YA biology-themed high fantasy - looking for mom writers!
Hi! I’m a writer of YA/NA crossover sci-fi/fantasy, currently working on my 10th manuscript. I’m also a nature nut and science nerd with two field guides published through Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. You’ll find that comes through a lot in my writing!
I’m a 39-year-old stay-at-home mom of two kids under 5 and do most of my work in the evenings after everyone’s gone to bed. I’d love to connect with other writer moms in their 30s or 40s – we all have similar time availability and understand the unique challenges that come with kids.
I’m also Director of WriteOnCon 🙂 and have another field guide under contract, so I can sometimes be a little slow to read manuscripts, depending on what’s on my plate. (Does anyone have a spare time-turner I could borrow?) But I do try to respond same-day on shorter stuff, and I’m always just a text-message away when you need emergency reassurance, brainstorming, or celebration! 😀
If you’re in eastern Ontario, I’d love to connect! It’s hard to find writers of YA around here.
I don’t mind frank constructive criticism, but I definitely need a good dose of praise in your critiques, too. I’m always sure to offer the same. 🙂
For more examples of my writing, check out my Twitter-poll choose-your-own-adventure story pinned to my @SeabrookeN Twitter account or search for #TheWhisperingWoods.
Fast pacing, strong emotions. Rich worldbuilding in fantasies or sci-fi. Romance sub-plots a must or I’ll start shipping your characters for you. Badasses, especially badass women; fight scenes and chases. Gentle, compassionate guys. Wit and banter.
Favourite authors include Leigh Bardugo’s YA, Susan Dennard, Kiersten White, Ryan Graudin, Ashley Poston, Francesca Zappia
Favourite books and series not by the above authors include THE SCORPIO RACES; CINDER; GRACELING; GRAVE MERCY; WHITE CAT; Robin McKinley’s SUNSHINE; FANGIRL; A COURT OF MIST AND FURY; THE CONSPIRACY OF US
Getting a bit tired of fantasy (and to a lesser extent sci-fi) involving royalty, world wars, or royalty involved in world wars. Also Chosen One narratives. Also fairies/fae and evil aliens (I like friendly aliens, though!). But for all of the above I can be grabbed by the right story! I’m not the best CP for most contemporary or heavily character-driven stories. No horror (I get nightmares!) or literary (I get bored) or verse (my brain hurts).
Also looking to avoid anything really gritty or dark. Since having kids my brain finds it hard to read.
I don’t have a query yet! But here’s a short blurb (still in the early planning stages! so this might change some):
When Indika discovers someone’s been stealing the eggs from the colony of dragons that nest near her family’s farm, she goes to the royal public hearings to ask for the King’s help. But they won’t promise to do anything, so Indika takes it upon herself to check on the colony. After a run-in with some not-friendly-looking dudes, she hires someone to accompany her. But on their first outing, Indika and her companion are kidnapped by the dudes.
This isn’t from the novel, but it’s a representative character sketch (one of several I did for my writing challenge #Charactober on Twitter):
“You really don’t want to apprentice with Amaljin?” Indika glanced up at Ruhan, already several inches taller than her. She’d caught up with him after dinner, as he’d gone out to round up their egg-laying fowl from the forest where they scratched for food and return them to their coop.
He groaned. “Not you too.”
She’d been thinking about it all day while helping out at the market. Ruhan probably didn’t realize, but their harvest had gone down since their dad’s injury. It wasn’t by a lot, not so much that anyone who wasn’t counting the numbers would notice. Their stall display was still full; there weren’t any empty trays or baskets, at least not at the start of the day. But she saw how their mother’s face pinched as she counted out their earnings in the evening. She noticed that her mother asked her to buy bread every third day, instead of every other day as she’d done for years.
“I don’t think you should, either,” she said.
Ruhan shot her a sharp look. “You don’t?”
“Papu says he’d hire someone.” She scooped up a fowl and walked it to the coop. “But they can’t really afford that.”
He dropped another fowl in beside hers. “So what’s your solution, then?”
“You stay and help Papu and Jondu. Then they don’t have to train anyone. You already know everything, and you’re fast at it. Mendi can start helping Mami at the market.”
“And you?”
She watched the two fowl dash off to join the others they’d already caught, curling her fingers through the woven twigs of the fencing. “And I,” she said through a smile, “will become a biologist.”
A SEA SO GREEN is my tenth manuscript. I’m currently working on brainstorming/outlining with the intention of trying to draft for NaNoWriMo. I plan to dabble in this world for a little while/few projects at least. 🙂
My ninth manuscript is out in the query trenches. Everything I’ve written before and likely will in future is SF/F.
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Happy writing and CPing!
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