Saturday, January 7, 2012

Agent Wish List

In preparation for my imminent OPENING TO QUERIES (NOT NOW. But soon.), I thought I'd share with you, in no particular order, what I'd love to see this year. If you're not on this list, I'll be mad if you don't query me anyway and knock my sox off with something I didn't even see coming.
  • Something historical set in Asia.
  • SOMETHING SET IN INDIA I DON'T CARE WHEN!
  • Snark! So much snark. Nonfiction snark, too.
  • A beautifully written (literary) piece of crime fiction a la Tom Franklin's CROOKED LETTER CROOKED LETTER or Alice LaPlante's TURN OF MIND.
  • Bloggers! With lots of followers!
  • Nonfiction about people doing cool and innovative things that change the way the world works.
  • Adult Romance...not like XXX adult...you know what I mean.
  • Commercial women's fiction with smart, snarky (again), damaged protagonists who don't get swept off their feet but instead decide to make some change for the better (or worse)...and also find love. Then choose love.
  • Rock and Roll
  • Ballerinas
  • All of the -punks
  • SPACE
  • In my YA and Adult fiction: something that hearkens back to early Steven King or grown-up Mary Downing Hahn (or regular Downing Hahn, but MG). Horror, baby!
  • Gorgeously imagined settings for fantasies and sci-fis that bend all the rules, for Adults and YA, but especially in MG. Don't set it in an England-esque land. Just don't!
  • A travelogue...with some stellar established blogging/journalism platform.
  • A thriller that actually thrills me.
  • Books that tell me something true about the way we are and how we got that way. 
What I am NOT into:
  • Civil War Era books (I dunno. Just never flipped my switch)
  • Things where people are abused as children and continues to form the central narrative of their adulthood.
  • Picture Books
  • Novellas
  • Poetry (this is the only poetry I've ever liked)
  • Story Collections
  • Standard post-apocalyptic "just survive" or "bad government" books. Something more, please!

6 comments:

  1. That's a good list! Happy New Year & hope your wishes manifest.

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  2. I'm seeing many agents with YA Horror (specifically NOT paranormal type horror) on their wishlists. Is that a coincidence, or is it likely to be a (sorry) trend in the genre? Wish I had some horror stories in me--my daughter would love that.

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  3. Sigh... I have lots of followers, but my fantasy is partially set in England. On the other hand, I'm having fun with breaking quite a lot of rules. So I might just query you when I finish polishing the story by 30 June (hopefully).

    :-)

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  4. YEAH! Someone who wants Chinese historical fantasy! Woot!

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  5. I wish every agent had a page on the internet that was this specific...we could all save each other boat loads of time. Thanks for posting this.

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  6. Great Novellas are hard to come by.

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