Pitch:
Sixteen-year-old Max’s ability to see the dead puts a real damper on his social life. His BFF’s a possessed cat and he’s grappling with unrequited feelings for the quarterback. When a bus carrying the football team vanishes, Max must embrace his abilities and find the players before it’s too late.
Excerpt:
There’s a dead boy in the corner of my room.
Every night he crops up through the door of my closet and stands in the darkness, watching me with his black button eye. Only one. The other is just a dark abyss where an eye should be. His eyelid sags, its flesh split in two like someone wedged a crowbar into the socket and popped it straight out of his skull.
He couldn’t have been older than ten when he died. His face is small and pudgy, a layer of crusted blood on his sallow skin. He gapes with an unhinged jaw, slouching slightly to the right on his mangled leg; the crushed bones jutting out against the fabric of his pants at all the wrong angles.
Harrowing as he looks, the spirit never utters a word. The only time he’s ever made a sound was when I asked his name. He opened his mouth wide like he wanted to scream, but out came a bleary groan.
“Maah—vuu.”
Ever since then, I’ve called him Marvin.
I try every night to push Marvin out of mind, but being around him is like a falling dream I can’t wake up from. For the past two weeks, Marvin’s scared me absolutely shitless.
I remove my glasses and the bloody dead boy becomes a blob of porcelain skin. It almost makes him more frightening—even when he’s fuzzy, the static spark he puts in the air still bristles every hair on my arms.
Hi Rowyn,
This sounds awesome! I’d love to take a look at the full manuscript. Can you send it – as well as your query letter – to me at jess@browerliterary.com with PITCH WARS and your title in the subject? Thanks! Can’t wait to read.
This looks absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait to see more! Please send the query, synopsis, and first 30 pages to me via QueryManager (http://queryme.online/ZabeEllor)
If more than one JDLA agent requests your project, please submit to the one you feel will be the best fit!
Hi Rowyn,
I’d love to take a look at your manuscript. Please send along the first fifty pages as an attachment (Word doc or PDF) to nlong@writershouse.com.
Looking forward to reading!
Best,
Nora Long
Writers House, LLC
I’d love to read more. Please send the first 50 pages as a Word attachment to assistant@theunteragency.com. Thanks!
Hello! I’d love to take a look at the full manuscript of WHAT HAPPENED TO 143. Please send it along as a word document to tara@emliterary.com at your convenience.
Thanks so much!
Tara Gonzalez
Associate Agent
Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Inc.
http://emliterary.com/
Hi Rowyn,
After reading your pitch and excerpt, I would love to read more of this story! If you’re interested in submitting to me, please go to QueryMe.Online/SavannahBrooks and follow the instructions for how to do so. In the title space, please put “Pitch Wars: [your manuscript title]” so I can keep track of your submission. You can paste exactly what you submitted here in the corresponding categories. After you submit, you’ll receive and automated message saying I’ll be back in touch within six weeks, but I’ll be back in touch within two.
If more than one JD Lit agent requests from you, please feel free to submit to the agent you think is the best fit, and we’ll exchange materials among ourselves.
Best,
Savannah
Hi Rowyn,
I’m intrigued here. Can you send your query and first fifty pages to penelope@gelfmanschneider.com with #PitchWars in the subject line? Thanks so much!
All best,
Penelope
I’d love to see this. You can email the complete ms as a Word or Pages file to Abigail (at) redfoxliterary (dot) com.