MSWL & Querying Me

UPDATED: 8/26/23 - No matter the age group or genre, I am looking for emotional resonance and authentic, voicey characters that highlight the complexity and curiosity of the human nature.

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Adult:

• Romance - from sweet to steamy, from M/F to LGBT, from contemporary to fantasy/paranormal, but no thank you to erotica or historical

• Upmarket - friendship stories, strong power bad-ass women stories, or make me laugh-out-loud stories

• Literary - Beautiful prose with a strong cast of characters

• Thriller - twisty, wildly intense Thrillers (or thriller-ish). Especially those that examine our social construct like GET OUT.

Young Adult (REFERRAL ONLY):

• Romance - RomCom, fantasy or paranormal, and/or LGBT. Give me all the love stories in whatever form they come.

• Contemporary - especially, but doesn't have to be friendship joy or struggles

• Fantasy - low fantasy ONLY. Must be grounded in our reality.

Middle Grade (REFERRAL ONLY):

• Contemporary - can deal with hard themes, but with added humor for the younger reader. I am especially looking for stories that cover marginalized voices, biracial storylines, and interracial friendships!

• Fantasy: magical realism, paranormal, urban fantasy, but must mimic themes that young people deal with on a day-to-day

• Horror - would love any kind

• Graphic Novels

Chapter Books (REFERRAL ONLY):

• Friendship, Familial stories

• Fantasy – grounded, though

• Club or Sports stories

• Mysteries

• Graphic Novels

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Picture Books (REFERRAL ONLY):

• Culture stories

• Kids being bad but not knowing it (drawing on the walls, running around butterball)

• Stories with humor

• Affirmation stories

• Rhyming stories

• Graphic picture books (it’s a thang)
   

*Note: I am the most selective in picture books*

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Illustrators: 

• Open to artists who are interested in picture books all the way up to Adult cover work. 

What I'm not open to:

• Sci-fi

• Non-fiction (except for MG)

• Historical

• High Fantasy

• Military or War Fiction

• Short Story Collections (although, I might be down for the right voice)

• Manuscripts that have a strong religious theme

• Books where the oppressor learns their lesson off of the marginalized backs

Some of my favorites:

• The Goonies

• Spirited Away

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Frequency (the movie, y’all)

• Hidden Figures

• The Last of Us (the game and the show)

• When Harry Met Sally

• Black Panther

• A League of Their Own

• The Mighty Ducks

• The Sandlot

• Friday Night Lights

• Remember the Titans

• Rookie of the Year

• The Time Traveler’s Wife

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I AM OPEN SELECTIVELY TO NEW QUERIES. IF I'M NOT OPEN TO YOUR AGE GROUP/GENRE, PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR WHEN I OPEN MORE WIDELY.