Query Letter Rejection Celebration!

I got my first personal rejection today. :) It wasn't a form letter. Let me tell you the (short) story.

I submitted to "Nancy Gallt Literary Agency" about a month and a half ago by using their online form, the very same agency that currently represents Jeanne DuPrau (The City of Ember series) and Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians series). After it sent, I crossed my fingers, held my breath, and tried to forget about it so I wouldn't be obsessively refreshing my Inbox every few days.

Today the rejection was in my Inbox, but it looked kind of weird when I opened it. Ah, that would be because it was longer and they . . . actually used my name? No "Dear Author" or "We're sorry to say . . ."?

Nope! It was a personal rejection, meaning it wasn't a form letter, that the agent I submitted to (Marietta Zacker) had actually written it out and taken the time to respond to me, something most agents don't do and don't have the time for. Here's the letter she sent me:

Ms. (My last name here):

I am so impressed with your drive and your fortitude.  Congratulations on what you've already accomplished.  Writing a novel is no easy feat.

I have to pass on FANTASYA, but I'll be rooting for you, hoping that you continue to be as passionate as you are now.  I also recommend that you stay as dedicated to the craft of writing as you are at the moment. You have an amazing future.

Thank you for your query ~ I wish you the very best.

Sincerely,
Marietta

Marietta Zacker
Nancy Gallt Literary Agency

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Updates From MV:

Giving away three books for the price of absolutely nothing (click HERE).
Waiting on six literary agents to respond to my query (EEP!!!).
Loving THIS shirt.

(If you have something you'd like me to share in "Updates From MV" please send me an e-mail at themagicviolinist(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thank you! :D)

I Should Be Writing

But I'm having way too much fun on this website! :D You paste some of your writing (a blog post, article, novel, short story, poem, etc.) and it shows which author matches your writing style!

I put in my last blog post and got Stephen King. (Yippee)!

I put in The Sorceress and got L. Frank Baum. (Nice . . .)

I put in Fantasya: A Giant Problem and got Margaret Mitchell. (WOO HOOOOOO)!

I put in Secrets and got . . . (drum roll please . . .) J.K. ROWLING!!!! (*Does a happy dance*)

Who do you write like? Leave a comment! :D

Can You Keep A Secret?

Yes, I know this is the second post of the day (and be sure to read the one below this) but I just had to tell you all something!

I'm writing another book! :D But not just any old book. I'm writing this one with my best friend Kirsten and her sister Avery. This will be one of the first books I've written with other people. It's called Can You Keep A Secret? What's it about? Read on.

Our Lovely Book Cover

Indie Snow, Amber Jones, and Kaitlyn Wate are the best of friends. They're all fourteen, they all go to Willow High, and they all have a secret of their own. One that they haven't told anyone.

In Willow High, secrets are treasure. Secrets get passed around the high school faster than wildfire. Sometimes the secrets even trickle down into the middle school. Indie, Amber, and Kaitlyn have heard the most dangerous and the most wild of secrets, but none of them will ever have the same effect that their secrets will have.

Can you keep a secret?

Kirsten, Avery, and I all created a character for the story. There are three different points of view, so we switch off every chapter. My character is Indie Snow. I got to start off the story and I am sooooo excited to see the finished project!

Want to see the first chapter?

Indie

          "Can you keep a secret?"

          The five most feared and highly anticipated words in Willow High, where secrets are treasure.

          If you say no, it either means you're a freak, you're too popular for such petty nonsense, or you're too scared of what you'll hear.

          If you say yes, it means you're either so desperate to be in with the popular group you'll do or say anything, or you'll listen and try your best not to blab, though everyone does at some point.

          It also means that you're ready to brave the unknown.

          I have a secret. No one knows what it is. Not even my best friends, Amber and Kaitlyn. Not even my family, though I think they suspect that something's up. I've told them I don't have a secret. They said they believed me, though I don't think they do. I'm sure they have secrets of their own, too. They just haven't told them yet.

          It's not a deadly secret. Just a crazy one. No one would believe me if I told everyone what it was, anyway. I wouldn't be any worse than Holly Barrow, who said she had kissed Liam Michaels, who is the cutest, most athletic, buff, and most popular boy in junior high. He's in tenth grade at fifteen-years-old, and totally out of Holly's league. Liam is on the football team and dates ditzy cheerleaders that have big hair and no brains. Holly is a Mathlete and wears Harry Potter glasses.

          I've heard deadly secrets before. One secret got passed around so many times, no one knew who it was about anymore. All anyone knows now is that someone's brother had murdered somebody. Rumor has it he had killed his girlfriend for cheating on him. For months after the secret was told, everyone jumped if someone tapped them on the shoulder. Girls shot suspicious looks at their boyfriends. No one walked home alone. (Enter names here) and I slept over at my house nearly every night, including weekends. My dog Sprout--a large, German shepherd who barked at every noise he heard--made us all feel safe. Nobody calmed down until everyone heard another secret, one about the murderer getting caught and going to jail.

          No, my secret's just crazy. Sometimes I don't believe it myself. It's like a recurring dream that haunts me with each passing day. I try not to think about it, and most of the time I'm able to shake it off for a few hours. But after the lights are out and moonlight comes streaming in through my windows, I remember everything all over again.

          "What up, Indie Snow?" It's Kaitlyn Wate, the spaz of our trio. Kaitlyn is a tiny thing, at 4'9" and 98 pounds. I often feel like a giant when I'm next to her. Her head looks too big for her body, but her large hazel eyes take care of that, along with her long, straight, strawberry blonde hair. She gets more attention than Amber and I do, but that might be because she's so much louder than us. She's wearing a tank top today, yellow, as usual. If it's not yellow, it's white. If it's not white, it's yellow. Kaitlyn's predictable that way. She has a cute pair of bright purple shorts on with pink polka dots. She's wearing black leggings underneath. Complete that image with a pair of boots, her hair in a long ponytail that bobs up and down, and a little bit of makeup and you have Kaitlyn Wate, age fourteen.

          As for me, I'm a bit calmer in the stuff I wear. Actually, I'm a bit calmer, period. Today I had on my square glasses (of course), jeans, a pair of gray, Converse knock-offs, and a T-shirt that said, "Misuse of the word literally makes me figuratively insane."

          Now you might think I'm a nerd, but I'm really not. I'm just a grammar nerd. I read, I write poetry, and I get straight A's in English. Other than that and the D's and C's I get in math--no matter how hard I study--I'm the middle of the middle. I'm not too smart, not too dumb, not too skinny at 123 pounds, not too fat, not too short at 5'4", not too tall, not too athletic, not a couch potato, not too popular, not a freak. I'm recognized by most everyone in the ninth grade, but not because I'm loud like Kaitlyn or a geek like Holly, but because I'm just Indie. I'm not trying to be someone I'm not.

          "Hey, Kaitlyn," I say. I fiddle with the combination lock on my locker. "Amber around?"

          "Haven't seen her." Kaitlyn twirls a loose piece of hair around her finger. "Saw Holly, though."

          Kaitlyn rolls her eyes.

          "Another one?" I groan. "You'd think she'd quit by now."

          "Nope." Kaitlyn gives a loud sigh. "This time its Taylor Matthews."

          I laugh and shake my head a little. Taylor Matthews was Liam Michaels's best friend.

          "Taylor Matthews wouldn't let her come within ten feet him, much less let her kiss him."

          Kaitlyn shrugs.

          "Hey, it's more believable than saying his brother kissed her first."

          "We're way too young to be kissing boys," I say. "We should wait at least another two years."

          Kaitlyn smiles and tucks the strand of loose hair behind her ear.

          "I've kissed a boy," she says in a sing-song voice.

          This time I roll my eyes.

          "I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again, kissing a poster of Adam Levine does not count as kissing a boy."

          "Oh, you spoil all of my fun." Kaitlyn shoves my shoulder playfully. "At least I'm not kissing my poster of Demi Lovato."

          "Eww!" I say. Kaitlyn just laughs and bursts into song, singing "Skyscraper" so loud that people turn to stare.

          "Move it." I push Kaitlyn down the hallway. "We're going to be late for English."

          "And we know what you'll do if we make you late."

          Amber catches up to us and walks by my side.

          "Yeah," I say. "I'll pound you both to a pulp."

          Amber Jones looks as different from Kaitlyn as I do, if not even more so. She has long brown hair with curly ends, eyes the color of dark chocolate, and is wearing black Converse, skinny jeans, a plain, blue T-shirt, and the locket from her mom with a picture of the two of them inside. She wears if every day, all the time, and only takes it off when she's going to get wet or super dirty. She's super close to her mom, Maria Jones. Amber's 5' exactly, and 105 lbs.

          "We wouldn't want to miss the 'announcing of the winners.'" Amber says these last words with the air of a king making a grand speech.

          "Yeah, but we both know that Indie's gonna get first." Kaitlyn winks at me.

          "No," I mumble, my cheeks heating. "We don't know that. Emily Grace told me that Olivia Carmen's poem was about her cat's death. Emily said it made her cry."

          "Hoooo boy." Kaitlyn sucks in a big breath of air. Our English teacher, Mrs. Meyers, told us every class that if we were to impress her with our writing, we need to make her feel something powerful, whether you were making her feel inspired, elated, or depressed. She said a writer's hardest job is to fill their readers with tears of either sadness or joy.

          "But your poem about Sprout was really sweet, too," Amber said, placing her hand on my shoulder. "I loved how you used the word 'frolicking.' That's such a fun word!"

          Kaitlyn immediately began to chant, "Frolicking, frolicking, frolicking."

          I hit her on her arm. Kaitlyn says, "Ow!" and laughs.

          We dart into the English classroom just as Mrs. Meyers takes out a piece of paper.

          "You're just in time girls," she says, beaming at us. "Sit down. We're about to announce the winners of the poetry contest."

          I sit in the middle of Amber and Kaitlyn, holding my breath. The first place winner of the poetry contest not only received admiration from the rest of their peers, but also got an automatic A that counted for twenty percent of their overall English grade.

          "You're so going to win!" Kaitlyn whispers from my left.

          "There's zero competition," Amber says from my right. "Our poems sucked!"

          The whole classroom sounds like a beehive. The buzz and whispers of the classmates wishing each other good luck surrounds me with such ferocity, my stomach feels like its closing in on itself. My heart is pounding two times faster and harder than usual. Amber and Kaitlyn squeeze my arms.

          Mrs. Meyers clears her throat. It's loud, but not loud enough. She does it again, but everyone ignores her. My hands are shaking.

          "Class dismissed!" she finally shouts. Everyone stops talking and looks up, confused.

          "I know how hard it is for you all to refrain from chit-chatting," she says. "But we need to get on with this."

          An eerie silence falls over the classroom. Someone drops a pencil. No one laughs, like everyone usually does.

          Mrs. Meyers clears her throat one more time and looks down at the list of winners.

          "Third place goes to Payton Hayes."

          The class applauds as Payton gets up from his desk to receive his printed and framed poem. He tries hard to hide his smile as he hangs his poem up on the wall. It's titled "Homeless Man" and is about a man he saw on the streets of New York, which is only two or three hours away from Willow High in Pennsylvania. Payton's buddies slap him on the back and congratulate him as he sits back down.

          "Second place goes to Olivia Carmen."

          Emily's squeal is so high-pitched, we can hear it over the smattering of applause. Olivia leaps up from her desk as if she sat on a pin. Her face is paper white but she grinning from ear to ear. Mrs. Meyers whispers a congratulation and hands Olivia her poem. Olivia hangs it up next to Payton's. Her poem is called "Tiger." Emily had been right, it was about Olivia's cat's death. I see a tear trickle down Olivia's cheek. She wipes it away hurriedly. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed.

          "Told you!" Kaitlyn hisses. I shush her.

          "We don't know I won yet!"

          "First place goes to . . ." Mrs. Meyers pauses with a smile for dramatic affect. Kaitlyn and Amber grab my hands as if they're watching a scary movie and need someone to hold on to.

          "Indie Snow!"

          "Now we know!" Amber says as I get up slowly from my desk. The applause makes my ears ring. Mrs. Meyers hands me my poem and says, "Congratulations. Your poem was spectacular!" My hands are still shaking and for a minute I'm scared I'm going to drop the frame. I hang the poem up next to Olivia's and stare at it. The title is "The Meadow" and is about Sprout running through a meadow filled with flowers.

The  Meadow

by Indie Snow

Floppy brown ears,

Eyes filled with joy.

There's nothing more he'd rather do

Than play with his toy.

Sunflowers,

Tulips,

And dandelions yellow.

My big scary guard dog is happy and mellow.

Frolicking through the meadow so green,

Makes me forget about people so mean.

I grab his favorite ball and it's hurled.

Sprout runs through the grass without a care in the world.

We roll around under the midday sun.

We are happy and content.

My work here is done.

          I beam with pride and spend the rest of the day walking on cloud nine.

Thoughts? Leave a comment! :D

Before and After--The Process of Creating a Query Letter

As requested by my mom, I have decided to write a post about my query letter. The first draft and the final draft (at least I think it's the final draft) will be posted below. But first a few tips that I've learned:

1. Go to this site for everything you need to know about query letters. The woman doing this is brutally honest, but very effective and helpful. She definitely knows what she's doing.

2. Start your query letter with a bang. You need a nice hook that will get an agent's attention.

3. Be specific. Don't use words like "some" or "very." A sense of mystery is okay, but you don't want to be too vague. The agent will be left feeling clueless!

4. Thank the agent for their time and consideration. Apparently a lot of people neglect to do this. You can't just hand over a query letter without thanking them for taking the time to read it. Then you'll come across as cocky and entitled.

And now for the query letter finale:

BEFORE

 To Whom It May Concern,

Cassandra Day is a unicorn. She lives in a world called Fantasya where magical creatures from royal Pegasi to tiny elves live in peace. Well, they used to live in peace. Gargamouth, a giant with a hot head, wants to take over Fantasya and rule all of the creatures living in it by killing off the unicorns and Pegasi using his army of trolls and elves. Cassandra knows she must she must stop Gargamouth, and her best friend Cornelia, who is also a unicorn and is a bit better about plan-making than Cassandra, wants to help her.

But before either of them can do something about this gigantic problem, they are both whisked away to Earth where they must blend in with the humans. Cassandra and Cornelia disguise themselves as humans and search for a way to get back, meeting all kinds of danger along the way, such as nearly getting captured by trolls and exposing themselves to the human race. Can they defeat Gargamouth and bring Fantasya to peace once again?

I would love it if you could represent my book Fantasya: A Giant Problem. It is a complete 23,541-word manuscript and the first book in a fantasy trilogy intended for middle-grade kids, but I think all ages will enjoy it.

I am a twelve-year-old homeschooled girl who loves to write. I won our local library’s poetry contest in 2010, I write for our local library’s newsletter, I won an honorable mention for the Hershey Story Contest, I have a blog (themagicviolinist.blogspot.com), and I write a monthly post for The Write Practice (thewritepractice.com).

Thank you for your time and consideration and I hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Kate XXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX



AFTER

To Whom It May Concern,

If someone doesn’t defeat Gargamouth the giant, all of the unicorns in Fantasya could die.

Cassandra Day, a unicorn, needs to defeat Gargamouth if Fantasya, a world full of magical creatures, will ever be at peace again. Cassandra and her best friend, Cornelia, another unicorn, devise a plan to conquer the hot-headed giant. But when they accidentally touch an Earth Flower they’re whisked away to Earth where they must blend in with humans to survive.

How will the unicorns hide from humans, escape from the trolls who threaten their lives, and return to Fantasya to defeat Gargamouth? If they don’t, will Fantasya fall into ruins? Will all of the unicorns die?

Fantasya: A Giant Problem is a 23,500-word middle grade novel intended for children ages 7-12. It is a story of how friendship and teamwork can conquer any task.

I am a homeschooled girl who loves to write. I post at my blog themagicviolinist.blogspot.com two to three times a week, and am a monthly contributor at thewritepractice.com, a blog for writers. The Write Practice has over 6500 subscribers and nearly 30,000 monthly readers and was voted one of the Top Ten Blogs For Writers in 2012. I write for the Annville Free Library’s newsletter and won a poetry contest at the Lebanon Community Library in 2010.

Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Kate  XXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX

I'd like to give a little shout out to our family's friend Dave and also to Michelle from Random Writing Rants. Thanks so much for helping me out! :D

So be honest. If you were an agent and saw this query letter would you ask for more pages? Would you even be interested at all? Would you think I'm not experienced enough and have no idea what I'm doing? Leave a comment! :D

An Interview With Cassandra Day and Cornelia Moonstone

Please give a warm welcome to Cassandra Day and Cornelia Moonstone, the protagonists of my completely edited novel Fantasya: A Giant Problem. A Giant Problem is the first book in the Fantasya series. I wrote it in 2010 and have only recently finished editing it. I'm currently trying to find an agent to represent me, so if you know of any really good ones, let me know. ;) Cassandra and Cornelia have traveled here all the way from Fantasya (with a little pinch of pixie dust each). And here to interview them, their friend Cecilia!

Will you please introduce yourselves?

Cassandra: No way!


Cecilia: ...


Cassandra: Just kidding.


(Cassandra winks).


Cassandra: I'm Cassandra Day, as you already know, I am ten-years-old, which is the age you are officially an adult as a unicorn, I am a unicorn, and I have the ultra-rare golden horn that only three unicorns in history have had. In legends that means that I'm destined for greatness, but having a golden horn didn't seem to help my sister Cindy, who has been either dead or missing for years.


Cornelia: My name is Cornelia Moonstone, I am also ten-years-old, and I'm a unicorn. Oh, and I have a silver horn, which is semi-rare.


Tell us about your families.

Cassandra: Well, I'm an orphan. Both of my parents died in the war. My sister Cindy went after my dad and hasn't been seen since. A kind unicorn with a white horn, which is the most common and almost every unicorn has, named Caroline has adopted me. She and Cornelia are all I've got. And Cornelia's not even related to me!


Cornelia: You and I both know that it's possible we're sisters and just don't know it.


Cassandra: True.


Cornelia: My dad died in the war, but my mom is still alive. They both have, or had, white horns. I have no siblings.



Please tell us more about your hobbies. 


Cassandra: I love to fly, run around, goof off with Corny, and eat.


Cornelia: Yes, everyone knows you love to eat.


Cassandra: What are you implying?

Cornelia: That you're (*ahem*) bigger than most unicorns?

Cecilia (as Cassandra opens her mouth to argue): Please, let's get back to the interview.

Cornelia: Right. Sorry, Cece. My hobbies . . . hmm. I guess mostly the same as Cassandra. I like doing anything with her, really.

Who do you think is more in control: Yourselves or Kate?


Cassandra: It's a mix. Kate already had most of the story planned when she started writing it. Well, mostly the beginning and the end.


Cornelia: We were pretty much in control by the middle, though.

Cassandra: Yeah.

Who is your greatest enemy and why?

(Cassandra and Cornelia shudder).

Cassandra: Gargamouth the giant. He and his wife Gorgina want to take over Fantasya! The Pegasi and unicorns are fighting against Gargamouth's minions, which are the trolls and elves, but we're really fighting a losing battle. Corny and I want to stop him, though.

Cornelia: Mostly you. I'm not too keen on the idea of fighting him by ourselves, but I'll help Cassie out when it comes to saving Fantasya.

(Cassandra smiles at Cornelia and Cornelia smiles back).

Who (or what) do you think inspired Kate most when she was creating both of you?

Cassandra: Fantasy novels. Harry Potter, Fablehaven, you name it! Listening to music and filling out the NaNoWriMo YWP (Young Writer's Program) folders really helped, too.

Cornelia: And I think Kate, without realizing it, patterned Cassie and I after herself and her best friend Kirsten! I find a ton of similarities between my personality and Kirsten's personality. And Cassie could be Kate's twin, if it weren't for the wilder bits of Cassie's personality and the fact that she's a unicorn.

Cassandra: The funniest part of all that, though, is that Kate didn't even notice the similarities until 2012 when she finished editing the book!

(Cassandra and Cornelia laugh).

Thank you guys for being on my blog!

Cassandra: It was a pleasure!

Cornelia: Anything for our creator!

(Cassandra and Cornelia wink).

Coming up next, an interview with my most recent character: Cosmo Moonshine! She's a human living in NYC. She's the protagonist of my first realistic fiction book: Cosmo.

Part 4 of My Story

Cassandra
Quintuplet Weirdoes

“Oof!” I landed on some grass. What had happened? All I did was poke that flower with my hoof.
“Ouch!” Cornelia had landed next to me. She whimpered in pain. I stood up and walked over.
She had a little bruise. Nothing big. She stood up and looked at me, a little annoyed.
“What’d I do?” I asked. “All I did was touch that flower and now we’re in some other place in Fantasya, or something.”
“Or something,” Cornelia said. “That was an earth flower! It sent us to earth!” She told me all about the earth flower and the magic rock.
“Whoa,” I said. “So, this is Earth?” I looked around. There were things that I had heard about in legends passed down from unicorns that had claimed they had been to Earth. There were cars, and supermarkets, and humans walking down something called a sidewalk.
“Yup,” said Cornelia. “Now what?”
I looked around at all the humans walking with their kids. It must’ve been summer here too. The kids weren’t in human school.
“I think we had better disguise ourselves as humans and start our search for the magic rock.” We both used disguising magic. I disguised myself as a tall, skinny, teenager that had light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a something called a yellow tank top with blue shorts. I had heard Cornelia’s mom say something about the human clothes here.
Cornelia had disguised herself as a teenager too. She was tall and skinny, but her hair was red and her eyes were green. She had on a lime green skirt with a blue t-shirt. She looked very pretty.
“Let’s go,” she said. We walked down the street looking for a place with lots of rocks. According to Cornelia, the magic rock was boulder sized so we didn’t have to look very hard.
We were walking for a while in silence. I could tell that Cornelia was annoyed with me. Just then, there was a rustle through the hedges that we were passing. We both froze. We turned our heads slowly.
Five kids about the age of 12 jumped out through the bushes.
There were three girls that looked exactly the same. They all had long, straight red hair with blue eyes. Then the boys had the same straight, short black hair with the same dark, brown eyes.
They started doing a little jig right in the middle of the sidewalk.
“I’m Mary!”
“I’m Carrie!”
“I’m Terrie!”
“I’m Larry!”
“I’m Gary!”
They stopped dancing and said at the same time,
“We’re quintuplets!”
“Okay,” I said. “This is weird.”
“We’re not weird!” said Mary.
“Maybe we are!” said Carrie.
“I don’t smell weird,” said Terrie.
“Do you?” said Larry.
“No,” said Gary.
“We’re not weird!” they all said at once.
“Cassie,” said Cornelia.
I ignored her. She was just nervous because they kept acting weird.
“Do you know where we are?” I asked. Maybe even if they acted weird we could get some answers as to where we were.
“Sanfransico of course!” said Mary.
“In California!” said Carrie.
“In the USA!” said Terrie.
“Which is located in the world!” said Larry.
“Which is located in space!” said Gary.
“Cassie,” said Cornelia again. “Can’t you smell them?”
I hadn’t really paid much attention to the smell. I just paid attention to the dancing and the weird answers.
I sniffed.
“Eww!” I said covering my nose.
I stopped.
“Trolls!” I whispered.
“In disguise!” said Cornelia.
“Run?” I said.
“Definitely!” answered Cornelia.
We turned and ran in the opposite direction. The trolls came after us. The trolls weren’t that smart, but they weren’t that slow disguised as humans. It’s a good thing that disguises didn’t change their intelligence.
“Corny!” I said as we ran past passerby staring at us.
“What?” she hissed.
“Let climb up that tree ahead.”
“What!”
“Trust me on this one!”
We ran for the tree and climbed up as fast as we could. The trolls obviously didn’t notice and ran right by.
Cornelia looked at me with a surprised look.
“Weirdoes,” I said. We both laughed.

Part 3 of My Story

Gargamouth
Anger

I was sitting on my throne impatient with one of my troll helpers when a terrified looking troll walked in.
He bowed and stared at me looking very nervous.
“Well?” I growled. I was getting hungry and I was half tempted to gobble him up if he didn’t tell me why he was here. It was very rude to show up in my throne room without an invitation.
“Um, sir, the troll who was keeping an eye on Cassandra the unicorn, the one with the golden horn . . .”
“Yes?” I said. This couldn’t be good.
“Well, she has been accidentally sent to earth with the unicorn Cornelia from an earth flower. Now, well, the only way to reach her is to gather up more trolls and send them to earth by teleporting magic. And you know how trolls or unicorns can’t teleport anywhere without magic dust from a pixie . . .”
I roared. There was no way that I could get near a pixie to get magic dust. Pixies only like girls unless it’s a boy pixie. Now I needed to take control of a unicorn and that meant more work for me! I either had to get a troll to do it or I had to do it myself! Unless . . .
“Tell Gorgina I would like to see her,” I said to the scared looking troll. Gorgina, my wife and queen of Giants, was in a separate throne room giving orders to the girl trolls and elves. I was giving orders to the boy trolls or elves.
“Yes, sir!” said the troll, bowing out of the room and scuttling off.
I settled back into my seat smiling a little. Cassandra and Cornelia wouldn’t stand a chance. Not with me around. I closed my eyes for a little nap while I waited. Those trolls were so slow . . .

Part 2 of My Story

Here is part 2 of my story:

Cornelia
Summer and Secrets

“The first day of summer! Goodbye school, hello adulthood! I can’t believe we are finally adults! Now we can sign up for the war!” said Cassandra to me.
“I know!” I said. “I’m still kinda nervous though.”
“We’ll get used to whatever they tell us to do. It’ll be so exciting and cool to fight the trolls and elves!”
“Don’t forget the Giants!” I said.
“They don’t actually fight. Although you do know my lifelong dream is to defeat Gargamouth and Gorgina!”
“I thought your lifelong dream was to be the one to eat the most unicorn leaves in five minutes!”
“That too!”
We both cantered off laughing.
“Caroline said that you could come over for lunch if it’s okay with your mom. We’re having Unicorn Delight!” said Cassandra. She was smiling. Her eyes sparkled and her horn shimmered in the sun reflecting her pure white coat. She was very pretty.
“Sure! I’m sure that my mom would say it’s okay.”
We both walked over to where my mom was eating grass in a pasture for lunch.
“Hey, mom?” I said.
“Yes, sweetie?” she said looking up. She had a white horn. Very common, but I’m sure Cassandra told you already.
“Can I go over and eat lunch with Cassandra? They’re having Unicorn Delight!” Unicorn Delight is a hot soup with Unicorn Tree leaves and bark in it.
“Sure! You’re an adult now that you’ve left school. You can make most of your decisions now. I’ll see you at dinnertime! We’re having Unicorn Tree bark!” she said as we trotted away. She raised a hoof in farewell. Little did she know that she wouldn’t be seeing me at dinnertime.

··········

After we both ate lunch, we played outside for a while cantering and getting the neighbors to play tag with us using a sort of magic that makes your horn feel like a pillow so everyone could tag other people. Then we lay down for a while and watched the other unicorns graze or play or trying to get newborn unicorns to walk. It was a beautiful sight after years of terror. Of course, everyone still had to take precaution but it had been a month since the trolls last attacked. I looked over at Cassandra and saw her blushing. I was confused at first. Something hardly ever embarrassed her. Then I saw what she was looking at.
Caleb the unicorn was grazing and laughing with a couple of his friends.
“What’s with the red cheeks, Cassie?” I said smiling a little.
“What?” she said turning looking a little nervous. “Nothing! So, how’d you like lunch?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Lunch was two hours ago, Cassandra! I’d like to know what’s going on between you and him,” I said jerking my head towards Caleb.
“Oh, uh,” she said turning scarlet rapidly. “Nothing, really, nothing’s going on with me and him!” she said laughing nervously. “Why, why did you want to know? Heh, heh.” She was really looking red now.
“You like him don’t you?” I said grinning triumphantly now.
The color drained from her face. She looked scared now. She turned her head away from me and nodded slowly.
“Ha!” I laughed and stood up and pranced around in a circle. “I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”
“Okay, okay!” she said now grinning a little. “You don’t have to announce it to the world! It’s just a little crush and Caleb doesn’t know so shush!” She stood up and we walked toward the flower field absentmindedly.
“I thought that there was something weird going on here!” I said.
“Okay, okay! You caught me!” She said. “Now let’s let this go, okay?”
“I am so going to remember this for the rest of my life!” I said grinning really big now.
“I said let’s let it go, okay?” she said sort of grinning. We both sat down. “Please, Corny?”
“Okay, I won’t talk about it but you can’t stop me thinking about it!” I said.
“Enough!” she said. We were in tears from laughing.
“Hey look at this,” I stood up and walked over through the field of Unicorn Flowers. Unicorn flowers are flowers with white stems and golden petals.
“What is it?” she said standing up.
I had noticed a peculiar flower. It had a blue stem and green petals.
“Whoa,” Cassandra said stepping back. “That is one creepy flower.”
“It’s strange.” I said. “I never noticed before.”
“We should look it up first,” Said Cassandra. “Before touching it.”
Just then the braniac Cecilia came over to us.
“What’s up?” she said smiling. She had a white horn too.
“We just noticed this flower,” I said turning to her. “We were wondering what it was.”
“Oh, that’s an earth flower. It’s the colors of the earth when you see it in space.”
“Cool!” said Cassandra. She looked at it more closely.
“Legends say that if a unicorn touches it, it will take it to earth and the only way to get back to Fantasya is to find the magic rock.”
“What is the magic rock and what does it look like?” I asked out of curiosity.
“The magic rock does the same thing. If a unicorn touches it, it takes them back to Fantasya. The Pegasi created both these things in case unicorns had to hide from the war in an emergency. But they are always disappearing and reappearing in a different place in Fantasya or the world. The magic rock is boulder sized with a big red circle in the middle,” Cecilia said.
I turned to look at Cassandra. She was staring at it. She raised her hoof. My stomach lurched. She hadn’t been listening.
“Cassandra! Don’t touch it!” I leaped forward to knock her out of the way. It was too late. She had touched it the exact moment I touched her. The last thing I saw was Cecilia staring at us worriedly. She was running forward. There was a flash of gold light and we disappeared. We were going to a different dimension.

My Story

Hi everyone!
I'm going to post my entire NaNoWriMo story on the blog. Here is the first chapter:

Cassandra
Meet Me

There is no “once upon a time” in this book. No. This book tells you the truth about unicorns. Not those myths and legends you humans talk about.
Hello! My name is Cassandra. And, yes, I’m a unicorn. My best friend Cornelia is a unicorn too. Let me tell you a little about unicorns.
Unicorns control the magic of wind. We can make ourselves fly, control the breeze, and many other things. We are hurt by fire and water magic. Fire is hurt by water and wind magic. Water is hurt by wind and fire magic.
Unicorns live for thirty years. When a unicorn reaches ten, they are an adult. If they are ten and they are a female, they are an adult and their horn is fully grown.
A unicorn’s horn is very sharp. They are as sharp as what you humans call knives. When a unicorn is an adult, they can produce magic, even without a horn. Unicorns cannot produce very strong magic until they are an adult. Only female unicorns have horns.
There are three different types of horns. There’s the common white horn that almost every single female unicorn has, there is the rare silver horn, which there is always one or two unicorns in a herd that has it, then there is the super, ultra, rare, golden horn, which, almost no other unicorn has. I have that horn. In legends, a unicorn who has a full grown, golden horn, is destined for greatness. I am the third unicorn in the world that has ever had that horn. The first unicorn in the world had that horn and so did my long lost sister, Cindy. (She disappeared in the war. Some say she died, some say she got taken hostage. Nobody really knows.) Golden horns can produce gold out of water. This can be very handy when trying to persuade someone to help you.
UNICORNS ARE NOT SHY! That is an old myth that humans still believe. They also like boys just as much as girls when it comes to humans.
Now about where unicorns live, they live in a land called Fantasya. It is hidden in a different dimension. No human will ever find it. And if they did, the magic would kill them as soon as they touch the ground.
There are three parts to Fantasya. There is the good side named “Prosperity Border”, the bad side named “Miserable Margin”, and the middle is named “Elf Interior”.
Pegasi rule Prosperity Border. Pegasi are royalty. Prosperity Border is currently ruled by the queen Aleena, the king Adam, and the princess Abigail. Prosperity Border is where all the unicorns and Pegasi live.
In Prosperity Border, the unicorns eat grass, Unicorn Tree bark, and Unicorn Tree leaves. They also drink water.
Miserable Margin is where the evil Giants rule. The Giants rule the Trolls and they plan to take over Fantasya. The unicorns are trained in magic where they can help stop the Giants. The Giants look like Cyclopes in human myths except they have two eyes. The king, Gargamouth and the queen Gorgina rule Miserable Margin. The trolls do whatever they say. The trolls and Giants control the magic of water.
Elf Interior is ruled by elves. All elves are equal there. Although, there is one elf named Edward who is the Treasurer. When an elf is named Treasurer, they are in charge of who they work for depending on the amount of gold that is offered. Elves are not good, nor, bad. They are only mischievous and will only help different creatures if they get gold in the deal. The Giants currently control the elves since they have stolen almost all the unicorn’s gold. They control the magic of Fire.
That sort of wraps it up about Fantasya. I will let you know of anything important if it comes up.
Now about me.
I’m Cassandra as you know. I am ten, tall, and I have a full grown golden horn. I am friendly, Cornelia says I’m very pretty, but I am also funny and quick-tempered. My temper is my bad point. I’m skinny and I have a long white mane. I’m good at running and flying in races and my favorite food are leaves from a Unicorn Tree. A Unicorn Tree is a tree that has white bark and gold leaves. I’m good at magic and plan to fight in the war. Bullies make me angry, and one of my quirks is I stamp my hoof when I’m angry or scared. My eyes are blue and Corny’s (that’s Cornelia’s nickname) is green. My bed is a bed of leaves and grass. My pet peeves are dirty hooves. I also bite my lip when I’m scared or angry without realizing it. My lip has a lot of small cuts. My deepest darkest secret is that I have a crush on this unicorn named Caleb. He has a dirtiesh whitish coat and a long flowing mane. Cornelia doesn’t know this so shh!
I’m an orphan since my parents died in the war when I was two. A friendly and kind unicorn named Caroline took me in. My best friend Cornelia’s mom is named Catherine. Cornelia is ten like me.
Now about Cornelia.
She has a grayish mane with a silver horn. She’s very pretty, tall, and friendly but shy. I know I said unicorns are not shy, but every once in a while you get one that is. She’s mostly shy because people pick on her for having a silver horn and she’s scared easily. I’m scared of one thing. Water creatures. Water can really hurt a unicorn if used in the right way. Most unicorns die because of water magic. Unicorns are getting scarcer because of water magic. Anyway, Cornelia is brave and friendly. Just shy. Her favorite food is Unicorn Tree bark and she is scared of the dark. She has her horn light up as a night-light when it gets dark out. She also lights her horn when angry or scared when she doesn’t notice it. She can get easily scared or upset. The dark, bullies, and yelling upsets her. Her deepest darkest secret is that she’s afraid of the dark. I’m the only one besides you who knows that. Both of our dream vacations are earth. I’d really like to see what it’s like there.
I think that’s everything. On with the story!