O.M.G.

[megatronix]

Thank goodness I had that query pitch first thing this morning. The conference started at 9:30 and my time slot was at 9:30. I was SO NERVOUS, and it was good to just get it done. I chatted with a friend from my writing group and he asked me some questions, and then I said, "Actually can I just tell you my pitch?" and he said, "Sure! I mean, I'm no expert, but by all means, fire away!" So I told it to him and he said it sounded cool, and then we talked about how they probably want to know word count and stuff, so he said, "I bet it'd be good to start with that, just to frame it." Then he helped me with the title too, because I said I was considering calling it Webs We Weave, and he said, "What do you think about just: Webs ?" I said, "Ooh, I might maybe like that..."

So! It turns out there was one woman before me, and she scooted on out, and I scooted on in, and we shook hands and introduced ourselves. Then I said, "Ok, so do I just dive right in?" And she said, "Yep, go right ahead!"

So I said, "I have a middle grade novel, it's about 52,000 words, this is my first novel, and it's called Webs."

"Webs?"

"Webs."

"Ok, great!"

"All right! So, Emmilou Bradshaw...." And I gave my pitch.

And then she said, "Wow, this is a really unique story."

"Thanks!"

Then she asked great questions like is Emmi's main story about her achieving courage throughout this coming of age experience? I said yes. She said to make sure it's evident early on that Emmi is not starting out courageous. Because she needs to become that way, it should be a clear transformation.

She asked if I'd be willing to bump Emmi's age up from 10 to 12, because if I want 10 yr old readers, they like to "read up" about 11 or 12 yr olds, and it would work even better that way. I said yes.

I didn't tell her that I have been struggling with Emmi's age forever, because I can see her in my head, but of course, kids all look different at different ages anyway, and she's so precocious and mature that I just thought of her as a super mature 8 yr old. But apparently 8 yr olds don't read about 8 yr olds, so I went with 10, and then, like I said, the agent told me that 8-10 yr old readers like to read about 11-12 yr olds. So! That's something to consider and work through as I go back through!

Then she had interesting thoughts on another aspect of the story. Ok, I'm going to use spoilers, but I'll put them behind a cut!



So Emmi and her best friend Henry discover a dismembered foot. Emmi is fascinated by it, and instead of leaving it there to rot, or letting the local teens use it in their pranks, she decides to take it in order to protect it. And then it's discovered that she's hiding this foot in her backpack. The police scour the area and they find the rest of the body.

Now, currently, I have that man show up later, as a confused person in the land between living and dead. And he turns out to be someone special. Even in these spoiler cuts, I don't want to reveal too much. But he's kind of important!

But I don't even know if it needs to go that direction? On the one hand, I know I don't have to completely change a story just because someone said maybe I should. On the other hand, since this is my first thing like this, and I have personally been torn about what fits and what doesn't, and what is plausible or not, I'm open to changing things.... It's just like, what else, then?

The agent suggested what if it was something else that is scary but not gruesome. She said death needs to be treated delicately with young readers. And a human corpse is a pretty big deal for middle grade work. The problem is I set out thinking adults would read it, but apparently children aren't usually the protagonists in adult stories. Bah!

So! Brainstorming just today I thought ok, what if it was a wounded bat? Or some other animal, like an opossum, or rat, something most people would be afraid of because it's ugly and weird, and she loves these animals, because she feels unloved??? If she took a wounded bat home in her backpack, it could fly all over the house, or school classroom, that could be fun. HMMM. Just thoughts. I might also just keep the foot, and see what happens....




So then she said, "Ok, well I'm definitely interested and I would love to see more. So, yeah, please query me."

"Ok, great!" I said. "I will absolutely do that."

"Just put in the subject line that you met me here, and in your intro. And we'll go from there. I can't wait to read more!"

And I thanked her and walked away. And then madly texted Meander and then Joe to let them know what had happened. Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Then I sat through hours of tips and tricks and thoughts on query letters and writing and pacing and character arcs........ There were five sessions, y'all. That's a shit ton of info, honestly. I took copious notes. It was good times.

Now I am so tired, but also so happy. And I just want to write and write and write to figure out what the hell I should do with this insane story of mine. I was already through page 100 (out of 177) in my second go-'round of revisions. (I say second, I'm not including the times I've gone through and piece-meal edited things throughout.) SooooOOOooooOOoooo... yes. I am going to go crazy with completing edits and hopefully feeling like it's all polished as possible by... the end of the week? And then submit this thing to the agent, and see what happens! I mean, she'd still have to like it, and want it, but the fact that she even wants to see it feels so promising and fun.

I don't know what'll happen with this, but today? Today just feels SO FUN and amazing.