Entry for The Writer's Voice: Crow's Rest

So there's this contest called The Writer's Voice being hosted by Brenda Drake, Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.) and Monica B.W. of Love YA where we post the query and first 250 words of a project we'd like to catch an agent's eye. Here's mine!

Query:


Crow’s Rest is a 72,000-word young adult urban fantasy novel with the wry humor of Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series and the dark fantasy feel of Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series.

Sixteen-year-old Avery arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel. Instead, she discovers Daniel's body has been taken over by a corbin, a Fae which usually crosses into our world by inhabiting crows.

The corbin, Lonan, warns her that some of his kin are no longer satisfied with crow bodies. Or even the occasional accommodating human. They want to come here in their natural forms, with their full, terrible powers intact. It’s happened before, leading to the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages, but this time Lonan has been sent to stop them.

In exchange for Avery’s help with his mission, she insists the corbin brings Daniel back, forcing the two boys to share Daniel’s body. Switching between personalities in an uneasy truce. But once she starts to fall for the charming Lonan, Avery realizes that even if they do save the world, only one of the boys will get sole custody of the body—leaving her heartbroken either way.

Meanwhile, she discovers her family’s roots reach deeper into Faerie than she ever imagined, proving crucial to the survival of both worlds.

First 250:

Mom woke me as we hit the outskirts of Crow's Rest. "Brace yourself, Avery Girl." She said this every time we visited Uncle Tam’s, and it still gave me a shiver.

July air streamed through the car window, coating my tongue with heat and iron-rich dust. Nearly there. . . As we took that last curve on the approach, tree branches arched over the road, blocking our view until there it stood.

A castle, its ruddy bricks warmed by the afternoon light. Looming over the Gold-Rush-era town at its feet, the Wilson School of Industry reformed bad boys for nearly a century before the state abandoned it to vandals and ghost hunters.

The usual mass of turkey vultures and ravens soared above, sinisterizing the turrets even more. Makes my shutter finger drool, if that’s even possible. But no need to rummage for my camera—I’ll have the whole summer to take pictures for my portfolio.

As the Castle receded in the side mirror, I asked, "Is Uncle Tam going to be home, or does he have lessons tonight?"

"He made sure to keep tonight open so we could visit."

I looked at Mom sharply, catching the lines on her brow before she smoothed them into a neutral expression. Hmm, I smell bull, and it’s not coming in through the window.

She’d been acting weird all week, taking hushed phone calls out of the room and kissing the top of my head for no reason.

"Is something wrong with Uncle Tam?"



((What happens next in the contest, you might be wondering? The coaches will select 8 team members (plus 1 alternate) by May 10, then spend the next week and a half helping them put a final polish on their entries.

Voting

On May 20, they'll post our team members’ queries and first pages on their blogs so that the agents can review them))

Teaser Tuesday in Images

I used to do a Teaser Tuesday post, featuring a short teaser of my current WIP.

I'm doing a little twist on that today, with a heartfelt message going out from my main character, Avery, to Daniel, her crush-next-door. Note: this Avery-ism has been edited for language.

Click on an image to see it larger.
P.S. Yes, this ate up some of my editing time, but my inner artist really needed to come out and play. I'm considering including my artwork in Crow's Rest (the above images are the marvelous Arthur Rackham's) but am waiting to see what an agent or editor says about that before putting too much time into it.

Special Valentine's Day Teaser Tuesday from Crow's Rest

Haven't done a Teaser Tuesday in a long time, but in the spirit of Valentine's Day I thought I'd share a first kiss. Not mine--this is from my WIP, Crow's Rest. Avery's recollection of her first kiss with Daniel:

Memory dropped me into that afternoon last summer, when we hid from a freak thunderstorm in the barn behind his place. We'd kneeled on the hay bales, each pressing an eye to the cracks in the weathered boards to watch the roiling clouds and flashes of lightning. We "oohed" and "aahed" like little kids at a fireworks show.

Until I noticed that I was the only one saying anything, and turned to find Daniel watching me instead of the storm. I could almost see the steam rise off his damp clothes, but he looked away once I was staring back at him. Like he wasn't sure if kissing me, as he so obviously wanted to do, was such a good idea.

Not a good idea? It was about friggin' time. I'd had a crush on him since he moved next door to Uncle Tam's seven years ago. We only saw each other during the summers and holidays, but I'd always felt like we could make it as a couple. And maybe he'd finally come around to my way of thinking.

"Well?" I asked, with one eyebrow cocked. But, for once, he stayed tongue-tied.

So I crawled over to his hay bale, and he looked truly terrified as I closed the gap between us. I laughed—a low, husky sound that I'd never made before—and leaned in.

Once our lips touched, Daniel's doubts seemed to disappear. He grabbed onto me like a drowning man, and we toppled from the bale.

"Hey!" I said, as my elbow and tailbone hit hard on the floorboards.

"Sorry," he mumbled, untangling our limbs.

"I didn't say you had to stop," I said, pulling him back in. "Just trying to avoid having my ass in a sling."

"My dad will have my ass in a sling if he catches us—" he'd started to reply, but I cut him off with a deep kiss, using plenty of tongue.

After that, our lips were too busy for talking. And were pretty much inseparable over the next few days before I headed home.


Happy Valentine's Day, and maybe you'd like to share your first kiss in the comments? Mine was a boy who said he'd give me his pocketknife if I kissed him, and I really wanted a pocketknife at 7 years old so I did. I remember feeling less warmth in that kiss than I did when kissing the back of my hand. Not a stellar beginning to my romantic life.

P.S. Not sure I want to fess up to that artwork, but it took me a whole minute so I guess I should say it's mine!
P.P.S. I posted this as part of the effort to revive Teaser Tuesdays on Absolute Write, but it happened to fit YA Highway's Valentine's Day Blog Lovefest, so I hopped aboard the love train!