Quest to find CARAVAL's hidden cover

CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber

In 2015, I was lucky enough to be selected onto Mónica Bustamante Wagner's team for The Writer's Voice. Her guest coach that year was the very lovely Stephanie Garber, whose sumptuous debut, CARAVAL, was released at the end of last month. I pre-ordered my copy and received some gorgeous goodies - a bookmark, a ribbon, a postcard and a poster - from the publishers as a result.

Stephanie has flown over to the UK from her home in America this week, so check out her book tour if you're in the vicinity. She'll be at the following places:

The hidden cover revealed

20th February @ 7pm - Waterstones Piccadilly, London

21st February @ 7pm - Waterstones Deansgate, Manchester

22nd February @ 6.30pm - Waterstones, Liverpool 1

23rd February @ 12.30pm - Waterstones, Sheffield

23rd February @6.30pm - Waterstones, Birmingham

Not only does the outer cover of CARAVAL look gorgeous, but there are four secret hidden covers underneath the dust jacket. Mine was of a rose, but there are also ones of a dress, a clock face and a circus tent. You'll have to read the book to find out the significance of each (I was rather enchanted by the dress), and here's the blurb to entice you further:

Welcome to Caraval, where nothing is quite what it seems.

Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show.

Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.

When the sisters’ long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show’s mastermind organiser, Legend.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But nonetheless she quickly becomes enmeshed in a dangerous game of love, magic and heartbreak. And real or not, she must find Tella before the game is over, and her sister disappears forever.

The Writer's Voice 2015 - my overall experience and the agent round

View from Fenella's island

The sun has set on another The Writer's Voice, and what an experience it's been for me this year!

I first took part in 2013 and, whilst I wasn't chosen for a team that year, I was an honourable mention for one coach. I joined Twitter after seeing many of the other entrants interacting over there, and I also received some wonderful feedback on my query and first 250 words.

As entrants were encouraged to support the other entries, I commented on a lot of blogs and, me being me, I subscribed to the posts in case anybody replied to me. Little did I know what a fabulous idea that was at the time! A few days later, the coaches started making their picks - and this is when my inbox started filling up with all these subscription notifications. I reported those picks on Twitter under the #TheWVoice hashtag, and other entrants were very grateful for the information.

Last year, I didn't make it past the Rafflecopter (random generator to select entries), but that didn't stop me from participating. I commented on as many entries as I could and subscribed to the posts, so when the coaches started making their picks, I could again report my findings. Due to the restrictive nature of Twitter posts, I decided to make a couple of blog entries to keep track of selections. The coaches, as well as the entrants, found this very helpful.

So, 2015 rolls around, and I have a new manuscript to enter into The Writer's Voice. But when was the contest taking place? The first mention I found was in a 'P.S.' Mónica Bustamante Wagner put in a blog post in March. Game on! I made it past the Rafflecopter and posted my entry on my blog in May. I then commented on most of the other entries and again subscribed to the posts. I found out Twitter names for most people and directed them over to #TheWVoice, if they weren't already aware of it. The coaches started making their selections on Monday 25th May and I had a hard job keeping up with the notifications coming in, announcing the news to the waiting contestants on Twitter and updating my blog post with the results. At the end of that day, several coaches had chosen the same people, so the entrant then had to choose between the coaches. This selection process took place over several days, and I hadn't been selected by any of the coaches in the initial rounds.

Then, that Thursday, my Twitter feed and my blog post had exploded overnight with activity. Monica had selected ME to join her team but, because of the time difference between us, I'd already gone to bed before I found out. I was gobsmacked (and totally overwhelmed by all the love and support from the other entrants)! My 'quest to be selected as a ‘The Writer’s Voice’ team member – 2015 edition' was a roaring success - hoorah!

Over the course of the next few weeks, Monica and her guest coach, Stephanie, helped me polish my query and first 250 words. The 32 entries went live on the coaches' blogs on Friday 19th June, and the agents stopped by on Tuesday 23rd June to vote. I'm very pleased to report my entry received three votes, and I've now submitted my manuscript to those agents.

Overall, there were 75 requests made for 26 entries (or 81 requests for 27 entries, if you include the two Ninja agents who voted). Entrants who received three or more votes would be able to send a full manuscript to the requesting agents, whilst those with one or two votes could send a partial.

Here's the breakdown of votes received per age range/genres:

MG Fantasy - 3
MG Magical Realism - 1
Upper MG Fantasy - 3
Upper MG Mystery - 1
MG TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 8

YA Contemporary - 9
YA Contemporary Fantasy - 6
YA Fantasy - 13
YA Historical - 7
YA LGBT Contemporary - 1
YA Mystery - 5
YA SF - 7
YA Space Opera - 4
YA TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 52

NA Contemporary Romance - 7
NA TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 7

Adult Literary - 3
Adult Psychological Thriller - 1
Adult Steampunk - 3
Adult Women's Fiction - 1
ADULT TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 8

The agents voted for this number of entries:

Caitie Flum of Liza Dawson Associates - 6 (3 fulls, 3 partials)

Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media - 6 (6 fulls)

Erin Harris of Folio Literary Management - 5 (4 fulls, 1 partial)

Lauren MacLeod of The Strothman Agency - 7 (5 fulls, 2 partials)

Sara Megibow of kt literary - 1 (1 full)

Renee Nyen of kt literary - 4 (2 fulls, 2 partials)

Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency - 4 (4 fulls)

Carrie Pestritto of Prospect Agency - 13 (12 fulls, 1 partial)

Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency - 4 (3 fulls, 1 partial)

Andrea Somberg of Harvey Klinger, Inc. - 11 (10 fulls, 1 partial)

Courtney Stevenson of Pippin Properties - 7 (6 fulls, 1 partials)

Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency - 7 (6 fulls, 1 partial)

#TeamMaries won The Writer's Voice 2015 with 21 votes. #TeamCoffeeHouse had 20 votes. #TeamTRex had 19 votes. And #TeamFTW had 15 votes.

I hope to be back again next year with my trusty spreadsheet in hand, ready to go blog diving and reporting once again. I love the Writer's Voice! J

The Writer's Voice 2015 - Teams and Battles

Will there be fisticuffs amongst The Writer's Voice coaches this year as they fight over entries for their teams? Last year, Elizabeth Briggs won two out of her three battles, and I'm sure she'll be hoping for victory again in this stage of the competition.

You can check out our entries here, and if you haven't already joined us over on Twitter, then do stop by #TheWVoice.

The coaches have until 4th June to select their teams, and I'll do my best to keep track of things here in the meantime. A breakdown of all the entries is found in my previous post.

ETA: If a coach makes a pick on a blog, I'll slot that entry under that coach's team. If more than one coach selects it, it'll drop into the 'BATTLES!' section instead until the entrant chooses which team they're going to join.

COACH PICKS:

Brenda (#TeamCoffeeHouse): #76,  #78,  #107,  #116,  #151,  #163,  #177,  #194
#116 = MG Fantasy
#107 = Upper MG Fantasy
#076 = YA Contemporary
#078 = YA Contemporary
#151 = YA Contemporary
#163 = YA Contemporary Fantasy
#177 = Adult Psychological Thriller
#194 = Adult Women's Fiction

Elizabeth (#TeamTRex): #19,  #59,  #64,  #90,  #106,  #137,  #158,  #164,  #178
#019 = MG Fantasy
#090 = YA Contemporary (Withdrawn from contest)
#164 = YA LGBT Contemporary
#137 = YA Fantasy
#178 = YA Fantasy
#064 = YA Horror
#059 = YA Space Opera
#106 = NA Contemporary Romance
#158 = Adult Steampunk

Krista (#TeamMaries): #29,  #67,  #69,  #81,  #109,  #140,  #159,  #169
#069 = MG Fantasy
#159 = MG Magical Realism
#140 = YA Adventure/Romance
#029 = YA Fantasy
#081 = YA Historical
#067 = YA Mystery
#109 = YA SF
#169 = Adult Literary

Monica (#TeamFTW): #16,  #57,  #73,  #79,  #98,  #113,  #131,  #172
#079 = Upper MG Mystery
#057 = YA Fantasy
#073 = YA Fantasy
#113 = YA Fantasy
#098 = YA SF
#172 = YA SF
#016 = NA Contemporary Romance
#131 = Adult Fantasy


BATTLES!:
Brenda v Elizabeth (#116 = MG Fantasy) - WINNER: Brenda
Brenda v Elizabeth (#106 = NA Contemporary Romance) - WINNER: Elizabeth
Brenda v Krista (#169 = Adult Literary) - WINNER: Krista
Brenda v Monica (#107 = Upper MG Fantasy) - WINNER: Brenda
Elizabeth v Krista (#81 = YA Historical) - WINNER: Krista
Elizabeth v Monica (#178 = YA Fantasy) - WINNER: Elizabeth
Krista v Monica (#069 = MG Fantasy) - WINNER: Krista
Krista v Monica (#172 = YA SF) - WINNER: Monica


Additional pages have been requested by:

None this year.


Further questions asked by:

Brenda - #163 #194
Elizabeth - #179
Krista - #81 #159
Monica - #57

The Writer's Voice 2015 - Breakdown of entries

A very special thanks to coaches Brenda Drake, Mónica Bustamante Wagner, Elizabeth Briggs, and Krista Van Dolzer for hosting The Writer's Voice again this year. They're currently checking out the entries to see who they want on their teams in these not-quite-blind auditions.

My 2015 entry can be found here. *Cough* Pick me! *Cough*

There are 195 very talented authors all competing for a spot on one of the teams, and you can check out the links to our entries here.

I've been busy compiling details of the entries, collecting Twitter* handles, prompting people for missing details from their queries (genre, word count, etc), and subscribing to posts (apologies for my stock comments on your posts, btw, but it was the fastest way to subscribe), and I can now share some of the fruits of that labour with you.

Altogether, there were 22 MG, 6 Upper MG, 114 YA (I've included Upper YA in that), 10 NA, and 43 Adult entries.

You wanna further breakdown of categories? (You want to see what competition you're up against, right? ;o) ) Of course you do!

On the whole, I've gone with the descriptions you've given (but I might've made a few tweaks if I didn't think it was entirely correct).

ETA: I've updated the list to include the entry numbers against their categories. Let me know if I need to make any amendments.

Here you go:

MG

MG Adventure x 1 (#120)

MG Arthurian Retelling x 1 (#165)

MG Contemporary x 6 (#11, #23, #32, #125, #127, #190)

MG Contemporary Fantasy x 1 (#48)

MG Fantasy x 7 (#18, #19, #69, #72, #91, #116, #134)

MG Fantasy Adventure x 1 (#61)

MG Ghost Story x 1 (#37)

MG Horror Comedy x 1 (#26)

MG Magical Realism x 2 (#149, #159)

MG Mystery Adventure x 1 (#160)

Upper MG

Upper MG Contemporary x 1 (#20)

Upper MG Fantasy x 2 (#75, #107)

Upper MG Fantasy Adventure x 1 (#148)

Upper MG Mystery x 1 (#79)

Upper MG Mystery Adventure x 1 (#47)

YA

YA (genre not specified) x 2 (#46, #82)

YA Adventure/Romance x 1 (#140)

YA Comedic Horror x 1 (#74)

YA Contemporary x 23 (#5, #10, #21, #27, #35, #39, #41, #43, #49, #50, #56, #58, #70, #76, #78, #85, #90, #103, #128, #136, #151, #180, #185)

YA Contemporary Fantasy x 3 (#40, #135, #163)

YA Contemporary Romance with a Fantasy twist x 1 (#188)

YA Contemporary SF x 1 (#166)

YA Contemporary Thriller x 2 (#4, #87)

YA Dark Fantasy x 1 (#95)

YA Dark Paranormal x 1 (#110)

YA Dark Urban Fantasy x 1 (#156)

YA Fantasy x 24 (#2, #12, #14, #22, #25, #29, #31, #44, #55, #57, #66, #71, #73, #96, #99, #105, #113, #121, #137, #161, #170, #178, #191, #195)

YA Gothic Horror x 1 (#126)

YA Historical x 3 (#81, #145, #157)

YA Historical Fantasy x 3 (#7, #111, #162)

YA Historical SF x 1 (#141)

YA Horror x 3 (#64, #89, #168)

YA LGBT Contemporary x 1 (#164)

YA Literary Ghost Story x 1 (#123)

YA Low Fantasy x 1 (#42)

YA Magical Realism x 1 (#52)

YA Mystery x 3 (#8, #62, #67)

YA Near Future Thriller x 1 (#38)

YA Paranormal x 1 (#9)

YA Paranormal Fantasy x 1 (#174)

YA Paranormal Romance x 2 (#147, #193)

YA Post-Apocalyptic x 1 (#171)

YA Psychological Thriller x 1 (#114)

YA Realistic x 1 (#176)

YA Retelling x 1 (#54)

YA Romantic Thriller x 1 (#119)

YA SF x 13 (#60, #68, #83, #97, #98, #109, #112, #138, #144, #152, #167, #172, #101)

YA SF/Romance x 1 (#94)

YA Southern Gothic x 1 (#45)

YA Space Opera x 1 (#59)

YA Speculative x 1 (#3)

YA Steampunk Cinderella Retelling x 1 (#153)

YA Superhero Fantasy x 1 (#184)

YA Thriller x 2 (#65, #139)

YA Time Travel x 1 (#88)

YA Urban Fantasy x 3 (#17, #33, #53)

NA

NA Contemporary x 2 (#118, #133)

NA Contemporary Fantasy x 1 (#183)

NA Contemporary Romance x 2 (#16, #106)

NA Paranormal Romantic Thriller x 1 (#132)

NA Romance x 2 (#30, #63)

NA Romantic Fantasy Adventure x 1 (#1)

NA SF x 1 (#15)

Adult

Adult Character-Driven Suburban Novel x 1 (#108)

Adult Contemporary Fantasy x 1 (#142)

Adult Contemporary Romance x 3 (#84, #100, #143)

Adult Cozy Mystery x 2 (#124, #155)

Adult Detective Mystery x 1 (#102)

Adult Epic Fantasy x 2 (#13, #115)

Adult Fantasy x 2 (#117, #131)

Adult Fantasy Detective/Fae Noir x 1 (#24)

Adult Genre Fiction x 1 (#122)

Adult High Fantasy x 1 (#104)

Adult Historical Fantasy x 1 (#80)

Adult Historical Romance x 1 (#182)

Adult Literary x 2 (#86, #169)

Adult Literary/Commercial x 1 (#6)

Adult Magical Realism x 1 (#189)

Adult Mainstream Fiction x 1 (#77)

Adult Psychological Thriller x 1 (#177)

Adult Redemption Tale x 1 (#92)

Adult Romance x 2 (#130, #173)

Adult Romantic Suspense x 3 (#129, #186, #187)

Adult Social SF x 1 (#34)

Adult Steampunk x 1 (#158)

Adult Thriller x 1 (#36)

Adult Thriller/Supernatural/Horror x 1 (#192)

Adult Upmarket Apocalyptic x 1 (#154)

Adult Upmarket Contemporary x 1 (#93)

Adult Urban Fantasy x 3 (#146, #150, #179)

Adult Women's Fiction x 4 (#51, #175, #181)

Adult Women's Literary x 1 (#28)

*Don't forget to hang out at #TheWVoice over on Twitter, where you can connect with other entrants and maybe see some teases from the coaches and their coaching team members.