Works in Progress
Over at his "Nathan Bransford—Literary Agent" blog, Nathan recently posted his "The Third Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge," wherein commenters post the first paragraphs of their works-in-progress for a chance at some nifty prizes (like a critique!).
Anyhow, I posted (at 9:28 on Oct. 12) the first paragraph of my YA novel-in-progress, tentatively titled What the Dogs Told Me. So far, I have eleven chapters and fragments of a few others for this novel about a young animal communicator who tries to deny her gift but is eventually forced to reveal it. Here's the opening paragraph:
I generally don’t let it be known that animals tell me things. “Folks think you’re tetched if you go around saying things like that,” my great-aunt Myrie once told me. She also has the gift, although her gift is not like mine. Sometimes, I think my gift is more a curse than anything else, for it separates me from other people if they know. I keep quiet, so most of the kids at school don’t even notice I’m around. I always sit by myself in the back of the bus. But I notice them. And I know more about them than they can imagine.
Would you keep reading?
While I'm on works-in-progress, I'll update you on my other two.
Ferradiddledumday, my Appalachian version of Rumpelstiltskin, now has its own ISBN number and will be available in January from Cedar Creek Publishing. I already have a couple of readings and signings lined up. Promoting this "new spin on an old tale" will be fun.
Stuck is my 40,300-word middle-grade paranormal novel, in which an eleven-year-old girl—stuck in grief over her mother’s death—helps a ghost who’s stuck on earth until she finds her daughter. Here's the synopsis:
Jacie Addison returns from horse camp—where she was stuck with her nemesis—in time for her birthday. Her father gives her a locket and introduces her to Liz, his former high school sweetheart and now fiancée. Jacie, angry about her father’s decision to remarry six months after her mother’s death, is soon stuck with her future stepmother in a five-hour drive to a farm in Virginia. When Jacie can’t stand being stuck with Liz’s obnoxious nephews, she retreats to the woods and encounters Callie, a ghost stuck on earth until she locates her daughter. The locket’s history and a bit of sleuthing help Jacie find the information Callie needs. Before Callie leaves, she promises to send a sign if she finds Jacie’s mother on the other side. When Jacie has almost given up hope, the sign arrives in a way she never imagined.
Stuck, which has received a handful of agent rejections (some with very helpful comments), has been revised again and is currently entered in two contests. Consequently, I’m not querying again until the contests are over. One is the Smith Mountain Arts Council Novel Contest. Entrants had to submit 50 pages, and the judge picked three finalists who then had to submit their entire manuscripts. I'm one of the finalists, so I'll be in the money. I should know if I'm first, second, or third in about a month. The other contest will announce a winner on October 31. This one usually has four or five hundred entries, and some years no winner is chosen.
Meanwhile, I've been playing around with Stuck for a bit. I've imagined my main character Jacie telling her story in a school essay:
I’ve set part of Stuck in Union Hall, Virginia—near Smith Mountain Lake. I've imagined the house that Jacie’s stepmother owns must look something like this one, which is on a farm next to my family's homeplace.
In Stuck, Callie's tombstone sometimes emits a ball of light. I based the cemetery where she's buried on one down the road from me where reportedly a tombstone occasionally emits a ball of light which rolls down the hill and into a pond. (I haven’t seen the ball of light, but I know people who have.) There are some other “hainted” places near where I live, but this cemetery is the one I used for inspiration.
Would you read Stuck? My goal is to have it published or at least represented by an agent within the next two years. (I got the idea of posting my goal from Angie over at Notes From the Writing Chair. Figured it can't hurt to do so.)
Anyhow, I posted (at 9:28 on Oct. 12) the first paragraph of my YA novel-in-progress, tentatively titled What the Dogs Told Me. So far, I have eleven chapters and fragments of a few others for this novel about a young animal communicator who tries to deny her gift but is eventually forced to reveal it. Here's the opening paragraph:
I generally don’t let it be known that animals tell me things. “Folks think you’re tetched if you go around saying things like that,” my great-aunt Myrie once told me. She also has the gift, although her gift is not like mine. Sometimes, I think my gift is more a curse than anything else, for it separates me from other people if they know. I keep quiet, so most of the kids at school don’t even notice I’m around. I always sit by myself in the back of the bus. But I notice them. And I know more about them than they can imagine.
Would you keep reading?
While I'm on works-in-progress, I'll update you on my other two.
Ferradiddledumday, my Appalachian version of Rumpelstiltskin, now has its own ISBN number and will be available in January from Cedar Creek Publishing. I already have a couple of readings and signings lined up. Promoting this "new spin on an old tale" will be fun.
Stuck is my 40,300-word middle-grade paranormal novel, in which an eleven-year-old girl—stuck in grief over her mother’s death—helps a ghost who’s stuck on earth until she finds her daughter. Here's the synopsis:
Jacie Addison returns from horse camp—where she was stuck with her nemesis—in time for her birthday. Her father gives her a locket and introduces her to Liz, his former high school sweetheart and now fiancée. Jacie, angry about her father’s decision to remarry six months after her mother’s death, is soon stuck with her future stepmother in a five-hour drive to a farm in Virginia. When Jacie can’t stand being stuck with Liz’s obnoxious nephews, she retreats to the woods and encounters Callie, a ghost stuck on earth until she locates her daughter. The locket’s history and a bit of sleuthing help Jacie find the information Callie needs. Before Callie leaves, she promises to send a sign if she finds Jacie’s mother on the other side. When Jacie has almost given up hope, the sign arrives in a way she never imagined.
Stuck, which has received a handful of agent rejections (some with very helpful comments), has been revised again and is currently entered in two contests. Consequently, I’m not querying again until the contests are over. One is the Smith Mountain Arts Council Novel Contest. Entrants had to submit 50 pages, and the judge picked three finalists who then had to submit their entire manuscripts. I'm one of the finalists, so I'll be in the money. I should know if I'm first, second, or third in about a month. The other contest will announce a winner on October 31. This one usually has four or five hundred entries, and some years no winner is chosen.
Meanwhile, I've been playing around with Stuck for a bit. I've imagined my main character Jacie telling her story in a school essay:
Jacie Addison
English 7: Miss Macy’s 2nd period class
Assignment: Essay About a Major Life Problem
Being Stuck
You might not think that being stuck is a major life problem. But it is. I know about being stuck. I’m an expert.
Two years ago I was stuck in grief because my mom died. I really missed her. I still do. I was also stuck with a really mean, conceited, hateful girl in my class who made fun of my mom and played bad tricks on people. Nicole (that’s the girl) was stuck in her hatefulness and her dream of being in her sister’s wedding. I was even stuck with Nicole at horse camp. After she had a horse accident, I learned that Nicole was stuck with a mother who wasn’t very understanding, so maybe that’s why she was so horrible.
I guess my dad was stuck in missing Mom. He was stuck having to look after me by himself and do the housework and hold down a job. Then he lost his job and was stuck trying to get his new job started. When Dad told me he was marrying a woman he used to know before he met mom, I was stuck being angry at him for a long, long time.
Then I was stuck with Liz, the woman Dad dated in high school and who he wanted to marry now that Mom wasn’t ever coming back. I see now that Liz helped get Dad unstuck, but I didn’t realize it at the time. All I realized was that as soon as I was forced to live with Liz, I was stuck in a strange place without my friends.
I guess Liz was stuck with me being a real pain. Plus for a while we were both stuck with her pesky nephews (who also got stuck in the old outhouse until I helped get them unstuck). Then—and I know you are not going to believe this, Miss Macy, but I swear it’s true—I met a ghost who was stuck on earth until she found out what happened to her little girl.
Anyhow, it’s a very long story, but I finally became unstuck. So did everybody else. It would take a whole book to explain how all this happened, so you will just have to take my word for it.
What I am trying to say is that everyone gets stuck in something. But being stuck isn’t forever.
—The End—
Please, Miss Macy, do not read this essay to the class. The ghost part is very hard to explain.I’ve set part of Stuck in Union Hall, Virginia—near Smith Mountain Lake. I've imagined the house that Jacie’s stepmother owns must look something like this one, which is on a farm next to my family's homeplace.
In Stuck, Callie's tombstone sometimes emits a ball of light. I based the cemetery where she's buried on one down the road from me where reportedly a tombstone occasionally emits a ball of light which rolls down the hill and into a pond. (I haven’t seen the ball of light, but I know people who have.) There are some other “hainted” places near where I live, but this cemetery is the one I used for inspiration.
A closer view:
Would you read Stuck? My goal is to have it published or at least represented by an agent within the next two years. (I got the idea of posting my goal from Angie over at Notes From the Writing Chair. Figured it can't hurt to do so.)
~
Labels: writing
posted by Becky Mushko | 2:45 PM
5 Comments:
Becky, I'd read Stuck and any other book you write! And I really like Jacie's essay. I'd love for you to work the essay into a book query, just don't know how you'd do it.
Isn't that the one Kelly read? And she loved it. She will put a book down if it doesn't catch her interest.
I'd keep reading.
Why don't you take a picture of that cemetery on a cloudy day? It'd look really cool.
www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com
Yep, that's the one! But I've tweaked it (and added another grave in the cemetery) since Kelly rad the early version.
I'd like to get a picture of the old Carter cemetery on a foggy day, but usually the land around it is under cultivation and I can't get to it. Fortunately I got this picture before the ground outside the fence was plowed up.
Oh yea - most definitely. And I look forward to reading the rest!
I'm impressed with your output, Becky! Way to go. These all sound really interesting. I wish you the best of luck.
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