Take 1

An earthquake that rattles northern California shatters not only Michael’s nerves but a giant sequoia behind his house. When the trunk cracks open, saw dust in the eyes would have been preferable to the blow dart-toting faerie that flew out of it. When the Fey start assaulting his house (and his face), Michael and his sister, Zana, take it upon themselves to check out the source of their problems. Only then do they realize the Fey are just the start of their issues.

As Zana gets yanked through the trunk by a set of arms that shouldn’t be there, Michael, and his dog, go after her. Only the dog doesn’t stay a dog. Squeaky toys mean nothing to a member of the co-ruling Saet family of Parna. Michael and Zana will just be the disposable chew toys to take its place. To solve their own Fey dilemma, they must follow the dog-turned-man into Parna but the line between ally and enemy is murky at best.

The Yehls, co-ruler and head-butter to the Saets, have their own uses for the teens from the Other Side but whose are altruistic and whose are out for multi-world domination? While Zana succumbs to the poison of this new world, Michael has no choice but to keep his head on his shoulders. The fate of his sister, not to mention his side of the tree, rests in his hands. But does he have what it takes to saddle that responsibility? Or will his side, and his sister, fall prey to the Fey?

Take 2

As blow dart-toting faeries and other whacked-out Fey start winging out of a cracked-open sequoia in Michael’s backyard, he and his sister, Zana, grab the dog and go investigate, leaving their home under attack. As Zana gets yanked through the tree, Michael and the dog go after her only to end up smack in the middle of an otherwordly family feud. Not to mention the dog isn’t a dog anymore but a human member of one of the battling families.

The only way to stop the Fey assault on Michael’s home (and potentially the world) is to close the opening in the tree. They need the dog-turned-guy’s help for that but he has other plans for them, starting with a cup of brainwashing tea that Zana sucks down in a gulp. Michael on the other hand, well, tea’s not really his thing.

When Michael is kidnapped by the enemy family, they shed new light on his former dog and they start to look not so enemy-like after all. He thinks. But even they have other uses for him. At least they’re up front about it.

Armed with only a knife, a hallucination, a concussion and his un-dog’s servant, Michael plots to escape with the help of the “enemy.” He doesn’t even know if he’s on the right side of the fight but he’ll lose his sister, his home, and possibly his life, if he does nothing. That is if he can muster up the stones to pull it all off.

Take 3

An earthquake cracks open a sequoia in Michael’s backyard and instead of bark he gets a face full of faerie. His home is at the front line of a growing Fey attack and his dog is acting almost giddy about it. As if that isn’t strange enough, Michael and his sister, Zana, are pulled through the Tree of Weird where the dog turns into a naked guy and fights off an attack, tea can make you a prisoner and castles can be moved at will like little green army men on a carpet battle field.

Unfortunately Michael’s newly undog isn’t who he says he is, and neither is the undog’s enemies. When Michael gets kidnapped by these supposed evildoers, instead of killing him they start molding him into a fighter Michael doesn’t really think he is. Not only does he need it to get himself back home but it’ll help them take back a daughter stolen by his house pet before he was exiled to Michael’s side of the tree with an extra set of legs and a tail.

According to them, the only way to stop the Fey assault on his home, and potentially his world, is to close the crack in the sequoia. Too bad Michael can’t just use duct tape. He needs the help of the land’s ultimate sorcerer, who’s more like Grizzly Adams with a wand than any mage-like Merlin, to close the gateway, get Michael and Zana back home and get the Fey the hell away from his house. Of course he’s willing to help – for a price.

After some hand-to-hand combat training with the Ahnold of butlers and a rude awakening to the evil his dog really is, Michael’s begrudgingly ready to take on the task of closing up the sequoia. In a world where his undog has control over the Fey and uses them in his bid for multi-world domination, not to mention murders to the beat of his own drum, Michael’s looked at as nothing more than a stepping stone through the door to his quiet California town. The more he starts to revolt against his former dog, the more his dog starts to see him as a fly that must be squished. But only Michael can turn himself into a worthy contender to fight off his new-found enemy. And it all starts with a knife, a punch and a less than stellar escape.

Take 4

Michael and Zana are being held captive in another world by a guy that used to be their dog.  Instead of being a yellow lab, he’s really a jerk with a bid for multi-world domination and fully intends on using the siblings to get it.

When Michael breaks away from his former dog, he gets kidnapped by the supposed enemy who only wants to help.  With the gateway between Michael’s world and this new one open, his one time lab can release the Fey through the gateway to weaken the world and gain control for himself.  Not to mention giving the Fey power in Michael’s world could rile the masses in their own causing a revolt against the ruling Council.  Just a couple of small problems.  At least the enemy has some answers.  Only the kingdom’s mage has the power to close the gateway and Michael has to haul his weight in order for it to get done.

Lucky for him he’s the only one that knows where his former dog’s constantly moving castle is so the task for getting his sister out of there and fulfilling the mage’s terms to close the gateway falls squarely on Michael’s shoulders like an overstuffed elephant.  Despite the fact that he can’t really fight and would sooner stab himself with a knife than his attacker, Michael has a lot of ground to cover if he wants to save his sister and his home from his crazy former pet.  That is if they’re not destroyed by the time he gets there.

Take 5

Michael and Zana are being held captive in another world by a guy that used to be their dog.  Instead of a yellow lab, he’s a jerk with a bid for multi-world domination and fully intends on using the siblings to get it.

With the gateway open, the former dog can release the Fey into Michael’s world and these things aren’t anywhere near sparkling little pixies.  Separated, Zana gets poisoned by the used-to-be pet while Michael teams up with the creep’s enemies and the kingdom’s main mage to get the gateway closed.  Lucky for Michael, he’s the only one that knows where the mutt’s constantly moving castle is so the task to rescue his sister and get the gateway closed falls squarely on his shoulders.  And it feels like an elephant that’s swallowed an anvil.  Despite the fact that he has noodle arms in a fight and would sooner stab himself than his attacker, he has epic ground to cover if he wants to get him and his sister home in one piece.  That is if they’re not destroyed by the time he gets to them.

Final Product

Michael and Zana are being held captive in another world by a guy that used to be their dog.  Instead of a yellow lab, he’s a jerk with a bid for multi-world domination and fully intends on using the siblings to get it.

With the gateway open, the former dog can release the Fey into Michael’s world and these things aren’t anywhere near sparkling little pixies.  Separated, Zana gets poisoned by the used-to-be pet while Michael teams up with the creep’s enemies and the kingdom’s main mage to get the gateway closed.  Lucky for Michael, he’s the only one that knows where the mutt’s constantly moving castle is so the task to rescue his sister and get the gateway closed falls squarely on his shoulders.  And it feels like an elephant that’s just swallowed an anvil.  Despite the fact that he has noodle arms in a fight and would sooner stab himself than his attacker, he has epic ground to cover if he wants to get him and his sister home in one piece.  If there’s still a home to get to.

Ironically enough, I already have it planned out.  If Earth Shatterer sells, I’m going to branch up (no pun intended) from the tattoo I have now on the small of my back and turn it into a tree, as a sequoia is a major player in that book.  The tattoo I’ll be adding on to already looks like roots so it’ll fit in perfectly.   And it’ll be pretty big but I wouldn’t want it any higher than the bottom of my shoulder blades so it wouldn’t scale to the width of the current tattoo (runs from side to side) but big enough.

Then I’d hang an “ornament” on that tree that further symbolized ES, like the knife Michael picks up at Market, or something like that.  And then for each subsequent book I’d sell, I’d add “ornaments” to the tree, one symbol from each book represented.

I’m, like, drooling over the idea in my head already.  Sell, book!  Sell!

I ended up having to change my cell phone voicemail message so I don’t sound like a snarky bitch to agents.  Hey, I had months of people calling and calling and calling, sometimes upwards of 6 times right in a row, for someone not me and I got fed up with it.  So I let them know via voicemail.  Yup.  That’s down.  Not a great impression to make so now it’s short, simple and sweet.  Well, as sweet as I can be.

Once I have my synopsis all finished up and all I’m doing is subbing ES, it’s back to work on Diamond Crier.  Well, I’ve already started re-writing it but I’m not even done with the first chapter yet.  But at least I’ve started.  The important thing is I like where it’s going.  It’s just weird how the story dictates the voice.  DC is so different from ES just in style and tone.  It’s a little weird to go from one to the other but I guess I’m lucky to be able to write so differently.  At least I won’t have to worry about books reading the same!

I’m also working on my synopsis which, after asking on AW if I should even write one, has already been rewritten once.  Synopses aren’t too heavily critiqued in AW (they don’t have their own subsection so they get stuck in Queries and tend to get lost) so it’s hard to find something that does work.  Like AW has a thread for successful queries but not for synopses.  I could use Agent Kristin’s tutorial on how to write one but the standards for them vary from person to person.  Bottom line is you want to sell your work.  You need to strip your story down to its basic plot and give that from beginning to end only in a short story type of set-up, with more telling and little showing.  Wholly contradictory to everything I’ve learned as a writer but it’s standard for synopsis writing.  Fun.

Now I’m just waiting for some feedback on how to query one particular agent.  When I went to my reading in San Francisco a couple years ago, I was offered representation by a reputable agent and after some discussion with her, we decided another one of her agents would work better since she reps YA and the one that offered doesn’t.  I just don’t know how to send the query.  Do I email the YA agent and CC the one that came directly to me?  The other way around?  What?  After some fine tuning I might even be able to start getting some queries out on Monday.

Puke.

It’ll be a never-ending cycle that I won’t win.  It just has to get to a point of good enough or where I really like it and not willing to make more changes.  I’m digging the simplicity of my most recent incarnation.  It still remains in Michael’s voice and gets the point across but does it need to be edited again?  I don’t want to overlook something huge that I’m not seeing in my own work.  At the same time I don’t want to be stuck in a vortex.  I also don’t want to rush it out the door so I can just have a completed query.

Ugh.  Editing.  Fun times.