DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING
Life Update
I’ve been busy this month.
Unsurprisingly, most of it has been writing/reading related. I’ve been revising DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING’s sequel like crazy. It’s so close to being done! The goal was to get it sent off to my agent by the end of this month.
Yes, I said was the goal.
But then first pass pages came for DotPK. Since this is my first time selling a novel, I didn’t realize how much suddenly having a book published interrupts the writing process. I’m the type of writer who likes to work on one project at a time. I start a book, finish a book, edit the book, edit the book some more—until it’s just the way I want it and I send it on its way to the higher powers. Then I work on the next book. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
But once you sell a book, there’s suddenly more you have to do. You edit the book some more based on your editor’s notes. Sometimes you can do up to three or more rounds of big edits. After you send in those edits, you can go back to writing another book. But then you’re interrupted again later to do copy edits. Pause your work in progress (WIP) because now that your first book is coming out, you have deadlines you have to meet for it, and you can no longer do whatever you want. When you finish copy edits and turn them in, you can get back to your WIP. Then first pass pages come! You have to read through that first manuscript yet again, even though you’d rather pull out your hair instead of read it. (First pass pages are basically the first time you see your novel in printed form. The fonts for the interior of the book have been chosen, the text has been formatted, the cutesy page break characters have been chosen, etc. In this read through, you’re mostly looking for typos and other small fixes.)
I’m happy to say first pass pages are done, and I am back to revising the sequel once more. Don’t get me wrong, I love the editing process, but it was hard to pause on the sequel and switch over to a different mindset to work on that first book some more. Because the characters are in different places. Their goals are different. Even if they have the same personalities, it’s hard to revert back to the way they were before. I dread to think of how difficult it will be when I have to work on two completely different series at the same time.
On top of all the writing and revising, I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading. I’ve had the pleasure to read several books before they’ll be published, and I’m so excited to talk about them.
First was Charlie N. Holmberg’s MAGIC BITTER, MAGIC SWEET. This book was not at all what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. It’s a mixture of a fascinating magic system, fractured fairy tales, and phenomenal cosmic powers (imagine Robin Williams’ voice there)! This book releases June 28th.
Next was Ilima Todd’s RESIST. For those of you who like your dystopia with a strong romantic element, I recommend checking out the first book in the series, REMAKE. RESIST releases July 5th.
And the last book I read was Erin Summerill’s EVER THE HUNTED. Erin is a fellow YA historical fantasy author. Erin has a lovely writing style, and the book is a travelogue with a sweet romance spread throughout. This title releases December 27th.
Now I’m currently reading Kiersten White’s AND I DARKEN, which is fabulously dark, as its title would suggest. It’s a retelling of Vlad the Impaler, if Vlad had been a girl. This one releases June 28th.
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AND I DARKEN, Charlie N. Holmberg, DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING, Erin Summerill, EVER THE HUNTED, Ilima Todd, Kiersten White, MAGIC BITTER MAGIC SWEET, Reading, RESIST, Writing, YA LitQuery Letter for DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING
I’ve received some requests to see my query letter lately, so I thought I’d post it here. After one round of querying and not getting any bites, the fabulous Elana Johnson took a look and gave me some wonderful advice. “What are the consequences, Tricia?” she asked. “What will happen if Alosa fails?” Right, tension. That’s important. After including her feedback (see the last sentence of paragraph 3), I received 9 full manuscript requests before signing on with my wonderful agent, Rachel Brooks. So I have two brief pieces of advice for querying authors: (1) Include what’s at stake, and (2) Make sure it’s clear what makes your book stand out from all the others in its genre.
“Eighteen-year-old Alosa Kalligan is probably the only girl foolish enough to get herself kidnapped by pirates. Intentionally.
Two plots coincide when Alosa discovers that the pirate lord Draxen not only has a map that the wealthy pirate king, her father, wants, but also has plans to kidnap Alosa and hold her for ransom. Alosa finds it only logical, then, for her to orchestrate her own kidnapping. By day she is questioned for information regarding her father’s hideaway, but at night, Alosa searches the ship for the map, which supposedly leads to the legendary Isla de Canta, an island heaped with untold treasure and protected by its magical occupants, the sirens.
The task becomes difficult when her devious and attractive interrogator begins to suspect Alosa’s true reason for being on the ship. She must resort to faking escape attempts to make her imprisonment believable or risk him unraveling her entire plot. Torture and exile await Alosa if she tries to return to her father empty-handed, yet death is a real possibility if Draxen and his crew learn what she’s really doing on their ship.
Complete at 76,000 words, DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING is a young adult fantasy romance. Fans of Robin LaFevers’s GRAVE MERCY and Rae Carson’s THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS will enjoy similar fantasy tropes and fast pacing.
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in editing. In the last four years, I have written four YA novels, worked for Shadow Mountain Publishing as a content editor, interned with A+B Works Literary Management, and taken several creative writing classes. I have seen publishing from many different angles, but writing is by far my favorite.
The full manuscript of DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING is available upon request. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Tricia Levenseller”
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DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING, QueryBook Recommendations
While we wait for DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING to release in 2017, here are some book recommendations of novels written by other YA historical fantasy authors. I loved these books! Click on each book for a plot description.
GRAVE MERCY
THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS
GRACELING
THRONE OF GLASS
THE KISS OF DECEPTION
MAID OF SECRETS
THE FALCONER
THE WINNER’S CURSE
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