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PAPfest

PAPfest is LIVE!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the PAPfest! We had some wonderful entries and are looking for great things to come from the writers who were selected to move on to the agent judging round. Our lovely agents—Adriann Ranta, Tina Wexler, Jennifer Laughran, Suzie Townsend, Laura Bradford and Pooja Menon—will be cruising the entries and making their requests in the comments of the entries until 9 PM EST tonight.

Don’t forget the entries are spread out over my co-hosts blogs as well. MarcyKate Connolly and Mindy McGinnis have PAPfest entries, too, so don’t miss out on some excellent new MG and YA voices being hosted over on their blogs.

But please, NO COMMENTS on the entries until the agents have made their rounds (so not until 9 PM EST tonight).

Enjoy!

The PAPteam

R.C. Lewis
Mindy McGinnis
MarcyKate Connolly

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PAPfest Entry – DARK WATERS

TITLE: DARK WATERS

GENRE: YA Fantasy (set in today’s world)

WORD COUNT: 70,000

QUERY:

Sixteen-year-old Allura comes from a long line of man-eaters.

Her all-female race of Femina Mari lost their hunger for flesh a few hundred years ago, after her folkloric ancestors decided the best way to hide from humans was to live among them. And while they still enjoy tree-jumping under the shroud of night, the Council’s policy against man-eating is strictly enforced.

But the Council has just elected a new leader, and she’s set on resurrecting the old ways. So when Allura starts developing the abilities of her foremothers, her caretaker aunts notice. She’s the first in generations to show true Femina Mari tendencies—the desire and prowess to prey on men. According to her aunts, if she embraces her cravings, she can awaken the carnal hunger within her sisters, putting her species back where they belong, at the top of the food chain. Allura wants what’s best for her kind, but going from zero to monster overnight can leave a girl’s head spinning.

When Allura falls for David, the delicious-looking guy she’s supposed to be hunting, her feelings for him complicate matters … a ton. If Allura obeys her aunts, the cravings will intensify with each kill. And unleashing the flesh-hungry side of her sisters can’t be good for mankind. But if she defies her aunts, they’ll destroy David, her human stumbling block.

Too bad falling for the enemy never tasted so good.

The fierce-female story elements of DARK WATERS will appeal to fans of Andrea Cremer’s NIGHTSHADE and Julie Kagawa’s THE IMMORTAL RULES. I envision it the first in a series, though it can stand alone.

I am a PRO member of Evergreen RWA. DARK WATERS won second place in the Seattle RWA’s E.C.O. contest. My credits include an article on marketing strategies, Guest Speaking to Get the Word Out, published in the spring edition of the C.A.P.P.A. newsletter.

FIRST 200:

My nails dug into the bark as I clung to the pine tree and swung myself up to a higher branch. “I’m thinking the forest is a lost cause tonight, sisters.” I lifted my nose and took another whiff. Just to double check. “There’s nothing to hunt here.” The three female teens waiting in the nearby trees were the daughters of my aunts, but I’d never call them cousins. We were more like sisters.

Arlana crouched on the solid branch of a towering evergreen and shook her head. “Allura, why do you keep picking the thinnest limbs?” she said in a voice barely louder than a whisper, ignoring my food comment. Our hearing was more than impeccable. We could almost feel the vibration of sound.

“What’s the fun in catapulting from the thick ones?” I pulled my body low, positioning to leap from the narrow limb to a thread of a twig ten feet higher, on a nearby tree.

“Um, I’d say not falling on your ass when the tiny, weak branch breaks!” Celine laughed and rested her hand on her hip as she watched me prepare to make the jump.

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PAPfest Entry – WAR PROJECT 7

TITLE: WAR PROJECT 7

GENRE: YA Sci-Fi

WORD COUNT: 105,000

QUERY:

Set on a far distant planet in the future, WAR PROJECT 7 is a young adult sci-fi novel with fantasy elements about a seventeen-year-old female soldier. Raised on a battlefield alongside other child-warriors, Mara lives to Protect. Her actions as a fighter, and now a leader, daily determine who lives and who dies.

Actions off the field have consequences as well, and the senior officers punish those with questioning minds, no matter the intent behind the questions. When Mara is wounded in battle and an enemy fighter not only heals her injury, but promises answers about the war, she’s compelled to risk treason and travel with him beyond the boundaries of her known world.

That the war is not a true war, but a war experiment, is the first in a series of challenging discoveries as new knowledge reshapes Mara’s identity and new alliances work to shatter a system that values experimental design over human life.

This book would be a great match for fans of Tamora Pierce, Kristin Cashore, Beth Revis, and James Dashner because of the strong female main character, the action, and the scale of the conflict.

During the summer I teach classes to budding novelists in grades 5-8. I am a fellow of the Denver Writing Project and a member of RWA, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Pikes Peak Writers. I am a state and national-level presenter in gifted education, a black belt in Taekwando, and a former middle school English teacher.

FIRST 200:

Mara stared down the line of her fellow Protectors. Young faces looked back at her, expectant. Anyone over fifteen watched the trees and the shadows underneath the huge branches.

“Helmets,” she called. The Gaishan would appear by sunset, boiling onto the battlefield like ants from an anthill.

She nudged her horse through the ranks to the newest fighters. How many would be lost tonight? She stopped in front of a brother and sister she’d taught in combat class. Both clutched their long staffs. Both faces were blotchy with fear.

“Trust your training,” Mara said. When the two children just stared at her with wide amber eyes, she leaned out of the saddle. “Keep your staff between you and the enemy. If they hit you with powder, if you’re cut or touched with a weapon, run for the edge of the fight and don’t let anyone near, not even family, until a healer clears you.”

The small girl cast a worried look at her brother. “Yes, ma’am.”

Mara made her way back to the center aisle and stood up on the stirrups. This plus her own nearly two meters in height provided a view of her entire cohort.

“There’s six hundred Protectors out here tonight. And a hundred fifty is us, the Greens,” she yelled.

Someone in the middle rows whooped. A few laughed.

“We got a lot of new fighters with us. First fight,” Mara continued.

The standing soldiers shuffled like rows of plants in the wind. “First fight,” repeated along the lines.

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PAPfest Entry – CURSEBREAKER

TITLE: CURSEBREAKER

GENRE: YA Urban/Modern Fantasy

WORD COUNT: 80,000 words

QUERY:

Cursebreakers are the first responders to the devastation left by the magic of angry creatures of myth. Morgan is the only born Cursebreaker in the region and she thinks of it as more of a janitorial position where she’s hired to do clean-up. She runs an agency with her Gramps, but business is on the rocks. It’s hard to make a living in the modern world when your clients don’t have bank accounts.

Nicholas, her latest client and a prince who thinks he’s really charming, becomes her assistant when he can’t pay off his debt and creates more problems than he fixes. To make matters worse, her snake-turned-boy childhood friend, Sadler, is suddenly acting suspicious while the official supernatural police force is interfering with business.

Now the Collector, a hunter who kills and drains his victims for their magic, plans to add Morgan’s ability to his already expansive collection of powers. Morgan doesn’t know who to trust when she finds out that Prince Nicholas has secrets of his own, and a close connection to the Collector despite being asleep for the past 1000 years.

CURSEBREAKER is an 80,000 word humorous urban fantasy for young adults told from multiple perspectives. It incorporates fairy tale elements and folklore to tell an unconventional romance of a heroine and her prince in distress.

I’m very active in the Boston writing community as an associate of the Boston Public Library, a member of SCBWI and PEN New England. I received my Bachelor of Arts from Simmons College in English Literature and Writing in 2008. My favorite hobby is studying old fairy tales.

FIRST 200:

The witch had telekinesis. That hadn’t shown up in Morgan’s research.

Morgan hit the ground hard, barely missing the three latte mugs flying at her. They shattered harmlessly against the wall as the witch’s face contorted in rage. Yeah, the lady was pretty pissed.

The polished floorboards of Six Swans Coffee were strewn with large white feathers. Turning the owners into swans—You had to admire the witch’s sense of irony.

Making sure her leather bag o’ supplies was still with her, Morgan ducked behind the counter, dodging another flying ceramic. There they were, six large white swans honking softly. One of them saw her first and the rest twitched their heads to her in unison, beady eyes watching her expectantly. “I have those shirts you ordered, guys,” Morgan said softly.

Morgan hadn’t brought proper supplies for defeating an angry witch, but she had some stuff to at least ward her off temporarily. She quickly lined the counter with a brass bell, a quartz crystal, and a clove of garlic from her bag. The witch dove after her too late. Wards and charms were great for minor offensive magic, but it wouldn’t hold for long.

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PAPfest Entry – HIDDEN DEEP

TITLE: HIDDEN DEEP

GENRE: YA Contemporary Fantasy

WORD COUNT: 84,000

QUERY:

HIDDEN DEEP is complete at 84,000 words and won the 2012 Maggie Unpublished contest in the YA division. It is set in a version of our present world where beautiful and powerful Elves use glamour enhanced by modern technology to cover their existence and get whatever they want.

Sixteen-year-old Ryanne Carroll has just run into the guy who saved her life ten years ago. You might think she’d be happy to see him again. Not exactly. She’s a bit underdressed (as in skinny-dipping), and he’s not supposed to exist.

After her father’s affair, all Ryanne wants is to escape the fallout of family implosion and find a little peace. She also wouldn’t mind a first date that didn’t suck, but she’s determined to make sure she protects her heart and never ends up like her mom: vulnerable, betrayed, destroyed. Ryanne has recently moved back to her childhood hometown in rural Mississippi, the same place where ten years earlier she became lost in the woods overnight and nearly died.

She’s still irresistibly drawn to those woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He’s still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she’s with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryanne’s strict policy– never want someone more than he wants you.

Seventeen-year-old Ladd knows the law of his people all too well: Don’t get careless and Don’t get caught. It’s allowed the Light Elves to live undetected in this world for thousands of years, mentioned only in flawed and fading folklore. Ladd’s never been able to forget about Ryanne since that night ten years ago. When he sees her again, his fascination re-ignites and becomes a growing desire that tempts him to break all the rules. He’s not even supposed to talk to a human, much less fall in love with one.

And the timing is atrocious. The Assemblage is coming, the rift between the Light and Dark Elves is widening. Ladd may have to trade his own chance at happiness to keep the humans, especially Ryanne, blissfully ignorant and safe.

I envision Hidden Deep as the first part of a triology, though it can stand alone. I think readers who enjoyed the fated love vs. forbidden love story of Unearthly and the mysterious contemporary fantasy elements of Beautiful Creatures and Evermore will respond to Hidden Deep.

My previous writing samples were broadcast daily to thousands of people (though the word count was considerably lower!) through my work as a news anchor and reporter in Mississippi, Tennessee, California, and Rhode Island.

FIRST 200:

NOT HYPOTHERMIA

The first time I saw him, everyone convinced me he was a hallucination caused by hypothermia. It was the second time that really messed me up.

* * *

It was only mid-morning, but I couldn’t wait anymore. The need to get out there had grown stronger each day since we’d returned. With everything my mom had going on today, maybe she wouldn’t give me an argument this time. The screen door slammed behind me with a loud creak and double-bouncing bang.

“Ryanne? You going out?”

I exhaled loudly, then turned and faced my mother as she followed me out onto the back porch. She was dressed in her new red interview suit, a face full of going-somewhere makeup, and her hair up in clips where she’d been straightening it in sections. She’d rushed to the door in her stocking feet, causing a fresh run to start near her big toe.

“I left a note on the counter. Just going for a walk—you know.” I shrugged. No big deal. I glanced down and nodded toward her foot. “You’d better change those.”

“Shoot!” She hiked up her skirt and started ripping off the pantyhose.

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PAPfest Entry – DOUBLE-CROSSED

TITLE: DOUBLE-CROSSED

GENRE: MG Adventure

WORD COUNT: 55,000

QUERY:

Stray has just blown his sister’s chance at the scholarship of a lifetime, and their father’s old pirate stories may be the only way to set things right. One stolen death certificate, a caged research assistant (he totally had it coming!), and an unearthed grave later, Stray faces his first real challenge. His sister wants to join the treasure hunt. Along with three friends—and one reluctant enemy—the siblings inch closer to a stash long dismissed as legend. In turn, two modern-day pirates hunt a prize of their own. Stray. And they’ll gladly kill anyone who tries to stop them.

DOUBLE-CROSSED (55,000 words) is a middle grade adventure rooted in the history and legends of my hometown, Amelia Island, Florida. This tiny island has flown eight different flags, including two hoisted by pirates who changed the course of Florida history. Following in these illustrious footsteps, I routinely pillage the local library and procured a degree in Modern Treasure (a.k.a. Finance) after forcing its previous owner to walk the plank.

Like THE GOONIES and the more recent SUPER 8, DOUBLE-CROSSED is driven by character relationships, which are illuminated—and tested—by each plot twist and danger. I hope the sample below leaves you wanting more.

FIRST 200:

CHAPTER ONE: STRAY MESSES UP. BIG TIME.

In 1817, notorious con artist Gregor MacGregor set sail for Spanish Florida, where he conquered the quiet island of Amelia. Scallywags and thieves immediately overran the tiny port, filling MacGregor’s coffers with their ill-gotten spoil. As U.S. troops closed in, determined to restore order, MacGregor fled, but not before meeting with fellow pirate Luis Aury.

To this day, no one knows what occurred during this meeting aboard Aury’s ship, the Congresso Mexicano. All anyone can say for sure is that, when the U.S. finally arrived, Aury claimed to be destitute – and MacGregor’s loot had vanished.

Two zillion and eleven.

That’s how many times Amee had repeated that story to sunburnt tourists at her dad’s Amelia Museum of Piracy.

But never again. Not after today.

All she had to do was ace the Ramirez Sporting Goods scholarship contest, and she’d be free. She glanced over at her biggest competition, beach-bum Greg Johannsen. His genius idea for community improvement was park benches made out of old surfboards.

Amee had this in the bag.

Amelia High’s air conditioner labored against the May heat, sounding like a dragon snoring on the roof. News cameras flanked the walls, all trained on the Ramirezes.

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