Sep 2, 2010

Off the Edge Query

Dear (Agent):

Nineteen-year-old Eden Anderson is beautiful, popular, and well endowed. Her adventurous personality and perfect figure makes her the envy of many girls from her small town in Idaho. But Eden is unexpectedly single and always leery of attention from the opposite sex after enduring a life-time of unwanted eyeball body scans and inappropriate comments. After finding the “man of her dreams,” she is dumped and discarded like yesterday’s paper when she won’t take their relationship to the next step—physically.

When Eden’s parents send her to live with her cousin, Claire, for the summer on the North Shore of Hawaii, the last thing she wants is to think about the male species. But Claire puts “Operation Eden” into play from day one, and tries setting her up with beach-volleyball-surfers hoping her cousin will find someone like her own Adonis-like boyfriend. Eden has no intention of indulging her cousin’s desires and only wants to relax on the beach while preparing her brain to start college in the fall.

Everything changes when Eden meets Noa, the mysterious playboy back from college and the one boy who can never be hers. She’s determined to have him, but only in her fantasy—the safest place for her beaten-down heart. When the charming Noa takes a sudden interest in Eden, she’s right to doubt his intentions—his reputation for being a "player" is as deep and never-ending as his pocket change, and she’s not willing to take that train again. Not to mention his “supposed” lunatic ex-girlfriend is stalking her. She tries her best to keep their relationship in the ‘just friends’ category, but Noa's good looks, charming attitude, and constant attention proves this a difficult task. When Eden agrees to accompany him on a sailing trip to Maui, she finds herself jumping off cliffs (something she swore she would never do again), swimming with sharks, and braving a storm that threatens to sink their tiny sailboat. Eden falls hard for the charming playboy, but it might not matter when an unexpected accident will most surely take everything away, including her life.

Eden’s summer adventure in Hawaii starts as a journey of escape, but follows deeper paths of real love and self-discovery. Come join Eden as she spends an adventurous summer in Paradise discovering if taking the leap of love is worth the risk. Told in Eden’s distinctive voice, at turns sarcastic and sensitive, “Off the Edge” is a complete 96,000 word young adult novel.

I spent five years as a tour-guide in Hawaii gaining knowledge of the island, culture, and expectations of typical tourists. Based on my real-life adventures while attending Brigham Young University Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu, “Off the Edge” brings to life the everyday insecurities that young adults face with heartbreak, love, and lose.

Query: Dead Spell

Brea Miller is straddling the social lines of small town Reston High School. On one hand, she’s caught the attention of one of its most popular boys and will have to take on an “elite” to get him. On the other, being one of the “in crowd” means betraying Harmony Wolcott, her outcast best friend of ten years whose never-ending criminal behavior has her in more trouble than out.

She is coping with the tragic loss of her Army sergeant father. Her mother's in major denial. And Harmony, the one person she can talk to, is out of control.

When Harmony dies, Brea feels guilty about the fight that defined their last days as friends. She inherits Harmony's Ouija board and faces her fear of the supernatural hoping to apologize and to find out why she committed suicide.

In short time, Brea's disapproving mother destroys the board leaving Brea possessed of Harmony's spirit. She begins having nightmares of a broken down house in the woods--a house that exists in real life--and undergoes drastic physical and emotional changes that catch the attention of Adam, Harmony's former boyfriend.

Brea goes from reclusive to reckless, breaking down barriers at school and at home by asserting herself in a way only Harmony knew how. She is torn between the good and bad boys and between living life as Brea or as Harmony. She investigates the house and its dark Wolcott history finding love and pain, acceptance and grief, and a way to help mother move on. As she experiences Harmony's fast-lane life and searches for closure, she realizes even best friends have secrets.

Dead Spell is a paranormal young adult novel complete at 55,000 words.

A Note on Submissions

Hey all,

Traffic on the site has been pretty high recently, and I'm busy in the day job and family life, so I want to let you know how I'm currently managing submissions.

I try to run through the submissions in the morning.  They go great with coffee.  I set up the posts for the day based on what's in queue by 7:00 am EST.  [NOTE: That time may change or disappear altogether on any given day.]

I stagger the posts so each one gets 2-3 hours at the top of the list.  I try to space them out as evenly as possible, but I don't schedule any to post in the wee hours of the morning (EST).  I know there are followers in the UK and down under, maybe if the submission volume goes up I'll post round-the-clock so you can get updates in the daytime.  Heck with your day jobs.  You need the distraction.

I delete submissions from the submission comment thread when I prepare the posts.  Except sometimes I forget to delete them.  Or I forget to post them.  Or  blogger gives me an error.  But to date, I am not aware of a situation where I deleted an entry and didn't post it.  However, I probably just set the stage for the very thing to happen.  Sorry to whomever it might affect.  [NOTE TO GRAMMAR NERDS: I'm pretty sure that's the proper use of affect vs. effect.  Also who vs. whom.  If not, let me know in the comments.  I don't have time to look it up right now.]

That's all for now.  I have to line some queries up for the day.

Rick