Hi, I'm looking for a beta or two, and would love to read other people's stuff too. here is my most recent query:
Pearl Lundry’s soul won’t stay put, and for a while that was fine. She enjoyed choosing her subjects, sitting-in with other souls to discreetly observe, feeling as if their lives were her own.
While still an angst-filled teenager, it was easy to rationalize. But once Pearl hits her twenties, gallivanting in other people’s bodies while her mother administers sponge baths to a vegetative shell starts to feel wrong. Okay, maybe it was always wrong.
Determined to make amends, Pearl settles into her own blah existence.
But after a month or so, it starts to happen again. No warning, just - poof. Pearl might find herself inside the head of a middle-age divorcee who repairs washing machines for a living. What ever happened to prom queens and pop idols? Lonely hearts, addicts, and the infirm are her subjects now. They unwittingly suck Pearl from her body with urgency, and don’t let go until they’re good and ready. Pearl begins to covet the one thing she has never held in very high esteem – the simplicity of being herself.
Through extensive travels – some voluntary, others not - Pearl finds Horace Grick. Horace has managed to keep his own rogue soul in check for over thirty years. Pearl would love to know his secrets, but he’s terrified of those like himself. Horace knows all too well what a soul-joiner is capable of achieving, and it goes well beyond the scope of observation.
In the end, Pearl must convince Horace that not all soul-joiners have nefarious agendas. If she can’t, it’s not her life that will hang in the balance - it’s her soul.
Complete at 85,000 words, The Sojourners is contemporary fiction.
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elements of fantasy, though it is really contemporary fiction. also, could be easily converted to YA (still on the fence about genre...obviously). I'd love some input about my use of dialogue (or lack of it). I like to read other people's stuff, and I do it pretty quickly so I think I'd be a good partner or group-member. Hope to meet some nice fellow writers and be super helpful to you as I hope you are to me!
Pearl Lundry’s soul won’t stay put, and for a while that was fine. She enjoyed choosing her subjects, sitting-in with other souls to discreetly observe, feeling as if their lives were her own.
While still an angst-filled teenager, it was easy to rationalize. But once Pearl hits her twenties, gallivanting in other people’s bodies while her mother administers sponge baths to a vegetative shell starts to feel wrong. Okay, maybe it was always wrong.
Determined to make amends, Pearl settles into her own blah existence.
But after a month or so, it starts to happen again. No warning, just - poof. Pearl might find herself inside the head of a middle-age divorcee who repairs washing machines for a living. What ever happened to prom queens and pop idols? Lonely hearts, addicts, and the infirm are her subjects now. They unwittingly suck Pearl from her body with urgency, and don’t let go until they’re good and ready. Pearl begins to covet the one thing she has never held in very high esteem – the simplicity of being herself.
Through extensive travels – some voluntary, others not - Pearl finds Horace Grick. Horace has managed to keep his own rogue soul in check for over thirty years. Pearl would love to know his secrets, but he’s terrified of those like himself. Horace knows all too well what a soul-joiner is capable of achieving, and it goes well beyond the scope of observation.
In the end, Pearl must convince Horace that not all soul-joiners have nefarious agendas. If she can’t, it’s not her life that will hang in the balance - it’s her soul.
Complete at 85,000 words, The Sojourners is contemporary fiction.
----
elements of fantasy, though it is really contemporary fiction. also, could be easily converted to YA (still on the fence about genre...obviously). I'd love some input about my use of dialogue (or lack of it). I like to read other people's stuff, and I do it pretty quickly so I think I'd be a good partner or group-member. Hope to meet some nice fellow writers and be super helpful to you as I hope you are to me!