Miss Snark’s Blogpitch Contest–First 250

Authoress/Miss Snark held a #Blogpitch contest on Twitter last week. She selected 10 pitches and guess what, my pitch was chosen! Woot! Today, I’m posting my first 250 words of BEAT, my YA thriller that I want to query to agents. There are 9 other entrants to check out, so be sure to head over to her blog for critique instructions and to see the other first pages. Entrants can win a 15 page edit from the Authoress herself.

I hope you enjoy the opening lines of BEAT!

Pitch: Getting a new heart might not fix sixteen-year-old Adam’s broken one.

First 250 words:

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Wind slashes across my body, burrows up my nose, and yanks at my hair. I hook my fingers around the wire fence wrapped around the observation deck and toggle my lip piercing—two black hoops side by side—with my tongue. Spires top the fencing, curving inward way above everybody’s heads to prevent people from jumping off. The city below seems like a miniature replica at this height.

New York City, America’s major metropolis. So different from my London.

I pick out several landmarks dotting the skyline and mentally slash another item/adventure/must do/whatever off my bucket list. Well, it’s more like my parents’ bucket list.

For me.

It’s hard to muster up joy and awe when all I’m doing is waiting for someone to die so they can give me their heart. Anything we do—whether it’s a weekend trip to the city or having front row tickets for a concert or celebrating another week of life with a hot fudge sundae—all it amounts to is killing time.

And all I want is more time.

But not like this. I want healthy time. So I can live my life.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

I press a palm to my chest and sigh.

It’s bad enough I was born with a bum ticker. It’s worse knowing I’ll probably die before I graduate high school. It’s the worst knowing I’m not yet sick enough to be prioritized on the transplant list.

I have to be one beat away from a fatal arrhythmia and then it’s a gamble if I’ll survive long enough to find a match.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

 

Here’s the LINK to Miss Snark’s post where you can read the other first pages. 😉