Wednesday, August 24, 2016

YA Urban Fantasy: ART OF IN BETWEEN



Author's Name: Jennifer McBride
Category: YA
Genre: Fantasy (My work is urban fantasy, but I'm willing to read all types).
Stage of Completion: Mostly Polished and Looking to Query
Preferred Critique Style: Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
Cat or Dogs: Chickens
Tea or Coffee: Neither

Short Pitch

A girl whose blood can bring art to life breaks into a magic corporation to steal back her kidnapped half-brother’s soul.

Writing Sample

On the night of my kidnapped brother’s twenty-first birthday, I jumped off the roof of a skyscraper with a rope in one hand and a live, bagged chicken in the other. At this altitude, the wind hit me like a cold battering ram. It ripped through my dark ponytail and slammed against the goggles strapped over my ski mask.
My adoptive sister, Ninette, rappelled down beside me. Our nylon ropes unreeled from our harnesses, hissing as we paralleled our own reflections down eighteen stories of lightly-tinted glass. I’ve never really been afraid of heights before, but sitting in our farm’s backyard peach tree was different than jumping down a 180-foot drop.
I shouldn’t have been so terrified. I knew I wasn’t going to die tonight. That’s because I was going to die on my seventeenth birthday, crushed under the bumper of a blue Honda Civic. I knew that because I’d seen it in a dream. My visions about the future were rare and muddled, but if the Make-a-Wish Foundation accepted prophetic dreams as diagnoses, I’d definitely be getting a free trip to Disneyland.
Knowing I wasn’t going to end up as some pulpy red smear of sidewalk putty should have been reassuring. Too bad logic didn’t keep my stomach from tying itself into tight pink knots. I tried to focus on our target instead--a twenty-fifth story window. It was the only one that had lines of magic light wriggling against the glass.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Jemnifer,
    I have a YA Dystopian/historical novel centered around art (architecture, graffiti, music) that might be reworked to include some fantasy elements (crossing through paintings type). Finished. Polished. But recently I decided the genre might not fit it. I'd love a fresh pair of eyes. Thanks.Sussu.
    (I put a sample under MG because I write MG too, but this novel is for a YA audience.)

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  2. Hello Jennifer,
    I remember reading your first sentence back in the Red Light Green Light contest and I loved it even then. I've loved this first page too and if you would like to work together, I would enjoy that. I have two novels that I am trying to find CP(s) for, my contemporary and my post apocalypse. My post apocalypse is almost done, but I’m not sure the structure is working which is why I’m looking for some new readers. As for my contemporary novel, it’s a little rougher. Feel free to email me at rachelhanville@gmail.com if you would like to work together. Have a great day.

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  3. Hey Jennifer,

    I think we could be a fit. My work is listed under Eden, YA SF. If you're interested send your first chapter and query to HCarpenter2@yahoo.com and we can go from there.

    Heather

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Hi Jennifer,
    I wonder if we might be a good fit. My entry is under Paper Seeds- it's contemporary with some magical elements. My main character uses magic seeds to grow things (boys in this case :) from books. Let me know if you're interested! erinkingwrites@gmail.com

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