LORIEL RYON AND KRISTY HUNTER GUEST POST AND INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS AND QUERY CRITIQUE GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone! Today I'm excited to have debut author Loriel Ryon and her agent Kristy Hunter here to share about Loriel's MG magical realism IN THE TALL, TALL GRASS. This sounds like a great book that has both magic and also deals with contemporary issues, like family, first love, and middle grade friendships.

Here's a blurb from Goodreads:

Yolanda Rodríguez-O’Connell has a secret. All the members of her family have a magical gift—all, that is, except for Yolanda. Still, it’s something she can never talk about, or the townsfolk will call her family brujas—witches. When her grandmother, Wela, falls into an unexplained sleep, Yolanda is scared. Her father is off fighting in a faraway war, her mother died long ago, and Yolanda has isolated herself from her best friend and twin sister. If she loses her grandmother, who will she have left?

When a strange grass emerges in the desert behind their house, Wela miraculously wakes, begging Yolanda to take her to the lone pecan tree left on their land. Determined not to lose her, Yolanda sets out on this journey with her sister, her ex-best friend, and a boy who has a crush on her. But what is the mysterious box that her grandmother needs to find? And how will going to the pecan tree make everything all right?

Now here's Loriel and Kristy!

Query Critique Giveaway and Guest Post for Literary Rambles

·         Hi Kristy, I’m so excited that I get chance to interview you today!

I’m thrilled as well!

  

·         Can you tell us a little bit about becoming a literary agent? What other roles have you held in the publishing industry?

I attended the Columbia Publishing Course after undergrad—a great introduction to all things publishing. From there, I interned in Bloomsbury Children’s Books’ editorial department before working in publicity at Grove/Atlantic and Random House Children’s Books. Of all my jobs, agenting has been the most challenging AND the most rewarding. What writers sometimes forget is that agents are people too—we’re crushed when a book we believe in doesn’t sell. Or when an author decides to go with someone else for representation. But there’s nothing better than working on an extraordinary story. And seeing your client’s book on the shelf for the first time? Amazing.

I wanted a new adventure in publishing—one that not only utilized my previous industry knowledge but also presented fresh challenges. Agenting was the obvious answer. As an agent, I’m a publicist, a cheerleader, an editor, and so much more—you get to do it all, and there’s never a dull moment. I was ecstatic to join The Knight Agency team in 2014 and have been here ever since.

  

·         What age groups and genres do you represent?

I represent middle grade, young adult, and adult.

·         Would you consider yourself an editorial agent? How do you work with your authors to ensure you submitting the strongest manuscript possible for consideration to editors?

Yes, I do! When I offer representation, I always highlight what I love about the project, but also

where I see room for improvement (what could be fleshed out more, things that could be cut for pacing, etc). Once a writer signs with me, they’re fully prepared for what comes next!

My first round of edits is usually the most in-depth. I send my clients a full editorial letter, as well as a marked-up manuscript. Typically, I suggest my clients take about a week or so with the notes to fully work through them. Then we hop on the phone to discuss further, confirm that we’re on the same page, and make a plan of attack.

After that, it really depends on the writer and the project, but we usually do several rounds of edits before going on submission. The editing process is always collaborative—my client and I work together to ensure the manuscript is in tip-top shape before we share it with editors.

·         What makes you pick up a manuscript and want to represent it? What elements draw you in?

A great voice and a strong hook—those are the key elements that draw me in. And, of course, it has

to be a genre I represent. If a project checks those three boxes, I’m going to be eager to read more. Then it becomes a question of, is this a project that I love enough that I could read it again and again? Because as an agent, that’s exactly what I’ll do. I’ll read it over and over, think of the story from every different angle, pitch it for months, and talk to countless editors about it. If I don’t think I can do that and maintain my initial level of enthusiasm, then I’m probably not the best champion for it.

  

·         What made you want to represent INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS?

SO. MANY. THINGS. First of all—the writing. I still remember your opening scene. Yolanda creeping into her abuela’s bedroom and seeing her lying there, butterflies nestled in her hair. I was intrigued. It was lovely and instantly made me eager to understand this world. Your story touched on feeling like an outsider in a town, even in your own family—important and relevant themes for all readers, but especially middle grade readers. And right away, I could tell this story was infused with a huge amount of heart, which was further confirmed when we spoke on the phone. So much drew from your personal life and I could feel that coming through the pages. I loved Yolanda and KNEW I had to represent this story.

·         What are some of your favorite media that you’ve consumed lately? Books, TV, movies, podcasts?

I just finished Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Really fantastic—I highly recommend. Currently, I’m re-reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. One of my all-time favorite comfort reads.

·         What is on your manuscript wish list right now? #MSWL?

Well, I wouldn’t say no to another project in the same vein as Into the Tall, Tall Grass! That’s always going to be a sweet spot for me.

Outside of that, I’m actively building my list right now and eager to take on additional middle grade, young adult, and adult clients. Fresh stories with unforgettable voices always capture my interest and I’d love to see even more ownvoices projects across all genres.

In middle grade, I’m looking for fun sweeping fantasy adventures, mysteries, heartfelt contemporaries, upbeat contemporaries, light fantasy and magical realism projects.
When it comes to young adult, I’m open to most genres, but I’m specifically interested in seeing light fantasy and magical realism projects, rom-coms, upbeat contemporaries, contemporary projects that deal with hard issues in a unique or quirky way, mysteries, thrillers, and historical projects with a modern sensibility (to name a few).
And finally, in adult, I’m eager for rom-coms as well as women's fiction/book club fiction (which could include contemporary, historical, speculative, magical realism, etc).

·         How would interested authors query you?

The Knight Agency uses Query Manager. The link to query me and submit your first twenty pages is here: https://querymanager.com/query/Kristy_Hunter_TKA

·         Social media links?

Twitter and Instagram: @kristyshunter

  

Book Giveaway and Interview questions for: Loriel Ryon

1.      Can you tell us a little about how you started writing? Was it something you’ve always done?

I was an avid reader. I read everything I could get my hands on, ignoring my family at meal-times and devouring a book a day, but I never imagined I could ever actually write a book. Not a whole one. I tried multiple times. I remember writing a book about a snowman when I was 8, some terrible YA-esque thing when I was a teen and some kind of literary story in my early twenties. But I never made more than a few scenes before my motivation sizzled out. After I had my daughter and we moved back to New Mexico, I was home a lot more, working as a nurse only once a week. I needed a creative outlet from the day to day monotony of taking care of small children. So, I decided to try a story. I figured, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like anyone would actually read it. So, I gave myself homework every single day. (My Ravenclaw is showing!) The first day, it was write a paragraph. Then a page. Then a paragraph. Before long, I had a whole book. It was a terrible book (as many first books are), but once I did it once, I knew I could do it again. And I did. And that second book became INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS.

2.      Rejections are a part of publishing. How do you handle rejections? What would say to someone who is afraid of rejections.

Oh yes, rejections are a part of publishing for sure, and I do have a tendency to keep my expectations pretty low. I read the statistics. I was realistic about it. So realistic in fact that I didn’t tell anyone (other than my husband) that I had started writing and querying for an agent. If I was going to fail at it, I wanted to fail in private and not have everyone asking how it was going.

But I wanted to try. Because I knew that I wouldn’t ever be published if I didn’t put myself out there.

I’d read somewhere that a goal of getting 100 rejections a year means you are really making an effort to put yourself out there. So, my goal was to get 100 rejections. It was like a game with a spreadsheet that I added to. And sure, the rejections weren’t fun. But because I made a game out of it, it helped to see that my tally was going up.

I did the same thing when we went on submission. For every rejection I got on submission, I put $10 in a jar. And then when I finally sold the manuscript, I bought myself something nice with it to celebrate.

To someone who is afraid of rejections:

1. GIVE IT A SHOT! Put yourself out there. Assume that you will get rejected. Everyone does. And if you don’t get rejected now, you will later. It will happen.

2. Have a plan for dealing with rejections, reward yourself for trying.

Cry if you need to.

Then, toughen up and see if you can glean anything useful from it. If not, then put it to the side and try again.

3.      What has debuting during a pandemic been like?

Phew. Well, to be perfectly honest, it hasn’t been all that easy. Not that debuting in general is easy. My friends like to tease me because I am a realist leaning toward pessimism at times. I tend to be a little suspicious of good news. So, during this whole publishing experience, I felt like at any moment, someone would realize they made a mistake and it wasn’t actually going to happen.

But then the pandemic started to happen, and everything started to get canceled. First one event, then another. Then another. I tried to lower my expectations a little more. Okay, no events, but at very least, the ONE thing I really wanted was go get a fancy coffee and take pictures of my book in real life on a shelf on launch day.

Then they closed all non-essential business in my state, and I cried. Kristy, my wonderful agent (and

the much-needed optimism to my pessimism) consoled me.

Because I realized in even trying to keep my expectations in check, that no matter how much I tried to push it away, somewhere deep inside, I still had the tiniest bit of hope that this was all going to happen. And that hurt the most. That I tried to protect myself from it, and I couldn’t.

My internet also went out three days before launch. (It’s actually still out as I type this). I have two kids under 6 that I’m “homeschooling”, I work as a nurse as well and the looming coronavirus in our state sucked up a lot of my thoughts and concerns, rightly so. I am worried I’ll get it at work. I’m worried I’ll get it at the grocery store. I’m worried I’ll bring it home. I was, and still am, concerned about having to change nursing roles to care for patients who are really sick, things I haven’t done in quite a while. I am concerned about the lack of PPE needed to keep me safe.

But through all of this, the thing that surprised me the most, was the level of support I received on my book launch day. I didn’t have that many twitter followers. I thought I’d get a few likes and move on with my day. But the outreach from the publishing, reading and writing community was more than I could have ever expected. I couldn’t believe the number of people who were excited and shouted out about my book and all the other debuts that day. I was astounded. And it ended up being a really, really great day.

But once this is all over, I can’t wait to get my fancy coffee and peruse my local bookstore so I can see it on the shelf in real life.

4.      Tell us about your book.

INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS is an upper middle grade novel set in the New Mexico desert. It is about a 12-year-old girl who is the only one in her family who lacks the magical familial trait. Her grandmother is very ill, social services is knocking on her door, and she’s isolated herself from her twin sister and ex-best friend. One day a mysterious grass grows up in the desert and her grandmother wakes up and asks Yolanda to take her to the last pecan tree on their property, in hopes of saving her life. So, Yolanda embarks on this journey with her grandmother, her twin sister, her ex-best friend, a boy who has a crush on her, and her naughty little dog. It has magical realism and STEM elements, sister-relationships, first crushes, and explores nature and grief. It came out on April 7^th with Margaret K. McElderry books and is available in hardcover, e-book and audio. The hardcover is absolutely stunning in person with a shiny gold metallic cover. The narrator, Marisa Blake, did an amazing job, so you can’t go wrong with either medium. 

5.      Where can we get your book and find you on social media?

Book links:

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781534449671

Social Media Links

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook: @Lorielryon

Website: www.Lorielryon.com

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Loriel and Kristy!

Loriel has generously offered a signed hardback of INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS and Kristy has offered a query critique for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through May 2nd. If you do not want to be included in the critique giveaway, please let me know in the comments. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter either contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog or follow me on Twitter, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The book giveaway is U.S. and the query critique giveaway is International.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog.

Here's what's coming up. Please support these authors who are debuting in these challenging times by stopping by and commenting:

Monday, April 27th I have an agent spotlight interview with Lindsay Davis and a query critique giveaway

Wednesday, May 6th,I have an interview with Erin Bowman and a giveaway of her MG THE GIRL AND THE WITCH'S GARDEN and my IWSG post

Monday, May 18th Monday, May 18th I have an interview with Swati Teerdhala and a giveaway of THE ARCHER AT DAWN 

Wednesday, May 20th I have an agent spot light interview with Erin Clyburn and a query critique giveaway

Wednesday, June 3rd I have a guest post by debut author Chelsea Ichaso and her agent Kristy Hunter and a giveaway of Chelsea's YA psychological thriller LITTLE CREEPY THINGS and a query critique by Kristy

Hope to see you on Monday!