Saturday, April 30, 2016

Query Kombat 2016 Free Pass

The free pass post got buried, so I thought I'd boot it back to the top. To enter the free pass, click this link and it will take you back to the original post. 

And don't miss Laura's free pass.


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Friday, April 29, 2016

Query Kombat 2016 Judges

Time for our AMAZING lineup of judges for this year's Query Kombat tournament. Many of them were contestants in prior contests. We've worked hard to find authors that form a diverse group of opinions, talents, and specialties from all categories and genres.



Query Kombat would not be possible without the wonderful people who donate their time to help. For this month-long contest, we've recruited thirty-six industry professionals to critique entries and vote for a winner of each matchup. Each and every one of these judges is participating out of the kindness of their heart, so please join the QK Crew in thanking them for volunteering.

THANK YOU!

Remember that the best way to thank judges for their time is to buy their books. Michelle has compiled a Goodreads list to make finding the judges' books easier, and they’ve written some great stuff. Also be sure to follow the judges on Twitter. On May 11, we'll be hosting a Twitter party where writers can reach out to the judges and ask questions about their entries, writing, querying, etc. Join us at 3:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. EST. The hashtag will be #QKChat

There are so many judges this year, we're breaking the bios down across all three host blogs. Go here to see them all: MikeLaura, and Michelle. For a rule refresher, click here. To donate, click here.

Now, without further ado, I'd like to introduce one set of judges for Query Kombat 2016.





Heather Van Fleet is stay-at-home-mom turned book boyfriend connoisseur. She’s the wife of her high school sweetheart and the mother of three amazing little girls. In her spare time, she can be found with her head buried in her Kindle, guzzling down copious amounts of coffee or writing about unattainable, perfect men and the heroines that sweep them off their feet.

Heather has been working in the publishing industry for over five years, and she currently works for BookFish Books as a content editor. She’s represented by Stacey Donaghy of Donaghy Literary, and her Embattled Hearts Series releases with Sourcebooks starting in February, 2017. 


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Jamie Howard is a legal and compliance specialist by day, author by night, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art. When she’s not tapping away at the keyboard or capturing the world through her trusty Canon, you can find her binge-watching TV shows, devouring books, and perfecting her gaming skills. She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs in New Jersey, and is almost always awake early enough to see the sun rise, even on the

weekends.

Jamie is the author of Until We Break, Until It’s Right, and the upcoming All The Ways You Saved Me with St. Martin’s Press. She is represented by Jessica Watterson of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

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Jamie Zakian is a YA/NA writer and freelance editor. When not writing, she enjoys farming, archery, and blazing new trails on her 4wd quad with her rowdy family. Her debut NA novel Ashby Holler releases June 14th from Limitless Publishing and her YA sci-fi thriller is forthcoming from Month9Books. Check out her website Writer's Retreat or follow her on Twitter Jamie Zakian (@demoness333) | Twitter 
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Kat Hinkel is a thriller writer living in Philadelphia. She is a Pitch Wars 2015 alum and is represented by Jaida Temperly at New Leaf. You can often find her drinking old fashioneds at costume parties, playing music, or (obviously) writing.




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Aden Polydoros grew up in Long Grove, Illinois, and now lives in Arizona. He is a writer of young adult fiction, and represented by Mallory Brown of TriadaUS Literary Agency. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys reading and going on hikes in the mountains. Aden's first book, PANDORA FROM THE CLAY, is due for Summer 2017 from Entangled Publishing, and was one of the manuscripts entered in Query Kombat 2015. 
https://www.facebook.com/aden.polydoros



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Kelly deVos is a Young Adult writer living in Gilbert, Arizona, represented by Kathleen Rushall of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Kelly currently serves as an intern to Entangled Senior Editor, Kate Brauning, and is an arts administration intern for the Marooned Journal at Arizona State University. She is also a contributor to the YA Buccaneers and YAgabonds.



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Kimberly Ito writes many angsty things, lately in the form of YA contemporary fiction. When she isn’t writing, she works as a freelance editor, proofreader, and Japanese-English translator. Kimberly grew up in the US and has lived in Japan for roughly half of her life. She currently lives just outside Tokyo with her husband, children, a spoiled Shiba Inu, and an insufferable lap cat.

You can find Kimberly on Twitter: @kimberlyito, or at her website: kimberlyito.com.


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Lisa A. Koosis is a prize-winning short story writer, whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Family CircleThe Poughkeepsie Journal, and the Hugo-nominated Abyss & Apex.  Lisa is a member of the SCBWI, an ambassador for National Novel Writing Month, and an active member of her local writing community. She is hopelessly addicted to writing contests, anything seashore-related, and accessories (particularly feather earrings and anything with fringe). Although she will forever consider herself a Long Islander, currently Lisa lives in New York’s historic Hudson Valley with her family, both two- and four-legged.  Her debut YA sci-fi novel, Resurrecting Sunshine, will be released by Albert Whitman & Co in Fall 2016.




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Marty Mayberry writes adult and young adult fiction. When she’s not dreaming up ways to mess with her character’s lives, she works as an RN/Clinical Documentation Specialist. She has a BA in International Affairs in German and an Associate’s Degree in Nursing. She lives in New England with her husband, children, and three neurotic cats. She’s a member of SCBWI, YARWA, and a PRO member of RWA, and a PitchWars Mentor. Her young adult sci-fi thriller, PHOENIX RISING, won the 2015 YARWA’s Rosemary Award for speculative fiction.

Twitter: @marty_mayberry



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Sarah Schauerte Reida is a writer, lawyer, and ugly animal advocate. Growing up in the Midwest (Illinois, to be precise), she read everything she could get her hands on, as well as watched many, many movies during her parents' "camping" trips involving electricity and s'mores in a microwave. A member of The Sweet Sixteens, Sarah's debut middle grade novel, Monstervile: A Lissa Black Production, is slated for release in September of 2016 from Sky Pony Press. 

A graduate of Saint Louis University (B.A). and Case Western Reserve University School of Law (J.D.), Sarah makes a living helping veteran business owners compete for federal contracts. She and her husband Scott live in the Atlanta area with their dog and four cats. By the time this biography reaches print, they will probably have acquired another animal. 

Follow Sarah on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SarahSchauerte. Also, you can access her writing website at: http://www.lissablackproductions.com.




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Wade Albert White is the author of the middle grade novel, The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes, (selected for the Middle Grade Author Buzz Panel at Book Expo America in 2016), and its sequel, The Adventurer’s Guide to Dragons (and Why They Keep Biting Me), forthcoming from Little Brown Books for Young Readers in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In addition to writing, he teaches part time (mostly to do with ancient languages), draws with his kids (usually robots fighting other robots), and tries to improve his time for running a 10K (sadly he seems to be getting slower rather than faster). Also, he owns one pretend cat and one real one, and they get along fabulously. He is represented by Elizabeth Kaplan of the Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency.

Twitter: @wadealbertwhite
Website: wadealbertwhite.com   

           

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When Wendy Nikel isn't traveling in time, exploring magical islands, or investigating mysterious phenomena, she enjoys a quiet life near Utah's Wasatch Mountains with her husband and sons. She has a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by AE,Daily Science Fiction, and elsewhere, and she is a member of the SFWA. She is represented by Richard Curtis.


facebook.com/wendynikel


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Tracy Townsend lives in Bolingbrook, Illinois and teaches English at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. She has studied at DePauw University, the National University of Ireland (Galway), and DePaul University, where she obtained degrees in English, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric. She is a member of the Science Fiction Research Association and other academic organizations, which allows her to write very long things and read them aloud to people who are obliged to behave politely. Her sf/f writing draws on her experience as a lapsed Catholic, assistant martial arts instructor, comics fangirl, tabletop role-player, and obsessive hound for obscure mythology. Inexplicably, other uses for that resume have yet to present themselves. Her work is represented by the effortlessly elegant and classy Bridget Smith of Dunham Lit. Most recently, her short story "Late Arrivals" appeared in Luna Station Quarterly,  Issue 25.
Tracy devotes time she doesn’t have to cooking, gardening, writing, and seriously pondering the treadmill in her basement. She is married to her high school sweetheart, with whom she shares two remarkable children. They are – naturally – named after characters from books.
You can find Tracy on Twitter (@TheStorymatic) more often than she really ought to be.


Thursday, April 28, 2016

Spring Query Extravaganza -- 7

Here we go with another query warm up for Query Kombat.

Please remember these are my thoughts only and I'm just one subjective opinion. Others may feel differently on how to shape a query. 

My next victim willing participant:



Dear [Ms./Mr.][Agent Last Name]:

[Personalize e.g. I understand you are looking for magical Middle Grade books with funny protagonists]. I’m excited to share MIRA AND THE MAGINS with you, which features a science-minded main character with two moms.

As the homeschooled only child of a U.S. patent attorney and an aerospace engineer, twelve-year-old Mira could have already completed her G.E.D. Instead, her moms decided she should spend the past year preparing to apply to Roebling’s Academy, an elite engineering prep-school in Austria. Mira would love nothing more than to study science at Roebling’s, but it’s hard to get her hopes up about admission when her success or failure to get into the Academy also determines whether her moms receive either much needed lab funding or notoriety.

 And then Mira is accidentally assigned an imaginary friend whom only she can see: Gimmer. Hailing from the Unseen Realm where all sorts of magical creatures like him apparently exist, Gimmer’s unique ability to teleport all over the place is driving Mira nuts. But Gimmer refuses to leave because he needs to meet one last quota of imagination magic to apply for a promotion in his world. After centuries of being looked down upon and ignored by his society just because his magical class is a Secondary color, rather than being a Primary or Tertiary color, Gimmer wants to prove to his world that Secondaries are good for more than just being ‘gofors.’

But, unbeknownst to Gimmer and Mira, the corrupt governing body of Gimmer’s world is close to completing a spell that would enable them to enslave all of humanity with their magic. The only missing piece? Gimmer’s teleport power. They’ve been trying to quietly obtain it for years with no success. More drastic measures must now be taken. To siphon his power—a process with a very high fatality rate—the Council captures Gimmer. Mira will have to decide whether to stay the course of her known, successful future that’s been planned for her entire life, or risk everything she believes in to try and save the life of an imaginary friend she didn’t make up.

MIRA AND THE MAGINS is a 68,000 word middle grade Contemporary Fantasy that can be described as Monsters, Inc. meets THE ART OF WISHING by Lindsay Ribar, sans the fur and romance.

As for me, I am a California video game attorney with a film production degree. I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

With my crazy comments:

Dear [Ms./Mr.][Agent Last Name]:

[Personalize e.g. I understand you are looking for magical Middle Grade middle grade (Subjective, but to me it looks odd when capitalized.) books with funny protagonists]. I’m excited to share MIRA AND THE MAGINS with you, which features a science-minded main character with two moms.

 As the homeschooled only child of a U.S. patent attorney and an aerospace engineer, twelve-year-old Mira could have already completed her G.E.D. Instead, her moms decided she should spend the past year preparing to apply to Roebling’s Academy, an elite engineering prep-school in Austria. Mira would love nothing more than to study science at Roebling’s, but it’s hard to get her hopes up about admission when her success or failure to get into the Academy also determines whether her moms receive either much needed lab funding or notoriety. (This last sentence is rather long. Maybe it can be simplified. Mira would love to study science at Roebling's, but it's hard to get her hopes up--especially when her failure will cost her moms needed lab funding and clients.)

 And then Mira is accidentally assigned (We've taken an abrupt turn, but I'm flowing with it. Who assigned them together? That info might help ground the reader.)  an imaginary friend whom only she can see: Gimmer. Hailing from the Unseen Realm where all sorts of magical creatures like him apparently exist (this gives it a hint of voice), Gimmer’s unique ability to teleport all over the place is driving Mira nuts. (Tie it to the first paragraph.) How is she supposed to study? But Gimmer(I would rewrite this sentence from Mira's POV. Her attempts to give him the cold shoulder or trick him into leaving fall flat.) refuses to leave because he needs to meet one last quota of imagination magic to apply for a promotion in his world. After centuries of being looked down upon and ignored by his society just because his magical class is a Secondary color, rather than being a Primary or Tertiary color,  (Too much unnecessary detail. It's a subplot, not needed for the query.) Gimmer sees Mira as his chance to wants to prove to his world that Secondaries are he is good for more than just being a ‘gofors.’

But, unbeknownst to Gimmer and Mira, the corrupt governing body of Gimmer’s world is close to completing a spell that would enable them to enslave all of humanity with their magic. Their only missing piece? is Gimmer’s teleport power. They’ve been After trying to quietly obtain it for years with no success., Mmore drastic measures must now be taken. The Council captures Gimmer to siphon his power—a process with a very high fatality rate—the Council captures Gimmer. (End the sentence with the most punch-high fatality.) Mira will have to decide whether to stay the course of her known, successful planned out future that’s been planned for her entire life (I think known and successful says the same thing as planned. I liked planned better.), or risk everything she believes in to try and save the life of an imaginary friend she didn’t make up. (she didn't know she loved? the imaginary pain-in-the-bottom she didn't know she loved? The imaginary pain-in-the-bottom she can't live without? Play around with adding more voice to it.) 

MIRA AND THE MAGINS is a 68,000 (It's on the wordy side for MG, but I've seen ms longer sell.) word middle grade Contemporary Fantasy contemporary fantasy that can be described as Monsters, Inc. meets THE ART OF WISHING The Art of Wishing (Keep the comp titles smaller than your title.) by Lindsay Ribar, sans the fur and romance.

As for me, I am a California video game attorney with a film production degree. I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

A little trimming to take off some tangent side plot. A little rewording to shorten some sentences. A little added voice. And this query will be all set!

Just remember it's all subjective and change what works for you. I hope this helps. 

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Spring Query Extravaganza -- 6

Here we go with another query warm up for Query Kombat.

Please remember these are my thoughts only and I'm just one subjective opinion. Others may feel differently on how to shape a query. 

My next victim willing participant:



Sherlock Holmes meets Fullmetal Alchemist when an ex-army doctor teams up with a fey magician to solve his patient's murder. WITCHMARK is a 76,000-word adult fantasy novel with romantic elements set in a world with magic and early 20th-century technology.

Dr. Miles Singer, a veteran returned from a recent war, has faked his death to work at a cash-strapped veteran's hospital. His quiet life hangs in jeopardy when a fatally poisoned patient begs him to find his murderer. Miles promises and the patient dies, but not before he exposes Miles's secret healing powers to a witness. Instead of reporting him as a witch, the witness wants to help Miles investigate.

Miles retraces the victim's last days in the company of Tristan Hunter, a fellow-magician he shouldn't be falling for. They pursue a murderer who steals or destroys evidence faster than they can find leads. When Miles and Tristan discover the secret Miles's patient was murdered to keep, they must choose between ignoring the suffering of the unseen few to live in comfort, or bringing down the technological advancements that millions depend on.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

With my crazy comments:

Dear : (I'm sure the writer just left this off when sending to me.)

Sherlock Holmes meets Fullmetal Alchemist when an ex-army doctor teams up with a fey magician to solve his patient's murder. WITCHMARK is a 76,000-word adult LGBT fantasy novel with romantic elements set in a world with magic and early 20th-century technology. (Intriguing. The word count might be a little low for adult. But I would spell out the type of technology by using examples, such as: airships and steam engines.)

Dr. Miles Singer, a veteran returned from a recent war, has faked his death to work at a cash-strapped veteran's hospital. (Why fake his death? Is there a reason he can't work where he wants? I think explaining this would clear up some questions and provide his motivation.) His quiet life hangs in jeopardy when a fatally poisoned patient begs him to find his murderer. Miles promises and the patient dies, but not before he exposes Miles's secret healing powers to a witness.(I hope the patient revealed him accidentally. But I'm confused. Is Miles the ex-army doctor? Is the witness the magician? That's why maybe it's better to put your genre/word count paragraph last so the reader doesn't form expectations of people they expect to see in the query.) Instead of reporting him as a witch, the witness wants to help Miles investigate.

Miles retraces the victim's last days in the company of Tristan Hunter, a fellow-magician he shouldn't be falling for. (So Tristan is the witness and the fey sorcerer? I would just use his name above and save some confusion. But this makes it sound like they both have magic. The opening paragraph implied only one did. Tristan and Miles. So would this be a LGBT story? That should for sure be in the genre paragraph.) They pursue a murderer who steals or destroys evidence faster than they can find leads. (This doesn't tell us much. I still feel in the dark about the main plot.) When Miles and Tristan discover the secret Miles's patient was murdered to keep (Too vague. You won't entice the reader by keeping them in the dark. What secret?) , they must choose between ignoring the suffering of the unseen few(What suffering?) to live in comfort, or bringing down the technological advancements (What sort of advancements?) that millions depend on.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I think this query is suffering from vagueness and too few details. It could be that the author is trying so hard to leave something surprising in the manuscript that they are unintentionally hurting their chances. I am unsure of the larger plot beyond a patient being poisoned. I don't know what the antagonist is trying to accomplish or what Miles has to save the world from. There are mentions of technology in the query but not enough world building to show us what sort of technology.

The meat of the query is only two paragraphs. There is plenty of space to expand and gives us the heart of the story by rewriting the vague parts, providing the MC motivation and showing how the problem escalates. It sounds like a fantastic story if we had more details. I hope this helps.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Finishing a Series

Kelley Grant is here to share the difficulties and joys of finishing a multi-book series. And Kelley should know, her third book just released, THE WORLD WEAVERS! The first book is Desert Rising, followed by The Obsidian Temple.


I am a pantser when it comes to writing. Oh, I try to plot and outline – but when I sit down, all that planning flies out the window and the characters decide where the story goes. But pantsing wasn’t working while writing The World Weavers, the concluding novel of the Desert Rising series.



I’d set everything up. The deities were crazy and flawed but still powerful. The prophecy was incomplete and would never defeat the deities. A dozen characters, scattered across the territories, traveled toward destiny. The deities’ army outnumbered our heroes’ army 3 to 1. I was weaving a dozen ends together. Characters had to overcome impossible odds if they wanted to win the war.

But as I started my usual writing process the characters kept trying to take me in new directions. “That’s boring,” Sulis would say. “I want to explore the desert, not win a war!” And new characters began clamoring to be heard. I began to lose track of who was where, when, and what chapter I left them in and what direction to point this mess in.

In other words – I had to start planning and plotting just to keep track of the who, what, and where of each chapter. I created a chapter-by-chapter outline by modifying a spreadsheet my editor gave me for Desert Rising. It included each point-of-view character, how many pages per POV, and what events occurred in the chapter. I added a column for the month and time of year to ensure characters didn’t arrive months after the final battle. I documented each chapter as I finished it in this spreadsheet. This spreadsheet became invaluable when, during the line-editing phase, my editor and I realized The World Weavers needed a new POV character to show the planning of the warriors of the One. By studying the chapter outline I pinpointed nine sections of the novel where this character’s POV would join seamlessly into the story. We were on a tight deadline and I wrote eighteen pages of the new character viewpoint into the novel in four days.  

I made a separate sheet detailing the plotlines for the characters and how I saw them ending. Each time a character began steering off course, I redirected them to that one goal. I wasn’t entirely successful – we ended up cutting pages of unnecessary details from the novel – but it helped give a focus to the scattered bits of the story.

And then, the hardest part. I had to have faith in my characters, the story already written, and my own ability to bring it all together. Although I had researched some military strategy for these books, I am not naturally strategic. And those books were telling me that a tiny force going against a very large one was going to lose. I had to trust in my character’s innate sneakiness, the harsh desert environment and some good (and bad) luck to set up the climax and resolution of the series.

The most difficult part of editing World Weavers was simplifying the different threads. I’d done so much research and tried to pack as much of that into the novel as I could, as a way of legitimizing the twists and turns. The story did not need it. It was enough that the research informed my writing. The reader did not need to be bored with the details. My editor and I cut long explaining sections and rearranged chapters for a fluid reading experience. I’d also tried to pack in every last character-building detail; this was the last book, my last chance to feed these tidbits to the readers! Editing those out was a case of “killing your darlings.” I loved those details, but they slowed the story down.

I spent quite a bit of time cursing myself for choices I made in the first two novels. I regretted everything from choosing not to capitalize soldiers of Voras (making it impossible to call men in the army soldiers) to larger issues with the religion that I had to work around. I would like to do improve my pantsing methods in my next series, thinking through how each element of the first book will cascade the choices for each remaining book. I imagine that if I had been a plotter I would not have run into such issues. But the joy of writing, for me, is in watching the plot appear as my characters live it. The story is a magic spell, writing itself. I’m lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time, scribbling down the details.


"It frightens me, knowing the One has called up two such strong individuals. It means that there are troubled times in our future, and you must prepare yourselves."

The Temple at Illian is the crown jewel of life in the Northern Territory. There, pledges are paired with feli, the giant sacred cats of the One god, and are instructed to serve the One's four capricious deities. Yet Sulis, a young woman from the Southern Desert, has a different perspective—one that just might be considered heresy, but that is catching on rather quickly …

Sulis's twin, Kadar, meanwhile, is part of a different sort of revolution. When Kadar falls in love with a woman from a Forsaken caste, he finds he's willing to risk anything to get these people to freedom. But with Sulis drawing a dangerous level of attention from the deities, and war about to break out on two fronts, change may not come as easily as either twin had hoped.

An astonishing debut, Kelley Grant's Desert Rising brings to life a powerful new epic fantasy tale of determination and self-discovery.




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Kelley Grant is the author of the Desert Rising trilogy, which includes Desert Rising, The Obsidian Temple and The World Weavers. She grew up in the hills of Ohio’s Amish country. Her best friends were the books she read, the stories she created and the forest and fields that inspired her. She and her husband live on a wooded hilltop and are owned by five cats, a dog and numerous uninvited critters. Besides writing, Kelley teaches yoga and meditation, sings kirtan with her husband, and designs brochures and media.