Are you in a rush this summer?

I am, in a way. This summer, I plan to write a whole novel and edit both the novel I'm writing in a month, along with one that I finished in May. My New Year's resolution this year is to write three novels. So far, I have written one. But I do believe I know what the other two novels I'm going to write are.

The one I'm writing now is as follows:

Run, run, you can't catch me,

I'm the guinea pig of a scientist man.

Everette is a fifteen-year-old guinea pig in the eyes on the American government. For the past five years, she lived a meaningless life filled with bloodshed and death. She only sees two people throughout the day: the scientist assigned to her and a guard to keep her in line. But she's ready to fight back against the men who took her life away, ready to break free from the cell.

Once freedom hits, she runs. She, along with the eight others used as guinea pigs by the government, hides from these men--the people who want their pets back. This group of teens is done with the government, especially after the side effects that riddle their youthful bodies. Now they want the cure, one found in men and women who have these lab rats' new powers naturally.

This cure equals life for the teens, but with the governments' eyes always on them, always searching, there's no way in leaving the States to look for the cure, much less their San Diegan home.

All they ever wanted was freedom. Now a disease ties them all down, even with the beloved fruit close to their lips. Ever's job is to bring these two strange groups together, hopefully in time to find the cure.

Only time will tell, either taking their lives or granting them just enough time to find the cure.

That is the pitch for Rush, which will appear on inkpop.com on July 28th. Time will tell, on inkpop, if Rush deserves to be read by a Harper Collins editor.

Well, I just wanted to make a post. If you like the story idea, feel free to leave a comment!

-Dylan

Pitch me!

So I've decided to start editing people's pitches. This could be for a query letter (though I may or may not be the best at that) or for a simple pitch you want to use on a website. Whatever the cause, I will gladly edit it.

And I may as well list a few things that turn me off from novels, be it in the pitch or first chapter.

#1 Mary Sue lived a normal life...
This is one of the classic first lines in a pitch that turn me off. If the life wasn't normal before, sure, say that in the pitch. But the reader should automatically assume that the character's life was, before the novel, normal. Which is why I, as a amateur author, avoid this. To me, it is like saying 'The sky was blue before the storm'. A 'no-duh' saying.

#2 Mary Sue's parents recently died...
This seems to another classic line found within a pitch. There always seems to be something wrong with the parents, which also bothers me. And then, within the story, there's the way the author goes about killing off the parents: car accident, usually during the winter. There is only one book that I've read where the parents died in a different type of accident not in the winter: The Wicked series by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie. The main character's parents die in a kayaking accident. This makes the whole 'parents dying' thing unique.

#3 The hook
This bit just talks about the hook of a story. Mostly the first sentence. Many times, the story starts off with either a bit of dialogue or description. To be truthful, description tends to bore me, though dialogue can be interesting. With dialogue, though, it is best to avoid using just the main character's name. That bothers me. And with the descriptions, they tend to be lengthy and not really important.
What I like in a first sentence is a sort of fact that goes with the main character, something that means a lot to the character or the story, or both!

Those are the three things, off the top of my head, that bother me in a pitch and hook. One thing that's nice to see in the first sentence of the pitch is the main character's first name. (Hint hint: some agents prefer to see a main character's name at the very start of the hook in the query letter.)

And now I wrap things up, because I've run out of things to talk about.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan

Welcome!

This is just me writing a first post, because I really need to work on my online profile--or something like that. Anyways, this is my hello to anyone who checks out this blog.

I plan to review novels (I have quite a few to read), talk about what I believe makes up a good novel, and other random things about myself. Not a lot of things, I guess. But I will start off by saying that I'm an aspiring author who has completed one novel--which I'm currently rewriting. It may take me a while to actually finish reading a project. And another thing is that I love critiquing things. Right now, I am not really editing anybody's project. I'm also a bit busy with rewriting my own project and trying to get it noticed on inkpop.com to actually read over someone's project. But I will offer my editorial--no, I am not a professional editor, I'm still a high school student--services as soon as I get the time.

And for now, I will leave off as this. I'd love to receive any questions about writing, because I do know a good amount of things editors and agents may say. Leave a comment asking me a question that I could discuss in my next post.

Until then, I shall go off to write! Ta-ta, my little followers.