Saturday, October 25, 2014

NoQS Minion 3: PRINCESS NOT SO CHARMING, YA Fantasy

Title: PRINCESS NOT SO CHARMING
Genre: YA fantasy
Word count: 75,000

My Main Character’s Most Fearsome Obstacle

Keira’s most fearsome obstacle is her own memory. She’s not sure she wants to find out who she used to be. If she really did kill three sorcerers, she’s content to live without her lost memories. But if she’s innocent, maybe she can clear her name and stop the real murderer before they kill again. It’s a big maybe, though, and nobody but her boyfriend Lochlan understands the real repercussions of her decision. He and Keira realize that if she gets her memories back, she might remember murdering Lochlan’s parents, and she can’t live with that.
Query:

Dear Agent,

Seventeen-year-old Keira would trade her soul for a coffee IV. She hasn’t slept in ages, thanks to her constant nightmares. If only the dreams of blood-filled canals and burned villages were the stuff of adolescent fears, she’d be fine. But they’re memories of a forgotten past, and she might never be okay again.

Things only get worse when she stumbles across an oddly familiar book of spells in her attic and it opens a portal that pulls her into Fian, a world where time stands still under a powerful but unstable curse. Stranded, she can only sit back and watch as the curse literally tears the world – and her only hope of ever returning to Connecticut – apart.

After almost being sold into slavery with her only friend – a dog turned cute sorcerer, Lochlan – Keira escapes and learns the truth she’s been seeking: her identity, and the real reason behind her nightmares. She’s the princess of Edamar, missing for over fifty years. Unfortunately, she has little time to revel in her impeccable genes and lack of wrinkles. Turns out she’s also the suspect in the deaths of three people, and the most hated person in all of Fian.

But Keira knows she didn’t commit those murders, even if she did run away years ago. There must be another explanation for why she abandoned everyone she ever loved. With Lochlan’s help, it’s up to her to unlock her memories and shatter the curse before the land of Fian falls away into nothingness.



First 250 words

It’s been sixty-two hours since I last slept. Or maybe it’s seventy-two. I can’t remember. Insomnia does that to you. It also messes with your vision, making it hard to do simple things like insert a key into a lock.

The fools behind me whoop and holler when the key finally slips into place and the door bursts open. Energized by the promise of a night full of adult-free fun, they surge forward, pushing against me until I fall forward onto our pool house floor. Lizzy, my best friend, pulls me to safety before the masses trample me on their way in.

“Keira. There are like, a hundred people here,” she says, chewing her bottom lip. “There aren’t even this many people in our class!”

“Relax, it’s going to be great. No, not just great. Epic!” I shout, and the partiers all cheer in response. Drunk people get excited about everything.

Some guy grabs Mom’s antique crystal decanters off the bar and starts handing out shots. I pass mine to someone else. Alcohol makes me tired, and that’s the last thing I want.

The speakers blare to life, pumping eighties music into the crowded room and officially starting the party. I sway with the beat, comforted by the knowledge that the fifty other bodies pressing around me will keep my nightmares at bay.

I never wanted the party to get this big, but if I shut it down now, I’ll be left to face the night alone.

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