Michelle Hauck's Blog, page 54
October 31, 2015
GRUDGING Hits the Lists at Goodreads
Sometimes you feel like you're a small book in a huge world. A writer is supposed to ooze confidence and charisma when talking about their creation. I'm just here to say that it can be hard. Not that I don't believe in my story. It wouldn't have gotten picked up by a publisher like Harper Voyager or such a great editor if it wasn't something special! But that I don't love talking about myself.
It ain't easy doing this promotion thing.
I think that's why the post tend to come out on Saturday when fewer people are around. ;-) But today something fun!
So I'm asking friends and fans to consider helping me out once again. GRUDGING was sweetly added to a some lists on Goodreads. That's an exciting prospect in itself!
If you're a Goodreads fan, perhaps you'd stop by a list or two and give GRUDGING a vote. I think they are impressive lists. It's crazy to be on them.
Can't Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2015
New Series (2015)
YA Epic Fantasy 2015
Non-Caucasian Protagonists in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Paranormal Romance
Most Anticipated Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Novels of 2015
Best Picks: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror 2015
Thanks to anyone that takes the time to do this. Less than two weeks until release day!
It ain't easy doing this promotion thing.
I think that's why the post tend to come out on Saturday when fewer people are around. ;-) But today something fun!
So I'm asking friends and fans to consider helping me out once again. GRUDGING was sweetly added to a some lists on Goodreads. That's an exciting prospect in itself!
If you're a Goodreads fan, perhaps you'd stop by a list or two and give GRUDGING a vote. I think they are impressive lists. It's crazy to be on them.
Can't Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2015
New Series (2015)
YA Epic Fantasy 2015
Non-Caucasian Protagonists in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Paranormal Romance
Most Anticipated Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Novels of 2015
Best Picks: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror 2015
Thanks to anyone that takes the time to do this. Less than two weeks until release day!
October 28, 2015
Nightmare on Query Street Agent Round 2015
Time for the shivers, shrieks and screams to begin!
Following this post, are the twenty Minions.
Agents, you can head over to Mike's blogs as well to make more requests. (But don't worry, Minions will take no prisoners!)
No commenting, cheerleading, etc. Only agents will be able to comment.
But cheer over on twitter. We're going to be under the hashtag #NoQS, shouting out agent appearances. So vent, be nervous, cheer each other on, and hold hands over Twitter. One of the best parts of contests is seeing how the writer's community gathers and supports each other.
For the next two days, agents will have fun ways to request in the contest.
They can SCREAM for a full request.
They can SHRIEK for a 50 page request.
They can SHIVER for a 10 page request.
And agents can make as many requests as they want! So go wild! We have some awesome talent for you to read.
I want to say a quick thanks to the mentors who all did such a wonderful job helping with revisions.
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! Hope you all get a ton of frighteningly amazing requests!
And remember: Minions Rule!
NoQS Minion 7: MEGA GIRL, YA Cont. Fantasy
Title: MEGA GIRLGenre: Young Adult Contemporary FantasyWord Count: 68,000
Lauren needs her food. The more carbs, the better. It’s pretty much the best perk of being a superhero. Five helpings of dinner — and dessert — without busting the seams of her super suit. Unfortunately, her freakish metabolism doesn’t just burn through calories of a Gut Bombs D’Nuts daily special faster than a speeding bullet; it’s also burning its way through her dad’s wallet. When a local business makes her an endorsement offer, it seems like a great way to fund her Turbo Bar addiction. That is, until it throws her secret identity, and everyone she loves, into jeopardy.
Query:
Lauren (aka, Mega Girl) obeys two rules of superheroing. Rule #1: Retain secret identity so friends and family remain safe. Rule #2: Don’t let superhero life interfere with regular, 16-year-old life. Like, don’t decapitate the homeroom desk for the fifth time with sporadic super strength or flunk biology so craptastically you need a tutor. And if Lauren’s not careful, studying so close next to said tutor, Dane, with that alt-rock floppy hair and eclectic music tastes, could lead to breaking Rule #1.
After a few scuffles leave Mega-Girl-sized holes around the city, she makes headlines in all the wrong ways. A trending superhero-hating blog and grade-A-diva supervillain Malibu join forces on a Mega Girl man-hunt to deep-six Lauren’s cherished superhero career. When Malibu discovers her real name and threatens to shatter her loved ones beneath her stilettos, Lauren needs to choose whether Dane — and everyone else — knowing her secret is worth breaking all her rules of superheroing.
First 250 words:
Three crimson slashes carve their mark. My pulse echoes against my temples like they’re against throbbing speakers. I taste copper and swallow only to have it lodge in my throat until I gasp.
An F.
“Miss Chapman?”
“Huh?” I look up.
Standing in the aisle in front of me is Mr. Smiley. His eyes blink behind hockey-puck thick glasses. Stifled giggles flutter throughout the classroom.
“I asked if there was a problem.”
Every pair of eyes, including those of the plastic gutted frog on Smiley’s desk, is on me. I bunch my hoodie’s extra long sleeves around my fists and stare at the floor.
“No. It’s nothing.”
Mr. Smiley’s fingertips pale as he presses them on my desk. He leans closer so I have to smell his coffee breath.
“I’d like to see you after class,” he whispers.
I don’t look up. I nod, and stuff the biology quiz deep inside my torn canvas backpack. There. Now I can pretend it doesn’t exist, at least for the forty minutes I’m stuck in this musty lab classroom.
Mr. Smiley returns to his desk and checks his laptop. Next to me, Kendra Wooten flips her auburn hair, flashing a purple streak. “Who flunks biology?”
I sink lower in my seat and it trembles like it’s experiencing 5.4 on the Richter scale. Pull it together, Lauren. Bs, Cs or the rare D, sure, but never an F. Dad’s going to kill me.
Or worse, ground me from going on patrol tonight.
Lauren needs her food. The more carbs, the better. It’s pretty much the best perk of being a superhero. Five helpings of dinner — and dessert — without busting the seams of her super suit. Unfortunately, her freakish metabolism doesn’t just burn through calories of a Gut Bombs D’Nuts daily special faster than a speeding bullet; it’s also burning its way through her dad’s wallet. When a local business makes her an endorsement offer, it seems like a great way to fund her Turbo Bar addiction. That is, until it throws her secret identity, and everyone she loves, into jeopardy.
Query:
Lauren (aka, Mega Girl) obeys two rules of superheroing. Rule #1: Retain secret identity so friends and family remain safe. Rule #2: Don’t let superhero life interfere with regular, 16-year-old life. Like, don’t decapitate the homeroom desk for the fifth time with sporadic super strength or flunk biology so craptastically you need a tutor. And if Lauren’s not careful, studying so close next to said tutor, Dane, with that alt-rock floppy hair and eclectic music tastes, could lead to breaking Rule #1.
After a few scuffles leave Mega-Girl-sized holes around the city, she makes headlines in all the wrong ways. A trending superhero-hating blog and grade-A-diva supervillain Malibu join forces on a Mega Girl man-hunt to deep-six Lauren’s cherished superhero career. When Malibu discovers her real name and threatens to shatter her loved ones beneath her stilettos, Lauren needs to choose whether Dane — and everyone else — knowing her secret is worth breaking all her rules of superheroing.
First 250 words:
Three crimson slashes carve their mark. My pulse echoes against my temples like they’re against throbbing speakers. I taste copper and swallow only to have it lodge in my throat until I gasp.
An F.
“Miss Chapman?”
“Huh?” I look up.
Standing in the aisle in front of me is Mr. Smiley. His eyes blink behind hockey-puck thick glasses. Stifled giggles flutter throughout the classroom.
“I asked if there was a problem.”
Every pair of eyes, including those of the plastic gutted frog on Smiley’s desk, is on me. I bunch my hoodie’s extra long sleeves around my fists and stare at the floor.
“No. It’s nothing.”
Mr. Smiley’s fingertips pale as he presses them on my desk. He leans closer so I have to smell his coffee breath.
“I’d like to see you after class,” he whispers.
I don’t look up. I nod, and stuff the biology quiz deep inside my torn canvas backpack. There. Now I can pretend it doesn’t exist, at least for the forty minutes I’m stuck in this musty lab classroom.
Mr. Smiley returns to his desk and checks his laptop. Next to me, Kendra Wooten flips her auburn hair, flashing a purple streak. “Who flunks biology?”
I sink lower in my seat and it trembles like it’s experiencing 5.4 on the Richter scale. Pull it together, Lauren. Bs, Cs or the rare D, sure, but never an F. Dad’s going to kill me.
Or worse, ground me from going on patrol tonight.
NoQS Minion 6: MECHANIC, YA Fantasy
Title: MECHANIC
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Word Count: 83,000
My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
Kaelin’s most fearsome obsession is fixing the Beast, the biomechanical furnace that gives her village heat. She’s trying to become a mechanic her da would be proud of, but at seventeen she should rightly be in training. Still, whether it’s long nights spent pouring over her da’s notebooks or brutally hot hours working on the furnace’s molten core, Kaelin is determined to keep her village from freezing.
Query:
When seventeen-year-old Kaelin’s da dies, she takes his place as mechanic for the Beast, the biomechanical furnace that keeps the Ice from overrunning her village. Thanks to the dragon’s blood in her veins, she’s the only one who can endure the Beast’s infernally hot temperatures long enough to make repairs.
But the smoking hunk of junk is so old it barely has a pulse. The only way to get replacement parts is by trekking across the Ice, the same journey that killed her da. She can stay and battle the furnace for as long as she can or risk everything by leaving, but if she makes the wrong choice, they’ll all freeze.
Then she gets an offer, from a prince of all people. The furnaces of the capital city, which has been the enemy of the villages for generations, are shutting down. If she can fix them, the crown will reward her with the parts needed to give life back to the Beast. But as Kaelin starts repairing the furnaces, she discovers they aren’t malfunctioning: they’re being sabotaged. Unless she figures out who’s doing it and how, the entire furnace network will shut down. And although she might not be the mechanic her da was, she won’t let anyone freeze without a fight. Not the city she hates. And not the villages she loves.
First 250 words:
The glow of the furnace conduit flickered beneath my hands. I twisted the pliers, wrapping the strand tighter but the conduit went dark. I gave the wall a sharp whack with my wrench and pain took my arm for a knife block. I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from cursing.
It was no use. The conduit was nothing more than a dark husk, so obvious against the red-hot glow of the tunnel wall it mocked me. We needed that heat, every scrap we could get, because out here on the Ice, heat meant life.
Think. There had to be a way to fix this, to breathe life back into the Beast. But the blasted count kept thudding away in my head, getting louder by the second. 224... 225... Da had always warned me to get out before I hit two hundred. It was too easy to lose yourself in here, to not notice when the heat started shutting you down.
One last try. I attacked the conduit again, focusing on the inner strands that were so whisper-thin they’d look like threads of gold once I got them lit. If I got them lit.
243... 244... Streams of orange swayed through the red of the walls, dangerously hypnotic. Sweat plastered my skin to my gloves and I yanked them off. A burning ache settled deep into my hands but at least my fingers didn’t feel three sizes too big anymore.
I twined the strands together again.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Word Count: 83,000
My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
Kaelin’s most fearsome obsession is fixing the Beast, the biomechanical furnace that gives her village heat. She’s trying to become a mechanic her da would be proud of, but at seventeen she should rightly be in training. Still, whether it’s long nights spent pouring over her da’s notebooks or brutally hot hours working on the furnace’s molten core, Kaelin is determined to keep her village from freezing.
Query:
When seventeen-year-old Kaelin’s da dies, she takes his place as mechanic for the Beast, the biomechanical furnace that keeps the Ice from overrunning her village. Thanks to the dragon’s blood in her veins, she’s the only one who can endure the Beast’s infernally hot temperatures long enough to make repairs.
But the smoking hunk of junk is so old it barely has a pulse. The only way to get replacement parts is by trekking across the Ice, the same journey that killed her da. She can stay and battle the furnace for as long as she can or risk everything by leaving, but if she makes the wrong choice, they’ll all freeze.
Then she gets an offer, from a prince of all people. The furnaces of the capital city, which has been the enemy of the villages for generations, are shutting down. If she can fix them, the crown will reward her with the parts needed to give life back to the Beast. But as Kaelin starts repairing the furnaces, she discovers they aren’t malfunctioning: they’re being sabotaged. Unless she figures out who’s doing it and how, the entire furnace network will shut down. And although she might not be the mechanic her da was, she won’t let anyone freeze without a fight. Not the city she hates. And not the villages she loves.
First 250 words:
The glow of the furnace conduit flickered beneath my hands. I twisted the pliers, wrapping the strand tighter but the conduit went dark. I gave the wall a sharp whack with my wrench and pain took my arm for a knife block. I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from cursing.
It was no use. The conduit was nothing more than a dark husk, so obvious against the red-hot glow of the tunnel wall it mocked me. We needed that heat, every scrap we could get, because out here on the Ice, heat meant life.
Think. There had to be a way to fix this, to breathe life back into the Beast. But the blasted count kept thudding away in my head, getting louder by the second. 224... 225... Da had always warned me to get out before I hit two hundred. It was too easy to lose yourself in here, to not notice when the heat started shutting you down.
One last try. I attacked the conduit again, focusing on the inner strands that were so whisper-thin they’d look like threads of gold once I got them lit. If I got them lit.
243... 244... Streams of orange swayed through the red of the walls, dangerously hypnotic. Sweat plastered my skin to my gloves and I yanked them off. A burning ache settled deep into my hands but at least my fingers didn’t feel three sizes too big anymore.
I twined the strands together again.
NoQS Minion 5: ROBOT BILLIONAIRE BOYFRIEND, YA Science Fiction
Title: ROBOT BILLIONAIRE BOYFRIEND
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Word Count: 62,000
Lucca’s obsession is technology. She communes with mechanical systems, breathes computer code, and sleeps on a bed of spare parts. She’d drink motor oil if it was remotely digestible. Why is this fearsome? Because she prioritizes it over family, friends, sleep, and food. And for an eighteen-year-old left on her own for the first time in Scrapyard City, she’s about to get a hard lesson in adult responsibility.
Query:
Eighteen-year-old Lucca Mach is the go-to genius of Scrapyard City. Inventing spray-on bodysuits and swarms of housekeeping nanobots is routine for a prodigy like her. So when her older sister, Eden, calls Lucca an anomaly for not dating like everyone else, the logic does not compute. Relationships are a waste of brainpower when there’s the impossible to invent into reality.
To shut Eden up, Lucca engineers the perfect solution: she builds Robb out of scavenged parts. A boyfriend who doesn’t talk back and exists only to please her? He’s flawless.
But dating a tin can isn't good for business. After the cityfolk brand her as a deviant for kissing scrap metal, no one wants her perverted inventions anywhere near them. When Lucca’s money runs out, Robb decodes the financial market to provide for her and becomes the newest billionaire on the block. Prejudice falls away fast in the face of money, and now everyone wants a piece of the perfect man.
Selling Robb off means handing over her greatest invention and losing the only companion she’s ever allowed herself to depend on. But refusing to sell means the end of her inventing days, a lifetime of protecting Robb from the masses who still stop at nothing to get him, and worst of all—admitting she’s fallen for a bunch of 0s and 1s.
First 250 words:
Flying a quadcopter with your brain was no easy task. When it came to reading those ever-so-faint electrical signals blipping from neuron to neuron, seven millimeters of solid skull had an impressive damping effect. And then there were all those pesky invasive thoughts to deal with. Decoding one brainwave as “fly straight,” versus “do a loop-de-loop,” compared to “where’s that damn screwdriver? Oh, sorry, fire the missile” was a technological problem of the highest complexity.
I’d say that type of neutral interface was completely impossible to create. Well, for anyone besides me. Because I had just invented it.
A headset mounted my scalp like a parasite. It pressed electrodes to my temple, the base of my neck, and the peak of my eyebrow, begging for commands. All it needed was a gentle wave of electromagnetic signals to come to life.
I stilled my mind. The chorus of fans and motors whirring in my shop faded into the background.
The quadcopter woke. Batteries fed life to the gears, the juice warming its blades as they whirred faster and faster. The copter teetered back and forth on its landers like a drunk.
I bid my baby to fly.
A tiny shudder rolled through the copter’s frame as it rose above the worktable and accelerated forward…
And tried to take my sister’s head off.
Eden screeched and dodged left, the whirling blades claiming a chunk of hair instead of her face. Impressive reaction time. Eight years of shacking up together in this shed-turned-home-turned-workshop had some benefit.
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Word Count: 62,000
Lucca’s obsession is technology. She communes with mechanical systems, breathes computer code, and sleeps on a bed of spare parts. She’d drink motor oil if it was remotely digestible. Why is this fearsome? Because she prioritizes it over family, friends, sleep, and food. And for an eighteen-year-old left on her own for the first time in Scrapyard City, she’s about to get a hard lesson in adult responsibility.
Query:
Eighteen-year-old Lucca Mach is the go-to genius of Scrapyard City. Inventing spray-on bodysuits and swarms of housekeeping nanobots is routine for a prodigy like her. So when her older sister, Eden, calls Lucca an anomaly for not dating like everyone else, the logic does not compute. Relationships are a waste of brainpower when there’s the impossible to invent into reality.
To shut Eden up, Lucca engineers the perfect solution: she builds Robb out of scavenged parts. A boyfriend who doesn’t talk back and exists only to please her? He’s flawless.
But dating a tin can isn't good for business. After the cityfolk brand her as a deviant for kissing scrap metal, no one wants her perverted inventions anywhere near them. When Lucca’s money runs out, Robb decodes the financial market to provide for her and becomes the newest billionaire on the block. Prejudice falls away fast in the face of money, and now everyone wants a piece of the perfect man.
Selling Robb off means handing over her greatest invention and losing the only companion she’s ever allowed herself to depend on. But refusing to sell means the end of her inventing days, a lifetime of protecting Robb from the masses who still stop at nothing to get him, and worst of all—admitting she’s fallen for a bunch of 0s and 1s.
First 250 words:
Flying a quadcopter with your brain was no easy task. When it came to reading those ever-so-faint electrical signals blipping from neuron to neuron, seven millimeters of solid skull had an impressive damping effect. And then there were all those pesky invasive thoughts to deal with. Decoding one brainwave as “fly straight,” versus “do a loop-de-loop,” compared to “where’s that damn screwdriver? Oh, sorry, fire the missile” was a technological problem of the highest complexity.
I’d say that type of neutral interface was completely impossible to create. Well, for anyone besides me. Because I had just invented it.
A headset mounted my scalp like a parasite. It pressed electrodes to my temple, the base of my neck, and the peak of my eyebrow, begging for commands. All it needed was a gentle wave of electromagnetic signals to come to life.
I stilled my mind. The chorus of fans and motors whirring in my shop faded into the background.
The quadcopter woke. Batteries fed life to the gears, the juice warming its blades as they whirred faster and faster. The copter teetered back and forth on its landers like a drunk.
I bid my baby to fly.
A tiny shudder rolled through the copter’s frame as it rose above the worktable and accelerated forward…
And tried to take my sister’s head off.
Eden screeched and dodged left, the whirling blades claiming a chunk of hair instead of her face. Impressive reaction time. Eight years of shacking up together in this shed-turned-home-turned-workshop had some benefit.
NoQS Minion 4: FINDING ME, MG Contemporary
Title: FINDING MEGenre: MG ContemporaryWord count: 38,000My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
SueAnne’s not sure which is more fearsome: the fact that things talk to her, or maybe the possibility that she actually talks back. Not all the time. But sometimes she just can’t resist. It’s not really an obsession. At least, she doesn’t think it is. Not yet. But having it become one is where the fear would really set in.
Query:
Dear Agent,
Twelve-year-old SueAnn loves her half-leg Stumpy, bff Jenny, and a bucket load of horchata. Without them, she never would’ve survived the move across town with her dad’s new, high-paying job. Now that she’s finally settled into school and home life, her mom suggests two more changes: new friends and a prosthetic leg.
Sue’s excited about the possibility of walking, but she panics at the thought of making such a huge life-changing decision. And resisting only sends her overactive imagination into hyper drive. Walls start talking, the furniture tells jokes, and pots begin to sing. Now everything seems to have a voice…and an opinion. Sue gets the point—loud and clear. Some new friends probably wouldn’t hurt.
Jenny’s excited for Sue at first, but eventually she grows hesitant as things start to change between them. And every time Sue mentions a new leg, Jenny withdraws even more. Sue would hate to lose Jenny’s friendship after all they’ve been through. But if the other option means endless conversations with talking objects while being stuck with a set of wheels, then staying the same might be worse.
First 250 words:
On Monday, my house talked to me. At least I think it did. Maybe it was me talking to myself. Nothing big, just, “Hey, this wall can’t take it anymore.” And quite frankly, I don’t blame it. I wheel into it at least once or twice a day. It’s just so hard to make it around that corner. Especially when I’m distracted. Of course Mom had to remind me how good it would be to make new friends.
On Tuesday, the desk in homeroom gave me a hard time. “Can’t you use a normal chair? What am I supposed to do with all these dents and scratches?” Again, I’m trying my hardest. I don’t mean to hurt the furniture.
Now that it’s Wednesday, I shouldn’t be surprised when our van says, “I can’t lift your wheelchair anymore, Sue.” So Mom insists on doing it even though she knows I can crawl up on my own. She hoists me into the front seat as I cling to her neck. I’m sure we’re both going to meet the pavement in any given second but we don’t. She only sways once and I wonder if she’s been working out. I’m not five anymore and she hasn’t carried me in a while. But I’m sure the pavement is happy about it. It probably would have given me a lecture on keeping my hands to myself.
I’m not sure why so many things are talking to me, or why I think they are. Maybe Mom’s onto something.
SueAnne’s not sure which is more fearsome: the fact that things talk to her, or maybe the possibility that she actually talks back. Not all the time. But sometimes she just can’t resist. It’s not really an obsession. At least, she doesn’t think it is. Not yet. But having it become one is where the fear would really set in.
Query:
Dear Agent,
Twelve-year-old SueAnn loves her half-leg Stumpy, bff Jenny, and a bucket load of horchata. Without them, she never would’ve survived the move across town with her dad’s new, high-paying job. Now that she’s finally settled into school and home life, her mom suggests two more changes: new friends and a prosthetic leg.
Sue’s excited about the possibility of walking, but she panics at the thought of making such a huge life-changing decision. And resisting only sends her overactive imagination into hyper drive. Walls start talking, the furniture tells jokes, and pots begin to sing. Now everything seems to have a voice…and an opinion. Sue gets the point—loud and clear. Some new friends probably wouldn’t hurt.
Jenny’s excited for Sue at first, but eventually she grows hesitant as things start to change between them. And every time Sue mentions a new leg, Jenny withdraws even more. Sue would hate to lose Jenny’s friendship after all they’ve been through. But if the other option means endless conversations with talking objects while being stuck with a set of wheels, then staying the same might be worse.
First 250 words:
On Monday, my house talked to me. At least I think it did. Maybe it was me talking to myself. Nothing big, just, “Hey, this wall can’t take it anymore.” And quite frankly, I don’t blame it. I wheel into it at least once or twice a day. It’s just so hard to make it around that corner. Especially when I’m distracted. Of course Mom had to remind me how good it would be to make new friends.
On Tuesday, the desk in homeroom gave me a hard time. “Can’t you use a normal chair? What am I supposed to do with all these dents and scratches?” Again, I’m trying my hardest. I don’t mean to hurt the furniture.
Now that it’s Wednesday, I shouldn’t be surprised when our van says, “I can’t lift your wheelchair anymore, Sue.” So Mom insists on doing it even though she knows I can crawl up on my own. She hoists me into the front seat as I cling to her neck. I’m sure we’re both going to meet the pavement in any given second but we don’t. She only sways once and I wonder if she’s been working out. I’m not five anymore and she hasn’t carried me in a while. But I’m sure the pavement is happy about it. It probably would have given me a lecture on keeping my hands to myself.
I’m not sure why so many things are talking to me, or why I think they are. Maybe Mom’s onto something.
NoQS Minion 3: WHEN YOUR BEST FRIEND WANTS TO BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND, MG Cont. Humor
Title: WHEN YOUR BEST FRIEND WANTS TO BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND (AND OTHER HORROR STORIES)Genre: MG Contemporary HumorWord Count: 30,000
My Main Character’s Most Fearsome Obsession is:
Jared’s most fearsome obsession is ice cream. Any flavor, any time. It’s not just that he craves the taste or the fact that when he inhales it super-fast it gives him a brain freeze. It’s also about the glorious textures and combinations, and the ensuing party that takes place in his taste buds. With lightning metabolism, Jared can devour enormous amounts, and since his dad left he’s shared ice cream “parties” with his mom where entire cartons were consumed in one sitting.
Query:
What do you do when your BEST friend suddenly wants to be your (gulp!) GIRLfriend? Twelve-year-old Jared Hoover is a short kid who tells jokes that makes milk shoot out peoples’ noses, but he’s never imagined himself as boyfriend material.
He and Cassie have been best friends since they ate sand together. They’ve survived obnoxious classmates, shared family camping trips, and screamed their way through Disneyland’s scariest rides. Inseparable BFFs. Now Cassie’s acting different and Jared doesn’t understand why. He’s always considered Cassie to be one of the “guys”---someone he could just hang out with---but there’s a good chance she “likes” him in a different way. Jared's buddies all seem to be changing and they even LIKE girls. Change is one thing Jared could do without. He’s not ready for a change in feelings or anything else since his dad left. When his arch-nemesis, Butch, drops the bomb that he likes Cassie, Jared fears the world as he knows it will come to an end. Especially when Jared fails to honestly answer a crucial question from Cassie. Now there’s a good chance she’ll never speak to him again.
With Cassie ignoring him, Butch gloating and his grades dropping faster than a meteorite, Jared can’t imagine how he’ll possibly survive 7th grade and the loss of his best friend. Sure, he could try being a boyfriend, even though it would be a lie. But if he confesses he’s just not ready, he might lose her forever at a time when he needs her friendship the most.
First 250 words:
Average size kids live in one world and short kids live in another one. Want to be picked on? Be a short kid. Want to be the last kid picked for a football game? Be a short kid. Want to be confused with a kid two or three years younger? Be a short kid. But Cassie’s never cared about any of that.
When you’re a short kid, friends seem to mean more to you. Especially when they’ve been through the wringer with you like Cassie. But you can’t tell anyone your best friend is a girl. Even if it’s true. Geez, life’s challenging enough being short!
Cassie is a special case. She’s honest and fearless. We’re made from the same raw material, except for the sugar and spice and everything nice.
“You know, I jumped off the top of the bleachers today during gym class,” she said.
“Nuh uh. You did that the first week of school?”
“And no broken bones. Not even a bruise,” she said, flashing her full-faced grin.
“They turn the grass into cotton candy or something?”
“No, I’m just all that...and modest on top of it,” she replied.
“Uh, right. I forgot that modesty is your middle name.”
“Very funny.”
“Well, if you can do it and survive, I guess I should give it a go,” I said. “Just promise me, you’ll look after my comic book collection if I die.”
“Deal,” she said. “But do you really want to get any shorter?”
My Main Character’s Most Fearsome Obsession is:
Jared’s most fearsome obsession is ice cream. Any flavor, any time. It’s not just that he craves the taste or the fact that when he inhales it super-fast it gives him a brain freeze. It’s also about the glorious textures and combinations, and the ensuing party that takes place in his taste buds. With lightning metabolism, Jared can devour enormous amounts, and since his dad left he’s shared ice cream “parties” with his mom where entire cartons were consumed in one sitting.
Query:
What do you do when your BEST friend suddenly wants to be your (gulp!) GIRLfriend? Twelve-year-old Jared Hoover is a short kid who tells jokes that makes milk shoot out peoples’ noses, but he’s never imagined himself as boyfriend material.
He and Cassie have been best friends since they ate sand together. They’ve survived obnoxious classmates, shared family camping trips, and screamed their way through Disneyland’s scariest rides. Inseparable BFFs. Now Cassie’s acting different and Jared doesn’t understand why. He’s always considered Cassie to be one of the “guys”---someone he could just hang out with---but there’s a good chance she “likes” him in a different way. Jared's buddies all seem to be changing and they even LIKE girls. Change is one thing Jared could do without. He’s not ready for a change in feelings or anything else since his dad left. When his arch-nemesis, Butch, drops the bomb that he likes Cassie, Jared fears the world as he knows it will come to an end. Especially when Jared fails to honestly answer a crucial question from Cassie. Now there’s a good chance she’ll never speak to him again.
With Cassie ignoring him, Butch gloating and his grades dropping faster than a meteorite, Jared can’t imagine how he’ll possibly survive 7th grade and the loss of his best friend. Sure, he could try being a boyfriend, even though it would be a lie. But if he confesses he’s just not ready, he might lose her forever at a time when he needs her friendship the most.
First 250 words:
Average size kids live in one world and short kids live in another one. Want to be picked on? Be a short kid. Want to be the last kid picked for a football game? Be a short kid. Want to be confused with a kid two or three years younger? Be a short kid. But Cassie’s never cared about any of that.
When you’re a short kid, friends seem to mean more to you. Especially when they’ve been through the wringer with you like Cassie. But you can’t tell anyone your best friend is a girl. Even if it’s true. Geez, life’s challenging enough being short!
Cassie is a special case. She’s honest and fearless. We’re made from the same raw material, except for the sugar and spice and everything nice.
“You know, I jumped off the top of the bleachers today during gym class,” she said.
“Nuh uh. You did that the first week of school?”
“And no broken bones. Not even a bruise,” she said, flashing her full-faced grin.
“They turn the grass into cotton candy or something?”
“No, I’m just all that...and modest on top of it,” she replied.
“Uh, right. I forgot that modesty is your middle name.”
“Very funny.”
“Well, if you can do it and survive, I guess I should give it a go,” I said. “Just promise me, you’ll look after my comic book collection if I die.”
“Deal,” she said. “But do you really want to get any shorter?”
NoQS Minion 2: HAUNTING, MG Contemporary
Title: HAUNTING
Genre: MG Contemporary
Word Count: 35,000
My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
My MC's most fearsome obsession is her desire to contact ghosts. Her dedication to the task has caused her to isolate herself from others and stunted her personal growth. More importantly, it’s a moot effort – the MC strives to make the ghosts away, but the ghosts never existed in the first place. All along, they were something else.
Query:
Eleven-year-old Sophie Santos wants the ghosts to leave Mom alone. It would help if Sophie could contact them, but even her beloved Ouija board can’t make the ghosts speak. The ghosts torment Mom every night, leaving her with bruises and scrapes, but Sophie never hears anything more than Mom’s screams. If not for Mom’s fearful warnings and the wounds she bears, Sophie would doubt the ghosts even existed. Yet Sophie can't ignore the way the ghosts make Mom fearful of her surroundings, or the way Mom yells at her every time the ghosts act out.
Not keen on giving up, Sophie strives for new ways to exorcise the ghosts. Along the way, she finds pieces to a puzzle she didn’t even know she was solving: Life insurance policies in Sophie’s name. Searches on Google for “child deaths.” To save herself, Sophie must figure out the true cause of the ghosts and make it disappear. Otherwise, Mom will succumb to the voices in her head convincing her that there’s only one way to be free from them for good: to kill Sophie.
HAUNTING is a 35,000-word middle grade contemporary novel based on my childhood experiences as a girl living alone with her schizophrenic mother.
First 250 words:
There’d been a death in the family. Not my family, but the one that’d lived in our house before us. Or before them. Or before them. It was hard to know how long ago the ghosts had lived. Mom never gave me any details about them except their names.
But the ghosts always came. There seemed to be no escape from them. They were like a disease, seeping into the walls of our home and rotting it from the core, until we had no choice but to find another place to live.
So we were in the car yet again, boxes shoved in the back seat, heading to another place to rest our heads. This was, what, the third one in a year? I couldn’t imagine this new place being any different than the others. Sooner or later, a ghost would stop by. They always did. Then we’d be forced to pack up once more and find a new home. A new place to rest our heads. A new place to be haunted.
Mom hummed along to the radio to some pop song. She was a lot more optimistic about this move than I was. I wished her happiness was more contagious, but I could only ever catch her fear.
“How are you feeling, Sophie?” Mom asked.
She wanted me to be excited. She wanted me to crave this new life, this ghost-free life, as much as she did. And I craved it, truly, but I also doubted it would ever truly come.
Genre: MG Contemporary
Word Count: 35,000
My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
My MC's most fearsome obsession is her desire to contact ghosts. Her dedication to the task has caused her to isolate herself from others and stunted her personal growth. More importantly, it’s a moot effort – the MC strives to make the ghosts away, but the ghosts never existed in the first place. All along, they were something else.
Query:
Eleven-year-old Sophie Santos wants the ghosts to leave Mom alone. It would help if Sophie could contact them, but even her beloved Ouija board can’t make the ghosts speak. The ghosts torment Mom every night, leaving her with bruises and scrapes, but Sophie never hears anything more than Mom’s screams. If not for Mom’s fearful warnings and the wounds she bears, Sophie would doubt the ghosts even existed. Yet Sophie can't ignore the way the ghosts make Mom fearful of her surroundings, or the way Mom yells at her every time the ghosts act out.
Not keen on giving up, Sophie strives for new ways to exorcise the ghosts. Along the way, she finds pieces to a puzzle she didn’t even know she was solving: Life insurance policies in Sophie’s name. Searches on Google for “child deaths.” To save herself, Sophie must figure out the true cause of the ghosts and make it disappear. Otherwise, Mom will succumb to the voices in her head convincing her that there’s only one way to be free from them for good: to kill Sophie.
HAUNTING is a 35,000-word middle grade contemporary novel based on my childhood experiences as a girl living alone with her schizophrenic mother.
First 250 words:
There’d been a death in the family. Not my family, but the one that’d lived in our house before us. Or before them. Or before them. It was hard to know how long ago the ghosts had lived. Mom never gave me any details about them except their names.
But the ghosts always came. There seemed to be no escape from them. They were like a disease, seeping into the walls of our home and rotting it from the core, until we had no choice but to find another place to live.
So we were in the car yet again, boxes shoved in the back seat, heading to another place to rest our heads. This was, what, the third one in a year? I couldn’t imagine this new place being any different than the others. Sooner or later, a ghost would stop by. They always did. Then we’d be forced to pack up once more and find a new home. A new place to rest our heads. A new place to be haunted.
Mom hummed along to the radio to some pop song. She was a lot more optimistic about this move than I was. I wished her happiness was more contagious, but I could only ever catch her fear.
“How are you feeling, Sophie?” Mom asked.
She wanted me to be excited. She wanted me to crave this new life, this ghost-free life, as much as she did. And I craved it, truly, but I also doubted it would ever truly come.
NoQS Minion 1: KAYLEE AND THE BIG BAD AL, MG Contemporary
Title: KAYLEE AND THE BIG BAD ALGenre: Middle Grade ContemporaryWord Count: 22,000My Main Character’s Most Fearsome Obsession Is:
I don’t know what my most fearsome obsession is ’cause I don’t have a clue what that means. Be right back…
Mom said it’s an uncontrollable want. Well my want is definitely Dad’s molasses pancakes. His secret recipe blasts my socks straight to Uranus. One whiff and I’ll gladly spring my grumpy, morning bootie from bed and shake it all the way to the kitchen. Then I pile on the butter, smother on the maple syrup, and shout Hallelujah! ’cause there’s no better way to start my day than with a sweet plate of heaven.
Query:
Nine-year-old Kaylee’s sure her grandma doesn’t like her.
Every visit with Grandma Ruth begins and ends with a scolding—no fussing, no shouting, no running, no interrupting, no diggety dang fun. She might as well add no breathing to her invisible list of rules. It’s so bad Kaylee would rather wear dorky princess dresses for a year than spend time with Grandma Ruth.
So when Kaylee hears that her grandma is losing her memory and needs to move in with them, she’s ready to go without food—even her dad’s molasses pancakes—in protest. But all that changes when she discovers this new, forgetful Grandma Ruth is so cool. She likes to dance in her PJs, give makeovers, put on fashion shows, and try unusual foods—all the things Kaylee loves too. In fact, Grandma Ruth becomes one of Kaylee’s best friends.
But the disease that attacks Grandma’s brain isn’t done yet. Kaylee will have to find a way to face the sad facts that Grandma Ruth will soon forget even her, and Kaylee will lose her only living grandparent—her friend—to the big bad Al.
First 250 Words:
I tried to ignore the prickles. I jiggled and wiggled and squirmed like a worm, but I couldn’t take the itchiness any longer. Jumping off the couch, I lifted my dress and rubbed the back of my legs.
Of course Grandma Ruth noticed, and of course she had to shake her finger at me. “Put your dress down, Kaylee, and act like a lady.”
“Yes, Grandma Ruth,” I said, plopping down on the couch between my parents.
Manners were super important to Grandma, boy did I know that, but she didn’t usually get that upset. I leaned toward my mom and whispered, “What’s wrong with Grandma? Did she put on her grumpy pants today or what?”
Mom lowered her eyebrows and gave me The Look. Uh-oh, I’d said the wrong thing.
Right away, two thoughts popped into my head. I’m not sure why, but thoughts usually came to me in pairs.
1. This was all Mom’s fault. If she hadn’t made me wear this dumb, frilly princess dress I would have been fine. But no! Grandma bought it for my ninth birthday, and Mom said I had to wear it no matter how stupid I looked.
2. I might have been able to forget about my stinging legs if Dad had let me bring my Nintendo 3DS. But double-heck no! He said that would be rude.
So instead, there I was, sitting on a sandpaper couch with my parents, itching so bad I wanted to rip off my dress and shred it into a gazillion pieces.
I don’t know what my most fearsome obsession is ’cause I don’t have a clue what that means. Be right back…
Mom said it’s an uncontrollable want. Well my want is definitely Dad’s molasses pancakes. His secret recipe blasts my socks straight to Uranus. One whiff and I’ll gladly spring my grumpy, morning bootie from bed and shake it all the way to the kitchen. Then I pile on the butter, smother on the maple syrup, and shout Hallelujah! ’cause there’s no better way to start my day than with a sweet plate of heaven.
Query:
Nine-year-old Kaylee’s sure her grandma doesn’t like her.
Every visit with Grandma Ruth begins and ends with a scolding—no fussing, no shouting, no running, no interrupting, no diggety dang fun. She might as well add no breathing to her invisible list of rules. It’s so bad Kaylee would rather wear dorky princess dresses for a year than spend time with Grandma Ruth.
So when Kaylee hears that her grandma is losing her memory and needs to move in with them, she’s ready to go without food—even her dad’s molasses pancakes—in protest. But all that changes when she discovers this new, forgetful Grandma Ruth is so cool. She likes to dance in her PJs, give makeovers, put on fashion shows, and try unusual foods—all the things Kaylee loves too. In fact, Grandma Ruth becomes one of Kaylee’s best friends.
But the disease that attacks Grandma’s brain isn’t done yet. Kaylee will have to find a way to face the sad facts that Grandma Ruth will soon forget even her, and Kaylee will lose her only living grandparent—her friend—to the big bad Al.
First 250 Words:
I tried to ignore the prickles. I jiggled and wiggled and squirmed like a worm, but I couldn’t take the itchiness any longer. Jumping off the couch, I lifted my dress and rubbed the back of my legs.
Of course Grandma Ruth noticed, and of course she had to shake her finger at me. “Put your dress down, Kaylee, and act like a lady.”
“Yes, Grandma Ruth,” I said, plopping down on the couch between my parents.
Manners were super important to Grandma, boy did I know that, but she didn’t usually get that upset. I leaned toward my mom and whispered, “What’s wrong with Grandma? Did she put on her grumpy pants today or what?”
Mom lowered her eyebrows and gave me The Look. Uh-oh, I’d said the wrong thing.
Right away, two thoughts popped into my head. I’m not sure why, but thoughts usually came to me in pairs.
1. This was all Mom’s fault. If she hadn’t made me wear this dumb, frilly princess dress I would have been fine. But no! Grandma bought it for my ninth birthday, and Mom said I had to wear it no matter how stupid I looked.
2. I might have been able to forget about my stinging legs if Dad had let me bring my Nintendo 3DS. But double-heck no! He said that would be rude.
So instead, there I was, sitting on a sandpaper couch with my parents, itching so bad I wanted to rip off my dress and shred it into a gazillion pieces.
NoQS Minions 9: NORTHERN GHOSTS, YA Thriller
Title: NORTHERN GHOSTS
Genre: YA thriller
Word Count: 64,000
My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
Sixteen-year-old Travis Whittaker has been in love with weather since he turned ten. Fog, clouds, wind, hail, rain, sleet, and snow—he adores it all. Previously a Texan, he hasn’t had much experience with colder climates, but his new home in New Hampshire will let him see a world covered in ice first-hand . . . if he survives until winter. For now, he’ll keep watching the old barometer affixed to the rickety barn’s wall for the daily forecast. Though it’s a seemingly beautiful day in July, it says a storm’s coming, so trouble must be brewing somewhere.
Query:
NORTHERN GHOSTS is a YA thriller complete at 64,000 words, inspired by Sebastian Junger’s non-fiction account of the Boston Strangler in A DEATH IN BELMONT.
The rickety New England farmhouse Travis’s mother inherited is over two hundred years old. It’s falling apart and none of the appliances work. Worse, it’s filled with useless stuff that Travis’ hoarding grandmother piled up into artificial mountains before she died. Oh, and there’s a strange man hiding out in the cellar.
The squatter is a veteran with PTSD, and though Travis forces him to leave the house, he can’t get him off the property. Ghost, as the man calls himself, holes up in the barn. When Travis discovers the soldier might be his long-lost uncle, Ghost’s choices make more sense. He won’t go, Travis thinks, because he subconsciously wants to be reintegrated into the family, and Travis is just the sixteen-year-old to make this happen. But when the veteran starts raving about blood and people in pain, Travis worries that Ghost’s mental illness isn’t so harmless after all. Travis might not only have stumbled across a lost relative, but The Hilltop Strangler, the serial killer who’s been stalking high school boys, and plucking them out of their yards before brutally murdering them.
Determined to keep his mother safe, Travis vows to confront the soldier. But he doesn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle and The Hilltop Strangler might be closer than he ever imagined. If Travis isn’t careful, he could become the killer’s next target.
First 250:
The toilet gulps and sputters twice. The water from the bowl rushes downward, heading into the pipe. All seems fine—like the toilet’s not Satan—but then another gurgling sound erupts, and water squirts out of the tank, pushing past the cover like it’s nothing, pours down the sides, and splashes onto the floor.
“I told you not to flush.” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.
The repairman leans toward the torrent and says, “Hmm.” He scratches his chest through his old gray work shirt near its sewn-on nametag that says, “Gary.”
“I’ll go get towels.”
“It’s not so bad.” Gary waves his hand at me, dismissing my concern.
“You have no idea. That toilet’s completely evil.”
He glances at me. When he sees I’m serious, he backs up a step, maybe trying to save his shoes. The water keeps coming. He has to lean far over to jiggle the handle.
This house blows.
“I’ll be right back,” I call as I vault over the growing flood and race out of the room.
My eyes had left Gary only for a moment, a second. “Don’t flush it unless you want all hell to break loose,” I’d said. He’d nodded, examining the toilet with a grim face, and I thought he’d understood. But as he’d inspected the demon-latrine, a text from Mom had distracted me.
Are you doing okay? I heard something weird at work. Stay inside. For me, Travis, please.
Genre: YA thriller
Word Count: 64,000
My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:
Sixteen-year-old Travis Whittaker has been in love with weather since he turned ten. Fog, clouds, wind, hail, rain, sleet, and snow—he adores it all. Previously a Texan, he hasn’t had much experience with colder climates, but his new home in New Hampshire will let him see a world covered in ice first-hand . . . if he survives until winter. For now, he’ll keep watching the old barometer affixed to the rickety barn’s wall for the daily forecast. Though it’s a seemingly beautiful day in July, it says a storm’s coming, so trouble must be brewing somewhere.
Query:
NORTHERN GHOSTS is a YA thriller complete at 64,000 words, inspired by Sebastian Junger’s non-fiction account of the Boston Strangler in A DEATH IN BELMONT.
The rickety New England farmhouse Travis’s mother inherited is over two hundred years old. It’s falling apart and none of the appliances work. Worse, it’s filled with useless stuff that Travis’ hoarding grandmother piled up into artificial mountains before she died. Oh, and there’s a strange man hiding out in the cellar.
The squatter is a veteran with PTSD, and though Travis forces him to leave the house, he can’t get him off the property. Ghost, as the man calls himself, holes up in the barn. When Travis discovers the soldier might be his long-lost uncle, Ghost’s choices make more sense. He won’t go, Travis thinks, because he subconsciously wants to be reintegrated into the family, and Travis is just the sixteen-year-old to make this happen. But when the veteran starts raving about blood and people in pain, Travis worries that Ghost’s mental illness isn’t so harmless after all. Travis might not only have stumbled across a lost relative, but The Hilltop Strangler, the serial killer who’s been stalking high school boys, and plucking them out of their yards before brutally murdering them.
Determined to keep his mother safe, Travis vows to confront the soldier. But he doesn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle and The Hilltop Strangler might be closer than he ever imagined. If Travis isn’t careful, he could become the killer’s next target.
First 250:
The toilet gulps and sputters twice. The water from the bowl rushes downward, heading into the pipe. All seems fine—like the toilet’s not Satan—but then another gurgling sound erupts, and water squirts out of the tank, pushing past the cover like it’s nothing, pours down the sides, and splashes onto the floor.
“I told you not to flush.” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.
The repairman leans toward the torrent and says, “Hmm.” He scratches his chest through his old gray work shirt near its sewn-on nametag that says, “Gary.”
“I’ll go get towels.”
“It’s not so bad.” Gary waves his hand at me, dismissing my concern.
“You have no idea. That toilet’s completely evil.”
He glances at me. When he sees I’m serious, he backs up a step, maybe trying to save his shoes. The water keeps coming. He has to lean far over to jiggle the handle.
This house blows.
“I’ll be right back,” I call as I vault over the growing flood and race out of the room.
My eyes had left Gary only for a moment, a second. “Don’t flush it unless you want all hell to break loose,” I’d said. He’d nodded, examining the toilet with a grim face, and I thought he’d understood. But as he’d inspected the demon-latrine, a text from Mom had distracted me.
Are you doing okay? I heard something weird at work. Stay inside. For me, Travis, please.
