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Ashley Ratliff Author

@ashratliffauthor.bsky.social

Querying my debut novel

8 Posts33 Follower 70 Folgt

Florrie Auclair - Querying and Drafting @florrienne.bsky.social · 2w ago

MONK & ROBOT X EMILY WILDE When a blight strikes, an optimistic archivist must track down her hero's fabled garden with the help of an archaic engineer—but secret origins and disillusionment lurk between hard drives and petals. ☀️ Solarpunk 🌷 Floriography 💚 Enby LI #QuestPit #W #A #SF #R

Floral background with the text Mending Glass. By Florrie Auclair. Solarpunk Romantic Sci-Fi

Character portrait of a blond woman making a heart with her hands. Juniper Penrose. An archivist specializing in botany. She idolizes the old world botanist, Miriam, who helped lead the resistance centuries ago. Optimistic and a little reckless, she seeks to uncover the past and find Miriam’s garden. Her drive to help people, sometimes comes at her own expense—like the reason for the mechanical leg she now cherishes.

Next to that is a character portrait of a nonbinary character with light blue eyes and duotone hair in black and blonde. Eli Winter. An aloof engineer who specializes in old world infrastructure programming trying to prove their skills are just as important as the nouveau programmers of the city. They leave their home and grandfather to help Juni break into archaic servers and hard drives—and often pull her out of trouble.

Comp slide with Horizon Zero Dawn, Emily Wildes, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Violet Evergarden, and Fruits Basket. The text pointing at the various media are Ruins of a fallen industrial world, Solarpunk, Flower Motifs, Traveling to help others and find self discovery, Joyful but melancholic character connections, and Sunshine MC x Sunshine Protector

Data is as fragile as flower petals. That’s why Juniper, an archivist in a recovering solarpunk world, wants to immortalize the past in the Glass Archives. Safe from time’s decay, unlike the archaic hard drives of the old world. Specifically, information on her hero, Miriam, a botanist who legend says grew a garden of resistant plants—ones that could survive the blight ravaging their crops. But to find it, Juniper will need the help of Eli, an engineer who specializes in old world technology. Together they traverse ruins and follow a trail of flower language from village to village to unearth what led to the dark age of information. But Juniper starts to question her identity when they uncover that the woman she modeled herself after was not the hero she believed.

Rhyan Wilson is querying 🫶✨@rhywrites.bsky.social · 2w ago

ADD SPELL TO CART! ✨💕 A YA Bubblegum Horromance about a girl who uses an Etsy witch to curse her ex and make his best friend fall for her. 👻 A Spell to Wake the Dead X Obsession Plan to query this fall! 🍂🍁 #QuestPit #YA #H #R #W

Jennie Mack is querying @jenniemackauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

LOVE REPAINTED, a New Adult Romcom complete at 88k words. It's like CHECK & MATE x EMILY IN PARIS (with a Southern twist). ♥️ ✨He Falls First 🎸Forced proximity ❤️‍🔥Slow Burn 🎨Workplace romance 💋Healing after heartbreak 🕵️Fear of commitment #Q #questpit #NA #R

Ashley Ratliff Author @ashratliffauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

My new WIP Mermantasy Mystery Had a little fun #questpit #romantasyauthor

Ashley Ratliff Author @ashratliffauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

My new WIP Mermantasy Mystery Had a little fun #questpit #romantasyauthor

Ashley Ratliff Author @ashratliffauthor.bsky.social · 3w ago

Romance writers: agents are already signing up for Love at First Pitch on LitConnect. Get matched to agents building their romance lists and submit your pitches Aug 24 to 31. #LoveAtFirstPitch litconnect.net/romance-pitc...

Love at First Pitch - Romance Pitch Event for Writers on LitConnect

Love at First Pitch is a romance-only pitch event on LitConnect. Submit your romance pitch Aug 24 to 31, 2026. Your pitch is matched to agents building their romance lists, and an agent's like opens y...

litconnect.net

Tiffany ✨@tiffmuseshere.bsky.social · 3mo ago

✨ my first #questpit and post on blue sky! 🤭 Introducing my debut novel, TO HATCH A STORM, a sweeping new adult romantasy brimming with elemental magic and dragons, political intrigue, rival Houses, and a steamy arranged marriage! When the Moon Hatched x House of the Dragon ✨ #Questpit #Q #RF #A

Rhyan Wilson is querying 🫶✨@rhywrites.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🪲☀️CICADA SUMMERS☀️🪲 A heart-breaking New Adult Contemporary Romance about old loves, the pains of growing up, and the choices we make when we have nowhere left to turn. The Summer I Turned Pretty X Firefly Lane X The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion #QuestPit #W #NA #R #LF

Heather Carter @hlcarterauthor.bsky.social · 3mo ago

THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH X FRANKENSTEIN Odessa Righteous is faithful to the Nine, rooted in the only community she's ever known. But when they choose her as the annual sacrifice to The Beast of the Beyond, her world shifts on its axis. #QuestPit #AG #A #W #RF

nine pictures in a grid. A dark cloaked figure in a forest, a candle, a church, a golden mask, an image with the text: A SACRIFICE, A BEAST, A FORBIDDEN LOVE. Golden bokeh lights, a stone stairway, a gold-toned rose, and a red-cloaked woman sitting in a sanctuary.

Charlotte Emery @lola-writes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

✨ Happy #questpit ✨ The Sails is an adult pirate romantasy. With themes of fortitude, romance, and revenge, immersed in a gothic atmosphere. Pirates of the Caribbean X One Dark Window #querying #fantasy #slowburn #pirates #witches #yearning #adultfantasy

Aragent guide to
THE SAILS
AN ADULT PIRATE ROMANTASY
112K

AFTER A RECKLESS ACT LEAVES
VELA A CAPTIVE ON A
SUPERNATURAL PIRATE SHIP
DISGUISED AS A MAN, SHE FINDS HERSELF TASKED WITH AN ELUSIVE JOB FOR ITS MERCILESS CAPTAIN. NOW SHE MUST NAVIGATE A NEW WORLD OF HIDDEN MAGIC PRACTICED AT SEA. BUT HER IDENTITY CAN ONLY STAY CONCEALED FOR SO LONG, AND ONCE THE TRUTH COMES OUT, OTHER SECRETS ARE BOUND TO FOLLOW.

Snippet
He turned to the witch-who, in some instances, had become like a friend to the captain, in only a way that a man without humanity and a centuries-old witch could be. An unspoken agreement hung between them. "Why did you agree to teach me? I have heard that no one leaves your cottage alive." The captain said.
"The blood shows all. Men want power, they want riches, they want to be adored and envied.
Their blood is sour, thin, and undeserving. Yours was thick and hearty but mostly full of sorrow.
It held the story of a man greatly wronged.
Revenge is a form of fate. Destiny and vengeance go hand in hand if the universe deems it a worthy enough cause. And destiny, it seems, is not finished with you quite yet."

Themes & Tropes
•HIDDEN IDENTIFY
•SISTERHOOD
•PIRATES X WITCHES
•SLOW BURN
•GODS X LORE
•THE SEA IS MAGIC
•ANXIETY REP
•LGBTO REP
•PORTALS
•QUIRKY CROW FAMILIAR
•ETERNAL CURSES
•YEARNING
•MORALLY GREY MMC
•FOUND FAMILY

kate duarte 🏹🗡️@authorkateduarte.bsky.social · 3mo ago

ONE DARK WINDOW x GODKILLER 🕸️horromantasy When Merit's lover chooses her best friend as his next sacrifice, Merit vows to murder him. But to slay a god, Merit must first find his weakness—and defeat his loyal bodyguard, who can kill with a touch. #OS #A #AG #H #RF #questpit

Kourtney Howell is querying 👻@kourtneyrhowell.bsky.social · 3mo ago

TO SAVE A WILTING ROSE (WIP) AUBREY WANTS TO DIE X MATE Adult Paranormal Romance, 91k words 🥀 resort island in a southern setting 🖤 vampires 🥀 banter that will have you kicking your feet 🖤 simmering chemistry 🥀 dual POV #questpit #a #pr #w

It’s a quote from the FMC and MMC.

Lettie Nightingale: Whether I had a photographic memory or the retention of a squirrel, I’d likely never forget August’s name.

August Olsen: When I’m with her, the world outside of us doesn’t exist, and I’m starting to think I crave that more than I crave blood.

Alexis Collins @lexiscee.bsky.social · 3mo ago

UPROOTED x RAPUNZEL 🗼Belltower 🌲 Wood that becomes dangerous at night 🌱Plant/earth magic 🦌 Carnivorous deer ❔Quest to find missing people ❤️ Romantic fantasy #questpit #RF #F #W

Harlow of the Oaken Wood moodboard with trees, plant magic, and a tower

Comp titles: For the Wolf, Uprooted, Tangled, & One Dark Window

Madelyn Knecht ✨🌈@madelynknecht.bsky.social · 3mo ago

What if Enid mended broken hearts for a living... and Wednesday arrived without a heart at all? ❤️‍🩹sunshine MC hiding secrets 🫀LI who doesn't know what it means to be human 🔥a deadly mystery 🪶quirky, meddling witch (ahem, enchantress) #questpit #AG #YA #F #R for #Editors

Heart-covered white background. Image in the center is artwork of a blonde girl in a strawberry dress holding hands with a brunette in all black standing in front of a clinic called HEARTS TO MEND. Text reads: YA sapphic speculative romance. Sapphic romance, slow burn, grumpy x sunshine, equal angst&humor, found family, unique magic system, teaching the LI to be human

Nefer Doane @neferdoane.bsky.social · 3mo ago

THE WISHING WELL is an adult cozy fantasy about a witch who summons her familiar, only to find he doesn't like her. In it, you'll find: 🐈‍⬛ a grumpy familiar 🫖 temperamental antiques 🏝️ a wandering island 🧐 & a forgotten history linking together witches, familiars, and humans #QuestPit #A #F #W

Taryn Christeen @tarynchristeen.bsky.social · 3mo ago

THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH X DAUGHTER OF NO WORLDS X ONE DARK WINDOW An #agentsguide for my completed 90,000 word NA/A, dark, gothic fantasy, PARALYSIS🥀🖤 #questpit #Q #A #F #DF

Ashley Ratliff Author @ashratliffauthor.bsky.social · 3mo ago

THE DARKNESS AROUND US - an adult romantic fantasy about an energy wielder’s quest for revenge. 🥀From Blood and Ash meets The Serpent and The Wolf 🐺 👭 found family 🫶 forced proximity 🐎 one (winged) horse 😺 animal sidekicks 🪄 unique magic system 💥goddesses #questpit #Q #A #RF

The Darkness Around Us title page by Ashley Ratliff. Black background and wisps of smoke

Background image of sparks in a circle and fanning out to create a web. Text overlaid about the pitch for this story

Background image of a hooded person in shadow with overlaid images of book covers and text

A transparent background of a white horse with a blue eye with overlaid text with reader feedback on it

Camille Singer @camillesinger.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🪡 SHREDDING SHADOWS 🪡 🪄Sentient Shadow Magic 🌑 World of Ash 🎓 Dark Academia 🖤 Mentor Love Interest 🕯️Copper Lighthouse ✒️ Lost Spell Book 🐦‍⬛ Shadow Monsters 🔥 Slow Burn #QuestPit #Q #YA / #NA #F #R

Four panel image of an antique candle wall sconce against damask wallpaper.

Zoe is ✨querying✨@zgauthor.bsky.social · 3mo ago

SIX OF 🐦‍⬛x OUR 🏳️ MEANS ☠️ 🏴‍☠️ A murder mystery—everyone is suspicious 🪶 Neurodivergent MC/disabled LI 🌊 Sirens, dragons, deadly seas 🕯️Cold ex-pirate & charismatic pirate captain work together to survive 🌈 Sapphic “you’re a means to an end” to lovers #QuestPit #Q #YA #F #RF #MY #OWN #LGBT

Rebeccah Sheridan @rsheridan92.bsky.social · 3mo ago

LOVELIGHT FARMS x THE LOVE HATERS When an event planner must plan a holiday gala with the firefighter who works for her father, she vows to keep things strictly professional...until their chemistry threatens her career, her family relationships, and the gala itself #questpit #q #a #r #amquerying

Celine Kos - amQuerying 🩷💜💙@cl-kos.bsky.social · 3mo ago

When his elf supremacist cousin threatens war, Letyf must confront his traumatic past on a world-saving quest—but he's far from a hero. To make matters worse, he's up against Lia, a world-hopping demon with a reputation to uphold and plenty of lives under her belt. #Q #A #F #Questpit #AgentsGuide

"An Agent's Guide to Distant Realm, Adult High Fantasy, Dual POV, 136,000 words." A collage of images set against a backdrop of a misty forest. The central images feature a worried blond man, looking away from the camera, a serious woman with dark hair looking into the camera, and a realistic engraved set of armor. The top image features armored soldiers attacking a large city. To the left, are two text clips, bookending a drawing of travelers in a sunny forest. The top text clip says: "Letyf realized all at once that he'd never seen anyone die before. A thousand thoughts raced in his mind, but they were like arguing in another room, muffled through walls." The bottom text clip says" "And what if your paths cross again?" "Well, if possible, and if my master commands, I'll kill him."" Below the images is a tagline: "...is one small world worth dying for?"

An idyllic forest in summer, with parchment over top, reading: "THE PITCH: Letyf Duilles has no place on a world-saving quest.

Roksa Morthir took everything from Letyf—his sight, his magic, and his future. Now, Letyf must defy his father, his people, and his endless self-doubt to stop Roksa’s war.

To Letyf, Crelan is home.
To Lia, it’s just one more, backwoods fantasy world.

A world-hopping demon, Lia has served heroes and villains hundreds of times before. If Roksa wants her to conquer his home-world, she’ll just have to do it with gritted teeth and minimal complaints about the plumbing. After all, she’s bound to obey—and why would a world like this be worth saving?"

THE COMPS:
Five Book Covers: The Magicians, Nine Goblins, The Goblin Emperor, The Bright Sword, and Brigands and Breadknives.
Text coming off of these books: "I can't Believe it's not Narnia"; "Magical Multiverse"; "Anxious MC"; "Naive, Fish out of water MC"; "No Romance, Deep Friendships instead"; "Classic Fantasy World Reimagined"; "MetaFantasy"; "Action Packed and Bloody"; "Knights and Warriors"; "Lots of Walking"; "ttRPG Player Approved"

Image of A sword, with accompanying text:

FIRST LINES: We landed in my master's home-world with enough force to buckle my knees. As I yanked the heels of my pumps out of the super-heated soil, my master turned to gaze around at the brilliant green hills of his land.
--
Letyf drew back his arrow, sighting down the shaft at a kingbird on a low branch.
The bird cocked its head, beady eyes darting around, but they passed right over Letyf, crouched as he was in the brush. He adjusted his aim, accounting for the faint breeze.
He exhaled, gave the string a touch more pressure, then released.
The arrow arced away—and missed the fat gamebird by a clear foot.

Kyla Whitelock is querying ✨@kylawhitelock.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Agent's Guide for MOLDED BY MALICE Druids go through the Inflection, where an element will bless them with power 🍃💨💧 Industrialists are subjected to the Test of Attunement, where crystals can enhance their speed, strength, or senses 🔮💪🏼😈 But what if you aren't chosen? #questpit #A #F #Q

On the left side is an industrial city with smoke stacks that turn the air black. On the right side is a green forest with sunlight coming through the trees. It is divided by black cracks.

Kourtney Howell is querying 👻@kourtneyrhowell.bsky.social · 3mo ago

An agent’s guide to my newest project—To Save a Wilting Rose (WIP)!!! Adult paranormal romance at 91,000 words. #questpit #w #pr #a

The text says, “Agent guide for to save a wilting rose, adult paranormal romance, 91,000 words WIP.”

The text says, “ The pitch. A PHD student who’s returned home to her family’s resort island for the summer expects to spend time with her ill sister, but when a group of vampires from a medical research organization checks in, it’s not just the heir that changes her plans. It’s the life-changing cure they discovered together.”

The text says, “The Comps. Finding joy in an immortal life and serious topics with lighter tones like in Aubrey Wants to Die by Pip Knight. Simmering chemistry and the medical urgency like in Ali Hazelwood’s Mate.”

The text says, “The characters. Lettie Nightingale is a 24 year-old in grad school, has a twin brother, hates to be sweaty, grew up at the Eldham Island Resort, has dedicated her life to saving her younger sister. August Olsen is a vampire, and only child, loves to run, especially on the beach, expected to replace his father as president of The Vital Approach Foundation, and his favorite book is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.”

Ashley Ratliff Author @ashratliffauthor.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Jacklyn is DRAFTING @salutjacklyn.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🕯️ AETHERBORN 🕯️ To save her people, a refugee princess and the soldier ordered to contain her magic have sixty days to transform her power into the perfect weapon—navigating a corrupt empire while denying the desire that could cost them more than their lives. #Questpit #F #Q #A #R

⋆ ˖ jamie scanlon ☕︎ ⋆ ˖ is querying @jscanwrites.bsky.social · 3mo ago

#QuestPit #Q #F #RF #NA ⚔️🥀GOLDSPINNER 🥀⚔️ ❄️ fae domain of eternal winter 🥀 forbidden/doomed romance 🔮 magically binding deals and bargains 🌲 royal court intrigue 🪡 fate based magic system

Text: An Agent’s Guide to GOLDSPINNER by Jamie M. Scanlon
110k words | NA Romantic Fantasy
Background: woman facing away, standing on balcony of gothic castle

The Pitch: When the love of her life disappears, a college student must follow his trail from our world into a fae forest of eternal frost and rescue him before the young, power-hungry king who's set his sights on her decimates all she cares for.

Queen in a ballgown holding a sword aloft.
Text: Maddox is gone. And I am undone.

The Comp Titles: The Knight and the Moth (jaw-dropping twists & knights), The Everlasting (lyrical prose & yearning), The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (portal leading to eternal winter world)

Rhyan Wilson is querying 🫶✨@rhywrites.bsky.social · 3mo ago

LINKED 🔗 a YA Dystopian Romance about a girl with a boy stuck in her head. Literally. SEVERANCE X CONFORM 🔗 love triangle 🧠 technological control 💜 forced proximity 🔪exploration of our growing reliance on tech/ai #QuestPit #Q #YA #R #D

daniellerufrano.bsky.social @daniellerufrano.bsky.social · 3mo ago

My first #questpit pitch! I’m so excited to participate! DISSEVERER is SILVER ELITE meets ONE DARK WINDOW #Q #A #D #DR #F In the Outlands, Death can be a mercy…until It wants a favor.

A collage of pictures including: shadow hands reaching for each other, red thread, and artwork by Eugene Cuvelier and Avert Van der Neer. Artwork is public domain offered by the MET. Titles of the pieces are “The Farrier” and “Fontainebleau Forest”. The title of the querying work is DISSEVERER and this is an agent guide.

The following picture is of a girl holding a red thread. On top of that picture is the covers of three books: SILVER ELITE by Dani Francis, ONE DARK WINDOW by Rachel Gillig and THE FOXGLOVE KING by Hannah Whitten. The pitch is for the novel DISSEVERER is also typed out: a virus-scarred blacksmith with the cursed power to see through the veil that separates the living from the dead, barters with a Death God for her soul’s freedom, but the price is steep: Death wants admittance into the land of the living, and shes’s the only one who can sever the veil.

The following is a picture of hands reaching for each other. On top of that is screenshots of positive reviews from readers, beta readers and critique partners. One is from an email, another from a text message, the other review given through a string of DMs.

This picture is of a hand and the pointer finger is reaching for dark smoke. Over it is a snippet from my dystopian dark fantasy, where the MC meets a death harvester for the first time.