8 replies to this topic

[jmrobbinswrites]

EDIT UPDATE:

 

I am removing the first two chapters from this post because I have made so many edits to them that this is no longer an accurate version.

 

Thanks for those who visited this thread during that time though.

[SushiKitten]

"It’s like something from a romantic comedy." You don't say.

 

This was cute! I like the nerd/nerd pairing I just think it's adorable. My suggestion would be maybe to stretch it out a little. It's a good story and I'm not entirely sure where you're planning on going with it after these two chapters, but if you've already got the two dating by chapter 3 and don't have much of a plan after that, it will be a short book. Make the reader really want to root for the two to get together. Maybe start with the first counselling sessions and then maybe some big conflict the two must suffer through before they really develop the feelings for each other and get together, if that makes sense.

 

Though really all that was useless if you already have an idea with where you're going, haha.

[jmrobbinswrites]

Thank you so much for reading the chapters I posted. I'm glad you enjoyed them! The book is already done. I'm just rewriting it to fix a few subplot issues and tighten some things up.

Where it's going. Here's a quick rundown without spoiling anything that wouldn't be on the back of the book or book description.

Nikki and Maxwell are two socially awkward honor students. They start to fall for each other, and when Nikki finally feels like she can get past the embarrassment of asking out the guy she likes, she discovers a girl from his guild named Ponydash -- a level sixty ranger with a My Little Pony tattoo (Rainbow Dash) is also planning a raid on his heart. What's even more threatening is that this girl apparently goes to their school too and wants to meet Maxwell in person. Will Nikki's chance at romance shatter like a beaker on the chemistry lab's floor?

 

And so yeah, the antagonist is the "girl with the pony tattoo" mentioned in the title.

 

That's the quick little rundown. It's more complicated than that with a trading card tournament, and other nerdy events in store for our socially awkward love triangle.

[SushiKitten]

Oh! Actually I really like that idea. I'd love to read more. How many words is it?

[jmrobbinswrites]

It's 65,000 words (I want it to be a fun, easy-to-read book), but I have to add in a couple extra scenes to account for plot adjustments and then make sure those changes are addressed through the rest of the book.
I really wanted to make a book that nerds could relate to because I was sick of high school only being represented by teens with huge family issues, or abuse, or drug use, or nerdy people liking popular people and all that stuff. I wanted a book that properly represented what my friends and I... and people like us went through. Something sincere that isn't mocking nerd culture or misrepresenting it. I can definitely keep you posted as to the progress I'm making. It shouldn't take too long (from a writing standpoint) to get it fixed up now that I figured out what I'm changing.

 

[cassXgoesXmeow]

I really like the first two chapters. When I got to the end I wanted to read more lol like okay what happens next. I feel like this would be a good snuggle on the couch on a rainy book and just devour the whole thing in one sitting.

[jmrobbinswrites]

Thanks for reading, CassXGoesXMeow. Let's hope I can keep up that level of interest through the other chapters. Even more, let's hope an agent will want to represent it when I finish it this time.

[cassXgoesXmeow]

I wish you all the best. I think you have something good here

[jmrobbinswrites]

This is my query letter. Since I finished rewriting the book, I decided to rewrite my query letter for agent representation. I figured I'd post this here too.


 

Nerds are often plagued with feelings of loneliness as they search for their place among their peers. Being socially inept, having a unique and intelligent perspective on the world, and possessing a passion that can border on obsession makes fitting in and being proud of whom they are a daunting undertaking. For fifteen-year-old Nikki Medina, overcoming this challenge could also be her key to finding true love.

 

Nikki’s a sophomore honors student and a new member of Student Support. On the surface, this is just another extracurricular activity to enhance her portfolio for college, but she daydreams that one of her peer-to-peer counseling sessions will lead her to a new life of friends, and maybe love. It seems like a dream come true when her first solo counseling session is to help her secret crush, the equally nerdy Maxwell Wilson, with his bullying dilemma. Her dreams seem to be racing to reality when Maxwell asks her join his trading card game club to enter a tournament with him. Being accepted and appreciated, and by her crush even, puts her idealistic, dreamy heart into overdrive.

 

Paying a visit to Maxwell to secure an official relationship status is going exactly as Nikki plans, but when she discovers that a girl from his guild named Ponydash—a level sixty ranger with a My Little Pony tattoo—has also planned a raid on his heart, her chances for romance could shatter like a beaker on the chemistry lab’s floor. Nikki’s advantage is that Maxwell has never met her in person; that is until she and Maxwell provide peer-to-peer counseling for Beth Jacobs, who turns out to be her in the flesh. This is one rival whose arsenal of nerdy know-how and gamers’ tenacity pushes Nikki to her limits and threatens to take everything that she almost has away from her.

 

NIKKI AND THE GIRL WITH THE PONY TATTOO is a completed manuscript at approximately 64,000 words. It’s a YA romantic comedy. I’m taking a sincere and humorous approach with this book, because as a nerd myself, I’ve dreamt of finding a book that shows me I’m not alone in the world, and that someone does understand what I’ve gone through as a nerd. I'm part of a growing organization of nerds on Twitter called the #nerdarmy, and recently joined a nerd forum (nerdforum.org) in an attempt to find other people to celebrate nerdiness with. People who enjoy the narrative style and setting of MTV’s Awkward with the true, sincere portrayal of nerds found in TBS’s King of the Nerds will enjoy this.