What Agents Want

We all need to write the stoies in our heads. We know that. But - what then? Query, query, query, right?. And research, research, research, right??!!

Well, here we are on Writing Wednesday, sending you good vibes and some agent wants (just in case your story happens to be a little flexible and can fit one of these). Follow your heart, and then query your perfect match. We wish you the best of luck!! (note: we highly recommend Query Tracker, Agent Query, and P & E.) Oh, and we write YA/MG, so we're mentioning only that. If you write something else, click on the links and see what's write right for you! (in fact, always click on the links before querying!)

oh, and my (erica) completed ms is a contemporary romance, my half-done WIP is an MG ghost story and I've got a couple upper/edgy YA in the works (but trying to finish one before I end up with a drawer [er, harddrive] full of 15,000 words beginnings!)

Kathleen Ortiz at Lowenstein Associates : YA: male POV romance, cyberpunk, complex thriller with a strong MC, historical fiction with a commercial hook (think outside the box), apocalyptic (as in during, not before or after). MG: contemporary or fantasy adventure, a boy book (beyond "friends"), a technology slant, steampunk.

Mary Kole at Andrea Brown: This list as been there for awhile, but since she hasn't updated, assumably it's still active: YA that's edgy and dark (with voice); YA/MG ghosts, murders, and mystery (highlight some creepy ghosts); anything set in a theatre; really good issue books; YA dystopian; YA in verse; MG with an incredible voice.

(interjecting advice from WriteOnCon about Pippen Properties - advice I wish I would've known a few weeks ago): The tone of your query can get you far. Your voice as a writer is visible even as you introduce yourself. Watch every noun, verb, and in between words too, they all count. no no to jumping right into your synopsis, let us know who you are and what you're about. also  if you really feel like we're perfect, offering us a one-month exclusive gets major brownie points, and we often read give the query priority. one more yes to high fantasy, yes to fantasy, yes to everything...

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Alyssa Eisner Heinkin at Trident Media: YA epic romance, snarky contemporary, a YA counterpart to Steig Larsson (erica says, really?? I had no idea this could exist!!)

Jill Corcoran at Herman Agency: YA/MG out-of-the-box paranormal with a huge payoff at the end, MG with true middle school emotion (think hormonal, yet babes-in-the-woods), commercial (always).

Greenhouse Literary: thrillers, historical, "something wonderful."

 Taylor Martindale at Sandra Dijkstra: gritty contemporary, unique paranormal/urban fantasy, and any story with a captivating voice.
There are, obviously tons more. I don't tweet or I'd maybe pick a few more up there (yes, we have a twitter account, that's ALL christy.) If you know more, please post in the comments. We're all here to help!!

So, what about you? What are you writing??