Sunday, January 31, 2010

ENTRY 21

MR. IN-THE-CLOSET - YA

Dear Mystery Agent,

Socially challenged seventeen-year-old Rick Thomas is secretly St. Lawrence High’s favorite advice columnist, Ms. Maypole -- so, he’s popular in a way.

When a question comes from Mr. In-The-Closet, Rick’s relieved to find out he isn’t the only gay in school, but he never would’ve guessed that the sender was his sarcastic, hot math tutor, Callum. Unfortunately, Callum’s so far in the closet he’s in Narnia, and Rick’s finding it hard dragging the kicking and screaming teenager back from the land of denial.

After a tiresome, and sometimes painful, battle against Callum’s argument of ‘I’m not gay’, the two begin a secret relationship. But their secret turns out being more complicated than they’d planned when people become suspicious -- getting caught in a pool with their clothes floating around them doesn’t help -- and Rick can’t stand being second best to Callum’s cover up girlfriend.

He has to make a decision before he goes out of his freaking mind, does he carry on being Callum’s dirty little secret or follow his own advice and kick Callum to the curb? A spur of the moment article coming out to the rest of the school about his sexuality when he and Callum have a fight probably isn’t his brightest idea ever, but he’s sick of hiding, and he has to know where he stands.

I am seeking representation for MR. IN-THE-CLOSET, a 55,000 words young adult novel. My credentials include three short stories published in online magazines. Thank you for your consideration.

6 comments:

  1. This sounds like an interesting story; however, your first sentence was a little confusing. I don't know who the mystery agent is, but I do think this book would appeal to Colleen Lindsay from Fine Print Agency, so you may want to query it to her when ready. Best of luck.

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  2. Thanks. I've already queried her and actually got a response a few hours ago. She passed, but I've had interest from other agents.

    Thank you for your comment :).

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  3. I agree with Joyce. This sounds very interesting. The only thing I would say is some of the sentences are a little confusing. I think maybe your missing a comma or two. And instead of saying "only gay in school" I'd say "only gay BOY in school." The other way sound a little derogatory, but that may just be me.

    Otherwise, GOOD LUCK! And I hope it works out well with the other interests.

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  4. I really like this. I think there's a little tightening that could happen, but overall, it's great.

    "Rick’s finding it hard dragging the kicking and screaming teenager back from the land of denial" --Too many -ings together.

    "their secret turns out being more complicated than they’d planned when" --Not sure you need this. At least cut "being".

    As I said, I'd totally read this. Great work. :)

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  5. This sounds like a good one. Love the Narnia reference; very clever. But since I already know he comes out to the school, I'm not sure what the conflict is (ditching a boyfriend isn't a compelling enough conflict for me personally).

    All in all, though, well done. Good luck!

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  6. This sounds like a fun read. I love the title too.

    Good luck,

    ReplyDelete

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