Monday, June 3, 2013

Query Kombat: Query + First Page

Welcome Query Kombatants. Here is my improved query and first page. Let me know what you think and I'm always happy to return the favor of a critique.

Title: THE ADVIERA ABDUCTIONS
Word Count: 61,000
Genre: Upper Middle Grade Science Fiction

Query:
When an alien race known as the Adviera abducts thirteen-year-old Gary Jones, they grant him the power of telekinesis. Unfortunately this cool new ability comes with a price. The Adviera believes Gary could be the key to saving their race. As they secretly groom him for their war effort, he is forced to undergo a rigorous training program alongside other abducted Earth kids with abilities.

Although Gary works closely with his alien trainer, Esther, he’s unprepared for the missions and simulated battles the Adviera force him into. If the alien council would stop changing their ridiculous demands, Gary might have a chance to perfect his ability before they thrust him into a situation he may not be able to survive. But his survival isn’t the only thing in jeopardy.

The Adviera war may be imminent, but Gary's focus remains on completing his service quickly so he no longer has to make up excuses for his unexplainable disappearances with the aliens. But the more time he spends fulfilling the council’s absurd requests, the more trouble Gary lands in with his mom, and the more jealous his best friend becomes of his ability. Gary doesn’t realize it, but if he fails the Adviera, they won’t be the only ones who will suffer from the upcoming war—the fate of humanity could also be at risk.

First Page:
Gary ran his hand through his shaggy, brown hair and risked a glance back at the living room window. His mother’s gaze pierced him long enough to send a shudder rippling through his spine before she turned from the window and disappeared. She looks like an angry gargoyle.  

His mom had scolded him countless times because he went looking for trouble. Gary, however, thought it was the opposite—trouble always found him. Although, exactly how he might step into some kind of mess while walking the dog, he had no clue.

He grabbed for his earbuds and shoved them into his ears. Bobbing his head to the thundering drums and crashing guitars, he stepped in synch with the music. Buster, his Golden Retriever, had other ideas and dragged Gary down the street as if on a mission. The dog stopped at a dimly lit street lamp near the end of the block, barked, and pulled hard on the leash. In an effort to hold him back, Gary grabbed Buster’s collar with his free hand.

“What is it, boy? What are you barking at?”

Gary looked around the darkening street. Despite the parked cars, no one was outside. Following Buster’s gaze, he found the cause of the disturbance—white lights floating across the sky.

“It’s just a plane. Come on.” He tried to yank the dog back toward the house. Buster planted his butt on the ground and whined.

“What’s wrong, boy?” Crouching down, Gary smoothed the golden fur on the dog’s head. “It’s okay, I promise.”

Hearing the soft whir of an engine, Gary tracked the lights drawing closer in the sky. They morphed into various shapes no longer looking like any plane he’d seen before, and the noise changed to a high pitched hum.

14 comments:

  1. I always have trouble with the random person is the key to whatever for no apparent reason. I'm sure you put a reason why Gary is so special that the aliens picked him out, but you don't say so in the query. That's the first thing that stopped me, the big "But why?" I really think it would be a good idea to give at least a small reason why Gary is the key to the aliens winning the war.

    I'm not sure I believe that Gary only cares about his new powers, and doesn't care about the impending war coming to his world. Is it that he doesn't realize war is coming? Or does he really not care? Which is more believable?

    Those are the two places I would give more thought to.

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    1. Thanks for your feedback. I originally had a line in there about using his powers to exact revenge on the school bully. I took it out based off some advice but I might add it back it.

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    2. So funny. Many of your comments on mine, were based on things I changed because of previous comments! Ah, subjectivity. Gonna have to find a happy middle somewhere.

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    3. yeah subjectivity is tough. I've gone back and forth with it and at the end of the day you have to stick with what you think is best for your work because not everyone is going to like it regardless of what you do.

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  2. Hello again! Are you sick of me yet? haha

    Okay, I liked everything but the following and I'll explain why.

    She looks like an angry gargoyle. -- this just took my out of the story completely. My mind went off into pictures of gargoyles over aged European cites, etc. I honestly don't think you need it, and it makes Gary seem a bit mean. Maybe his mom is a nightmare, but at this point in the story, we've nothing to prove it.


    His mom had scolded him countless times because he went looking for trouble. Gary, however, thought it was the opposite—trouble always found him. Although, exactly how he might step into some kind of mess while walking the dog, he had no clue.

    I get what you're saying, but I had to reread this twice. Is there a way to shorten and clarify this? Such as:

    His mom always accused Gary of looking for trouble, but it wasn't true. She even said he'd probably get into trouble tonight just walking the dog--but how he had no clue.

    or something smoother than that
    :.)

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    1. haha no not yet ;) Thanks for stopping by again for more feedback :)

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  3. Ok hi Jamie!

    I agree with Shaun, a little bit—the random person picked to save the world can sometimes seem a bit dubious—but I also like it a lot. It's Luke Skywalker, and it's Tron, and it's, erm, The Last Starfighter, which this reminds me of a little bit. I like those!

    I love the humour in this. Not taking it too seriously is great! It gives you the leeway to be a bit clichéd with some of the SF, which I think you've done. But the first sentence doesn't seem humorous yet (there's no clue!) so I just have to carry on reading although I don't yet know you're being tongue in cheek. (Until we meet Esther). I would think it's a dangerous strategy for a query: you want to get positive response right away, don't you? Not that I'd know.

    Not sure either about the gargoyle complaint. To me it shows he's imaginative, and quite well-read, but it also makes me think about fantasy. Gargoyle-monster-fantasy, I guess. Could you use the opportunity to characterize him in a way that fits him in with your story? Like maybe he wishes he had some power to resist her, or maybe she looks like a twisted alien race (which shows his SF chops).

    Just a couple of ideas off my head-top, and of course I'm not you and don't know where you want to go with the story. But I really like the lighthearted feel, like the idea which I think is appealing to all of us, and like the message too: No Free Lunch! Even saving the world doesn't protect you from your mom.

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    1. Thanks for your comments. Yeah I definitely tried to go with a little bit of a more lighthearted feel for the MG side of things. I originally had a different first line. It wasn't completely humorous but it was a bit more telling. I might go back to that. You've given me quite a bit to think about.

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  4. You're ROCKETEER, right? Congrats on being an alternate! I was so happy when I saw that this morning. Good for you!

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    1. Yes that was me. :) Thanks so much. I was equally excited and bummed. Excited to see I was so close, yet bummed to know I just missed it. But it happens.

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  5. Love the Ender's Game vibe of this. The query is going along great for the first 2 paragraphs then the bully and his mom feel like they come out of left field. Of course I don't know how big a role the bully plays, but I'd lean toward either removing that or playing up earlier. The mom really threw me - I thoughts he'd been abducted. So I'm feeling a little disjointed and I don't want to cuz I really like where the query is going in the first 2 paragraphs.

    For your first 250, I think you do a great job setting up "normal" for Gary and putting us at the inciting incident right away w/o feeling lost. Great job. I could only suggest some word tightening nits:
    "Gary ran his hand through his shaggy, brown hair and risked a glance back at the living room window. His mother’s gaze pierced him [just-delete] long enough to send a shudder rippling through his spine before she turned from the window and disappeared. She [looks-looked] like an angry gargoyle. [might think about incorporating this into an earlier sentence, less telling/passive that way]

    His mom had scolded him countless times [because-believing] he [went looking-searched] for trouble. Gary, however, thought it was the opposite—trouble always found him. Although, exactly how he might step into some kind of mess while walking the dog, he had no clue."

    The rest of it was great - you could change pulled hard to yanked or strained for the dog - and I'd most definitely read on.

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    1. Thanks for your comments, you made some good suggestions. Some of the word choices are deliberate, and some are because I used the words you suggested further down in the chapter so I didn't want to repeat them.

      As for the query you brought up a good point of possible confusion that I hadn't been aware of before. The reason his mother's reactions are important is because Gary is repeatedly abducted by the aliens. He goes back and forth and this gets him in trouble with his mom because he keeps disappearing. So I will find a way to make that clear in the query. Thanks :)

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  6. First, I didn't read the other comments, so sorry if I repeat. And I also didn't comment on this query during Query Kombat, so I never saw the original.

    I really like your query, the only thing that confused me was that you didn't mention until the 3rd para that Gary is still living at home. Up until then, I thought he'd been abducted and taken to another planet. Maybe if you clairfy that earlier on? Because as I was reading the 1st two paras, I was thinking, why isn't he focused on trying to go home? Why is he even helping the aliens when they abducted him? So maybe move some sentences around and move that stuff sooner. Other than that, I thought the query was great!

    First 250 was great! Just one nitpick: The line "His mom had scolded him countless times because he went looking for trouble" should maybe be switched to something like, "His mom had scolded him countless times because SHE THOUGHTS he went looking for trouble." Otherwise, it sounds like he does, actually, go looking for trouble. No other crits though. Good job!

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    1. thanks so much for your feedback. You made some good points. :)

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