www..juleahdelrosario.com
@juleahwrites
AGENT
Brent Taylor
WRITES
YA Contemporary / Verse Novels
DEBUT
500 WORDS OR LESS (Fall 2018)
Simon Pulse
BIO
I’m Juleah! Pronounced like Princess Leia with a “JU” in front. Honestly, I spend a lot of time working. Writing and working a very demanding 9-5 job that I love consume much of my time and attention. But I live in Colorado, so I escape to the mountains for hikes and some bonding time with the special people in my life when I can. POC author.
PUBLISHING BACKGROUND
The best thing about the first novel I wrote was that it was complete. Critique partners thought it was great, but I didn’t love it and neither did the few agents who requested partials or fulls. Then I started writing what eventually became 500 WORDS OR LESS. Some people did NOT like it. Some people thought I should essentially whitewash the POC characters because they “didn’t get” them. It felt like my own experience and existence as a person of color was being critiqued. But this time, I loved the story I was writing. It felt like a reality and people I had known and seen. People with complexity and flaws. I held back on querying, and searched and searched for the right agent because I was afraid of hearing someone else say they didn’t “get it”. I was incredibly lucky to stumble upon a tweet through #MSWL that led me to Brent Taylor. I was even more lucky when my eventual editor Jennifer Ung gave me a second chance after an initial pass to revise and resubmit the full manuscript for her consideration. I feel so grateful and lucky.
EXPERIENCE
I am still learning and working on the craft. I have served as a mentor in a professional/non-writing capacity. The most successful mentorships have been those where we are able to answer, “what is your goal with the time we have together?”
OVERVIEW
I feel strongly about mentoring a POC writer through the process, because it can actually be kinda shitty at times. Somedays “diversity” feels like a “trend” in the industry, whereas everyday it’s your own lived experience.
A writer with a verse novel, preferably quirky or funny OR a writer who has a manuscript with drama, tension, scandal, multiple love interests and CW appeal.
- Contemporary
- #ownvoices
- Romance
- Verse Novel
Tropes I love: summer love, love triangles. Can’t get enough of them! I also have an unhealthy obsession for novels that include boarding schools.
Tropes that bore me: Verse novels where the protagonist is a musician and writes song lyrics (unless you are Kwame Alexander and his coauthor and wrote Solo…but even then I skipped over the song lyrics.)
I WILL PROVIDE:
- Edit Letter (Big Picture developmental feedback)
- Line edit (dropping notes into a Word Document)
- Skype or phone call
WORKING STYLE
Provide an edit letter or line edits with suggested resources/homework with follow up Skype or phone call to talk through any ideas or questions.
IDEAL MENTEE
Preferences, but not required: A POC writer; someone who is open to homework such as reading suggested craft books; someone with experience participating in face-to-face/in-person critique groups.
SEND ME:
Something akin to a CW show (Riverdale, Gossip Girl, etc) with an authentically POC cast. A quirky and/or humorous verse novel
DO NOT SEND ME:
Fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, and historical fiction; books that take place in NYC
FAVES
Authors: Jenny Han, Jason Reynolds, John Green, Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, Stephanie Perkins, Sonya Sones; Jandy Nelson
Favorite verse novels: Inside out and back again; The crossover; Booked; Love that Dog; True Believer/Make Lemonade; Love and Leftovers; Brown Girl Dreaming; One of those hideous books where the mother dies; Stop pretending.
TV shows that I could binge watch repeatedly: Most of these shows are problematic on so many levels, yet I can’t get enough of the drama. The OC, Veronica Mars, Laguna Beach, Gossip Girl, Riverdale; Girls; also Project Runway.
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