Happy #QuestPit day!
Here's my #agentsguide to THISTLE & BRIAR, a 93k adult romantasy 🦋
“Have you ever accidentally botched a spell that bound you to a fae man who hates your guts? Asking for a friend.”
#Q#A#F#R#RF
ALT An agent's guide to Thistle & Briar by R. A. Betzer. "Have you ever accidentally botched a spell that bound you to a fae man who hates your guts? Asking for a friend." 93k words. Editor interest and RevPit shortlist. Adult romantasy.
ALT The Pitch. A dream for freedom, a spell gone wrong, one year to fix it, and the only one who can help her is a hot fae she was accidentally bound to. The problem is he can't stand her. Themes & Tropes. Slow burn. Cranky fae x wild swamp girl. He bites, she wants him to. Wild, cruel faeries. One bed and one elk. Spell gone wrong (they have to do it or she'll die in a year).
ALT Comp Titles: The Knight & the Moth by Rachel Gillig. Aching devotion. The Princess Bride. Playful adventure romance. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. Banter-driven slow burn. In the Veins of the Drowning by Kalie Cassidy. Lyircal angst.
ALT The Blurb. Dusky Poddock would do anything to be kidnapped by faeries. Unfortunately, the faeries would do anything to send her back. Facing an arranged marriage to a widower twice her age, Dusky attempts (and botches) a spell fueled by the scraps of magic her late mother left behind. Instead of escape, she binds herself to Percy—a surly faery noble determined to expose a traitor, secure his claim as the heir, and protect his younger brother from the brutal politics of faery court. If Dusky cannot win Percy’s favor within a year, the spell will kill her. Eager to stay and eager to survive, Dusky employs herself as Percy’s faithful servant, determined to help his mission succeed. Little does she know, the spell requires her to fulfill Percy’s deepest desire at the time the magic was set in motion: creating an heir of his own. When Dusky learns the truth, she’s far less daunted than she should be at the prospect of sharing a bed with a gorgeous (if infuriatingly surly) faery. Percy, ...
Anyone want to beta read this story? 👀
I’m getting ready to query wide soon, and I recently got a RevPit editor’s feedback on the first chapter.
My ideal timeline is anytime this month 🦋 Lmk if you think you’d be interested!
Happy #QuestPit day!
Here's my #agentsguide to THISTLE & BRIAR, a 93k adult romantasy 🦋
“Have you ever accidentally botched a spell that bound you to a fae man who hates your guts? Asking for a friend.”
#Q#A#F#R#RF
ALT An agent's guide to Thistle & Briar by R. A. Betzer. "Have you ever accidentally botched a spell that bound you to a fae man who hates your guts? Asking for a friend." 93k words. Editor interest and RevPit shortlist. Adult romantasy.
ALT The Pitch. A dream for freedom, a spell gone wrong, one year to fix it, and the only one who can help her is a hot fae she was accidentally bound to. The problem is he can't stand her. Themes & Tropes. Slow burn. Cranky fae x wild swamp girl. He bites, she wants him to. Wild, cruel faeries. One bed and one elk. Spell gone wrong (they have to do it or she'll die in a year).
ALT Comp Titles: The Knight & the Moth by Rachel Gillig. Aching devotion. The Princess Bride. Playful adventure romance. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. Banter-driven slow burn. In the Veins of the Drowning by Kalie Cassidy. Lyircal angst.
ALT The Blurb. Dusky Poddock would do anything to be kidnapped by faeries. Unfortunately, the faeries would do anything to send her back. Facing an arranged marriage to a widower twice her age, Dusky attempts (and botches) a spell fueled by the scraps of magic her late mother left behind. Instead of escape, she binds herself to Percy—a surly faery noble determined to expose a traitor, secure his claim as the heir, and protect his younger brother from the brutal politics of faery court. If Dusky cannot win Percy’s favor within a year, the spell will kill her. Eager to stay and eager to survive, Dusky employs herself as Percy’s faithful servant, determined to help his mission succeed. Little does she know, the spell requires her to fulfill Percy’s deepest desire at the time the magic was set in motion: creating an heir of his own. When Dusky learns the truth, she’s far less daunted than she should be at the prospect of sharing a bed with a gorgeous (if infuriatingly surly) faery. Percy, ...
The online publishing space has been a lot lately. For everyone I think. Just sending love to the writers, agents, and editors who are showing up anyway. ❤️
NEVERMOOR X CITY SPIES
➥Magic Spycraft
Hunted for his meteorite wand, 12yo Catcher Kline must master spell-hacked spycraft to find his missing parents and stop the Acolytes from weaponizing the star metal minerals that power all magic.
#QuestPit#MG#F#Querying
Art @giaphoc
A SWORD THROUGH STONE 🗡️
An adult fantasy, gender-swap Arthurian reimagining. Featuring morally grey lady knights, high-stakes adventure, and a sapphic romance, it'll appeal to fans of The Second Death of Locke, BBC’s Merlin, and Godkiller ✨
#QuestPit!
#Q#A#F#DF#RF
ALT An agents guide to A SWORD THROUGH STONE, and adult, sapphic, romantic fantasy
ALT Pitch: Camelot has fallen. The High Throne usurped. Now, in vengeance for what she has lost, Elwyn is desperate to kill the Queen: Morgen Pendragon. As a servant fleeing her post, Elwyn has little in coin, and her magical “blessings” amount to barely more than a spark, and still she searches for a weapon powerful enough to fell a prophet.
ALT For fans of Godkiller, Merlin, and the Second Death of Locke
ALT - Gender-swap Arthurian reimagining
- Character driven
- Everyone’s morally grey
- Female fury
- Messy, sapphic romance
- Queer representation
- Lady knights
- High-stakes adventure
Death doesn’t care about being ready.
SUCH A FICKLE FATE
Viv has been dreaming of a scarred man, but when she finds out he’s the key to solving her mother’s murder and her foretold death, she must go on a quest with her druid friends to find him.
#YA#NA#F#Q#questpit
A Discovery of Witches but make them mermaid.🧜♂️
•
🌊TEARS OF THE TIDE✨
95k Adult Romantic Fantasy
•
A woman haunted by the ocean is pulled into a forbidden undersea world, where uncovering her true identity ignites a war between worlds.
•
#Questpit#A#RF#F#Q
#Questpit
My fav scenes from To Starve a God (Adult Tragic Fantasy)
💗Accidentally eating a God's heart
❤️🔥Attacking a bear
💗The first kiss
❤️🔥Accepting death in front of a cozy fire
💗Jumping into the ocean
#F#A#W
Covenant of the Damned (119k rom. fantasy) microtropes!
When the Lord she’s sworn to protect is poisoned, a headstrong guard reluctantly allies w/ a loathsome king to find the Holy Grail before the Lord dies or the relic falls into the hands of evil #Q#RF#F#A#QuestPit
HUNGER GAMES THE DIABOLIC KISS HER ONCE FOR ME
People are being disappeared, fascism is on the rise, and Mer just uncovered a govt mind-control plot. Can she trust the enby spy who charmed their way into her life, or will she be the govt’s next victim?
#QuestPit#Q#YA#S#R
ALT A tracking board, like one used by officials who are hunting down fugitives, features a collage of pictures on top of a map of New England. Headshots of a nonbinary pilot and a woman are on the top of the board, with another picture of them kissing on the bottom right. The board also shows a golden, old-fashioned plane that they used to escape. There is a picture of a microchip off to one side that shows the woman fighting a government agent, and a picture on the other side that is marked "top secret." In the center of the board is a gif of the woman holding a gun and pointing it at the viewer. She smirks and says “it’s good to see you, too.” The following message is scrawled across a scrap of paper at the top of the board: “in a game of mind-control, love and choice are always a memory apart.”
Closing my #questpit out with some romance vibes. A slow burn romance between a reckless time traveling bounty hunter and the reserved immortal Librarian he vows to protect at all costs. Even if it means defying Fate and the Council he’s indebted to.
#Q#YA#F
ALT A collage featuring a couple with their backs turned towards the viewer, a couple wearing masks for a masquerade, and a woman reaching for the stars all set in front of the face of a large clock
✨reincarnating souls, "i'm always going to find you"
✨reluctant allies to lovers
✨magical bond requiring forced proximity
✨morally grey FMC
✨inspired by 🇮🇳 mythology
#questpit#A#F#W
🩸Killer epic fantasy
📖A dictionary retelling
❤️A thesaurus fanfic
🗡️Voted likely to get overlooked by fickle social media algorithms we apparently trust to make our decisions for us these days!
#QuestPit#F one novel in #Q trenches & one novella is #P
ALT An awesome book cover (trust me!)
Killer Quill by Shida Ketzer
Themes & tropes:
crossed out "Romance", replaced with "Found Family,"
Badass Anti-heroine
Color Magic
Epic Fight Scenes
Touch her & you'll die!
Fantasy Heist
Feral Feminine Rage
BIPOC & LGBTQIA
ALT The map of planet Hymber’s dark hemispheroid where the majority of the high fantasy novel I #amquerying is set within my quirky fantasy universe called #Wisteraverse.
An engineer, a dragon hoarding romance novels, and a dysfunctional family of gods fight over the inheritance bequeathed to the one who wants it the least!
#questpit#Q#F
ALT Pitch: When the chosen Empress is assassinated, her disabled and gutsy ex-girlfriend must triumph over a dysfunctional family of ancient gods or submit to fulfilling the chosen’s grim fate as the gods’ eternal slave and weapon against mortals.
94,000 words Crossover Fantasy
Comps:
T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone
Damsel (2024 film)
Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller
Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves
ALT Themes & Tropes:
- Forbidden Love - Hot Banter
- Feminine Rage - Anti-Chosen
- Found Family - Second Chances
- Dark Humor - Identity
- Friends-to-lovers - Faustian Bargain
- Choosing vs. being chosen
- Dual-Timeline
Representation:
- LGBTQIA - BIPOC
- Mental Health - Disability
- Neurodivergence - Chronic Illnes
ALT Moodboard:
Dark fantasy Victorian vibes with purple color composition.
Top row, left-to-right: a Byronic handsome man in black, a palace, a dark figure burning in hellfire, a masked female assassin of dark complexion holding a dagger, a serpentine forest trail at night marked with red flowers.
At the center, next to a silver plume, is the text: “This world, my dear, is the slaughterhouse of noble ideals.”
Bottom row, left-to-right: a dark gaslit street, a gaslit city blanketed in coal smog at night, a young woman in a Victorian gown, wrought-iron gates opened to a foreboding foggy estate in the dark, a trail of red petals leading to a dark stone temple gate.
ALT Excerpt:
A gaunt mouse snatched bread crumbs from my lunch tray. I did not have the heart to give her a name, afraid I might lose her, too.
The lingering scent of mud and mildew hung in the air, a long-forgotten tomb. The bed’s cast-iron rods dug into my ribs through the thin mattress. I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering and pulled the threadbare blanket tighter around my body, hugging my knees to my chest. It did little against the chill creeping into my bones. The raging blizzard had transformed the courtyard into a churning white sea, rattling the broken window shutters hanging askew.
I was not allowed visitors or to set foot outside. The faded floral pattern of the peeling wallpaper was my only reminder of life beyond these walls. The medications I was forced to swallow left a cotton taste in my mouth and a dull ache in my skull. At least no screams echoed through the halls today.
#questpit#S#A#MY#SFF
The Vegas Angle:
Imara Langley once gambled everything for superhuman skills & the chance to become a LV Bounty Hunter. Jaded & with nothing left to lose, an investigation into an eerie cult & new beat partner Gideon Swick finally have her drawing live.
Second born to the throne of Faolan, Tauriel Kallias is determined to do whatever it takes for power. But when she finds herself caught in the crossfires of love and justice, she must decide how much of her humanity she is willing to sacrifice for it.
#questpit#YA#F#Q
ALT Dark royalty themed images, text that reads:
A stealthy assassin.
A poised princess.
And a competition that will either secure the throne...
or end it.
"They expected a safe proposal. A theoretical argument about pedagogy, proof that Alderhall's methods worked even on students with her... disadvantages. That was how Dunn had put it once. Despite your disadvantages, Miss Rose, you show remarkable progress." #questpit#w#a#f#s
TWILIGHT🫦x SUPERNATURAL😈
“ALREADY DEAD”
Hell is overcrowded and undergoing renovations, so where else is a soul to go? With the lifeline broken, soul immigration has become a hot topic. Make the Afterlife Great Again!
(sorry)
#QuestPit#YA#AQ#PA#LGBT#BIPOC