The Writers Voice: THE TREASURE HUNT

Query:

Dear Mentors/Judges,

When sixteen-year-old Benjamin McGill is shipped off to Bay Haven, ME, to stay with his grandmother for the summer, it’s not a vacation—it’s a punishment. With nothing to do in this lazy tourist town but run errands for Gran and clean up after her evil cat, Ben’s thrilled when he receives a letter from a secret admirer with promises of a treasure hunt. 

Ben follows clues to a cafe where he befriends Mitch, a long-haired metal head, and Jennifer, a chain-smoking extrovert. When Jennifer learns about the treasure hunt, she invites Mitch and herself along. But Gran says they're devil-worshippers, which forces Ben to sneak behind her back to see them. Despite this, his summer picks up, like a heavy guitar solo in the middle of a power ballad.

But when Ben starts making metal playlists on Spotify and daydreaming about Mitch's long hair and stubbly jaw, he realizes he wants to be more than friends. Just one problem—Mitch is full of mixed messages, acting like he has a thing for Jennifer one moment, and letting his hand linger next to Ben's the next. 

Now Ben must decide if he should risk everything and tell Mitch how he feels, or play it safe and continue the games with his secret admirer.

THE TREASURE HUNT, a 69,000 word standalone, is a YA contemporary with a bisexual main character that may appeal to music fans, especially those interested in post-hardcore and metal. It's DASH & LILY'S BOOK OF DARES meets SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA. 

First 250:

TRACK 1

“Daggers Speak Louder Than Words”

-Alesana

Skating was like flying. If my mother was criticizing my clothes or my step-father was questioning why I had so many pictures of “that skinny tattooed drummer” in my room, I could get on my skateboard and take off, leaving all that shit behind. Nothing could touch me when I was airborne. 

But when I was grounded (in more ways than one), stuck at home because my end of the year grades were less than stellar, music was the only thing that could keep me sane. Thank god my mother had no idea I owned an iPod shuffle, otherwise she would’ve taken it away during my sentencing last night.

After making sure my bedroom door was closed, I put a hand under my pillow and grabbed my iPod. I sprawled out on my bed and pressed play, turning the volume down so I’d be able to hear if someone was coming. “Stained Glass Eyes And Colorful Tears” by Pierce the Veil played first. 

Oh, god. A chill went through me, hearing Vic’s emotion-filled voice, and goosebumps traveled up my arms. My eyes watered, so I wiped them, eyeliner coloring my fingers. I rubbed the teary-makeup on my jeans, and then I replayed the song when it was over because I liked to torture myself, apparently. 

Ugh. This was not how I imagined I’d be spending my first day of summer vacation.  

Thanks for reading! Good luck, everyone! :)

Pitch Wars Bio

Hello!

I'm Melody Marshall, and I'm entering THE TREASURE HUNT, a YA contemporary, into Pitch Wars 2014.

London in April 2010

A little about me:

I live in New Hampshire with my husband, two pit bulls, and cat. I have a BA in Communication Arts, and I also have an MEd in Secondary Education with art certification. I've worked in daycare/education since I was in high school. All my hobbies are related to creativity: drawing, painting, photography, and writing.

For a while, I considered myself to be a YA sci-fi/fantasy writer… until I had the idea for THE TREASURE HUNT. It took a while to wrap my head around writing something without magic or sci-fi elements (or how it'd fit in with my other mss), but I eventually realized THE TREASURE HUNT is closer to my heart than anything else I've written.

Okay, I feel awkward talking about myself, so I'll just list some random things about me:

• I dip potato chips in yellow mustard.
• Spaceballs was my favorite movie growing up. My brother and I could recite the entire thing. (He was always Lone Starr and I was always Barf.) I asked my brother to get a Spaceballs tattoo with me, but I haven't been able to convince him…yet.
• In middle school, I only read adult sci-fi. (Mostly Michael Crichton.) JURASSIC PARK is still one of my favorite books/movies.
• I love the Real Housewives on Bravo. I don't even care. (If you're curious, Orange County and Atlanta are my favorite cities.)
• I'm obsessed with A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by George R. R. Martin. So far, A STORM OF SWORDS is my favorite in the series. I love Tyrion and Arya. 
• Even though spring and fall are my favorite seasons, I LOVE snow days.
• I always have lip gloss with me.
• I like a range of music from One Direction to Metallica to Ellie Goulding. My favorite band/singer to listen to is always changing, but Pink Floyd is my absolute favorite band, ever.
• I try to eat vegetarian most of the time.
• I prefer to write in the morning.
• I really like Teen Wolf, but I can't convince any of my friends to watch with me. This makes me super sad. 
• Believe it or not, Doctor Who (River Song in particular) inspired me to write THE TREASURE HUNT.
• I collect foreign editions of HARRY POTTER.
• I really like Star Wars, but I'd totally fail a trivia contest! For some reason, I can't keep names and places straight in that universe. 

 Las Vegas in 2012

Some of my favorite books/series: HARRY POTTER (The Half-Blood Prince if I had to pick a favorite), A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by George R.R. Martin (ASOS!), VAMPIRE ACADEMY by Richelle Mead, UNWIND by Neal Shusterman, THE UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld, SLOPPY FIRSTS by Megan McCafferty, FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell, JURASSIC PARK by Michael Crichton, PERCY JACKSON by Rick Riordan, DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn, THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES by Anne Rice, and NIGHT by Elie Wiesel. I could list a ton more, but those are just some off the top of my head.

Selfie with my puppy

Some of my favorite movies: Jurassic Park, Beetlejuice, Pitch Perfect, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lion King, Back to the Future 1&2, The Wedding Singer, Hot Tub Time Machine, Spaceballs, A League of Their Own, and Terminator 2.

Jackson is never amused

Some of my favorite TV shows: The Walking Dead, The Real Housewives, Teen Wolf, The Originals, Supernatural, Modern Family, Mad Men, season 1 of Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, Orange is the New Black, BBC Sherlock, Project Runway, and Doctor Who.

They think you should pick me for Pitch Wars!

Many thanks to Brenda Drake and all the mentors involved in Pitch Wars! Good luck to all the contestants! <3

The Writer's Voice Entry - STRANGE ATTRACTORS (YA sci-fi)

STRANGE ATTRACTORS

Query:

Dear Writer's Voice coaches,

With the weight of the multiverse on her shoulders, it’s a wonder that seventeen-year-old Piper Newton doesn’t have to see a chiropractor.

As a corporate spy, Piper uses her unique ability to travel between universes to obtain lucrative information for her father and his company. But when she discovers that a parallel version of her father’s most-hated competitor is experimenting on the veils between universes, the gravity of her next spy mission threatens to break her back. 

Her father asks her to infiltrate the company through the competitor’s son, Calvin James. Dating--even for a mission--is the last thing she wants to do. Guys lie and cheat and are more destructive than superluminous supernovae. But because Piper and her father believe the damage caused by Calvin’s father’s experimentation will create a black-hole-like-void, ultimately destroying both universes, she knows she has to do something--even if that means hooking up with a cocky jerk like Calvin James.

To Piper’s surprise, Calvin quickly disarms her with his intelligence, quesadilla-making-skills, and butterfly-effect-smile. She’s soon sneaking off to the parallel universe to see Calvin behind her father’s back and neglecting to tell him everything she learns. She rationalizes that his father is more mad-scientist than sinister-villain and wonders if they were wrong about Calvin’s father. He’s only studying the veils. He’s not trying to be malicious.

But when red flags start appearing and lies begin unraveling around her, Piper’s shocked to learn she put her trust in the wrong person.

And she’s going to need the help of a former enemy to exact revenge.

STRANGE ATTRACTORS, a young adult sci-fi, is complete at 80,500 words. It is a standalone with series potential.



First 250 words:

THE POLLUX UNIVERSE

 OCTOBER 4th, THE PRESENT DAY

I couldn’t find anything on Michael Silverstone’s desk because it was a complete disaster, like a hoarder-snuck-into-an-office-building type of disaster. As I looked through the receipts, hand written notes, half-eaten food, and coffee-stained papers, I wondered how someone so messy could be organized enough to run New York City’s most successful financial advising company. This extreme amount of junk was like an inexpensive theft-deterrent or more like an inexpensive Piper-deterrent.

What the Hell? I thought, touching a still-wet, soiled napkin. There were words scrawled across the napkin, but “purch-dia-glass” didn’t really tell me anything. I had a knack for remembering random bits of information and passwords, so I made a mental note of the phrase in case it was important.

Beep!

I cursed under my breath before turning off my stopwatch. Time was up. I quickly stacked all the papers with numbers or percentages in the hope that something important made it into the pile. Since Silverstone’s desk was such a mess, I didn’t worry about him noticing a few missing documents. He would probably assume he’d misplaced them.

I paused, thinking I’d seen a flash of light, and listened. The muffled sound of footsteps on carpet soon followed. Someone was in the hallway! My heart hammered as I slipped beneath the disordered desk. I pulled a knife from my pocket and held it in front of me. 



Thanks for your time and consideration!