AGENT CONTESTS - WHERE ARE THE BRITS?

 AGENT CONTESTS - WHERE ARE THE BRITS?

                                            


So this week kicks off with yours truly taking part in Authoress's Secret Agent blog contest. These monthly contests are great fun and useful for the feedback readers give you on the first 250 words of your manuscript.

I'm also in mortal combat with two hundred other hopefuls in Query Kombat. Writers of most genres: Adult, NA, YA and little MGers are throwing themselves into the ring hoping to get picked, polished and handed on a platter to ten literary agents who will then choose their winner.

Contests are good news for agents and writers. My wonderfully talented critique partners both got their agents through contests and swear without them they would still be languishing in slush puddle land.

With American bloggers such as Brenda Drake, Michelle4laughs and Authoress willing to slog through the slush pile and get the best writing out there, an agent's job is suddenly a whole lot easier. What's not to like?

All this begs the question - why are there no bloggers in the UK doing agent contests? Does this mean someone will have to blaze the trail? Will that person be me? Is something in the works? What can I say? Watch this space.                 

Writer's Voice Entry

QUERY:         HOW TO LOSE A FORTUNE AND SAVE A USELESS FAMILY                                                           


When twelve-year-old Anthony Wish ‘borrows’ the key to Lord Spur’s Scraggfield Manor, it's for a good reason: thwarting family disaster. Again.

His father’s bankrupt company Wish and Wash Plumbing is being sued for faulty work at the Manor. To pay, Anthony’s family must sell their home and move to Grandpa’s tumbledown cottage in the freezing wilds with no wifi and a pet sheep living in the kitchen. His mother is threatening to throw in the towel and find a life with her yoga instructor. But worst of all, Anthony stands to lose his scholarship to Ducksbridge, an elite school that might actually turn the son of a bumbling plumber into a red Ferrari-driving millionaire.

Anthony’s always known money is the answer to life’s problems and with Lord Spur in New York for a week, renting out the Manor for five little days won’t hurt anyone. But it’ll sure put a dent in the family debt.

Anthony invites Matrix, a hotel-trashing MTV rock star to the five-star Manor. He ‘hires’ schoolmate Draguta Dansky and her family’s circus to entertain – the same Danskys who have a slight problem with anger management, illegal residency and smuggled goods. All Anthony needs is to keep the manor intact, the rock star entertained and the entertainment from being arrested. But when Matrix skips town without paying, hot pursuit is in order – destination Venice where nothing short of a mega disaster might just teach Anthony what it means to be a true Wish. Money or no money. 

My contemporary middle grade story HOW TO LOSE A FORTUNE AND SAVE A USELESS FAMILY is complete at 50,000 words and has series potential. If Greg Heffley were in the market for a twin brother, Anthony would be a good fit. 

I am a former journalist and feature writer. I belong to a stellar, agented crtique group. I am a member of SCBWI.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

FIRST 250 WORDS

                                                               

                                                           CHAPTER 1

The good news was I'd bribed my mother to take me to the Ducksbridge Open Day. The bribe was a Fruit and Nut chocolate bar from the local In 'N Out . I got it cheap because it was expired. It was expired because only crazy people ate Fruit and Nut. Which was why it was perfect for my mother.

The bad news was we were stuck in a parking line snaking down the school driveway and my mother's 1982 Ford Fiesta, Pretty Girl, was smoking out a herd of grazing deer. And a bunch of parents in fancy cars.

I ran a finger round my collar and de-fogged my sunglasses but unfortunately the scene before me was clear as day. The woman in the Range Rover up ahead was coughing and hacking and pretty much overdoing it. A black limousine out our rear window was flashing its lights and sounding its horn like this was a state of emergency. Incredible. All for a bit of muffler smoke, miniscule amounts of carbon monoxide and a few engine rattles.

I risked a glance at my mother. She was swiping on lipstick like she wanted to snap it off. Not good. I needed to move on to Plan B.

"You know, it's getting kind of stuffy in here," I said. "I can walk if you want."

"I'll stuffy you and that maniac with the horn," she said. "You dragged me here Anthony, you will not put a foot outside this car without me."