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Great contest!

First line of Eternal Knight:

Hadde crouched behind the rotting trunk of a fallen tree.

Oh fun! Here's the 1st line from one of my YA urban fantasy mss:

"Darkness was deceptive - under the blanket of night, it was almost easy to pretend that no one knew she was there, that she was safe."

"Entering the Junior Handlers Dog Show should be fun, may be embarrassing, but Kitty Walker had no idea it would be dangerous, Kitty had bigger worries."

Congratulations on pronouncing the volcano name - I'd need a few more vowels before I even attempt it.

Thanks for this opportunity

A fierce pounding on the door to my room set a tsunami-like jolt of pain rushing through my brain.

Love the NY Times link, although I'm not sure I'd dare try to pronounce it. We just call it "that bloody volcano" here in the UK, anyway.

Awesome contest idea, and great entries so far! I think it would be pointless/unfair of me to enter, as you're already considering my manuscript. Not to mention my first lines suck. Always.

But, just for fun, here's a first line I'd LIKE to start a novel with:

"I sat down to tea with Death, Desire and Rage."

One day.

"This time, Alysseren caught a glimpse of the Inner Sanctum before the reverend caught her."

Lots of awesome first lines posted - many books I'd be interested in reading based on them! Anyway, here is mine, from my YA fantasy The Oracle of Delphi, Kansas:

My mother has been in mental institutions most of my life.

First line, lit fic:

"I've finally figured out my problem: All these years I've wanted - expected - a full moon, every single night."

Here goes nothing:

"I killed my father with a birthday wish."

Does this apply to fiction only?

Here goes!

"He was given the ability to control life and death."

Here's mine; to be overly-analytical it's the first line of my MS but technically two sentences. Will you allow it?

"Sixteen years ago I left Balmer, Alabama as a black boy. I return today as a white man."

Yippee, a contest! I love contests.*G*

"When I was a kid, I found a human skull. But that wasn’t the bad part."

What a fun idea! Here's mine (literary fiction): The summer that Philip Johnston was transformed by the eclipse, wildfires dotted the southern California landscape.

"No one would ever say sensitivity is my forte."

Here goes nothin':
"Perhaps it was the lack of caffeine talking, but they were almost positive the sun was closer than normal."

From my historical horror novel:

"The Jack Ketch," I said from the horse, "where they bringing the bodies?"

My first line isn't all the exciting but here goes...

The Memoirs of the Big Bad Wolf (the title is just a working one)

"The night air was crisp and clean, cool upon her skin."

Well, since I already have an agent, I won't be participating, but it will be a lot of fun to read all the entries. Can we still vote if we don't enter ourselves?

Fun contest! Here goes:

"The purple crystal on the table only made my palms sting at first."

The opening line of the prologue or first chapter? I'll give both to cover my arse:

Prologue: "Envision a place immersed with magic, a place unseen to mortal eyes on an isle set off on its own."

Chapter 1: "Something was wrong."

-Witch Way To You
a historical fantasy romance
by Lindsey Edwards

"The line of sleepy Sunday morning coffee worshipers shuffles forward."

Well, I'm constantly changing mine. Here's the current opening line:

"Everyone has something they'd like to change about their life."

Thanks for the opportunity.

A large part of me wanted to walk right over to Tomas Murphy and beat him senseless with the bill of my feathery duck hat.

Sounds like a fun contest!

"I was the girl everyone had forgotten, but that didn't mean I had to stay wherever they decided to dump me."

First line:

The truth about high school exists under the bleachers.

"It happens to most people."

First line:
Terror gripped Jaya's chest as she gasped awake.

This is a great contest. Thank you.

Here's my first line:

Moments like these were rare, not to mention brief.

"In the many millennia Gabe had spent watching over his mortal charges, not once had he ever thought of breaking the rules."

Hi Jim! Miss you guys! Hope all is well :)

"I saw her do it before she did."

Cool contest!

First line from my adult novel:

I don't know why I assumed that, even on my birthday, there wouldn't be someone out to kill me.

First line from YA novel:
I found the gun by accident.

Fun contest!!!

Here's one of mine from a YA ms:

"Homo sapiens sluttiwhen drunkus. The subspecies to which I apparently belong."

What a great contest. And so many awesome entries already.

Ellyssa, a.k.a. Subject 62, ran through the dark alley after escaping from her long-term captors who she’d thought of as family for eighteen years.

Great contest. Great opportunity. Here's my 2 cents':

"They had conducted rescue missions in seedier areas, but Ellie couldn't place any of them at the moment."

"I knew I was in trouble when I saw her walk into the Gay and Lesbian Center."

Alright here it is:

A piece of paper, that's what started and ended this whole mess

Oo, I'd like to play. Young adult:

"Salt. He tasted like salt."

"Alex stared at his misshapen shadow."

**Sorry about that. I forgot to note genre so I deleted the above comment.**

Well, I never would have guessed that's how it's pronounced!

Thanks for the contest opportunity, Jim. 6.2 seconds, well that is reassuring. Lot of great first lines here! I'll give it a go. This comes from my YA Historical/Paranormal fantasy, FATED.

"Noises where there should’ve been silence."

Thanks again!
[email protected]

For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard whispers in the shadows.

How many can we post? lol

I chewed my lip and stared down at the mahogany casket with dry eyes.

Death was mercy and for the moment, preferable to sitting in the driver's seat of Pete's 1967 Mustang.

“Tell me again what we’re doing in the cemetery at midnight?” I asked, tossing a lock of hair over my shoulder.

I gotta admit I love this one. ;-)

"Someone was watching me again."


First line of my YA urban fantasy

Great contest! Thank for the opportunity!

I walked into math class and scoped out the sub; easy prey.

from REVENGE OF THE PINK GRANNY PANTIES

Wow, some of these are great first lines. Make me wanna read more.

The bomb isn't heavy.

--> from my YA contemporary, Listen. Thanks!

My MS isn't anywhere near finished. But I thought I'd just share my first line.

"Daniel Elijah Cole, just nineteen years old, died because of me."

:)

Awesome contest! Here's mine:

"I died before I was even born."

Awesome contest - I'm looking forward to what reading everyone else posts.

At rest, the young girl's eyes looked identical, but when she glanced around the room, the left had trouble keeping up with the right.

"Life seemed so unimportant …and wasn’t it really?"

YA Paranormal

"Holliday was either born twice or not at all; I forget which is true, but it's certainly one of those."
-Colin Hill

Colin's sign language interpreter flanked him at school like an extra appendage, but between his last class and football practice, he navigated the hallways of Broadview High alone.

It's hard to believe that such atrocities were committed in such a beautiful place.

"We heard it fall."

by MAB

My first line from my YA:

"Death by tortoise shell. Not very imaginative, but it did the trick."

My completed novel is MG, which you don't seek yet, so I'm submitting the first line from my YA novel. It is unfinished, and I understand if you decide to limit it to finished mss. only.

"Cedar can't decide which is more stubborn: her heart or Finn's mind."

Thanks for the contest.

"The Vaseline on her face itched."

These are great lines, mines pretty simple, but here we are from the prologue of my multicultural/literary YA:

I opened my eyes slowly and drowsily, trying to draw the connection between the keening wail of the fire truck I heard outside and my aching head.

Aw, why not? From my MG novel:

There are four Captain Stupendous fan clubs in Copperplate City, but ours is the only one that doesn't suck.

Here's mine!

"He hated killing people right before Christmas."

Good luck everyone.

Okay. Here's mine form my YA urban fantasy novel.


From chapter 1 - “Alright! I’ll send you a post card.”

Here's my first sentence:
It didn’t take long for Phoebe to figure out Jeremy wasn’t coming back for her.
Cool contest! Thank you!

I opened the tan suitcase; the smell that slithered out was potent.

Okay, this is the first line from BRAINEATER JONES, a horror/mystery novel:

"I woke up dead this morning."

At least the amazing photos of the volcano do justice to that name.

First line from my current Urban Fantasy:
The van smelled like potato chips and stale coffee, and the constant but irregular squeak of Junior Agent Alan Michelleti’s chair had killed any chance of sleep.

First line:

Her skin was like cream, soft to my touch and sweet to my eyes.

Well, considering I've been wondering about my first line lately (though I am NOT touching that page until I'm done), this seems a good prospect to dive in.

"Jereman was dead."

Thanks for the opportunity!

My first line from FATED MISHAPS, a YA historical fiction.

"I will never be Lady Hakebourn."

"I am the first one to notice the three strange men approaching our village."

THE NEW ZERO--YA fantasy

Good contest!

"Muzzamil Hassan was one week past his sixteenth birthday, and if the day went as planned he would not see his seventeenth."

The opening of my second novel.

Good luck to ...me!

[email protected]

Thanks! From YA novel, THE SECRET OF GABRIEL ADAM:

Gabe kept a wary eye on the church bell.

Cool contest!

Here's mine:

"I wondered if the girl sitting at the front desk knew that things like me existed."

Thanks, Jim, for such a wonderful opportunity for someone! Like others, mine is a non-fiction book proposal that I'm working on, so I suppose that I don't qualify either, but I wanted to give you my first line just to participate.

"I've had five husbands; none of them were mine."

Thanks for a great opportunity!

Here is the first line of my commercial women's fiction novel, THE SORBET GUY:

Matt Lehrer’s college roommate was a politician above all else.

Here my first line
The closed iron gates stood tall behind the guard, Marjorie Fisher wanted inside those gates but more importantly the great HE wanted her inside the gated community of Glam, Alabama.
Happy reading and writing,
Annie

YA Urban Fantasy BIRTH OF A FURY

Mary wiped her eyes; they were bleeding again.

Thanks for the contest.

If we can enter again here is another, if not this is cheat # 1 of 2.

DEATH OF A SMALL TOWN GOSSIP

Adelaide was 75 years old and could easily live another 30, which annoyed most everyone in Brent Falls.

Cheat 2?

YA Fantasy APPRENTICE DEFIANT

Jeremiah couldn't figure out how Darrah had planted the purple worm in his arm.

I've already had fun reading through everyone's first lines - boy, there's some great stuff out there! Thanks for the contest!

"Tess Garibaldi wished she believed in miracles because she sure as shit needed one right now."

Heh. Much fun. :)

First Line:

"You hunk of English shit!"

Blowin' smoke around the planet causes contest!
First line: Hot winds flowed across the desert to Great Salt Lake; cumulus clouds, roiling thousands of feet high, obliterated the moon.

Oh, fun!! Thanks for the contest!

"Pino propped his chin on the shovel handle and stared at the bones nestled in the bottom of the coffin."

YA comedy PLUMB

"Go through the gates of Hell and head out to the back forty: the Belling High School cafeteria is right there."

Thank you for this opportunity.

I've already queried you, but who can resist a contest? :)

YA fantasy

"I’ve never had a birthday cupcake—might help if I had a birthday."

Can't resist a contest! The entries so far are really great, too.

From my YA, Redemption is a Road

"The leaves were just turning that brown of death and flying in waves from the trees."

Thanks for doing this, I've loved reading the entries!

"I greeted his tombstone the way I always did—with a swift kick."

I love this blog!

From my contemporary YA:

Most Joes said I got a wild streak longer than the neck of my B.C. Rich guitar.

Love this!

First line from my Paranormal YA.

"I’ve seen them before, the men whose white wings sparkled opaquely and glimmered in the sunlight, walking around the same as the rest of the population, blending in eerily well—only because I seemed to be the one person who could see the abnormalities protruding from their backs."

-Lisa B.

First line of my middle grade historical fiction novel, Mercury's Daughter.

"Your Majesty, all I have ever loved is about to burn at the stake."

-Nicole Marie Schreiber
www.nicolemarieschreiber.com

Great post!

My first line: I shouldn't be on this plane.

Sounds like fun :) This is the first line of ALWAYS READ THE FAE PRINT, a humorous urban fantasy:

Someone should have cut me off after the fourth Bacardi & Coke.

Just found this. Great idea.

My first line: The fluorescent light reflected in her big, brown eyes.

Amie McCracken
www.iamalivephotos.blogspot.com

best

best

"The lights of the moon still shone on the shores of Lake Deagwn when a little figure covered with a hood and carrying a case with a shoulder strap sneaked out of the castle gates."

Young Feminine Medieval Fantasy

Elda Veyller

Pure awesomeness:

First line from YA ELLA'S DANCE:

Ella stared at the white alabaster urn the funeral director had given her.

First line:

"Father had told me that by the time I was ten
Great Heats I would know most everything I needed to know, and what I would care about then, I would care about for the rest of my life."

Historical Fiction -- "Great Heats" -- set in the year 1000.

"The wind blew from north in a soft morning of June, the light frost hung up in the hills drawing them white as snow, painted by the shy early rising sun."

Historical Romance

Ricardo Veyller

I lost my mind today, but it’s OK, I’ve been expecting it to happen ever since I was ten when I overheard my mother tell some of her friends, “When women go through the ‘change,’ they go crazy.”


HOW EM FOUND HER CHA CHA - Women's Lit

Thanks for the opportunity.

My first line:

"Livia had once taken an off-world lover. Long, long ago, when she was learning how to arrange her life suitably."

Thanks for the opportunity - looking forward to seeing your final thoughts on so many first lines.

Tonight was meatloaf.

Fun contest. Looks like there are lots of entries already, but I'll still give it a shot:

The land is cold and lonely, distant peaks flashing skyward, bounding up from the deepening shadows of the hollows in their wake.

This is cool, reading everyone's opening line. I don't know how you agents pick between so many creative people.
Alright, I know this isn't one line, but if I just posted,"In," it would make no sense. From my novel Proving Ground:

In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Breathe Laura, breathe, I chanted to myself as I pulled the massive doors open.

Great contest!!! Here's the first line in my manuscript:

Jocelyn stared at the guy sitting across the table from her, wondering how he’d react later – when he was drowning.

Great idea!! Thanks.

"The knife sliced through, coming out clean on the other side, but it always did when Aunt Eliza did the cutting."

I'm pretty sure my sister had decided to become a pagan or a baptist or something before she offed herself so I don't know why we were having a Catholic funeral.

(YA)

YA fiction

His foot slipped. He pitched forward clutching the baby as he fell.

I'm cheating because the first line is two words.

From MG FREAKY FRANK
I have a secret. I know things. Lots of things. About people. Like I know that my math teacher, Mr. Bugg, is going to pick his nose and wipe a boogie on the back of his yellow smiley face tie....

YA Fiction:

He must have watched me from a safe distance, like a crocodile observing its prey.

"I wasn’t sure if, or how, I liked the way the dim lighting danced over my unclothed body, but was grateful that it was more dark than light in the bathroom."

Thank you, Jim, for the oportunity! This novel might be more Rachel's taste since the protagonist's name is Adelaide! Genre: Fiction based on a true story.

"I never wanted my wedding performed by an Elvis impersonator, yet I found myself standing beside my fiancé and looking at the King."

"Death—defined as the end of life—the word alone makes people sad."

"With the exception of the two uniformed police officers on the front steps puking into evidence bags, Ellen LeeAnn Walsh's building looked like a hundred other slightly run-down Italianate Victorians in San Francisco."

"Professor Morgan's fingers slid around my wrist and stopped me mid-step."

Cassandra spotted the Doom Painting at a flea market, and it called to her with a crotchety, insistent voice that couldn’t be ignored.

"A woman is a weapon."

Sweet contest. Here's the first line of Callarion at Night:

"Killing the priest would be simple."

I leaned forward, my wiry red hair hung over Mom’s face as I checked her breathing--still steady.

"I killed three people while I was there. Two were up close and personal; one wasn’t up close at all, but was much, much more personal."

YA Fantasy

I'm loving eveyone's opening lines... I already have my two favorites and I want to see if they jibe with yours! Thanks for the fun :)

"If you walk down the grand staircase of Osthegn Castle, you will see a family portrait."

Perched on the scaffolding, Gabriel felt the walls constrict, remembered each stroke of graphite on parchment, each thwack of setting maul to stone above the nave.

I squeezed the trigger, the noise of the gun deafening in the confined space of the elevator.

Rhonda leans against the door jamb mining an ear with a pinky, jeans slung beneath hipbones, head tilted to the splintering wood.

The warm, summer evening was mine to do with as I pleased, something very foreign to me, and my ability to make a decision was lost.

You've been chosen.

from Shadow of the Long Life Brigade.

-NAP

Sounds great and thanks.

Urban Fantasy

“Alexsi! Someone saw a Bigfoot near the Native Forest,” Professor Ludtz exclaimed from his massive oak desk on the other side of the office.

YA zombie thriller:

"He awoke in the dark to the screams again. His hands were automatic spiders for the gun."

"Faint purring was keeping me awake."

After school, the girls congregated in the park to get high.

Here it is...

"The housemaid’s scream is as sharp as the shards of Venetian glass surrounding the corpse."

A howl unraveled, waking Nevada; as the cry faded eyes closed, tense from neck to knees, she strained to understand.

I have seen myself die countless times, though death has never laid claim to my life.

“Tessa!” I nearly jump out of my seat when she wails, crying that her gum is stuck up her nose.

Forty-eight hours ago, the man Elizabeth was willing to sacrifice herself for before this council of vampire elders, had been the very same man who killed her.

From LINCOLN'S DIARY, a modern suspense novel:

Burying Mom was a start, but the harder job would be digging up the truth.

Cool contest and LOTS of entries. Good luck to your eyes!

My thumb stumbled over the rubbery cell phone button for the hundredth time.

--Edgy YA

Thomas Buttermore was your typical left-coast college kid, raised on Twinkies and white guilt.

Here's mine, from "47 Echo":

"What size boots you wear?" the old man hacked as he led Nick through the open-air morgue, his hand already hovering close to the feet of the nearest corpse.

Cool! From my novel Branded (Fall of Angels):

"This was the time of night when panic started to set in."

First line:

The text message came that night, when Ian was in the library.

Sneaking out of the house on a school night wasn’t something Maya would normally do.

From my YA contemporary/adventure fantasy novel:

"The dazzling golden sunlight faded away and the dense gloom of the underground cave closed in around them."

Among the legion of unfounded, self-manufactured terrors that he masochistically nurtured prophesying his own demise, Emmett's most dreaded and certain prediction had always been that some rapacious, smoke-colored spirit would discover him vulnerable, tease the germ of his glum soul from its mortal tether, and entrench itself in that bleak hollow; and by his letter, it seemed to have happened.

Good luck, Jim, and thanks for the opportunity. :)

MG Paranormal

"I always thought books were boring, a waste of time, but not dangerous. I was wrong."

What a wonderful contest, with a most generous prize. Thank you, Jim.

Paranormal Romance seems out-of-step with the presented genres, but what the hey...

From LOVES FREEDOM, my (nearly “finalized” 92,000 word) paranormal (time-travel) romance.

"Wellington’s parting orders hammered through Ashland’s thoughts, keeping pace with the hooves pounding beneath him."

YA fantasy:

My papers scattered everywhere and my books fell with a loud thud as I braced my arms for impact against the cold, hard floor.

Here's mine:

The baby floated face down in the tub.

First line:

Catalina Flores de la Peña's tongue got her in more trouble than any other part of her body, even though there were far more likely candidates.

From A STORM HITS VALPARAISO, set during South America's wars of independence

www.davidgaughran.com

From PERDITION

He quit his job at the high school amid rumors that his wife was sleeping with the history teacher.

(Science Fiction)

Layne sat on the end of his bed, head in one hand, datapad in the other, and decided he hadn't slept enough to face either message.

My manuscript is not yet complete, but I couldn't resist this:

Zahra could smell the old ndovu, a great pachyderm; for three suns now, she’d tracked him.

"I pressed my shoulders into a wooden armchair in Mrs. Wintour’s antechamber, clasping my hands together so they would not tremble with cold and anxiety."

From VAN DIEMEN AT 17 (YA/Women's Fiction)

Excellent contest! Here is the
opening to my manuscript:

Sometimes the brain can’t process what it sees. When something is so wrong, so horrible, the brain refuses to recognize it. That was the case when I walked into the Keeper’s house, intent on getting a nice, steaming cup of tea to warm my cold hands and delivering an invitation to a party.

Rebecca
http://rebeccatlittle.blogspot.com/

Does it matter if the MS is finished? Mine isn't.
If so, ignore this post, I suppose. My ms is YA fantasy.

"People screamed in the streets, clinging to their loved ones as they tried to escape."

Thanks for a good laugh Rebecca T.!!! Your first sentence is so true! "Sometimes the brain can't process what it sees."!!! The contest is the first line/sentence of your manuscript, not the opening paragraph. Others have made the same mistake, and I'm not trying to be mean by bringing attention to it, but your first sentence just brings a humorous touch to your error.

"With the evening terminator chasing away the day, the eastern edge of the city was just starting to twinkle."

Here's mine: "The new Cadillac with the gull-wing bumpers had smashed, accordion-like, into a tree, steam spewing from its radiator.

I watched from my bed as the snow started to fall; a few light flakes at first, in the blue-black darkness, then sharp gusts of wind pushing the swirls to their final resting place on the barren lawn behind my house.

Here's mine:

One warm and sultry summer night, long after the lights had been turned down in his room, Vladdie the Lamb opened his bedroom window and began to howl at the full moon.

I always knew it all, or at least I thought I did. But nothing could have prepared me for the next twenty-four hours.

YA Urban Fantasy - The Innocents

As Maxfield Parrish Clark crosses Prospect Street, he catches sight of the canal bridge, its rusted girders glazed and shimmering in the rain, and his breathing eases up for the first time all day.

Great idea. Very cool!

"Aldric gazed at them through the gilded mirror."

I swallowed my Altoid the moment the rebel hottie across the reading room drew his attention away from his book and busted me staring at him.

Philip could not believe his eyes. His Amarantha. Sweet Amarantha - a temptress in the silver moonlight.

From FROZEN IN TIME - Historical fantasy.

For as long as he could remember, Little Jemmy had dreamed of being free to do as he pleased, of raftin' down the Potomac with his brothers and sisters, of climbin' the old Mulberry trees just beyond the stables; he even dreamed of learnin' how to read, but Jemmy wasn't allowed to do any of those things because he was a slave.

Thanks for the cool contest.

Here's my first sentence:

Everything I'd ever read said not to go inside, and to call the police from a neighbor’s house, but I entered anyway.

Hope you found some peace in jail; you never will again.

BREATHE - Gay Erotic Romantic Suspense

Oops! My book is upper MG; kindly disregard!

YA paranormal:

The ground was as dry as the Communion wafers I received every Sunday at Mass.

I am not afraid.

From DARKNESS, a contemporary dark fantasy in progress.

From my manuscript Sublime:

I heard my sister’s screams coming from inside the infirmary, and the broken chair in which I sat waiting for her to die, discarded and forgotten, clung to me as much as I clung to it.

A loud, sharp knock at the open doorway startled Lieutenant Derrick “Toons” Hutchinson just as he was finishing a cup of his favorite, blueberry, yogurt.

LOL Fun contest.

Ronnie’s friends noticed the two men entering the yard because they stood out in their black suits, but Ronnie noticed them because she couldn’t poke into their minds to see who they were and what they wanted, and that had never happened before.

From JOURNEY - YA fiction:

It was all fun and games, until Ashley fell over the cliff.

Before my eyelids crack open I know it has happened again.

"I had to choose between the angel and the mermaid."

Now I'm off to learn how to pronounce that volcano name.

It began with a fire, Aisa told me once, and it grew with a kiss.

Here goes:

"I stood at the urinal staring at the crudely made sign announcing the upcoming company-sponsored blood drive when the man in the stall next to me started talking to himself"

"She ran and panic choked her as her heart thumped painfully against her chest."

From- HEARTSOULS- epic fantasy

Great contest and some intriguing posts. The first line of my manuscript:

Novak smelled her before he saw the body.

It started with the weak voices of a few scattered shoots of grass.

Nine astronomical units into space should be enough time to figure out the mystery of who I’m supposed to be.


So many AMAZING first lines. Thanks for holding this contest!

"I cannot stomach the coast."

Contemporary women’s fiction (contrary to how the first line sounds, it isn’t a romance novel :))
"She was so beautiful, sitting in the desk in front of his podium, always smiling, asking questions, flipping her long chestnut hair and laughing…the sound so contagious."

Thanks for a neat contest:

Auntie Jayne with a Y is the root of all my problems.

"The longest journey of my life began with an argument about chips."

Ooh, I want to play!

First line: Forget writer's block, artist's block was a bitch.

I need a good therapist, an astrologer, or at least another pair of eyes - better yet, an army of winged monkeys.

I stood with my paws hanging over the side of the door, my head stuck out the window and my nose pointing into the wind.

Mine is the above post. It is MG. Is that genre allowed?

Echo - YA suspense

The monotonous sound of the television set seeped into Olivia Mariner’s ears.

I was a tree shaking in a terrible storm but the wind was inside my body.

From my historical novel:

Almost a year to the day after Didymus's father sold him into slavery, the Nabataean sent the other slave, a Jewish man named Nathaniel, to the great city of Petra to purchase a pair of camels for his caravan.

There must have been at least 1,000 people.

Thank you for this contest! Here is my first line:

When I was born, all of the demons in Hell cashed in their chips to vie for me.

Margay

My husband had circled an unusual newspaper ad, "handsome, young man seeking to escort experienced, wealthy woman" and penciled in: You can have this guy, I get Uma Thurman.

I certainly hope these multi-sentence "first sentences" are disqualified. I'm sure we all would love to show the first two or three sentences of our manuscript, but those aren't the rules.

Though Barry was no stranger to failing, the current scale of failure impressed even him.

"The red numbers haunted me."

First line: “Hey, Dad? It’s Taylor. Um, I’m kind of in jail.”

Genre is YA

First line from my YA fantasy, Weavers:

The worst part of spending three years in and out of sleep clinics is having to room with the chronic bedwetters.

I knew things were bad when I had to pee in the woods and I couldn’t even get that right.

First line from a crime novel:

This was the uncertain part of Keith Kardain's job, not knowing if or when he'd have to kill someone.

From my teen novel THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROBBIE TAY:


Lightning flashed several times in quick succession, like an anime cartoon.

From my novel: Quest For the Best

When I was a kid you didn’t spend time worrying about your future because things were pretty well set.

From my YA urban fantasy:

"I raged. I attacked. I conquered. Oh, please, who was I kidding? I’m a lazy ass."

Checking my Email and Facebook accounts is like an addiction for me.

She was naked,abso-freaking-lutely naked.

--From my paranormal mystery "Shadow World."

RK

"Disappearing can be so inconvenient."

"Shana is dead and it's all my fault."

Standing fully clothed under a cold shower when you are pissed off is nothing less than stunning.

From my narrative nonfiction/memoir:

When the sky outside began to darken the neonatalogist entered the room - she had dark brown skin, darker brown eyes, and glided quietly across the room like a shadow.

Here's my first line:

"My biggest fear in life was finding out God didn't exist. But after what I've done, my biggest fear is finding out he just might."

Hope you like it.

Here's mine:

I was part of a building complex in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed on September 11, 2001.

This is the first line from my contemporary YA novel, Butterfly With Broken Wings.

If you had told me a few years ago that in the near future I would lose my independence and everything that defined me, I’d have called you crazy.

Laura Ann Dunks

When your best friend’s a werewolf, things can get interesting.

If I could say only one thing, it would be this – you chose your life.

From THE NANCY WHO DREW - a memoir

From my mystery novel:

"The color pink, no matter what the shade, had never done me any favors; today was no exception."

First line:
He waited.

One abstract string binds me to Padre; a mutual exchange of knowledge.

Horror

Thank you for the opportunity.

I don't know if "end of day" means end of business day or midnight, but here goes just in case:

I was wearing pink Converse at prom.

Thanks!

From my YA fictional memoir/novel:

We were standing together, naked and shivering, when the heavy metal doors slammed behind us and we heard the gas hissing in, and then suddenly, through the fog, we heard shouts coming from outside - "The twins! Where are the twins?" - and the chamber door opened to reveal Dr. Mengele.

I should have had a plan of some kind, because that was the kind of person I was.

Aww man, I just missed the deadline.

But for the sake of other readers maybe giving feedback on it anyway...

"Intersecting beams of refracted light cut through her, glaring so violently she could no longer bear to see."

Whoops, like another contestant, my story is upper MG too - please disregard my entry. Sorry aobut that.

Apparently we all have comment block.

How timely. :) I have a question about publishing and blogs that came up over the weekend.

If I post a short story or poem onto my blog, is it considered "published?"

The reason I ask is I have been entering different literary magazine contests and oftentimes, one of the stipulations is that the submission is unpublished. I am assuming that this means the submission shouldn't have been published in another literary magazine or similar. I am just unsure if this "unpublished" rule encompasses the internet as well.

Thanks for any insight!

PS: I haven't been posting them on my blog...just in case!

LOL! I just started my own blog, and while I am off to a very enthusiastic start, I worry about what happens when I find myself staring at that blank page w/nothing to say.

I'll pose a question for you. Since your job revolves around other people's writing, how much of it do you actually do for yourself, besides the obligatory blog posts?

Oooh, excellent, I love asking questions! I have two actually, because I'm greedy like that. One is yours, though. :)

1. What WAS the best pitch you ever heard?
and
2. Right now, what would your wish list for new submissions be? I know you've got 'horror' above in the list, but I was just wondering about other passions, interests, etc. So if you could receive your ideal genres/settings/themes/topics in queries this very instant, what would they be?

I ask because, although I've heard agents don't like to limit themselves to a 'wish list' just in case they miss something else that hooks them, I still love knowing what an agent might be really keen on RIGHT NOW...

Coming up with suitable blog fodder on a regular basis is like always having to think of what to cook for dinner.

Okay, here's my throw-away question: Are there any books you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading and if so, why?

Alrighty, so: Jen, posting things on your blog doesn't really constitute "publishing" them at this point. If you sell or contract pieces to another blog, they may have some ownership, but if it's on a personal blog and can be removed, that shouldn't interfere.

Elizabeth...me? Write? No, I don't do that. :) I think our office is a bit of an anomaly, actually, in that we're a whole bunch of folks in publishing who are almost entirely without our own writerly aspirations. I'll just keep reading, thank you very much.

And the best pitch I ever heard...oh, Sangu, you totally turned that back around on me. Without going into much detail because I actually didn't sign the project, I heard an incredible pitch about a memoir from someone who spent the 70s deeply entangled with the mob in Vegas. He was super charismatic, had incredible stories, and totally left the table with me sitting there wanting more. Sadly, I didn't fall in love with the material itself when I got it.

What do I want to see besides some great upmarket horror? Real stories for the YA market--I love the paranormal so much, but sometimes I do want to see a teenager who is, y'know...human. I always say I want great ghost stories, and that remains true. I'd love to find a good epic drama like Leila Meacham's Roses. And I'm always on the lookout for anything that makes me laugh.

Fun question, Mary! There is little that I'm embarassed to be seen reading. I don't really do shame. So I've read category romance novels and kids books and all sorts of stuff in public. I will say that while I represent some erotica, I probably wouldn't read it in public. But I always admire the people who do and who totally don't care about being spotted!

Question: I have a friend who is changing genres to write in one that is hot. I'm thinking this is a bad idea because that genre may not be hot for long, and because if that genre had been her passion she would have been writing in it all along. Still, I understand why she is doing this. It is a business decision.

Other than the standard, "Do your best, follow all the instructions and hopefully the stars will align properly so you can one day be published--maybe, possibly, but seriously, don't hold your breath," is there something we can do business-wise in terms of genres?

I suspect that literary fiction may be down but not out.

--Felicity

Thanks for the quick and helpful response Jim! :)

Here's a question for you:
What turns you off when reading a submission? If the first page doesn't grab you do you keep reading or stop at that?
Thanks!

Forget all the writing stuff. I'm dying to know the preferred footwear designer. :)

Oo! I know, I know! Do any of your YA authors Skype classroom visits, and is there a charge?

Thanks for opening up a line of questioning! I love this kind of access :)

My question: Is it ever appropriate in a query to mention a second project? I have a memoir, and I'm also working on a narrative nonfiction project--it's unique, marketable, and I had received a significant travel grant for research. Would an agent like to know that a prospective client is forward-thinking and might be more than a "one-hit wonder"? Do two-book deals in nonfiction for a unknown author even occur?

Felicity, I love your question. People often try to switch genres to capitalize on the success of other books, and it can be such a huge, depressing waste of time. The thing is, what's hot right now might not be hot in two years. And if you're writing in a genre you don't love, you might not be able to capture what's so great about it. If you're going to try to do this, then it's best to look at something like Publishers Marketplace to see what's selling now rather than at the bestseller lists. It's a better way to look at where the market is going to be when your book is published than what's working now.

Kim, I wish I could say that I read more than a page if something isn't grabbing me, but it wouldn't be true. Lots of things turn me off: awkward phrasing, poor grammar, bad spelling, etc. But the one thing I'm looking for always is just a reason to turn the page. If I'm not compelled to keep going, I'll probably just stop.

Funny, Jenn. And no competition: Cole Haan.

And Clixx, I'm sure some of my YA authors would be happy to Skype into a classroom. And I'm sure they'd be happy to charge. :) No seriously, though, for this type of thing it's best to go directly to publishers and through the publicity department, but if you have specific requests, email me, and I'll pass along (just this once!). :)

Rachel, I'd say that with nonfiction, it's best to query one project at a time. We assume that most writers don't want to only publish one book, but when considering a memoir, it might be more jarring than anything else to also start thinking about another project. Once someone wants to work with you on the memoir, then it's a great time to bring it up.

Ok, so let's talk Stephen King then...what book do you wish would be turned into a movie? OR what book do you wish the movie industry had just left alone? (I totally wished they had left IT alone...creepy clown guy? Yeah, I didn't need to see that horror come to life. ;)).

Okay, here are two random questions for you:

Which 20th century writer (of any genre) do you admire the most and why?

And which American president (if any) do you admire the most and why?

Hilariously (to me), I was thinking of asking you to write a guest blog, but I couldn't think of a topic for you!

Oh, Cambria, I loved the It miniseries! I also think The Shining and Misery were outstanding.
For the most part, King's books have been so well covered by the film industry that I don't know that there's one I'm waiting to be tackled that hasn't already. But I do wish that The Tommyknockers hadn't happened. And Needful Things should have been a better movie.

Anonymous, picking a most admired writer is insanely hard. I'll go with the first person to come to mind, and that's Toni Morrison. I just don't think there's anyone else who could craft the sentences she does. But that she's an incredible writer isn't enough on its own: she is also a remarkable storyteller and plotter. Even in her lesser efforts (I'm thinking of Love in particular), her writing moves like magic.

I'm probably too apolitical to have a most admired American president. I was thinking FDR, but there was that pesky internment issue. Washington and Lincoln are too obvious. I'm wary of the assassinated ones because their reputations are probably glorified because they didn't live through their terms... I'll just go with Millard Fillmore for having the most awesome name.

Um, why won't you consider middle grade? (You did say ask you anything...)

Hi, Jim! (Just remember you asked for it.) So... if you won a round-trip ticket on a time-travel machine, where would you go? (Travel stipulations: You go as you are now, can take nothing with you and bring nothing back but memories. You will arrive in period clothing and be well versed in the native tongue.) Go!

Nina, enjoying The Marriage Test

I can identify--I'm planning to actually start using my blog for more than commenting this week, and I'm terrified I'll run into blogger's block for stretches of time. Sometimes it feels like there's not much more to say than, "Plugging away at the latest WIP. It's going well/poorly."!

You mentioned loving ghost stories. Do you stick mostly to the traditional western fare--haunted houses, dark and stormy nights, etc.--or are you interested in ghost stories around the world? I've been getting more fascinated over the past few years with foreign haunting legends, especially out of Malaysia and Japan. What are your favorite sorts of ghosts?

This is a lame one but I'll ask anyway: Do you have any query pet peeves/tips for newbies out there? Not that I'm calling myself a newbie or anything...:)

Hum, since you've asked, I have a question that bothers me for long: "How much are agents (you, in particular) willing to work with an writer that loves to be switching genres?"
Imagine she starts with historical romance, and then writes a sci-fi series, and has lots of different (and hopefully good) ideas?

Thank you very much.

Thanks for answering my questions, Jim! The mob pitch sounds like it would have been amazing, though obviously the first thought in my head is 'oooh, is it like The Godfather? Are gangsters that good-looking in real life?'

How effective is scotch tape as an alternative to Botox?

(I kid. But good times!)

Real question: what was the last paranormal YA novel by a non-agency client you read and adored?

And thanks for doing this. These super-interactive posts are awesome.

Yat-Yee, it isn't that I won't consider middle grade at all--it's just a genre that I don't believe I'm well versed in enough to work in confidently as of now. But believe me, I'm reading lots of it, and I do hope to work on it in the future.

Nina, I almost hate to admit that I'm such a local boy at heart that I'd probably stick it out in NY and go back to the late 60s/early 70s. Warhol's Factory, Max's Kansas City, Studio 54...it all sounds so exciting. And I do love a good disco song. For a slightly more adventurous answer, I'd go back to the World's Fair in London in the 1850s to see the Crystal Palace.

Kristin, I'm down for any ghost story that scares me (which is just about ANY ghost story). Whether it's The Haunting or Ringu, I'm in. I do prefer sentient ghosts to the more atmospheric poltergeist-y ones.

Kristi, honestly, my biggest pet peeves are errors made out of laziness. I got a query today from someone who compared their writing to "Mary Clark Higgins." I mean...come on! That's the stuff that makes me cringe and move to reject out of hand. Just get past those errors, and we can actually judge based on content! I also personally hate any letter addressing me as James.

Anonymous, I'm willing to work quite hard with someone who wants to switch genres....if I think they're making the right decision and really believe in them as a writer. I'm supportive of people making smart decisions and branching out but not writers who just can't focus. There's a difference!

And M, as I've mentioned to you before but will share with our blog readers, scotch tape is a TOTALLY ineffective alternative to Botox, and it will only ruin a perfectly nice Thanksgiving dinner. :) Thanks for asking, Last paranormal YA I read and ADORED by a non-client? Catching Fire. It takes a lot for me to get to adoration. Last YA paranormal I read and really, really liked? Incarceron. Enough to order the sequel from the UK rather than wait for American publication.

Thanks, Jim, for answering my question. Interestingly enough, I used the word "adored" to describe a book today: Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan. As for the Hunger Games trio: already pre-ordered #3.

Thanks so much, Jim! I am totally with you on the Catching Fire love. I liked it even better than The Hunger Games.

Haven't read Incarceron yet but the premise is fantastic.

Oh, I love Ringu! I even liked the American remake. I liked Ju-On even more. Japan's got such a rich and diverse repertoire of ghosts. If you haven't seen The Great Yokai War, I'd recommend it just for the glimpses of all the crazy ghosts and monsters in their mythology. The Haunting is a classic, too. I'll admit to liking ghosts in movies more than in books because it's a lot harder to scare me in text. I should probably read more horror anyway, though.

Millard Fillmore? An "interesting" choice! Here's one more:

Have you ever had an auction backfire? Or, put differently, are there certain situations in which you might avoid an auction even though more than one publisher has expressed interest in making an offer?

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions today -- it's much appreciated. :)

Also, for those who like Japanese horror, A Tale of Two Sisters kept me up for several nights -- and horror movies don't usually scare me!

Jim, this isn't a question, but I did want to let you know that I was one of the ones you recommended a read to, and I finished it. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by ZZ Packer.

I liked it. The first story may have been my favorite, but all of them were enjoyable. It's probably not one I would have picked up and bought in the bookstore, and if I'd happened upon it at the library, I may or may not have checked out. Maybe, and if I had, I probably would have finished without the responsibility of the recommendation, though possibly not. The first story, Brownies, definitely hooked me, though the subsequent ones not quite as much. So in this book, at least for me, the order of the stories was very good. Packer writes really well, some great prose, and I enjoyed it. So chalk this one up to a ding! ding! ding!

And thanks.

Jim said... "I'm such a local boy at heart that I'd probably stick it out in NY" Don't blame you there, Jim. I loved the show New Amsterdam, especially the intro, watching the great city grow and change. Shame the show's writers didn't better manage the main character’s primary conflict. So much more could have been done with concept. (Or maybe it would have made a better book series.)

"For a slightly more adventurous answer, I'd go back to the World's Fair in London in the 1850s to see the Crystal Palace." See you there! (in 1851 to be exact) ;-)

I think it was a great exercise and I can certainly say I enjoyed watching the comments roll in! Thank you for my recommendation, I've promised myself I'll buy it once I finish writing a) a first draft of my new novel and b) my dissertation for university. A treat for all my hard work, so to speak. Not long to go now...

I thought something really cool happened as the result of your post and I think you've hit it on the head: it has to do with booklovers, who engage in their (our) pursuits privately, for the most part, entering a community. I hope you'll keep updating us on the book recs and peoples' responses.

A neighbor loaned my Prague but I was--okay this is a lame excuse--but the print was so small on so hard on my multi-troubled eyes that I didn't continue. Maybe I'll get a copy with larger print.

Thanks again for doing this -- and for quoting me in your post! I haven't read Soulless yet but heard Kristin (Nelson) read Gail's opening at a first pages workshop and it's definitely on my TBR list. :)

Well, you recommended Drinking Coffee Elsewhere to me, a book of short stories by ZZ Packer, and I started last night and am a story and a half in so far. The first one was quite good--plus it used my daughter's (fairly unusual) name, so that was fun. I will definitely update you when I am done to let you know my thoughts.

By the way, did you ever read When We Were Romans? A good read, a story that evolves (I won't say how) without the reader seeing it coming. Really authentic voice, too.

Thanks for the mention Jim! I'll try Prague and let you know. I cheated and looked at the opening on BN.com --interesting!

I loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth (and the sequel), but I thought that The Maze Runner didn't live up to the hype that I had been hearing about it online. When someone compares your book to the movie Cube -- you have ton to live up to and Maze Runner didn't deliver the level of intensity you find in Cube.

I will admit that I enjoyed The Hunger Games, but it does irk me that it is a dumbed down (Americanized?) version of Battle Royale.

This was a great exercise.

I am behind on my blog reading so I missed your first post, but I wanted to chime in to say, I loved SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO ME (or whatever it's called). The librarian gave it to me last week and I blazed through it, but I'm still thinking about it too.

Awesome observations. Thanks for the recap and for doing this in the first place. It's amazing to be able to chat about books with someone in the industry AND find out your tastes. I'm sure that's valuable to a lot of people wanting to query you. What a unique opportunity.
I just got a notice that the book you recommended, Purple Hibiscus, is in from the library. I will pick it up tomorrow. I love talking books so I'll certainly be in touch with my thoughts. :-)

Well, I haven't read the one you recced to me (our library doesn't have it! gah!) although I did mark it over on Goodreads (do you keep track of your books there too?) and I also checked out a couple of books that you recced to others who listed books I also liked (Perfect Chemistry and The Marriage Test, IIRC).

This is similar to the way I rec books to my students; I ask them to name a movie or TV show that they like & tell me what they like about it. Then I (try to) choose a book that has those elements in it.

Wait, do you want us to post our books here and email you with the results? Or email you with the books and the results?

What a great idea! Thanks for doing this!

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle
Shannon by Frank Delaney
Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Whoo! This is fun and nervewracking at the same time! Okay, Jenn, a novella for you: Disquiet by Julia Leigh.

Mary, you get a suggestion of one of my all-time favorite YA novels: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

and I'm glad I'm on the right track Readerly! Try The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

Haven't read this one - will check it out and let you know how it goes. Thanks!

This is a delightful idea.

My last five:

Unwind, Neal Shusterman
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Bringing Home the Birkin, Michael Tonello
The Maze Runner, James Dashner
Best Friends Forever, Jennifer Weiner (guilty pleasure!)

I am a voracious reader but am stuck with a small budget and a crappy library system, so a personal recommendation is extremely welcome!

Beating the Babushka by Tim Maleeny

King Aroo 1950-1952 (newspaper comic strip collection) by Jack Kent

Sally's In the Alley by Norbert Davis

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

The Uncomfortable Dead by Subcomandante Marcos and Paco Ignacio Taibo II

Wow Aimee--that's such a down the middle blend of light fun and dystopian YA that I got stuck for a second. But then I thought of a super-fun novel that's also dark and spooky: have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke?

Whoops--I almost missed you, Tere. I was leaning toward some Francesca Lia Block, but you're already a YA writer, so...The City & The City by China Mieville.

I'm not Jim, but Aimee, based on your last five, I think you should read BONES OF FAERIE by Jannie Lee Simner next!

And yikes, Michael, are you trying to stump me? Let's see: this might be a reach, but I'm going with The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle (and not just because I love his last name).

Ha, I know. I try to strike a balance, so I don't end up totally depressed or completely enveloped in frivolity. :) I am actually a few chapters into Jonathan Strange--my mother gave me The Magicians for christmas, and passed along the bookstore's reccomendation for J Strange also, so here I am.

I do read a lot (usually 2 or 3 books a week) and over a lot of styles. If you have another rec, I would be glad to know! I am going to check out the other titles mentioned above as well.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Contact by Carl Sagan
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Mercy by Jodi Picoult
Please Stop Laughing At Me by Jodee Blanco

This should be interesting. :)

Curse you, iPhone keyboard--I can spell, really.

I also almost missed you, Eric! I think the comments are coming in out of order. Or perhaps I'm just scattered. This is almost harder with people you know. I'm torn between two for you, so I'm just going to go with both. The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes which is perhaps more comedic than the recent titles but fairly in line, and then a teen novel that a lot of people here have already mentioned (and which I adore): The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Alrighty, Aimee, glad to know I was in the right field since it's a book you're already reading! Will try to go a little further afield. Have you read ORYX AND CRAKE by Margaret Atwood?

And what Saundra said! :) I haven't read that book, but Saundra's a new client and a wonderful writer, so I'll second her choice.

Thanks for the suggestion, Jim!

I'll likely pick it up tomorrow when I go to B&N to get my copy of Succubus Shadows (I'm a big fan of Richelle's work)

This is such a great idea! Congratulations on managing to reply to everyone's offering, Jim. That's astounding dedication!

Soulless, Gail Carriger
These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Stolen, Lucy Christopher
The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga

Ha! You know what, Tania? You already are mixing fiction and nonfiction; sci-fi and women's fiction. So rather than try to identify a theme, I'm just going to give a shout out to a book I complete and totally love and would recommend to anyone: This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.

Jim, I have not read that yet, though I have enjoyed the other Margaret Atwood books I've read. I will definitely check it out. And I have already added Saundra's recommendation and Shadowed Summer to my kindle. Thanks a million!

I read pretty much everything, so here goes my last five:

Outlander
American Gods
I, Robot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Shutter Island

And I'm currently reading:

A Game of Thrones

And the next book on my list was:

Noble House

I'm actually about 40 pages into Never Let Me Go right now, Sangu! You're getting a recommendation for a series of three novellas, the first of which alone is worth the price of admission: Little Kingdoms by Steven Millhauser.

This is fun, reading people's recent reads and your recommendations. Here are mine:

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

The Ever Breath by Julianna Baggott

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Click Here by Denise Vega

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Anonymous, I had actually made the decision not to recommend any titles from the agency (which feels a little cheap and easy). I am going to break my rule on this one, though, and recommend Jacqueline Carey's KUSHIEL'S SCION. Jacqueline's not one of my clients, and I read her as a fan, so it doesn't feel too sleazy to me just this once!

Jenn, you may have already read this, but I finally got around to it this weekend and was so hugely charmed that I want to recommend it to someone: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

brilliant idea

1. thirteen reasons why by jay asher
2. wintergirls by laurie halse anderson
3. love you, hate you, miss you by elizabeth scott
4. the basic eight by daniel handler
5. the lovely bones by alice sebold

(i know there's a lot of YA there but i'm actually 24)

Thanks so much! I'm off to Amazon as you read this. :)

There's no age limit on YA, CS!! But if you want to read something more "adult," might I recommend HOME LAND by Sam Lipsyte?

I'll definitely try that out and let you know how it goes!

That's a great match for me because I have in fact read it recently and really loved it. I'm impressed at the wide range of reading lists people are throwing at you and how quickly you are able to respond with a recommendation. I've marked down a couple other titles I'm now wanting to look into.

(CS, I'm not Jim but I'm familiar with all the books you listed and recently read two others that might be right up your alley if you haven't already read them: By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters, and All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab, which I'm in the middle of right now and enjoying so far.)

Thanks for the recommendation, Jim! Just Amazon-ed the novellas (ha! created a verb!) and they sound fantastic. I love discovering new things to read, so I think this post was a stroke of pure genius.

Never Let Me Go is amazing. If you're 40 pages in, you probably haven't hit the 'revelation' yet, but I expect you might know it already because of how the novel is marketed. Whether or not you know what's coming, it's an amazing novel in terms of character, emotion and the amazing subtlety Ishiguro employs in fleshing out his dystopian future. I look forward to Millhauser and I really hope you enjoy Ishiguro!

Glad I'm on the right track, Jenn. Let me try again with something COMPLETELY different: Firmin by Sam Savage.

This is cool.

1. Almost finished with Uglies
2. The Silver Phoenix
3. The Forest of Hands and Teeth
4. The Giver
5. Catching Fire

Awesome. I'm going to cheat and tell the the last five I read that I actually liked. Some have underwhelmed me and I wouldn't want you to choose based on that!

I have broad tastes so I'm curious...

FEED by M.T. Anderson
WIDE SARAGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
FOREST BORN by Shannon Hale
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead
THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner

Wow, this looks like so much fun. I've finished these recently:

Cathy Yardley - Turning Japanese
Life as We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Plague of Memory - S.L. Viehl
The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan

I'm a slow reader with eclectic tastes, so it will be interesting if you can find something. Oh and Octavia Butler is my favorite sci-fi author so the Kindred is a great recommendation. =)

Awesome idea, and thanks to Jennifer for directing me here:

KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child
THE PERSUADER by Lee Child
THE FIRST RULE by Robert Crais
CHASING DARKNESS by Robert Crais
9 DRAGONS by Michael Connelly

I just looked up info on Firmin and it sounds right up my alley. I'm heading to the library this week and will check it out and follow up with my thoughts once I finish. Thank you!!

Hey Jim! This is cool.

My last five:

THE CROSSING by Cormac McCarthy
SCARLETT FEVER by Maureen Johnson
SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHAM by Joan Didion
GONE by Lisa McMann
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

and I'm currently reading THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES.

I put Purple Hibiscus on hold at the NYPL! Looking forward to it. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Oscar Wao. The story is actually really beautiful and I loved the characters, but the footnotes were painful. I call it an epic novel for the ADD. My brain works a bit more linear, so it was a challenge for me to adjust to this novel :-)

Alrighty, let's do this. BleeBonn, I'm tempted to recommend you get Carrie's next book, The Dead Tossed Waves. But that's cheating! :) Instead, I'm going to recommend a beautifully strange YA novel: The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block.

Liesl, you totally threw me with Wide Sargasso Sea mixed in with teen titles, so I'm going for a very adult book that has that sort of mysterious feel of some of the YA titles you mention: Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard.

Shawntelle, I say what I said to some other folks before: this is harder when you know the person! So I'm gonna go out on a limb with my suggestion for you. Less outwardly fantastical than most of the titles you mention, but something about it feels right: Out by Natsuo Kirino.

And Todd, you've got some masters of thriller writing in there. A lot of my clients know that there's one thriller writer I recommend more than any other. And that's Charlie Huston. Check out Caught Stealing. And if you love it as much as I do, it launches a whole trilogy of amazing.

Can I still play?

I skew heavily toward fantasy as you'll no doubt notice (I swear I read other stuff, too!)

SOULLESS Gail Carriger
CATCHING FIRE Suzanne Collins
THE AFFINITY BRIDGE George Mann
KINDRED IN DEATH J.D. Robb
HERO OF AGES Brandon Sanderson

Alright, I'm game.

"Graceling" - Kristin Cashore
"Hunger Games" - Suzanne Collins
"Blue Diablo" -- Ann Aguirre
"Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side" - Beth Fantaskey
"My Soul to Take" - Rachel Vincent

Those are the last five books I finished. I'm also currently reading two more:
"The Doomsday Key" - James Rollins
"Her Vampire Husband" - Michele Hauf

Leonore, you work here! :) Alrighty--I'll take your mix of YA and adult literary and give you a literary coming of age story that I love: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.

And Rabia, how would you feel about a young adult recommendation? I give you Incarceron by Catherine Fisher.

Melissa, Purple Hibiscus is MUCH more straightforward than Oscar Wao. Hope you love it!

Oh, Tura Lura, it's like you're daring me to break my rules and recommend one of my own clients. But I will stay strong! By recommending a book by the friend of a client: Kat Richardson's Greywalker.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

(The last two may throw a wrench in the plan since I reread the Austen canon every year, but these are the last five books I've read.)

"I was leaning toward some Francesca Lia Block, but you're already a YA writer, so...The City & The City by China Mieville."

Love FLB's books, and Mieville's Un Lun Dun is in my tbr list. You're good at this. ;)

Thanks, Jim!

~Tere

You folks come up with the coolest ideas for your blog! My last five books were:
SKIN HUNGER by Kathleen Duey
FADE by Lisa McMann
GONE by Michael Grant
CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins
PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL: FIRST TEST by Tamora Pierce

I've been wanting to read Kat Richardson's books for a while now (more so since I've had the opportunity to talk with her on Twitter), so I think that's probably a good choice. ^_-

Hmm...Peggy. A thriller, a romance, an epistolary novel, and some Austen. I'm gonna go 19th Century on you and recommend Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant. Read it before the movie comes out next year!

And Larissa, I'm going out on a limb again on this one and recommend a very unusual but very fun adult novel: Big Machine by Victor Lavalle. It slips in and out of the fantastical, is a hodgepodge of literary styles, and really pushes boundaries while exploring some similar themes to novels you've listed here.

I would love to go back and read the suggestions in the comments but wanted to put my list here first. Here are the recent books I enjoyed:

1. Let the Great World Spin
2. Catching Fire
3. In The Woods
4. Leviathan
5. Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z

Oh, Yat-Yee. I haven't read #5, but I LOVE the others. So I'll recommend another book that makes me feel the need to capitalize my feelings: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Have you read it already?

Oh, I'm so excited! I looked up Big Machine and it sounds really interesting. I am looking forward to reading it. Thanks!

No, I haven't read Geek Love but will get it now. Thanks for the recommendation.

Nancy here. So little time, so many great books. This sounds like a great idea & I'm open to reading new things. Here's my last five:

The Endless Forest - Sara Donati
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
Santa Olivia - Jacqueline Carey
Why We Suck - Denis Leary
Succubus Blues - Richelle Mead

I got really confused trying to match your recs with the original list so I'm going to print out the comments page at the end of the day to get a better idea.

So many books I haven't read and so exciting to find out about them.

Thank you for the recommendation. While I flip flop across the genres you did spot my weakness for off beat fiction with humor/satire. The closest I found to my taste in literary fiction has been Animal Farm. I hated Kotzwinkle's Doctor Rat, but Fan Man sounds much more likely to appeal to me. I look forward to reading it. Thank you.

Hi, Jim,

I love this little experiment! Here are mine. I'm a genre reader:

Winterkill by C.J. Box
Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
Three Weeks to Say Goodbye by C.J. Box
Careless in Red by Elizabeth George
Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James

Thanks so much!

Too lazy to check for myself but of all the books mentioned in the last five read list, has any book been mentioned by more than one reader? So much for the idea we all are reading today's "Bestsellers".

Oh drat. My last comment didn't post. Nancy, I recommended a strange little novel called American Desert by Percival Everett. Your willingness to read dark fantasy combined with Denis Leary's humor led me there.

Michael, you will either love or hate The Fan Man. There is no in between. But give it some time. The first few pages felt like nails on a chalkboard when I started, but now I look back and still chuckle just remembering certain scenes.

And Paula, you do know what you like! Not going TOO far astray, how would you feel about giving Dennis Lehane a shot? A Drink before the War is fantastic. His titles get less genre as he continues, but he was a procedural master before he started going in different directions.

Yat-Yee, I double recommend Geek Love!

It can be a little... weird at times, but the story is unforgettable. Bought her novel Truck, hoping for something similar, but Geek Love is definitely one of a kind!

~Tere

Forest of Hands & Teeth- Carrie Ryan
Anita Blake Series- Laurel K Hamilton
Sookie Stackhouse Series- Charlaine Harris
The Thirteenth Tale- Diane Setterfield
The Sword of Truth Series- Terry Goodkind

(I included whole series seeing as how if I only listed the last 5 books they would have all been by Terry Goodkind.)

Michael, there are a few books that several folks have mentioned, but of them, a lot of them seem to be books represented by DGLM, so I think that might be a readership thing more than anything else! Also, two young adult authors that came up a lot: Laurie Halse Anderson and Suzanne Collins. No complaints from me as I actually also recommended books by both of them! Maybe next week my post will be about the findings of this little survey when I have some more time to sit back and see how it all played out.

And Tara, this is a stretch, but it's deeply rooted in the fantastical, and I totally think you should give it a shot (cause it's fab): The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami.

Hope it's not to late to post my little list! Here they are ...

Tethered by Amy Mackinnon
Lips Touch by Laini Taylor
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shutter Island by Dennis Lahane
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Looking forward to your recommendation, Jim!

Alrighty, Marie, I'm winding down for the day, but you caught me. :) I'm gonna recommend a novel that I thought was fabulous, but I'm going to include the caveat that opinion in the office was very, very split on this one. The book is The Invention of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld.

Jim, I will get it the next time I make a trip to the book store. Stretches are good, they keep us limber. =)

Thank you for suggesting Dennis Lehane, Jim! That's exactly the kind of stuff I love to read.

I'm in the thriller kind of mood so this sounds very interesting, thank you! :)

Hey, I just realized that I have this book in my "to read" stack .... cool!

Oh, have I missed out?

Baroness Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel
Terry Pratchett - Unseen Academicals
John Joseph Adams (ed) - The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Esther Friesner - Nobody's Princess
Richard Adams - Watership Down

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Most Wanted by Jacqueline Mitchard
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Jenn- thanks for the extra recommendations! i'll be having a look for those soon too. :)

Cool!

GOING BOVINE Libba Bray
LIAR Justine Larbalestier
LEVIATHAN Scott Westerfeld
THE IRON COUNCIL China Mieville
AFTER DARK Haruki Murakami

Red Claw by Philip Palmer
The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott
Repo Men by Eric Garcia
Hellbound Hearts edited by Paul Kane
Lets Go Play at the Adams by Mendal W. Johnson

Jim,

I'm game for YA anytime. Incarceron sounds intriguing. I'm off to add it to my wishlist. Thanks!

This is a tremendous list of books and recommendations! I may be going for a long time off of this. But I'd like to throw my list in the ring, and hope for a rec for myself:

1) Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (I liked the Time Traveler's wife, better, but this was also good).

2) Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

3) Moby Dick by Herman Melville

4) The Crimson Petal and the White

5) The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

And I've just started reading The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and have greatly enjoyed the first 100 pgs.

thanks for doing this!

my latest five are:
grand & humble - brent hartinger
cracked up to be - courtney summers
before i fall - lauren oliver
stealing heaven - elizabeth scott
north of beautiful - justina chen headley

Battle Royale by Koushon Takami
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Rioran
Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Very interested to see what that will yield...

Hey kids,

A few more came in last night. Let's get 'em.

Emily, try The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It's historical, wonderful, and a super-fun read.

Backfence, I'm excited about my recommendation for you: The Group by Mary McCarthy. I finally got around to reading it a month or two ago, and it's hugely delightful.

Evilphilip, I almost stole a suggestion from another commenter and recommended Battle Royale, but that feels like cheating, so I'm going to go with Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (it's even printed in brown ink--it looks amazing).

Danielle, have you read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl yet? I think it might be a fit that captures some of the various threads running through your list.

Caitlin, how fabulous is The Crimson Petal and the White? I can't believe I didn't recommend it to anyone...yet. But for you, I'll go with something else delightful: Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins.

Ikw, how about one of my favorite young adult novels: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky?

And last but not least, Delilah, you make me want to recommend something I already recommended and something by one of my own clients. But I'm holding strong and not giving in! So you get The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.

Oooh, this is awesome. My last 5 were:

Fallen by Lauren Kate
Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Playing With Fire by Gena Showalter

Notes From No Man's Land / Eula Biss
Truck Stop / Marc F. Wise and Bryan Di Salvatore
Kill All Your Darlings / Luc Sante
Dispatches / Michael Herr
Dispatches / Michael Herr (yeah, twice)

What's next, Jim?

I am interested in what you come up with Jim.

Here are my last five fiction reads

Dreamveil by Lynn Viehl
Split Second by David Baldacci
The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
Sparhawk's Lady by Miranda Jarrett
The Husband List by Victoria Alexander

So, what's next?

Evilphilip, I almost stole a suggestion from another commenter and recommended Battle Royale, but that feels like cheating, so I'm going to go with Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (it's even printed in brown ink--it looks amazing).

Good thing you didn't. I own it. I also own the manga, the deluxe manga and both movies on DVD.

Thanks again for the suggestion, I asked my buddy at Tor to send me a copy of Boneshaker.

-PiP

Oo, I hope I'm not too late!

Epic, Conor Kostick
Bloody Jack, L.A. Meyer
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Poison Study, Maria Snyder
King Con, Stephen Cannell

Alrighty. Carolin, try The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Grof. Lush, lyrical, fantastical. It could be a fit.

Fatcaster, you're tricky (or maybe I have recommendation fatigue!). I love Luc Sante's Low Life, but you've already read him. I'm going to take a lead from the fact that dark doesn't seem to be a problem and recommend Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation.

NinaP, I haven't had a chance to give many romance recommendations, so I'm going to bust one out for you: Bettina Krahn's The Marriage Test is delightful.

And Clix, this might be a little bit of a shot in the dark, but I'm going for it. My recommendation: J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians.

Jim, I'm so glad I'm not too late!!! Or am I???

The Shack - Wm Paul Young
The Blood of Flowers - Anita Amirrezvani
Sarah's Key - Tatiana De Rosnay
Chez Moi - Agnes Desarthe
Secrets of the Zona Rosa - Rosemary Daniell

Me too!

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
Go Tell It On The Mountain - James Baldwin
The Women - TC Boyle
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Run, River - Joan Didion

Thanks for busting out a romance recommendation for me, Jim. A copy of The Marriage Test is its way to me. How did you know I enjoy stories featuring Knight heroes?

This is interesting, since I am always wondering about what I should read next...and it seems like my kindle gets confused about what to recommend. My last 5 were:

1. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
2. Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
3. Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris
4. A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
5. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Thank you, Jim! Beasts of No Nation it is. Low Life is already one of my keepers. Sometimes, dark leads to great writing. May I in turn suggest Wanderer, Sterling Hayden's autobiography? Thanks again.

Still open? If so:

The Weight of Silence (Heather Gudenkauf)
The Secret Sisters (Joni Rodgers)
The Belly Dancer (Deanna Cameron)
While I'm Falling (Laura Moriarty)
Noah's Compass (Anne Tyler)

Thanks for this, sounds like fun. Interested to hear what you suggest and see how it goes.

Great idea, Jim. :-D

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Skinwalker by Faith Hunter

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Blood Colony by Tananarive Due

Okay, I'm a sucker for this, so I'm going to offer choices for the four of you who popped by since my last visit.

Lynn, I'm more confident in my recommendation to you than I have been in many others. Which either means I'm more off base, or I've really hit the nail on the head. You can let me know which if you give Gilead by Marilynne Robinson a read.

Tess, you've got some seriously diverse titles there. How about Everyman by Philip Roth? He has his ups and downs, but I actually thought this late-career gem was truly underrated.

JoAnn, this one is beating me up. I came up with a few titles off the top of my head, but I've already recommended them! So for the first time since I started, I'm throwing this one to guest recommender Miriam Goderich whose suggestion is Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock.

Elizabeth, how do you feel about short stories? My recommendation: ZZ Packer's fab collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.

Argh, Demon Hunter. I thought I was done! :)Okay, I recommended this author before, but not this book: Fledgling by Octavia Butler.

P.S. Hope you loved Carrie's book.

Hurray! Thank you, Jim - it sounds awesome!

dialogue is riveting when one speaker has power over the other

Read your dialogue out loud. It may read fabulously, but sometimes it doesn't speak fabulously.

I'm not worried about the future of books. What I know that technology is ephemeral. The the e-readers will be supplanted by more advanced models as the years pile up. A Gutenberg Bible printed 550 years ago can still be read---if you can read medieval German, that is. How many e-book readers and their contents will be compatible or transferable to other devices even ten years from now?

Jim, in these circumstances, would you request further chapters? What response would you have sent?

Thanks for this. Learned a lot!

My thought: yow, generic.

It may be a good book, but it sounds like half the TV movies on SyFy, every third novel published at the moment and every Vertigo comic ever. Which isn't a bad thing - someone's buying them, after all - but I don't see anything that makes this stand out.

Why's it different? I know this sounds catty, but judging from the submission letter, it's not 'the author has an awesome way with prose'.

To the first comment, I'd have to be honest and say that in this instance, I'd pass. This is a genre I do, and there are elements that work, but the query feels unfocused and doesn't separate itself from the pack.

-Jim

I found myself questioning a lot of the query letter. I felt I had more questions than answers by the time I had finished. I noticed a hint of humour (about the cat) and I'm wondering whether changing the voice to adding more wit (if there is humour in the story) might help the query stand out. That, and concentrating on getting the general story across. Good luck!

It's interesting that both entries so far have problems because they seem generic and bland and 'same old, same old'.

It's got to be tricky to get an original voice to shine through in something as short and measured as a one page query letter. It does look as if it's all about the Unique Selling Point. What can you do that no one else can't? Yes, it fits within a genre but what's new about it?

I sort of dug this letter. Story sounds like a good time to me. Sure, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but if it's decently written, it might get me through a plane ride. Nothing wrong with that.

Thanks for your comments Jim, this is so helpful.
Thanks author for your brave submission, good luck on your book.

Great feedback and I wish I'd entered this contest. I entered two similar contests this week run by different agents and got two requests for partials. I hope my book is as good as the query. :)

Hey, I read a lot of "query letter blogs" (Query Shark, EE, etc) and I have to say that Jim is being extremely sweet. I find the snark of some of the other blogs amusing, but the sweetness of the critique here warms my heart. Kudos.

~I'd also like to say that while this idea sounds a little tired, if the book was well-written and the characters round and intriguing, I'd totally read it.

Thank you all very much. With these comments, I can make my query better. It's so hard getting feedback, so again, thank you Jim. Now it's back to work.

BTW- Jim did reject it.

--On a side note: Katherine and Middle Grade Ninja, you totally made my day :)

I'm so thrilled you two will be working together--The Earl's Obsession is fabulous!!

What a fun story! Thanks for sharing. :)

Love this story! So happy for you and Darcy!

We love Darcy, too!

Four more crossed fingers in your direction :)

Can't wait to read this story, Darcy!

I'm so thrilled that Darcy landed such a fantastic agent. I'm blessed to call her my friend; now, you're blessed to call her your client.

Good luck with submissions!

Never open with weather?

The first line from Wiliam Gibson's Neuromancer:
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel
(1984) - and coincidentally, George Orwell's 1984: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen"
(1949)

There are no absolute rules in writing.

I was nodding my head in agreement with all of them, until I got to #6. One of my characters says "all hell broke loose". Which leads me to wonder if it is okay since my character said it, not the narration. Hmmm.

I agree the most with #9, which for me often becomes #10. Anne Rice (especially "The Vampire Chronicles") is one of my all-time favorites. But when she begins to describe how the bougainvillea wraps itself around the wrought iron gates and up the exterior walls ... I know I can pretty much skim over the next page or two, until the character steps in the house and the action picks up again.

Anonymous, I'd argue that the opening of Neuromancer is a great sentence but an eye-roller of an opening. 1984? I'll give you that one.

As I said, "rules are made to be broken," but it's a rare writer who can make opening with the weather seem anything other than lazy and pedantic.

-Jim

"If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

Ok, I've been told by agents and editors that my writing is beautiful, but I haven't found representation yet. Are they trying to tell me I sound like I'm writing?

See, if they had just handed out this list in 10th grade English, I'd already be swimming in a bathtub of my own published books. Brilliant summation; thanks for sharing!

I have to admit, I agree with both of them.

As you say problem with choosing sides on this kind of advice is that that writers do not all write the same way. Our weaknesses differ. Some writers are overly descriptive. Some of us tend to cut to the chase too fast. We all have our own cliches - such as "suddenly" or "then all hell broke loose."

When I see this kind of advice, I read it all, and I value it all, but the point is to understand it, not to slavishly follow it.

don't agree with Leonard's 'he said/ she said' rule. it has to be annoying over the course of a novel

I revisit Leonard's list every two or three months. Every time I do, I go back over two or three months of work, and scrap about 90 percent of my adverbs, and change "guessed," "replied," and "chuckled" to "said." I consider it Cialis for my writing.

I enjoy his work so much I'd be a fool not to listen.

Not a bad idea. It could spawn another series - "The Married Years." They would be murder mysteries, of course. THE CASE OF THE TOENAIL CLIPPINGS IN THE BED. Or, SEE, I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE TURNED LEFT ON MAIN WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME? Or, I DIDN'T FORGET, IT JUST WASN'T ON MY CALENDAR
Etc.

Hmmm, interested to see how they marry these true stories with the right author (pun sorta intended). I'm not sure how I'd feel about my love story as a book, but then again, I don't try out for reality shows either. ;)

I love this idea! I like Sara's post-romance ideas even better. ;-) Isn't truth stranger than fiction?

Are romance novels finally getting a gritty reboot? Will they be putting realistic men with their realistic chiseled chests, washboard abs, and long flowing manes on the cover? If yes, count me in.

I have so many questions about it. Will we be able to track the couples? Does the book go straight to the bargain bin if the couple splits up? Does the couple get a cut of the money? How are the couples chosen?

Further investigation will be taking place--I literally posted this moments after I saw it.

There's no guarantee it will work, but I'm legitimately excited by the idea. Let's see what happens! And, of course, keep fingers crossed that somewhere down the line they REALLY blend this with reality TV and we get to read a RB Romance about Snooki (hey--I'd buy it).

-Jim

I think this idea has a lot of potential. People like to root for love. For example, take Boston Rob and Amber from Survivor. I was not alone in hating Rob in his first season (Marquesas) and liked him maybe even less in the first All-Stars season when he got together with Amber. However, as their relationship developed over the course of the show and they became an item, I softened toward them. By the time he proposed to her at the finale/reunion show, I was a convert! Then they get married on TV? I was so there! And I continued to root for them when they ran The Amazing Race (twice, ahem - what can I say, I love Survivor and TAR). Once they became a love story, I pulled for them to succeed - both in reality shows and life, LOL. People love a good, happy ending, pure and simple. Add in the fact that it's real, and you've got absolutely sigh-worthy.

If they really did this right -- following those couples straight through to old age -- it would be a huge flop. Not because there aren't real tales of romance and devoted love, but because only the beginnings would live up to the starry-eyed expectations of readers who anticipate happily-ever-after tales joy and faithfulness. Sadly, the more successful the real-life stories, the less enticing they will be to young hopefuls. Few people want to picture themselves cutting the toenails of some old dear after a double hip replacement.

And what Sara Z said.

Interesting idea, especially given the tremendous success of reality tv. Will that concept transfer well to the media of reading? That'd be the question I'd be concerned about, but it wouldn't surprise me if it does. At least for awhile.

The Dallas Morning News has had a long-running feature like this for years. Just a few newpaper columns, not a novel, but the same general idea. Don't know how it will work out at 80K words or so, but with reality-everything...who knows!? Sounds like it's worth a try.

I see Mary Witzl’s point. I’ve always wanted to write a story about a couple who, like my wife and I, are uncomplicatedly in love after many years. Why should young love get all the play? (Pun intended.) But I always run up against the same problem; there is no plot in long, stable love. Still, even if these true romances are all about the first blushes and devoid of the unsexy practicalities, perhaps they will remind us that the frail, old couple teetering down the street was once (maybe in their youth, maybe just yesterday) hopelessly enthralled by their own love story.

This is an interesting article and points to the increasing responsibility of an author in terms of publicity. It's no longer just about writing the best book you can -- although I still believe (and hope) that's step #1. Yet, I also think authors need to possess a basic understanding of marketing techniques. As I've been revising my ms, I've been reading marketing blogs and books so when my book gets published (hey, I'm an optimist), I can start promoting long before it hits the shelf (or iPad). :)

I read Seth Godin's books and blog religiously, and I think he has a good sense of why the author is more important. It isn't just that publishers are slashing budgets, but that the world has changed. Getting the attention of the audience is no longer a matter of throwing money at big, established venues. It's a "long tail" world - where the personal touch is really important. Authors are in a better position to take advantage of these changes.

(And I agree about Salinger, and I suspect he agreed too.)

Definitely agree with you on the J.D. Salinger front.
I have definitely noticed that writers now have the responsibility of promoting their own books. I'm just glad there are so many tools to do so and that I'm aware of it beforehand. Seems like a good idea for writers to start personal branding and connecting with readers before they even have a book deal. That way writers are not scrambling to create an online presence later.

I'm such a fan of your blog, and I learn a great deal about the publishing industry from it--but I'm not sure if I agree with calling someone overrated so soon after his death. I think we need to give time for his friends, family, and fans to mourn before the bashing begins. I mean no disrespects from my comment--it's just my opinion.

Don't think J.D. Salinger was overrated -- don't really know how he was rated. But I don't think he could have been OVERrated. I think every one of his lines was perfection. Here's to different tastes! On the subject of your blog, thanks for your continued advice.

The "burden" - or joy - of publicizing a book.

I think it's more fun to publicize a book, or what your book is about - than writing and revising it! I'll give an example from the world of poetry - that is, my chapbook Traveling Menstrual Show. It was a lot of fun to create the first Menstrumobile out of foamboard (not ecologically correct, oops) and red ribbon, red electrical tape, bent Q-tips for the ovaries...I was thinking of Picasso's "Bull's Head" he made out of (or to resemble) bicycle handlebars and seat:

http://tinyurl.com/yh4zgxp

Eventually the Menstrumobile morphed into the UFO (Uterine Flying Object):

http://tinyurl.com/ycryas2

Paper and red ribbon, much lighter and therefore cheaper to mail (besides get rid of the foamboard).

I find it interesting that in discussing the graphic possibilities of the iPad, people talk about the book cover, or adding music, or somehow altering the experience of reading the book itself - rather than, wow, I can add photos of actual physical objects that people can buy - that is, the book cover and illustrations don't just have to be graphics the reader looks at it - they're actually things the reader can buy.

Maybe that sounds too mercenary, but if you are selling items that a reader might actually treasure, and get joy out of - you've added to the total wrap-around "surround sound," maybe "surround read" (?) experience of the ebook downloader.

Speaking of revising...aaargh....

I loved Salinger when I was a teenager. I reread Catcher in the Rye in my 20s and loved him still. I reread him as a parent and felt like I'd really lost something: Holden Caulfield sounded whiny and difficult. My favorite Salinger work of all time will always be his short story, 'De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period', a perfect blend of self-deprecatory humor and youthful awkwardness and hope, all the embarrassment and horror of being young and stupid and living to remember it. I don't want to reread that one.

As for publicizing my own work, I suppose I could be grateful for having a largish family. The only trouble is, we're all cheapskates. I'll have to figure something out, should the happy day ever come.

Jim, if you're still checking in on the comments, I'd be curious about your opinions on book trailers. Worth it? A waste of time?

It's definitely a whole new world for authors and their books!

What an inspiring post, Stacey! It's nice to hear about an agent's road to the present moment, and your enthusiasm for what you do is encouraging. I'd love to hear more of these "how I got here" stories from agents, personally.
:-)

Nicole M.

Thanks for your your insights on becoming a literary agent. Going from child-actor to author representative is not a very different vocation, in my view, as the written word is the root of film and television. Many manuscripts are judged on how they may be turned into movies. Your expertise in front of the camera may have an effect on how you choose a novel.

My own entry into the literary world was unorthodox. From young writer, to college student, to police officer, to information technology manager, I now have the position of editor for a literary magazine, "The View From Here." While my police experience has little to do with how I choose a story, my writing experience does. Still, cops and bad guys find their way into my novels.

Working with the many folks who approach our magazine with proposals and books to review is also a rewarding experience, as well as giving both new and established writers a space to tell their stories.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences, and for and for allowing comments to this post. -Mike Kannengieser.

What a wonderful journey! Sounds like you found a great mentor who guided you in the best way possible. Thanks for sharing your story! I love hearing how people find their way.

Thanks for your comments. Nicole, if you click on the tag under my post "Why I Am an Agent", you'll see the other staffers who have posted essays about their paths to becoming an agent. Enjoy!

I think it's great you guys have such a passion for this career. Your clients are blessed to have agents with such enthusiasm for the business. Great story, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing how you came to this business. I always enjoy learning why people choose the careers they do. I think you're really lucky that you're able to pursue the work you have a passion for.

It's true; a form rejection letter doesn't tell us how close we are. It's good to hear this every once in a while, especially when I get discouraged by the odds.

Thanks for the link to Adrienne's blog -- it was refreshing to read something optimistic for a change. The 4 questions were great and while it's nice to know I'm in the 10%, I think I'll wait until my ms is at the 1% point before I query. Happy Monday!

If the path to publication were an easy road, paved with effortlessness, then it wouldn't be nearly as sweet when success finally comes.

I. Will. Never. Give. Up.

Period.

A great post and very timely as I am at the query stage right now. Thanks for the link and thank you for the words of encouragement for those of us in the trenches at the moment.

I got a lot of form rejection letters in college (I wrote stories in between essays). Last year, I had an editor reject me after doing a complete revision on my novel for me (shut me down for money reasons). I had an agent meet with me, but decide that same novel was not commercially viable for a first time writer (it was a middle-grade novel about dealing with death, not boy wizards). This year I’m polishing the final draft of an adult horror novel I will be sending out queries for in the next month. I always hate form rejections, but when I look back at my earliest efforts, form rejections really are what they deserved. I find this post encouraging. If I get form rejections for the new book, I’ll know it’s time for another revision.

Some heartening advice there, but the million-dollar question is how do I know if I'm 'meant to' break through? I done got myself an agent, does that mean I'm likely to get published? BTW I've met Adrienne and she'd great - as intelligent and charming as her blog suggests.

J.

I'm pretty thrilled to be getting detailed, personal rejections now, but from time to time, I still get the odd form rejection and it's demoralizing. From now on, I'll tell myself they're parrot rejections.

So...

Michael, have you eaten, or held court, at THE IVY?

Haste yee back ;-)

A rare thing in our industry: ten years with one employer. It speaks well for DGLM.

Thank you for writing this. I actually find it very encouraging to know more about what an agent goes through for authors and in order to be a part of the publishing industry. So many people have an opinion one way or another about agents but I feel that it is nice to know that an agent's career is based off of the work that they put into it. I feel you should be very proud of how far you have come and hope to see many more books added to your list!

The world needs people passionate about their work. Some people have a vocation since were kids but that's not as much important as being passionate. Specially when you work with children just because they can smell it!

Isn't it nice to do what you love for a career? Quite the blessing.

I always picture you with purple hair, a la your Mad Men icon. The blue hair seems about right to me.

I would pay to see you in brightly colored hair.

I, too, thought the hair in your Twitter thing was for a lack of options... ;)

I loved reading how you found your way to becoming the amazing agent you are today, Michael, awesome hair and all. Here's to the next ten years!

It's amazing what's meant to be is meant to be. You are one of my favorite agents - smart and a sweetie. Maybe we will see you at another SCBWI conference? Glad to hear you were given a promotion, but bummed you moved to the west coast. Hope you are enjoying the sunshine. It is freeeezing in NJ! Cheers,

I'm taking Sara Zarr's advice and not reading any of the online reviews. I've turned of Google Alert too. Not that I'm expecting bad reviews, but just in case I'm uncontrollable or something. Haha! Actually, more because I'm probably not tough enough for this biz!

Yep. Professionalism is key. Always. Every email, every blog post. Never respond to a review. Publishing is a tough biz, but it can be great fun with a little humor and a positive attitude. Vent to family and friends, then let it go. Or write something better.


Great advice, Jim.

I've found that the same is true of query letters as well. I made the mistake of sending a very lighthearted response to a form rejection to an agent.
( It started with "Dear Agent" and apologized for the form response, but the high volume of rejections made a personal response impossible. I said his rejection wasn't what I was looking for right now, but I wished him the best.)

Apparently he didn't enjoy the humor and sent me a nasty-gram back. Beware, authors. Like me, you probably aren't as funny as you thought.
-Colin Hill

Yeah, this is sad, but it really happens all of the time, with beginning writers also. Most writers don't like to be criticized.

Why is it so hard to accept that you are not a good writer (yet)?

Was this a first-time author? If so, her next book may be a POD. Has an agent ever fired a client?

Most people don't appreciate being criticized; it isn't just writers. But writers have their computers handy, and the internet has made angry retaliations all too easy. In the old days, you had to find the paper, then pen or type your angry response, put it in an envelope, and run down to the post office to mail it. At any point, you could reflect on your actions and check yourself. Now you've got this wonderful system that allows you immediate gratification -- and the chance to make yourself look like an idiot in one flick of a finger.

I can't help reading them myself. I read every one of those awful diatribes with a mixture of supreme satisfaction and horror.

Note to self, when the time comes I won't read the reviews, rather I'll just wait until my agent fills me in on all the good stuff.

No. I would instead be on the lookout for brilliant new fiction by unknown authors like me.

And I would use the time I might otherwise spend selling a trashy Tiger Woods book requesting and reading fulls from just such people, and then offering them representation and helping launch their careers.

And I'm being tongue-in-cheek, because I know you guys have to make money, but with an undertone of sadness, because there is no "serious analysis of the situation and its more universal implications" from any of these celebrity stories...at least none that can't be done as well if not better through fiction.

If I were an agent I sure as hell try and sell a photo heavy point, touch and giggle pamphlet of Tiger and the Tiger-ettes!

I mean, this is only gonna last so long.

Wait 'till the dust settles and in a few years mosey alongside Elin and have her spill the beans. Now there's a book!

Haste yee back ;-)

I wouldn't, mostly because I'm not interested in the story. Like you agents say, writing is subjective, and if I've I'm not interested in your story, no matter how famous you are, I'm not going to rep it.

No, but I wouldn't have repped O.J. either.

I couldn't do it. Maybe if times were hard enough I'd rep one book like that to put food on the table. But I just know that afterwards I'd be taking showers every few minutes for the rest of my life, trying to wash off the stench that comes from profiting off one of the ugliest facets of the race.

I'm critical of the many women coming forward to get their media-whoring on while they can. It'd be far worse to be the sad lump lapping up the scraps from their table.
-Colin Hill

No.

I've been so busy (and so out of it), that I only heard about Tiger Woods today, from a colleague. I understand why people are curious about things like this and I'll bet a good book would sell like mad if the writer started cracking away on it immediately -- and put in lots of photos. I wouldn't go out and buy the book. But I'd probably read it.

It's information like this that I realize how important an agent is. Thanks for keeping us informed!

Oh boy... this is going to be very interesting to watch it unfold. Thanks for mentioning this, Jim!

Wow - thanks for the info.

Wow. Thanks for the heads-up on this. Things just keep shifting under our feet, no?

Thanks for the great post!

Thanks!

Really interesting. I can't help but see both sides to this issue, even though I'm more inclined toward the author's side.

Simply saying you have those rights doesn't make it so. Reminds me of an Abraham Lincoln quote, something to this effect: "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Five? No, calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."

Those rights should obviously be negotiated, not flat-out stolen.

The Blood Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop - okay technically 3 books, but it's still one story. That's definitely my favourite.

Walter Moers, "The City of Dreaming Books".
It's hilarious, particularly for aspiring authors, I think. The description of the city, people (readers, writers, publishers, agents, failed poets ...) and book dungeons is so vivid, so funny & imaginative, so true sometimes, you chuckle with glee most of the time, sometimes laugh out loud. I couldn't put it down. (P.S. The story occasionally gets dark and bloody.)

Mystic River was astonishing.

"Then We Came To The End," by Joshua Ferris. Started out feeling like it was just a stunt (writing in the collective first person), but it was surprisingly moving and funny. And he pulled it off.

What? No props? Okay, next time I'll leave them at home :)

Okay, I guess my eyes are tired. I read Jim's last sentence as "don't bring poops." I promise NEVER to do that.

What's funny about the props thing is that someone must have actually done that to prompt Jim's comment. I'm keeping my eyes open at my next conference for props.

This is very helpful. I presume that begging and hysterical crying are also no-nos. Just guessing.

Hi!

Excuse me while I put away the finger puppets. Ahem.

Thank you for this post. Very helpful, especially Lauren's advice.

What about if pitch is done in iambic pentameter sonnet form?

Don't worry. I know the answer.

The comments here are as funny as the advice is useful.

I can't see myself over-rehearsing, but the other three (going on too long, being utterly terrified) make me think it's a good thing I've never attended a pitch session.

As for over-rehearsing....

When I did a pitch festival for screenplays a few years ago. I over-rehearsed, and then I kept on rehearsing. I did it in funny voices (I highly recommend pitching a heist plot as Queen Elizabeth II as a way of getting a whole new take on how it sounds. Although only pitch it this way to your cat, not to an agent or editor. They may not understand.) I kept going until it was so natural, that I could change it at will.

And by the time I got to the pitch festival, I was actually able to just _talk_ about the story, and I was able to adjust my pitch quickly as I saw which bits were boring the audience and which were engaging them. If you are going to rehearse, do it until you can freely speed it up, skip or expand on things without a script.

Mostly overwhelmed. Shorter lists, I might look over for additions to my reading lists which grow faster than my reading. I'm getting close to finishing revising my novel so a lot of my reading in the coming months will be debut novels repped by agents that I'm considering querying.

Arggghhh!! My "to be read" list is already way too long!! Good to see that some of the 100 notable books are already on my list... that will make it easier. :) "Let The Great World Spin" was amazing!! And I too have "The Year of The Flood" set aside... mmm... off to make this blasted list smaller. If I can.

I can't wait to read the new Jeannette Walls book. Aside from that, all the books on my Christmas list are oldies-but-goodies, like Hammett.

Overwhelming and sad at the same time, because there is no way I'll make it to the end of the list and that's just reading the list! What I would like is a list of children and young adult books as that is mostly what I read. Then I could check off each one I read in 2009 and feel a sense of accomplishment.
My holiday reading titles are "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan and "Fade" book 2 of "Wake" by Lisa McMann.

Ahhh, a family member like American Rust but I'm not sure what your taste is lol

"The Lacuna" sounds like a great read, right up my alley, and The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein sounds like fun!

Oy, too many books, too little time!