Saturday, February 14, 2015

Title:  OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HIGH SCHOOL
Genre:  Speculative Young Adult
Word Count:  70,000


Query:



Dear  Agent:

OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HIGH SCHOOL is a speculative young adult novel complete at 70,000 words, which I describe as Christopher Moore’s Lamb meets The Breakfast Club. 

God, known by his given name Maurice, has moved to a new school for his senior year.  Unfortunately, his permanent record followed him.  Apparently setting off locust in the cafeteria, frogs in the science building, and turning the water from the drinking fountain to blood is frowned upon in a learning institution.

Wanting to fit in, Maurice is thrilled to find friendship with Buddy and Al, but Lou is giving him a devil of a time. Maurice pines for the beautiful Aphrodite, not realizing Nature is right there waiting for him.  If only his ability to be omniscient would develop. 
To get through high school, Maurice must complete his science project, a hot mess he calls Earth.  Despite the potential Mr. Rosenberg claims to see in Maurice’s science project, he gives it a preliminary grade of D.  Maurice must find a way to fix it. 

While his feud with Lou spins out of control, so does his science project and his life.  Defending Nature, Maurice turns a snotty student into a pillar of salt, a pillar of nutmeg, and a pillar of paprika.  When he causes a great flood in the cafeteria, it goes on his permanent record. Knowing he must fight Lou, Maurice develops ground rules for their upcoming brawl, which is just what he needs to tame his science project, commandments and despite Buddy’s urging, no shoes, no shirt, no service didn’t make it on the ten commandments.  If Maurice can use all his abilities, he can defend himself and his science project from Lou and finally find peace.

Thank you for your time and consideration.


                                                                                                Sincerely,
                                                                                               Eric Wheeler

 First 250 Words:



When I arrive at the school office, a middle-aged woman leans against the counter staring at a crossword puzzle.  She taps her pencil against the empty squares as I let out a polite cough announcing my arrival.  It does no good; she’s busy trying to find a ten-letter word meaning to wish good health.

“Gusundheit,” I say, hoping to speed things along. 

“Well bless your heart.” She fills in the letters in the squares of her crossword puzzle.  “How may I help you?” She asks in pleasant voice.

“I’m new here, my name is Maurice Almighty.” Her smile quickly turns to a frown.

“We’ve been expecting you.” Her tone turns rude as if she flipped a switch.  It could mean one thing; my permanent record beat me here.

The woman lifts horned rimmed glasses from her face and stares at me with the naked eye.

“Mr. Allen, He’s here.” She speaks into an intercom.  She doesn’t say my name, just He with a capital H and that says it all.

“Have a seat.” She points with her pencil towards a wooden bench.

Not long after I sit, I wiggle on the uncomfortable bench, which makes my left butt cheek go numb.  She doesn’t take her eyes off me for a second and doesn’t attempt to conceal her distrust.  Let off a few plagues in school and that shit follow you, trust me. 


 

7 comments:

  1. Title: Love the title!
    Query:
    I got your humor right away with those comps!
    First line is hilarious.
    First line of 3rd para is great as well.
    Critique points:
    I would go from the first line straight to the 3rd para first line for a great 1-2 punch. Skip the regular high school things to the end. Explain more about the project because that's excellent. What happens to earth if he fails? Then go straight into how Lou will be the antagonist. What can he do to the project? What's the danger? Then add in the other characters/love interest last.
    Maybe take out the permanent record stuff of what goes wrong in the school and add in what goes wrong with earth?
    Great premise! Love the last 2 lines! Love Buddy.
    I would like to know more about Aphrodite and what makes her a round character. I'd love to know her flaws, etc and what she sees in Maurice.
    Very cute relationship!
    First 250
    Very funny! I do love the set-up.
    Critique points:
    Is he supposed to be bumbling professor type of trouble maker or a real trouble maker by setting off a plague of locust? Is he a geek or a bad boy with the notorious permanent record? If he's a real trouble maker, house is he a foil to Lou?
    Maybe that needs clarification is he doing these floods on purpose or are they because of his kind of nutty professor/neville longbottom like disorganization? Is he a nervous character? Should I root for him over Lou? Or maybe his omnipotence makes his swagger around and do what he likes?
    Overall great story!

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  2. What a fun concept! Your prose is good and clear and flows really well, plus the voice shines.

    The query: You kick off strong. The part about his permanent record is a good snicker line. If you added something about how this impacts his transition, it'd carry more weight, too.

    The 2nd paragraph More about how Lou antagonises Maurice would definitely flesh this out some more. The last line is great. It establishes good wit in looking at the concept.

    The 4th paragraph: There's a bit of wordiness here that could be pared down to offer more details about the feud with Lou and Maurice's other problems, especially what's going awry with Earth. The sentence about commandments wanders a bit. Maybe it could be broken into two, which would give each more punch (a reference to Top 10 to keep from repetition?).

    Overall, you've got a good query that sells your idea. With a hint more detail and uppinng the stakes, it could be even better.

    The 1st 250: You've established the mood and tone really well. I hear Maurice's voice loud and clear.

    Just a few pieces of housekeeping: "My permanent record beat me here" could stand alone well, and have a bit more punch without the lead-in. Horn-rimmed glasses should be hyphenated. Second to last sentece would be tighter as "She doesn’t take her eyes off me for a second or attempt to conceal her distrust." In the last paragraph, follow should be follows.

    Like the query, everything flows really well and read smoothly. Good luck with the pitching. It's a fun idea, and it looks like you have a good handle on it.

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  3. Hi Eric,
    I agree with the feedback from Mich and Shanna. Shanna gave some good pointers on the query and I agree with Mich that deleting "It could only mean one thing" makes the sentence stronger. Trust your reader!

    Query:
    Fun and Funny! I like the voice and the premise. You introduce a lot of characters, but it works for me. You use "permanent record" twice. Maybe give us the consequences instead.

    First 250:
    "...stares at me with the naked eye." Does she only have one eye?
    "...and that says it all." I suggest deleting it. Again, trust the reader to know what you mean without spelling it out.

    I really like this and would definitely read on! Great voice and quirky concept. Nice work!

    Angela #40

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  4. Great premise. The writing is solid too.

    Your query is way too long. I was hooked after "a hot mess he calls Earth". I think you can easily lose the last para and still have a very strong query.

    Your first page is great. I agree with the previous comments, you don't need "with a capital H and that says it all."

    Great job! As I was reading this I was thinking @petejknapp would love your query.

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  5. I can't add much to what the others have said. Your concept is cleverly done, and I love the humorous treatment you've given it. The voice is good, and the writing solid.

    Good luck!

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  6. Thanks for sharing this with me! I hope my comments are useful. Let me know if you have any questions. Leave a comment on my blog: https://kamerhesthebestthingsince.wordpress.com/
    Query:
    + Love, love, love the comps!!
    + “If only his ability to be omniscient would develop”—hahahaha!
    + I’m a big, ole glass-house-dweller for saying this, but you might have too many named characters in your query. I had a bit of a hard time following them all. But maybe that’s just me…
    + “his science project, a hot mess he calls Earth”—hahahaha!
    + “Despite the potential Mr. Rosenberg claims to see in Maurice’s…”—I had to read this like 3 times before I did it right. I might be tired, though…
    + I really love all the humor in this—like a lot!! :) But in order to make the rest of the goodness shine, you might consider condensing the last paragraph.

    First 250:
    + Fifth paragraph—I think you’re missing an “only”
    + “stares at me with the naked eye”—I didn’t really get this…
    + “just He with a capital H and that says it all”—but if she said “He” out allowed, how does Mr. Allen know the H is a capital letter? It’s not like she can pronounce a capital letter… Unless there’s some way that she can in your story world…
    + “Let off a few plagues”—would it be “let loose”?

    This is great! I would love to read this! I think there are definitely a lot of teenagers who would love to read this too.

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  7. Congrats on making it into the Agent Round of Pitch Madness! I love your story's concept. Find me on Twitter--I would love to read more of your MS!

    --Kamerhe Lane

    ReplyDelete