/me waves enthusiastically from DenmarkI’m currently querying a YA contemporary; I have fulls and partials out with agents and am starting a new MS while waiting. Depending on agent feedback, I may be looking for help brainstorming or reading revisions of that MS, but mostly I have an eye toward the new project. I’d love to find someone who likes the whole process–brainstorming-over-text on through reading a completed draft. The new MS is right on the border of MG/YA (the No-Man’s-Land of a 13-14yo protagonist). I know I need to sort that out and pick one, but it’s quite early in planning/drafting. ? I’ll get there.I write contemporary (though this new one might be contemp with a twist, flirting with some unexplained, magicky events). Since this box asks me to explain why I write: I do it to better understand the world and how I fit in, and to offer readers a way to see the world..and to find a way they, too, might fit into it.Other things to know?
Plot matters to me (and I’m annoyingly good at poking holes in plot logic), but I am primarily a character-focused writer with a lyrical bent.
I have lots of experience speaking publicly and acting, giving me a decent ear for dialogue.
A sense of humor is vital! I want a CP who takes craft seriously, but not themselves.
I am a “rising tide lifts all boats” person. I want a CP who is comfortable sharing opportunities and resources, who sees the relationship as a collaboration, not a competition. I’m the sort of person who will send you info on anything I come across that might be helpful to you, from conferences to contests to articles to MSWL items from agents! That works best when it feels reciprocal.
Non-writing: I love bicycles, public art, the natural sciences, birds/bugs/jellyfish/what-have-you, underdog sports movies from the 90s, superhero movies, food and cooking, plants, learning languages, theater and acting, and the weirdness of being human. I admire people who are good at making physical things (carpentry, knitting, pottery), but I tend to go in fits and starts in that regard.
Six forgotten giants. Two inseparable brothers. A bike thief. An arsonist at large. A family, unraveling.
Since this is still in its very early stages, this is teaser and not query. It is a contemporary at the moment, though there may be a touch of magical realism by the end. And the protagonist is on the line between MG and YA–I’ll have to make that call as well.
I know there’s not a ton here to go on, but in an ideal world, I’m looking for a CP relationship that extends beyond this work. Please check out my crit style, reading preferences, and samples from the work I am currently querying. And drop me a line! I’d love to swap some pages and see how we mesh.
This is from the MS I’m querying, not the WIP.
Reflection 1: As we prepare to read The Arabian Nights, make an argument foror againstthe choice of such an old text. Can Scheherazade offer anything to modern readers?
What makes a story valuable—wherever or whenever it’s from—is that it matters to even one person. This story matters to me.
I mean, I’m supposed to be.
MOM: Let’s call her Clementine.
DAD: Is our daughter a fruit?
MOM: Oh, come on. You remember that actress who named her kid Apple. Cute, right?
DAD: Do you remember the student I had in Western Civilization last year?
DAD: Kale. I want to make sure before we proceed that you are aware food names are a tough sell in, for example, college classrooms.
MOM: [grabbing a baby name book] What about an herb? Something subtle. Sage? Or…look! Paprika!
DAD: Maybe we should consider myinterests as we weigh this monumental decision.
MOM: What, you want to name her Athena? Oooh—Persephone could be good!
But of all the gods and heroes in the myths, folktales, and fairy tales he loved so much, the name my dad chose for me was Zade, a nod to Scheherazade, the storyteller who told a thousand and one tales in TheArabian Nights.
He always wanted me to be the brave one. The one who would risk everything to save someone else, the way Scheherazade stepped in to rescue her people from a king who took a new wife each night and murdered her at dawn. He wanted me to be the clever one, capable of inventing a string of stories compelling enough to snare a bloodthirsty king. Spinning an endless thread of cliffhangers, Scheherazade survived nearly three years before the king told her she no longer had to worry about losing her life at sunrise.
More broadly: I’d like to write both YA and MG, especially stories focused on family and friend relationships and break-ups. I’ve published MG poetry, nonfiction articles, and short stories, as well as a ton of curriculum materials in my day job.
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