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34. WHERE YOU FOUND ME – Young Adult Contemporary

Monday, 3 November 2014  |  Posted by Brenda Drake

Assorted_Uzi_Water_Guns_lgMentor Name: Lori Goldstein

Mentee Name: Justine Winans

Title: WHERE YOU FOUND ME

Category: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary

Word Count: 61.000

Pitch:

Six weeks ago, Estelle Graham fell in love. Four weeks ago, the first body was found. Two weeks ago, Estelle’s entire world shattered. Now, locked away in a psychiatric hospital, whenever Estelle sees sunflowers, she thinks of murder. Today, it’s time to confront why.

Excerpt:

Estelle Graham hated routine. The idea of doing the exact same thing every day without any changes or surprises would’ve made Estelle want to gouge her eyes out with the nearest fork.

Lucky for me, I’m not Estelle Graham anymore.

Because at Green Garden Psychiatric Hospital, routine is everything.

And we aren’t allowed to use forks.

The breathy sigh escapes my lips before I can stop it. I press my cheek against my forearm. My head is too heavy. I just want to let it fall until the pressure disappears into the splintered wood of the windowsill.

My nose burns as it kisses the glass heated by the sun, but I don’t bother adjusting myself to a more comfortable position. I just watch the garden outside the window, another constant in the routine of my life. The flowers always wait for me outside. That never changes.

The deep, seductive red of the prickly roses contrasting against the happy hydrangeas painted the color of the sky by nature. The bleeding heart blooms dangling from their stems like a chandelier, the fluffed petals of the round globe amaranths, all the flowers so artfully arranged. I take them all in.

Except for the sunflowers. Because the sunflowers remind me of him.

Filed: Pitch Wars

11 Comments
  • Jackie Lindert says:

    Hi Justine–this sounds great! I’d love to see more. Could you please send your first 100 pages and synopsis to query@newleafliterary.com as an attachment, with the subject line “Pitch Wars Request–Jackie”? Thanks!

  • Stefanie Lieberman says:

    I’d like to see more, please. Please send the query, synopsis and first ten pages to submissions(at)janklow(dot)com. In the subject line of your email, please type: For Stefanie Lieberman – PITCH WARS REQUEST

  • Laura Zats says:

    Awesome voice! I’d love to see the first three chapters! Send in an attachment with a query in the body of an email to laura@redsofaliterary.com.

  • Amanda Panitch says:

    Hi Justine! I love the voice in the sample and I’d love to read more. Please send your first 100 pages to me as a Word document at amanda[at]LMQlit[dot]com.

  • Saba Sulaiman says:

    Hi Justine,

    I’d love to read more of this! Please send a full synopsis and the first 50 pages of your manuscript (Word documents will suffice) to ssulaiman@talcottnotch.net — and don’t forget to mention #PitchWars in your subject line. Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions!

    Good luck!
    –Saba

  • Jess Dallow says:

    Hi Justine,
    I’d love to read more! Please send the first 50 pages to query@newleafliterary.com, with the subject line: Pitch Wars Request – Jess.

  • Rachel Brooks says:

    I’d love to read more! Please send the query plus first 50 pages as a word doc attachment to rachel(at)lperkinsagency(dot)com with “Pitch Wars Request: Title” in the subject line. Thanks!

  • Rena Rossner says:

    I’d love to read the first 50 pages of this! Can you send them attached as word document to: rena(at)thedeborahharrisagency(dot)com – and please reference PITCHWARS in the subject line.

    Thanks!

    – Rena

  • Lana Popovic says:

    ooooh, you got me with this opening! Could you send the full ms, please, as a PDF, to lana@chalbergsussman.com, subject line “PitchWars: WHERE YOU FOUND ME.” Thanks so much!

    Lana

  • Louise Fury says:

    Very vivid descriptions. Please send the first three chapters as a .doc attachment, with your query as page one, to furyqueries @ thebentagency.com. For the subject line, put PITCH WARS: YOUR TITLE. Thanks!

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