#13 and a Query Blogfest Entry

#13 on our countdown of best/worst things about being an aspiring writer...decisions, decisions. 


do you write your query before you really get into your manuscript OR do you wait until your manuscript is completed to tackle the dreaded task?


for the query posted below, i started it after.  this posed many problems for me.  i knew waaaay too many details about my story.  it was very, very difficult to pare it down.  for my current WIP, i wrote it first.  now as i write i can add in as many details (subplot, characters, issues, etc) as i want without confusing the main plot points and characters.  all set.  well, probably not, but i'll worry about that when the final 40% is completed.

 And now, only one day late, here is my blogfest entry for Jodi Henry's Query Letter Blogfest.

Dear Agent,


Fifteen year old Dawn Buchanen has nowhere left to hide. She’s charged with arson, blamed for spreading an influenza strain so bizarre it’s dubbed Influenza X, and hunted by a spark-throwing figure that can’t possibly be human. And to think being known as a goody-goody used to be her only problem. Those days are as gone as the hems of her burnt pants. Oh, and her sanity is pretty close to up and leaving, too.

The only thing left she finds comfort in are her drawings. They seem to be trying to tell her something and she’s compelled to draw more often and more vividly every day. A new world comes alive on her paper. Through her boyfriend, Lawrence, she learns the world on her paper truly exists—in another dimension called Themura. He confesses he is a Transporter, one of very few with the gift to be able to go to the world she thought she created with her charcoal pencil.

She makes a confession of her own. She can see his aura—along with all the rest of the Transporters’ glowing forms. While she swallowed his news without a second thought (okay, there may have been a third), he didn’t return the favor. He’s gone. To make matters worse, he blabs about her rare “gift” of vision. Now Transporters are watching every move she makes, prepared to haul her to Themura to put her on trial. Confused and scared, she’s determined to learn who, or what, she is. She believes the answers are written in an old family journal. It's too bad the secrets are stuck inside its seamless binding. No lock, no opening. Only whispered stories hinting at its contents.


It’s only a matter of time before she’s caught by somebody. The trouble is, since everyone is out looking for her, the real evil doers are getting closer to finding what they’re looking for: the portal between the dimensions. If they do, life will never be the same. However, if Dawn can somehow help the Themurans keep their little secrets, she just might save the worlds.


I hope you’ll fall in love with Solstice, an 80,000 word YA Fantasy novel, as easily as Dawn falls into trouble.  When I'm not writing about make-believe worlds, I'm sparking an interest in reading and writing for my second graders or reading books to my cuddlers at home.


Thanks for your time and consideration,


Christy