases, she found solace in her local library and later decided to make a living sharing the wonders of literature to poor, unsuspecting college freshmen. After backpacking through Ireland and singing in a traditional Irish music band, she earned a PhD in English with a specialization in Irish literature. When she’s not making up stories or teaching, she can be found hiking the rolling hills of the Driftless area of Wisconsin with her husband and two children.

Connect with Colleen at www.colleenhalverson.com, on facebook, twitter, and Goodreads! 

Getting the Call with Erin Beaty

Sometimes it can happen so fast and sometimes it takes months or years. Every journey is unique. Enjoy this new Call story from Erin Beaty. 



I’d always considered myself an engineer, not a writer, though I admit being aware my writing was above average- especially in my major. As a voracious reader and an introvert, I had stories I liked to play in my head during family road trips (back when all we had were walkmans) or later on the long, dark watch shifts on a navy ship. As a stay-at-home mom, I had a blog, which I used to remember the goofy things the kids did and keep the grandparents informed. But I never took it seriously or promoted it.
I toyed with the idea of writing down one of my stories, but it wasn’t until April 2014 that inspiration hit me so hard I thought, yeah, I’m gonna do this. Six weeks later I had the first draft of a novel, and I came out of the closet to my friends and family as a writer. As with most of these kinds of admissions, no one was really surprised.
I set the book aside for a few weeks and did tons of research on how to get published. I found critique partners and revised. By that October, I thought I was ready.
Everyone queries too early. Everyone.

I shudder to remember my first queries, but I did get one partial request (passed a week later) and then a full request with the warning it would be a few months before the agent would have time to read it. I entered drawings for query critiques (soooo helpful), PitchMAS, and contests like Sun vs Snow (didn’t get into a single one). I attended a writers’ conference and made connections. I critiqued other people’s stories, which was one of the best things for finding problems in my own writing. Around February I came to the conclusion that my baby needed some serious work.I withdrew from the world and rewrote over half my scenes, slashed 12k words, and added 8k new ones. After a month of intensive revisions, I sent my manuscript to some fresh betas, and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Just as I was almost done polishing, I heard from the agent who requested in November. She was ready to start reading soon, and since it had been so long, she wanted to make sure it was a) still available and b) the latest revision. Figuring she would reject the old version anyway, I felt I had nothing to lose by promising a new one within 2 weeks, and she said she’d wait.

Almost one year exactly after I started writing, I sent out a round of queries and 2 full replies (one to said agent, plus a request from February). Almost immediately I got another full request. Cue booty shaking.
But the literary world is a cruel one, and a week later rejections started rolling in, including on the new full. Fewer were form rejections though, and that was a good sign. I girded my loins and sent out another round, then that evening I got a quick note from that one agent (from the very beginning) saying she was starting in the next couple days so I would hear from her soon.

Several days later I'm headed to lunch with friends. I'd sent out another batch of queries that morning and was a bundle of nerves. My phone buzzed with an email, and I pulled it out to look. Groupon.

I dismissed the notification, thinking that someday, someday it would be an email from an agent saying "I want to talk." It would happen when I was least expecting it, but it would happen. I put the phone down and sighed. Someday.

My phone buzzed with a new email. I swear this is true.

It was from the agent who’d requested in November. I could read the first lines: Dear Erin, You kept me up all night reading, I'm very upset with you. Now I have to go back and read the story again...

I slammed the phone back down on my lap, like when I was 13 and called the radio station to win Paula Abdul tickets, and they answered with "You're caller number nine!" and I panicked and hung up.

I stared out the windshield for a minute (I will always remember where we were on the highway). Finally I mumbled to my husband, "I just got an email from an agent."

"Really, what did it say?"

"It says..." I picked up the phone and opened the message. It was short and sweet. "She wants to talk."

I don't remember setting up the call. I don't remember writing pages of questions to ask. But I must have done both of those things because less than a week later I was on google chat with a printout in front of me and a deer in the headlights look on my face. Don't let her know you're crazy.

She put me right at ease. She said the nicest things about my story. She wanted to know if I had sequel plans- and she loved them. She suggested a revision point in the plot, which I liked, but she offered rep without it. I asked for 2 weeks. Then it was over.
It took me another day to be able to start emailing all the agents who still had my query. Manuscript requests and very nice step-asides poured in. It was the end of the school year, and my family was in the middle of moving, meaning I couldn’t take calls most days, so I extended the timeline a little. Patient agent was patient. Then I waited another day because writing two rejection letters was freaking hard. That and I was driving a carload of kids and cats across the country.
I went with the first agent, the patient one- Valerie Noble. She still has to be patient with me, because I never send a revision but 2 days later I’m emailing with “Wait! I have to fix…”
Even months later, I’m still in a daze because, really, it happened so fast. Getting an agent is only the beginning, I know. But the journey doesn’t feel lonely anymore.
As a postscript to this story: When Valerie’s full request came in, I was in the guest bedroom of my in-laws’ house for Thanksgiving, reading email on my phone. Less than 14 months later, I was at my in-laws’ for a wedding - in the same room, chilling on the same bed, when Valerie called my cell-phone.
I had an offer.
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Erin Beaty was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, which means she can't drive a tractor, but she won't eat veggies that come from a can. She graduated from the US Naval Academy with a degree in rocket science and somehow always ended up writing her study groups’ lab reports. After serving in the fleet as a weapons officer and a leadership instructor, she resigned to pursue her side hobby of populating the Church of Rome. It still amazes her when other people want to hear the stories that come out of her head.

She and her husband have five children, two cats, and a vegetable garden and live wherever the navy tells them to go.
Twitter: @ErinBeatyWritesWebsite: http://erinbeaty.blogspot.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErinBeatyAuthor/

Query Questions with Tricia Skinner

Writers have copious amounts of imagination. It's what makes their stories so fantastic. But there's a darker side to so much out of the box thinking. When a writer is in the query trenches, their worries go into overdrive. They start pulling out their hair and imagine every possible disaster.

 

Here to relieve some of that endless worrying is a new series of posts called Query Questions. I'll ask the questions which prey on every writer's mind, and hopefully take some of the pain out of querying. These are questions that I've seen tossed around on twitter and writing sites like Agent Query Connect. They are the type of questions that you need answers for the real expert--agents!

If you have your own specific query question, please leave it in the comments and it might show up in future editions of Query Questions as I plan to rotate the questions.
What better way to start the blog up again after an amazing contest than with an agent interview! Tricia Skinner is here from Fuse Literary to share her query process.

Is there a better or worse time of year to query?

​It's best to visit the agency website or the social media for the agent you are targeting. Those places will usually state when they are open or closed for new submissions. Agencies take breaks around the holidays so everyone can enjoy family time or catch up on their manuscript reading. Queries that come in when an agency stated it was closed risk never reaching the agent. ​

Does one typo or misplaced comma shoot down the entire query?

​I'm not that hardcore! If there's one minor mistake I ignore it. The same goes for the manuscript. Yes, I want to see it polished, but I know one or two minor mistakes can slip past the author. The flip side, though, is a query or manuscript riddled with grammar and punctuation issues. That gives the wrong impression. It tells me the author doesn't care, which is not the kind of author I want to team with.​

Do you look at sample pages without fail or only if the query is strong?

​I always read the sample pages if the query has a good hook. I've read queries that weren't the best, but the sample pages proved the author had potential. Keeping me hooked with the pages is the real challenge. ​

If the manuscript has a prologue, do you want it included with the sample pages?

​No. Even in my personal reading, I don't read prologues. The rarest time this might be different is if the world is known to me and the prologue helps place the story in that updated world. So, if I've been reading a series and a new book uses a prologue to explain a timeline jump or something like that, I'll check it out. But in a raw pitch of a manuscript I know nothing about? No. The sample pages should be strong enough to hook me without it.​

Some agencies mention querying only one agent at a time and some say query only one agent period. How often do you pass a query along to a fellow agent who might be more interested?

​At Fuse Literary, we regularly communicate with each other. So, if we've met someone at a conference but that person doesn't write a genre we cover, we'll suggest they contact someone else on the team. We normally don't forward queries around as each of us have a ton already. It's just best to query the correct agent rather than rely on one of us to send a pitch to someone else on the team.​

Do you prefer a little personalized chit-chat in a query letter, or would you rather hear about the manuscript?

​The manuscript is everything. I've had queries go on and on with the "chit chat" and forget to say much about the manuscript. Those usually are instant rejections.​

Most agents have said they don’t care whether the word count/genre sentence comes first or last. But is it a red flag if one component is not included?

​Yes! The genre info and word count tell me if the author understands the market. If I received a YA romance pitch that's 150,000 words, I'd reject it. ​That's not what an editor would expect from that genre. Researching genres is the job of every author.  

Many agents say they don't care if writers are active online. Could a twitter account or blog presence by a writer tip the scales in getting a request or offer? And do you require writers you sign to start one?

​I absolutely prefer to find writers with a social media presence. After reading a query I like, I will visit the website of the author and look at all their social media. I get a feel for how well they understand author branding. I also will notice any red flags that may make them a bad match for me. I really believe an unpublished writer should at least have a website to provide basic information (bio, current project/WIP), etc. They don't need a lot right away, but I like seeing they're ready to handle the branding part of their career.​

Some writers have asked about including links to their blogs or manuscript-related artwork. I’m sure it’s not appropriate to add those links in a query, but are links in an email signature offensive?

​Honestly, a link to their website is the best. On the website should be links to the other social media outlets, such as Twitter or GoodReads. One or two links isn't offensive.  ​

If a writer makes changes to their manuscript due to feedback should they resend the query or only if material was requested?

​Tough one. When you send a manuscript, you're saying you've polished it and it's ready to be read. I may begin reading a manuscript but stop for a short bit because of another pressing matter. I'll pick it up again and finish so I can make a decision on it. If I were to get a revised version sent, I'd likely ignore it because I expected what I had was ready to go. Time is tight for agents. The only advice here is limit how many agents you send the work to. If you end up massively revising it, you'll only have sent the original to a small number of people.​

 What bio should an author with no publishing credits include?

​Anything pertinent to the manuscript. For example, if the book is about an anthropologist who tries to stop a crime lord from selling artifacts, I'd love knowing the author has a degree in anthropology or was in law enforcement. Education or careers that would add to the creation of the book. Hobbies that directly connect to the book, like being a candy maker and writing a cozy mystery, would also be fun to note.​

What does ‘just not right mean for me’ mean to you?

​I want the manuscript to create a reaction in me. Since I'm focused on romance, I'd actually expect to fall in love with the characters and what happens to them. There have been manuscripts I requested that grabbed with with the sample pages, but the rest for the book fell apart. The reader promise I expected never happened. That doesn't mean the manuscript is awful. It means what I expected didn't happen or didn't work.​

Do you consider yourself a hands-on, editorial type of agent?

​Yes. I'll do everything I can to give my clients the best chance at landing a book deal. I've already chosen my client because I love their work so my main goal is to offer suggestions that will make the manuscript stronger. 
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Tri­cia Skin­ner is an Assistant Agent working with Laurie McLean. Raised in Detroit, Tricia obtained her undergraduate degree from the nationally acclaimed Journalism Institute for Media Diversity at Wayne State University. She earned her graduate degree from Southern Methodist University.Professionally, she began her writing career as a newspaper reporter and wrote for The Detroit News, Investor’s Business Daily, MSN, and The Houston Chronicle. She’s covered small & minority business, personal finance, and technology.Tricia has 20 years of experience working with the video game industry in various roles, including public relations, industry relations, and writing/editing. She is also a hybrid author of passionate urban fantasy (represented by Fuse co-founder Laurie McLean).Diversity in genre fiction is dear to Tricia’s heart.  As an agent, Tricia wants to represent authors who reflect diversity and cultures in their work. The real world is not one nationality, ethnic group, or sexual orientation. She’s looking for talented writers who deeply understand that as well.On the personal side, Tricia has a Tom Hiddleston obsession and she is definitely Team Vader. Her fam­ily includes three Great Danes (so far).Laurie McLean and Tricia are working together on clients. Currently, they are interested in Romance in the following subgenres and specialties: science fiction, futuristic, fantasy, suspense, military/special ops, paranormal, and medieval historical. Multicultural settings/topics and diverse characters strongly encouraged. Until further notice, they are only soliciting new romance clients for their team. For all other genres, Laurie and Tricia are closed to new submissions unless met at conferences or online events.

Fresh Giveaway for Grudging!

Haven't got your copy of Grudging yet? Now you can win one of five signed copies!


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Goodreads Book Giveaway


Grudging
by Michelle Hauck

Giveaway ends March 20, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Sun versus Snow Agent Round 2016

Our agents will soon be busy making their selections from the thirty-two entries! Please head over to Amy’s blog at Chasing The Crazies to find out how Team Sun is doing. And scroll down to find Team Snow!

Remember again that contests are subjective. What tickles one person’s fancy, may do nothing for another. No matter what, keep querying!


Before Team Snow covers Team Sun like a big, white, fluffy blanket, here are some guidelines!

There is no commenting in this round, except for agents. Sorry, but no cheerleading as this may lead to an unconscious bias.

But we are happy to see and retweet your thoughts and cheers over on twitter under the #sunvssnow tag! That’s the place to hang out and have fun!

I’d better be seeing my Team Snow members there. Get out your pompoms! This Frosty team is going to stick together and celebrate with each other! Ain’t no melting this blizzard of a celebration!

Also Amy and I will be tweeting when an agent makes an appearance! For the fastest notice, keep an eye on twitter—or both eyes.

Agents will consider entries at both the blogs, regardless of whether they are Sun or Snow fans. Only the phrasing of the agent’s request will let you know whether they’re on the side of SNOW (YAY!) or SUN (huh?).

Amy and I are hoping the agents go crazy with the requests! There is amazing talent here on both teams!

Good luck to all! Get your boots and hats and scarfs tightened! It's going to be an avalanche of fun!

Team Snow 1: HERE AND OPEN, Women's Fiction

Title: HERE AND OPENGenre: Adult/Women’s FictionWord Count: 83,000
My Main Character would use sun or snow to battle their biggest obstacle: 
Ashley’s biggest obstacle is her own inability to pass the ball. At home as a soccer mom, and at work as FBI analyst, she’s trying to do it all herself. It’s the wisdom of her son’s U9 soccer coach that helps her learn about teamwork. While some people may feel soccer is better played in the sun, Ashley’s in western Pennsylvania. Six of the ten soccer-playing months involve indoor soccer at an arena with a bar attached. She’s on Team Snow.
Query:

Ashley Cavanaugh’s life has gone from comedy to catastrophe. Sure, she has the FBI job, hot-as-hell husband, three children, a Labradoodle, and the soccer mom magnet on the back of her minivan. Just what she wanted. Except it’s all falling down faster than the London bridge of her two-year-old’s favorite nursery rhyme. She screwed up at work and an informant is dead. She’s been reassigned to the crazy letter files. Her husband is having an affair with his smartphone, and is more interested in U9 soccer scores than her. Her six-year-old, T.J., has waged war on the neighbors and they’re retaliating. In the midst of it all, T.J. drops a bomb. He thinks he was a terrorist in his last life and has inside knowledge of a plot ten years in the making. He needs her help to foil it.
Desperate to connect with her troubled son, she borrows the half-time wisdom of her eight-year-old’s soccer coach: show support. Easier said than done. T.J. prefers his past life parents, who never argued, and takes advice from a friend who may exist only in his mind. When a letter at work makes similar claims, Ashley starts to believe, much to the frustration of both her husband and her boss. With an unlikely ally in the neighbor who hates them, Ashley risks her marriage and her career to get to the root of her son’s behavior, and possibly stop terrorists in a Spy meets Home Alone conclusion.
First 250:
Facing imminent death, I think of underwear. My six-year-old dropped worn boxers on the kitchen floor this morning. My business casual pants conceal my own tattered pair. It’s supposed to be poignant memories flashing before my eyes. It’s not. My mind sticks on the current state of my life: disaster and chaos hidden behind the brick façade of my cookie-cutter suburban home. If I die today, family and friends will show up to pay respects. They’ll see my dirty laundry—literally and figuratively.
That can’t happen.
My survival instinct triggered, I face my foes. Training prepared me once, but years without application made the techniques foreign. I quell my anxiety with a deep breath and assess the situation. Two guns. One in front of me. One beside me.
“I’m worth more to you alive,” I say. It’s a tired line. The man beside me laughs.
“Is that the best you can do?”
“It’s hard to think with all these guns in my face.”
He sweeps his eyes up and down my body. “What can you offer me?”
I’m no Bond girl. I shouldn’t even be in the field. I should be at a desk, shoving potato chips into my mouth, scouring the Internet and sifting through nonsensical emails for information to summarize and hand off in the assembly line of national security. I’m here because I don’t have the balls to tell others to do their jobs. When protocol doesn’t work, I just do it. Like a chimp trained by Nike.

Team Snow 2: SPY ACT, Adult Thriller

Title: SPY ACTGenre: Adult Espionage ThrillerWord Count: 93,000


Nathalie Qadir would use the sun to battle her biggest obstacle: 
Though I grew up in London, my Palestinian blood revels in the baking Levant, where my native Arabic rolls across the sun-whipped wind. I need no air-con to maintain my cool while facing the jihadist menace of the exorbitantly well-funded New Caliphate. My searing desire to stop their western-born suicidals is more than a match for their ill-defined, false Islam. I escape across sandy Syria, using desert dust storms, bombed-out highways and the mirage effect to throw them off my scent. They gasp for air, beg for water, and covet shade; weakened by the sun, they cannot catch me.  Query:
Nathalie Qadir, stage actor and part time hair shop owner, finds herself interrogated by British intelligence about London's most recent and deadly terrorist bombing. Nathalie had befriended three neighborhood blokes, not knowing they'd been radicalized by terrorist ideologue Abn al Sadr. Eventually, Nathalie's name is cleared, but MI6 can't help noticing her gifts. She's fluent in Arabic, and a master of disguise, accents and improvisation from her years on the English stage. She's on her own, what with her family gone - an important trait for intel recruits. And she's dead keen to stop the jihadi financier behind the attack. Reluctantly, she lets the MI6 recruiters convince her: Nathalie is simply perfect for the job.
MI6 sends Nathalie from Jordan to Tajikistan and from New Jersey to the broken terrain of Syria, to stop Sadr’s oil-fueled New Caliphate and his fighters with Western passports. SPY ACT flashes back to Nathalie's past as a potential terrorist suspect and forward to her top secret missions in the present day. One point in her favor is a colleague undercover in Sadr’s organization, the Spaniard she calls El Moro – whom Nathalie rather fancies. She’ll gladly take his help to identify an MI6 mole, survive the Iraqi badlands, and take Sadr out. At the same time she’s got to figure out how much of MI6’s own brand of evil she can continue to stomach – or if it’s time to get out.

Spy Act will appeal to those who like Dame Stella Rimington’s Liz Carlyle series; the first-person suspense of Erica Wright’s Kathleen Stone; and the political critiques of spycraft in Graham Greene. 

First 250 words:
Ash Shamilyah region, northern Sudan. 2008.

The prison guard outweighed me by twenty kilos, but I’d gotten in one good kick to the groin. Of course, I wasn’t any match for him once he recovered. My long abaya and fake pregnancy stomach limited my range. His extra weight came back at me like an anvil with arms. He swung me through the cell door and slammed it shut before I’d finished skidding across the gritty floor. My head came to rest against a chamber pot that teetered and sloshed with a stench like a drunk’s vomit. Through the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut, I saw I wasn’t alone. It was a man. Too much to hope that they’d have single-sex cells, I suppose.

It is at moments like these that I think most about my mother.

I’m so much like her – stubborn to the point of stupidity, for starters. But the way I chose to live out my life, well, it couldn’t be any more different from hers if I were a trapeze artist for the Cirque du Soleil.
Abdul, as I named the guy across the cell, shifted as if to stand. From my position of weakness there by the chamber pot, I knew I had to make a show of strength, and quickly. No one in the Sudan would believe a woman in prison, unveiled, was not a prostitute – or at least promiscuous. The lack of a headscarf, covering all but my heart-shaped face, would be considered an invitation to sex around here.

Team Snow 3: IF YOU'RE EVER IN TOWN, NA Contemporary Romance

Title:  IF YOU'RE EVER IN TOWNGenre:  New Adult Contemporary RomanceWord Count:  82,000
Would my main character use sun or snow to battle their biggest obstacle:

I think Nate and Charlie would both use SNOW to battle their biggest obstacles.  For them, they're both guilty of not dealing with their troubles head on.  They'd rather cover them up and pretend that all is fine on the outside when it's really a disaster underneath.  Just like the first snow of the season where it's pretty, and fluffy and perfect. But under it is black ice, brown grass and ugliness. But eventually snow melts, and you're still left with the mess that you eventually need to address.

QUERY:
Charlotte “Charlie” Conti has at least one thing going for her: her successful YouTube channel Savannah Shabby is being considered for a possible DIY TV show.  After mourning her sister Gwen's death, she deals with the turmoil by jumping head first into creating new video content to impress the network executives.  That is until she learns Gwen is dropping the ultimate challenge:  travel to Scotland with him to spread her ashes.  The same him Charlie dumped three years ago.
Nate Walsh’s luck has just run out.  He was on the verge of completing his thesis when he learned his funding has been cut, putting the chance of a prestigious fellowship on hold.  And traveling to Scotland with his ex-girlfriend, Charlie--the same girl he can't seem to get over--isn't making this trip any easier.  In instructions Gwen's left behind for Nate, she predicts Charlie will find a way out of this trip.  But if he can get her to come along, Gwen will donate her $25,000 life insurance policy to his research grant.
Forced to reconnect and spend more time together, they fall into a familiar routine, eventually discovering the love they had for each other is stronger than ever.  But as they inch closer to their dream careers, Gwen's scheming ways churn up fears of repeating disastrous past mistakes that drove them apart the first time.  Nate and Charlie must decide if they want fear or love to win out, and are they ready to live with that choice forever.

First 250 Words:
If it’s possible for a tray of pastries to blackmail me, I might need to file a restraining order against The Steamy Bean’s cinnamon chip scones.
My stomach twists onto itself, reminding me that eating one of those buttery, rich bad-boys minutes before my Skype interview is a really bad idea.  Call me crazy but I need it to stay in my stomach, not make a reappearance.
Heading back to my small corner table, my stomach settles when I catch a glimpse of the funky marquee letters attached to the wall behind the barista’s coffee station.
Forget being blackmailed by pastry. I’m being seduced by art.
I’ve seen my fair share of up-cycled junk, but never old road signs turned into something so cool.  The colorful Christmas bulbs are a neat touch, much different than your usual white lights. Whatever the price tag, I can do it for less.  All I need is a vice.  A hammer.  Some tin snips.  Maybe a few old hinges to be able to hang it.  Easy.
This is how my mind works.  It's a gift really.  And what do I have to lose if one of my DIY projects doesn't turn out?  It's not like the 6.5 million subscribers on my YouTube channel are going to stop watching my videos.  That's why they watch.  They appreciate when I own up to my mistakes, like when I cut something too short or pick the wrong paint color.  Knowing I'm just like them keeps them coming back week after week.

Team Snow 4: DOWN AND ACROSS, YA Contemporary

Title: DOWN AND ACROSSGenre: YA ContemporaryWord Count: 58,000
My Main Character would use sun or snow to battle their biggest obstacle:
Scott Ferdowsi would be jealous of the solar system. Planets orbit the sun; they know exactly where they belong in the greater universe. Scott does not have that luxury. He feels passionless and unsure about his future—which doesn’t sit well with his demanding father. So he runs away. In DOWN AND ACROSS, Scott embarks on a journey to find the center of his universe. What he wants more than anything is the fiery passion of the sun. He's looking for heat—the potential energy burning somewhere inside him.Query:
Dear Agent,
Sixteen-year-old Scott Ferdowsi has strict Iranian parents and a track record of quitting. Piano lessons? Nine years. The Great American Novel? Two chapters. Remembering to floss? It’s an on-and-off relationship. With college apps looming, his dad insists that he should just pursue a “practical” career like engineering or medicine. But Scott can hardly commit to his summer job, let alone a 30-year plan. The last thing he wants is to set his life on the wrong course.
When his parents take a trip to Iran, Scott sees his chance. He runs away to Washington, DC to meet Cecily Mallard—a famous professor who specializes in grit, the psychology of success. Scott seeks answers from Professor Mallard that will help him find meaning in his life and plan his future. 
He never expects to make friends on the Greyhound bus to DC. He never expects an adventure. But that’s what Scott gets for sitting next to Fiora Buchanan, a ballsy and carefree college girl who writes crossword puzzles. When the bicycle she lends him gets Scott into a high-speed chase, he knows he’s in for the ride of his life. In the weeks that follow, Scott sneaks into bars, attempts to meet girls at the National Zoo, and even gives the crossword thing a try—all while racing to decide his future career before his parents decide it for him.
First 250 words: 
Eight mornings before running away, I found myself at McDonalds, wondering about the direction of my life. It was one of those moments that should have felt important. I should’ve said to myself: Hey Self! You’re having a Pivotal Moment in a Meaningful Place. On a scale of 1 to serious, I should have rated this occasion at least a 9. But I didn’t. My Serious Scale didn’t even register. Not a single brain cell inside my head cared to define that morning in the grand scheme of things. Or in any scheme of things, really.
That morning I wondered about dirty tables. The one in front of me had almost certainly just been wiped down, still freshly wet and slippery. I imagined the motions the McDonald’s employee made cleaning that surface: up, down, up, down. Left to right. Loop-de-flippin’-loop, like a drunk man on a Zamboni joyride. Still, the table reeked, and I knew they “cleaned” it with a dirty rag. This conundrum hijacked my focus. On one hand, sure, it was better for the environment to use a rag to clean hard surfaces. But then, wasn’t the rag transferring gunk from one surface to another?
“Pay attention,” he snapped. “I’m trying to understand what you want.”
Right. My dad. He clenched his hands tight, the skin bunching up around his knuckles. I felt guilty. Not for anything I had actually done, but for what I wasn’t doing.

Team Snow 5: THE FIRST IDOL, YA Fantasy

Title: THE FIRST IDOLGenre: YA fantasyWord Count: 77,000 words
My Main Character would use sun or snow to battle their biggest obstacle:
Amateur alchemist Johnny Trekken already harnessed the power of the sun—once, by accident—and three of His Majesty’s Royal Navy airships were bludgeoned by an enormous sword made of fire that sank them into the hungry sea. Johnny knows that those sun-driven flames still reside within his pocket watch alchemy weapon. But until he masters the watch, he can only hope it will be the sun’s power that answers when he again calls it to his defense.
Query:
Dear Agents of the Glorious Sun and the Driven Snow,
Sixteen year-old Johnny Trekken is not an alchemist. It shouldn’t matter that his great-great-grandfather’s pocket watch is the dormant First Idol, once the most legendary alchemy weapon in existence. But when he pushes the watch’s trigger and it activates for the first time in over one hundred years, he draws unwanted attention, including that of the terrifying Crimson Duchess and her power-hungry Capital benefactors. They’ll have the reinvigorated First Idol for themselves or they’ll happily take Johnny’s head!
Unable to evade his pursuers in the New World even with the help of airship pirates, Johnny is forced to rely on the First Idol to save him. But the watch is dangerous, likely to wreak wild devastation—columns of fire, tidal waves, tumultuous gravitational shifts—if used incorrectly. Luckily, Johnny has help from beyond the grave: a journal of his great-great-grandfather’s travels that may help him to understand the watch’s creation in the hopes of mastering its power. Only then, Johnny thinks, can he become a true alchemist capable of protecting both himself and Izel, the enchanting girl with whom he’s falling in love.
But the First Idol has a horrible secret. The watch is powered by gods bound to the clockwork, and Johnny soon learns that their aid comes at a high price.
In THE FIRST IDOL, globetrotting adventures reminiscent of INDIANA JONES meet the explosive magical style of Sherry Thomas’s THE BURNING SKY. Johnny battles kings, armies, and alchemists to retrace his great-great-grandfather’s journey that brought alchemy into everyday life, but may ultimately be responsible for ending it.
First 250 words:
In the center of Trekken Square—in a city known widely as the Capital of the World, but much more commonly as just the Capital—sat a simple stone obelisk, rectangular with a brass plaque atop. A woman’s fingers grazed the imprinted memorial, clearing the dust from the often neglected pillar. She smeared her dirtied hand across the front of her already filthy dress.
“In memory of Jonathan ‘The Trigger’ Trekken, Father of Invention and Progenitor of the Age of Wonders,” the woman, Catherine, read aloud. Her accent was heavy, her words as muddied as her appearance. After reflecting on the monument, she chuckled and turned to her companions. “A bit much, isn’t it?”
The sky above the Capital rolled with lazy, dark tones of gray. A storm approached with some severity, still a safe distance but swallowing more of the dusk light as each second passed. Beacons of lightning flashed and reflected off windows. The weather promised to be daunting, and most of the seafaring folk in the Seat’s kingdom moored their vessels rather than risk economic ruin.
But it was the perfect weather for the more duplicitous in nature.
Reaching past Catherine, a man with tanned leather skin hung a simple pocket watch on a chain from a nail driven into the body of the obelisk. There were already several other watches swinging peacefully there, symbolic tributes of John Trekken’ s idol—the First Idol. The man swatted his hand across them, admiring their simplicity as he recalled the legends of the watch’s incredible power.