QK Round 2: World on a String versus Skateboarding Sherlock
Entry Nickname: World On a StringTitle: The Day I Ruled the WorldWord Count: 57,000Genre: MG Fantasy
Query:
Twelve-year-old Teddy Bridwell thinks her parents are great. They’re also wrong. She shouldn’t have to wait until she turns thirteen to start learning magic, so she practices in secret. That way, they don’t have to worry, and she doesn't have to get in trouble.
Until she gets caught, of course. Then she’s in all kinds of trouble. She’s grounded and stuck doing inventory on the junk Dad collects for his business. That’s where she finds the barrette. It looks ordinary, but it feels like magic, and when Teddy holds it, she can make people do anything she tells them. For the first time in her life, she’s the one with the power.
Unfortunately, the power Teddy uses to make her Dad teach her magic could do mega-damage in the wrong hands. Those hands belong to a fanatic who wants to end all the pain and misery in the world by turning everyone in the galaxy into his puppets. To stop him, Teddy has to destroy the barrette. Until she does, her stubbornness is the only thing standing between humanity and slavery, which, if humanity knew, they probably wouldn’t find too comforting.
First 250 words:
Spying is rude, and I would never, ever do it. Not without a good reason anyway, like needing to know if my parents suspected I'd been practicing spells in secret.
For Snooper's Delight, I needed a mirror, some magic, and a little privacy. Good thing I had my own bedroom, so I wouldn’t be interrupted by my bossy older sisters or nosy younger brothers.
I settled cross-legged on my bed, tugged on my pajama shorts to de-wedgie them, and balanced the mirror on my knee.
At six o’clock on a Saturday morning, Mom and Dad would be in the kitchen, eating breakfast alone and talking about stuff they didn’t want us to hear. That was the scene I had to picture to work the spell—the counter along the back wall and the big dining table surrounded by chairs. When the mental image was as clear as I could make it, I slid it into the mirror to replace the reflection. My brain relaxed, and I opened my eyes. There it was, a perfect picture of my parents with plates of eggs and glasses of juice set out on the table in front of them. I could practically smell the butter on the toast.
I had one second to enjoy my success before the side-effects hit me, the slam of crazy emotions that came with every spell. This time it was a wave of what-the-heck-does-this-have-to-do-with-anything sadness. Mean things people said to me years ago and disappointments I’d forgotten all about rolled in to drown me.
VERSUS
Entry Nickname: Skateboarding Sherlock
Title: Skidsters
Word Count: 62,000
Genre: MG Science Fiction
Query:
Adrenaline junkie Jedediah Tank lives for the thrill of perfectly landed tricks on his frictionless skid-board. That is, until he crashes into the most dangerous ride of his twelve-year-old life.
After plummeting into an alley during a race, Jed witnesses two men beat up an old guy in a lab coat. Jed takes off—no sense getting caught up in that. Three hours later, a familiar-looking Skid Tech physicist turns up dead. Jed feels guilty, but what can a scrawny kid do? His guilt multiplies when Jed finds out the physicist also happened to be his best friend’s grandfather. Well, Jed’s not about to sit on the sidelines anymore.
Problem is, he can’t go to the police. And since he’s a skidster—a nickname given to kids who treat the city as if it were their personal playground—the coppers would love nothing better than to lock him in juvie and toss the key. No, the only way anyone will take him seriously is if he uncovers some hard evidence.
A question here, a favor called in there, and soon Jed realizes this runs deep into the world of corporate criminals. After some dangerous meddling, he and his friends unravel clues leading to a project that could bring Skid City to its knees. To save his city, Jed must bend the laws of physics to their breaking point or it’s… time’s up, you’re dead, Jed.
First 250 words:
In about 2.07 seconds, I was going to crash. The math didn’t lie—the acceleration of an object by the pull of gravity is 32 feet per second squared, and falling at a velocity of… nevermind. I was going to crash, plain and simple.
I glanced down at my skoard as I fell, jamming my back foot against it so the magnets would catch. Please catch, c’mon. Please.
They caught. Now I had milliseconds to save my neck. As I fell into the alley, the glint of an awning caught my eye. I kicked my heel back, forcing the sleek bottom of the board to glance off the metal canopy. My skoard and I hit a railing a story below, then a dumpster, and finally the alley floor. I grabbed the edge of the second dumpster and skidded to a halt.
I blew out the breath I’d been holding and shook my head. Lucky those dumpsters were there. That’s the trouble with skoards. With their flat, frictionless bottom they just keep going—nearly impossible to stop. But that’s also what’s great about them.
It’s a love-hate relationship.
I double-clicked my heel and the hidden magnets from the bottom of my shoes and the chrome-covered top of my skoard separated. After that near-crash, I wanted to stay still for a second or two. Resting my hands on my knees, I took deep breaths. Adrenaline shot through my veins like electrical currents through a cell tower.
Calm down, Jed, you ain’t dead yet.
Query:
Twelve-year-old Teddy Bridwell thinks her parents are great. They’re also wrong. She shouldn’t have to wait until she turns thirteen to start learning magic, so she practices in secret. That way, they don’t have to worry, and she doesn't have to get in trouble.
Until she gets caught, of course. Then she’s in all kinds of trouble. She’s grounded and stuck doing inventory on the junk Dad collects for his business. That’s where she finds the barrette. It looks ordinary, but it feels like magic, and when Teddy holds it, she can make people do anything she tells them. For the first time in her life, she’s the one with the power.
Unfortunately, the power Teddy uses to make her Dad teach her magic could do mega-damage in the wrong hands. Those hands belong to a fanatic who wants to end all the pain and misery in the world by turning everyone in the galaxy into his puppets. To stop him, Teddy has to destroy the barrette. Until she does, her stubbornness is the only thing standing between humanity and slavery, which, if humanity knew, they probably wouldn’t find too comforting.
First 250 words:
Spying is rude, and I would never, ever do it. Not without a good reason anyway, like needing to know if my parents suspected I'd been practicing spells in secret.
For Snooper's Delight, I needed a mirror, some magic, and a little privacy. Good thing I had my own bedroom, so I wouldn’t be interrupted by my bossy older sisters or nosy younger brothers.
I settled cross-legged on my bed, tugged on my pajama shorts to de-wedgie them, and balanced the mirror on my knee.
At six o’clock on a Saturday morning, Mom and Dad would be in the kitchen, eating breakfast alone and talking about stuff they didn’t want us to hear. That was the scene I had to picture to work the spell—the counter along the back wall and the big dining table surrounded by chairs. When the mental image was as clear as I could make it, I slid it into the mirror to replace the reflection. My brain relaxed, and I opened my eyes. There it was, a perfect picture of my parents with plates of eggs and glasses of juice set out on the table in front of them. I could practically smell the butter on the toast.
I had one second to enjoy my success before the side-effects hit me, the slam of crazy emotions that came with every spell. This time it was a wave of what-the-heck-does-this-have-to-do-with-anything sadness. Mean things people said to me years ago and disappointments I’d forgotten all about rolled in to drown me.
VERSUS
Entry Nickname: Skateboarding Sherlock
Title: Skidsters
Word Count: 62,000
Genre: MG Science Fiction
Query:
Adrenaline junkie Jedediah Tank lives for the thrill of perfectly landed tricks on his frictionless skid-board. That is, until he crashes into the most dangerous ride of his twelve-year-old life.
After plummeting into an alley during a race, Jed witnesses two men beat up an old guy in a lab coat. Jed takes off—no sense getting caught up in that. Three hours later, a familiar-looking Skid Tech physicist turns up dead. Jed feels guilty, but what can a scrawny kid do? His guilt multiplies when Jed finds out the physicist also happened to be his best friend’s grandfather. Well, Jed’s not about to sit on the sidelines anymore.
Problem is, he can’t go to the police. And since he’s a skidster—a nickname given to kids who treat the city as if it were their personal playground—the coppers would love nothing better than to lock him in juvie and toss the key. No, the only way anyone will take him seriously is if he uncovers some hard evidence.
A question here, a favor called in there, and soon Jed realizes this runs deep into the world of corporate criminals. After some dangerous meddling, he and his friends unravel clues leading to a project that could bring Skid City to its knees. To save his city, Jed must bend the laws of physics to their breaking point or it’s… time’s up, you’re dead, Jed.
First 250 words:
In about 2.07 seconds, I was going to crash. The math didn’t lie—the acceleration of an object by the pull of gravity is 32 feet per second squared, and falling at a velocity of… nevermind. I was going to crash, plain and simple.
I glanced down at my skoard as I fell, jamming my back foot against it so the magnets would catch. Please catch, c’mon. Please.
They caught. Now I had milliseconds to save my neck. As I fell into the alley, the glint of an awning caught my eye. I kicked my heel back, forcing the sleek bottom of the board to glance off the metal canopy. My skoard and I hit a railing a story below, then a dumpster, and finally the alley floor. I grabbed the edge of the second dumpster and skidded to a halt.
I blew out the breath I’d been holding and shook my head. Lucky those dumpsters were there. That’s the trouble with skoards. With their flat, frictionless bottom they just keep going—nearly impossible to stop. But that’s also what’s great about them.
It’s a love-hate relationship.
I double-clicked my heel and the hidden magnets from the bottom of my shoes and the chrome-covered top of my skoard separated. After that near-crash, I wanted to stay still for a second or two. Resting my hands on my knees, I took deep breaths. Adrenaline shot through my veins like electrical currents through a cell tower.
Calm down, Jed, you ain’t dead yet.
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