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Clare Donnelly

@claredonnelly.bsky.social

Writer in the trenches Currently Querying: All the Seas and Shadows, an LGBTQ+ YA Fantasy Let's be friends 🌈✨

14 Posts26 Follower 29 Folgt

📚 Ellie Rhymer! Spaceships and Scoundrels 📚@ellieyellu.bsky.social · 2w ago

#Editors Heists, spice, and space, oh my! What do you do when: 🏳️‍🌈 You're a disaster bisexual 😱 Space witches want your hyperspace treasure maps 💫 You have to leave Hecate IV before you're caught You ALWAYS GET IN A SPACESHIP WITH A SCOUNDREL 🥵🚀 #QuestPit #AG #OS #A #R #SF

The first page of a pitch deck. A neon pink art deco border pulls words out of a romantic starry space background. This border and background repeat over the following images. The title page reads in art deco gold and neon pink: An editor's guide to -- Always Get In a Spaceship With a Scoundrel -- A Sci-fi Romance by Ellie Rhymer. Representation Christi Cardenas.

Romantic pink and sci-fi neon and stars: Pitch. Good heists. Bad Decisions. Great Chemistry.

Anora is the quick-thinking manager of an illegal casino, fleeing the assassination of her gang's boss with the hyperspace treasure maps thrust into her hands as he died.

Jayro is a mouthy interstellar smuggler from the wrong side of the hyperspace lane with the only ship that can get Anora off Hecate IV before the emperor's relic-hunting space witches close a net around the planet.

The two bad-at-feelings bisexuals try to tamp down simmering, inconvenient attraction as they are forced to work together with the scrappy, tight-knit crew of the Helle Wanderer to survive in the criminal underworld and discover the secret at the end of the dangerous maps.

Their love story is a heist and they're stealing more than each other's hearts.

Always Get In a Spaceship With a Scoundrel by Ellie Rhymer

Romantic neon pink and a starry background: Excerpt. “Those are pre-set…” Jayro warned as Anora toggled a series of switches at the nav computer and began actively moving data streams around the screen.
“Pre-set for scans for //stationary objects//. You pick out your nav programs like you pick out your paint schemes?”
Jayro felt annoyance rising up in him again. The cockpit was his domain. Never mind that he agreed with her about the deco. “It took Fish weeks to get those programs running!”
“Look, unless you want to meet an asteroid face to face, shut the hells up and let me work.” Anora frowned as she watched some data return from the program. “Call engineering.”
“Gladly.” Jayro opened the channel on his wrist communicator.
“Yeah?” Fish’s voice responded.
“The new navigator is having trouble with her—” Jayro broke off as Anora grabbed his forearm and yanked his wrist in front of her own face, causing his chair to whirl towards her.
“What are your pre-sets accounting for?" [...]

Romantic neon pink and a starry background. For fans of: Uncharted Hearts book series by Constance Fay (image of a three book series). Scum and Villainy (TTRPG) (An image of a book cover with a spaceship flying towards a jumpgate). Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne. A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. #AnnoyanceToLovers #FoundFamily #QueerStories #DisasterBisexuals #ForcedProximity #Scoundrel4Scoundrel #NeverTellMeTheOdds #DualPOV. Always Get In a Spaceship With a Scoundrel by Ellie Rhymer.

Victoria Lurie is querying @vic-and-twisted.bsky.social · 2w ago

THE FRONTMAN (She’s the Man x Almost Famous) Lolly's lying to the nation, and it may kill her twin brother. She's finishing his 1983 tour. He's secretly in rehab. When rehab fails, Lolly must choose: save her twin or save his legacy, even if the truth ruins both their lives. #questpit #Q #A #U

A mood board of 1983, featuring Walkmans, jeans tucked into socks, cassette tapes, Jon Bongiovi, Peter Wabbit via The Guardian, and photos by Bruno Guerrero and Sebastian Ervi. The board promotes THE FRONTMAN, a work of upmarket fiction by Victoria Lurie, 100k words, where a rock band replaces their lead singer with his twin sister so they can finish their tour while he’s in rehab.

morgan champine ☀️ is querying @morganchampine.bsky.social · 2w ago

GIDEON THE NINTH X SIX OF CROWS, in SPACE! An agent’s guide to MAYFLY, a queer cyberpunk space opera. ft: 🏳️‍⚧️nonbinary, trans, & sapphic rep 🔥sexy t4t best friends to lovers 🍃human experiments 🚀messy found family #QuestPit #SF #LGBT #A #Q

Ruchi @ruchi-writes.bsky.social · 2w ago

💖 SHE’S THE MAN x ICEBREAKER, BUT MAKE IT E-SPORTS 🎮 To join her dream esports team, Cam let everyone assume she's a guy. Now all she has to do is survive the captain, who's sure she's the weak link — without falling for him first. #Q #R #A #questpit #agentsguide #amquerying

Last Pick by Ruchi Dave is an e-sports romance novel, complete at 75k words.

Cameron Day has always felt like a loser—except in the video game League of Champions, where she dominates. So when an esports team mistakes her for a guy and recruits her, she doesn’t correct them.

But to Jacob—their ruthless (and distractingly hot) captain who’s already seen one ex-teammate implode under pressure—she’s a risk they can’t afford. If she cracks, they all go down with her.

The only way forward is to prove she’s not a liability, but the key to pulling them out of freefall.

Contact the author at **@ruchi-writes on x or @ruchi-writes.bsky.social**

Moodboard for Last Pick. Professional esports gamer vibes.

Snippet for Last Pick

“The others got over it much sooner than you did.”

“I didn’t want to complicate things.”

“Why would I complicate things?”

“You know why.” He tucked a stray hair behind my ear, and my skin felt electric where his fingers brushed against me. I leaned into him as his hand slid to the nape of my neck, tilting my head toward his.

“What happened to keeping things professional?”

“This is professional,” he murmured. “Kevin and I do this all the time.”

Comps and Tropes

- **enemies-to-lovers**
- **woman in a male dominated field**
- **Chaos GOBLIN HEROINE**
- **forced proximity**
- **underdog story**
- **impostor syndrome**
- **good intentions, bad decisions**

She’s the Man - **WOMAN PRETENDING TO BE A MAN IN A MALE DOMINATED SPORT (E-Sports)**

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace - **team captain/mentor who is convinced she’s a liability**

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood - **fake-it-till-you-make-it energy**

Stephanie Winter @wintersleep85.bsky.social · 2w ago

NAUSICAÄ X FF7 Hana is sure she’s the chosen one, even if her magic is resisting her and the previous chosen one insists she isn’t. But if it isn’t her destiny, then no one can save the world from poisonous dark magic, endless wars, and powerful demons. #Questpit #A #F #Q

Dark forest. An agent's guide to The Blessing Returned. Adult fantasy. 98,000 words.

Dark forest. Pitch. Idealistic Hana Hahl lives in a world that is slowly dying after a failed quest to bring back magic. The only ones left with power are self-serving royals and dark mages, while desperation has given rise to an anti-magic order. Caught up in a mystical event, Hana is blessed with an immense power that could restore nature to the world. As Hana struggles to control the overwhelming force, Lady Kalyn Nossi, the only known survivor of the disastrous quest, directs her to the one person who can help her. Matthias Azel, the failed chosen one, reluctantly agrees to teach Hana while concealing his past from her. Accompanied by Kalyn and a charismatic prince with a dangerous secret, they journey to seek answers about Hana’s destiny. They fend off demonic threats and the anti-magic forces as Hana struggles with magic that seems to resist her and a growing fear that the world isn’t meant to be saved.

A dark forest. Snippet. She took a cautious step forward, unaware she was in a spectral form. Little drops of shimmering light followed her path, dissolving into the ground. “But this has to be a sign?” Grass grew where the light fell, delicate bits of nature that should be impossible. “Maybe it’s returning!”
The young woman spoke with such bright reverence as if life was a fairy tale and magic was all they needed for a happy ending. It was as if she couldn’t see the shadows approaching her. The inevitable death.
“Magic should never return.”
After speaking those words, he sprang forward and shoved her away from the shadows. Pain rocked him as soon as he touched her. The scorching mystical agony tore a scream out of him, but it kept her away from the unearthly menace, and the shock did what he intended.
Sent him back to his body.

A dark forest. Comps. Nausicaä. One Dark Window. The Starless Crown. Godkiller. Final Fantasy VII Remake. Tropes. Chosen One (s)? Ecofantasy. Dieselpunk. Grumpy/Sunshine. 1930s vibes. Love triangle. LGBTQIA+ rep. Cynical mentor. Dying world. Found family.

Megan A. Saraceno | Author @meganasaraceno.bsky.social · 2w ago

✨ What if Mulan had magic… and instead of being rejected as a bride, she was rejected by the gods? 🌪️ Forbidden elemental magic 🎭 A stolen identity ❤️‍🔥 A dangerously perceptive commanding officer ⚔️SONG OF THE SICKLE⚔️ #QuestPit #Q #A #F #R

Song of the Sickle, an adult romantic fantasy, 115,000 words, first in a planned series by Megan A. Saraceno

The pitch: She’s hiding her name, her past, her power.
He sees through her every lie.

Rejected by the gods, Tessa Whitaker brands a false divine seal into her flesh and steals her brother’s identity to save him from a war he won’t survive. But when her emotions manifest unblessed elemental magic, she catches the attention of her dangerously perceptive commanding officer. If he uncovers her secrets, execution will be the least of her problems.

She can survive the war.
She’s not sure she can survive him.

Comps A Fate Inked in Blood, Silver Elite, The Knight and the Moth

Opening lines: Tomorrow, the gods would judge me.
Tonight, I pretended they didn’t exist.

I swung the scythe through another row of wheat. My shoulders screamed, but at least the burn was honest. More honest than twenty years of prayers that had earned me nothing but silence.
Sweat carved tracks through the chaff dusting my skin, but I kept moving. One more row. One more bundle. Anything to keep my thoughts off tomorrow and the bare stretch of skin on my forearm waiting to be claimed., pictures include: military training camp, earth magic, amber ring, abandoned watchtower, and incense

J.J. Phillips | #SCBWI #KidLit @jjphillipsyo.bsky.social · 2w ago

AMARI X ANDOR ➥Magic+Spycraft Hunted for his meteorite wand, twelve-year-old Catcher Kline must master spell-hacked spycraft to find his missing parents and stop the Acolytes from weaponizing the star metal minerals that power all magic.  #QuestPit #MG #F #AmQuerying #KidLit

Tini Wider @tiniwiderauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

Carnival Row × Arcane. A secretly educated inventor must rescue her sister and expose the lie at the heart of a kingdom before a prince silences her forever. ⚙️ Inventor heroine ❤️ Friends-to-lovers ✨ Women aren't supposed to wield magic... until one does. #Q #YA #F #QuestPit

C.M. Sullivan 🍉@cmsullivan.bsky.social · 2w ago

AMINA AL-SIRAFI x QUEEN'S THIEF A dying thief switches fates with a man prophesied to end the worldwide flood. What's worse than death? Oh, consigning the guy you love to it. 🐉 sea-dragons 🏛️ floating libraries 🌊 flooded world ⛵ high seas adventures 🔥 slow burn romance #questpit #A #F #W #Q

A graphic depicts the text "THIEF OF THE VASTBORN" by C.M. Sullivan. The graphic shows a dragon statue; a marble column with an ocean view; a red-haired man with a blue eye gazing skyward; a grotto filled with seawater; part of a scarred man's face; a mosaic sun insignia; the statue of a half-veiled woman; a ship-rope and the open sea; and Greco-Roman style columns with an orange tree.

Clare Donnelly @claredonnelly.bsky.social · 2w ago

🌊 ALL THE SEAS AND SHADOWS🌊 SIX OF CROWS x BRIDGERTON 🤍 Young Adult Fantasy 🤍 A magical smuggling ring 🤍 Folklore-faithful Irish Lore 🤍 Sapphic Longing 🤍 Found Family, Forgiveness, and Fuck the Patriarchy #QuestPit #Q #YA #F #amquerying

Clare Donnelly @claredonnelly.bsky.social · 2w ago

🌊 ALL THE SEAS AND SHADOWS 🌊 A privileged girl uncovers the secrets behind a magical smuggling ring in exchange for help escaping an enforced engagement. 🤍 Young Adult Fantasy 🤍 Folklore-faithful Irish Lore 🤍 Sapphic Longing 🤍 Found Family #QuestPit #Q #YA #F #amquerying

Emilia Young | Author @emiliayoung.bsky.social · 2w ago

☕️ THE THINGS WE RUN FOR #Editors Emma Bridge has done everything to make this plan work. She’s got the new name, the new town, the new life . . . She’s also got a nosy boy next door who’s stopping at nothing to get to know her. #QuestPit #YA #C #MY #R #AG #OS #LGBT #Dis #OV

Editor’s Guide To:
The Things We Run For
YA Contemporary with Romance and Mystery
82k Words
Represented by Amanda Wooden at SBR Media

4/13/1996
Run. What a powerful instinct.
Emma Bridge had wanted nothing more than to be with her two siblings in a home that felt safe, but those wishes never came true. With nothing left to lose, Emma runs away from the spotlight of the Hills to a small town across the country, but this new home is anything but the safety she’d been after.

The weight of the world has fallen on her shoulders, and she can’t carry it alone. But with her old name in every police station and her new name on every tongue in town, she’s not sure who she can trust to help carry the burden.

What we know:
-Runaway in Hiding
-Fake Identity (turned real identity)
-Mental Health Rep
-Genderfluid and Pan Rep
-Found Family
-90s Small-Town Nostalgia
At the bottom, the name Emma Bridge is crossed out and replaced with Peyton Freys

6/23/1996
“The Hills have Eyes”

There’s a collage of pictures. Picture one is of two people, one sitting on the counter with the other in front of them. Picture two is go a small-town street with snowy homes to either side. Picture three shows a row of high school desks. Picture four shows a box of police evidence. Picture five shows a group of kids sitting behind an abandoned building. Picture six shows someone flipping off a police car. Picture seven shows a paper with the words “Child Custody Hearing” printed on it. The last picture shows a boy sitting at a school desk, writing something into a notebook.

In the bottom right, it says ON SUB SOON

Kira Fierro @kirawritesbooks.bsky.social · 2w ago

CRIMSON IDOL - my Science Fantasy reimagining of Julius Caesar through the eyes of Cleopatra! 🌌 Vibes + Inspirations ⤵️ Sci Fi/Fantasy Shakespeare 1940s Fashion/Art Deco Star Wars Rachel Zegler’s Evita x Coriolanus Snow coded relationship Influencer/Celebrity Culture #W #A #SFF #SF #questpit

Gabriel Morgan is querying @gabrielmorgan00.bsky.social · 2w ago

A MARVELLOUS LIGHT X PENNY DREADFUL When a mysterious being heralds the apocalypse, there are only two witnesses: Rowan and Darshil, bitter exes who must brave London’s occult underbelly and save the world from eternal darkness, all while grappling with their unresolved feelings. #questpit #Q #RF

Gothic Gaslamp Romantasy
Adult standalone
109,500 words

Pitch:
After their one-night stand ends in hurt, hedonistic occultist Rowan and repressed poet Darshil never want to see each other again. That plan is ruined when a being from beyond the grave heralds the apocalypse, and they are the only two witnesses.
Forced together, Rowan and Darshil plunge into London's occult underbelly in search of answers to the apocalypse. But as the Veil between life and death slowly thins, and old passions reignite, Rowan realises the truth lies in memories he swore to forget, and that the past is a shallow grave, easily unearthed.
Comps:
The Magpie Lord: gaslamp world, occult magic, big spooky house
A Marvellous Light: opposites attract, magical bonds
The Gentleman and his Vowsmith: second chance, steamy romance
The Resurrectionist: historical setting, self discovery
Penny Dreadful: Victorian gothic, seduced by darkness

Black cat x golden retriever
Yearning
Bisexual awakening
Second chance romance
Forced proximity
Only one bed
Opposites attract
Gothic decadence
Big spooky house
Exploration of grief
Horror as a metaphor
Dreams-based magic
The occult
Alternate London setting
Art shows a thin white person with short black hair, blue eyes, and an unimpressed expression, and a plus-sized South Asian man with chin-length curly black hair, brown eyes, short facial hair, and a soft smile.

It was a poet’s job to seek out beauty, to be mesmerised by it. Darshil wanted to transform Rowan into swirls of ink, to fit his hands into the slight dips where Rowan’s waist met his hips and write him a thousand times over.

The only thing more fascinating than death was the tormented living it left behind.
It helped to hate him. It was less painful than loving him.
The dead thing woke to the acrid stench of its own rot.
Rowan matched him tenderness for tenderness, giving everything he could and knowing that for once, his everything was enough.
Perhaps closing his eyes stopped it meaning anything. Darshil knew he should do the same. This was shame beyond anything else, a secret to take to the unloving grave.
He kept his eyes open anyway. With Rowan beneath him, as beautiful as the dawn, he couldn’t bear to look away.

Kat is querying!@katgoestoshows.bsky.social · 2w ago

ETERNALLY DEAD explores how an injured musician gets a second shot at stardom--only it's by joining an all-vampire rock band in the dangerous Vampire Realm. When blood shortages hit the Realm, she's forced to confront if living out her rockstar dream is worth dying for🩸🧛‍♂️🎸 #questpit #a #f #pr #rf #q

Background of concert audience with giant vampire fangs floating above alongside the words "An agent's guide to: Eternally Dead, Adult Paranormal Romantic Fantasy, 103k words, by @katgoestoshows." A one sentence pitch is featured on bottom that reads: An injured musician gets a second shot at stardom -- only its by joining an all-vampire rock band in the blood-thirsty vampire realm. A red splatter of blood is splashed is corner.

Mary Elizabeth Carey @maryelizabethcarey.bsky.social · 2w ago

Who killed the nature photographer on the bike trail and ruined the setting of Elizabeth's WIP? #QuestPit #📖 #A #Q #M #amquerying

A photo of a bike trail by a pond with the legs of an apparent dead person, a woman saying "Who's going to want to read about Forest Bathing there now?" and the title MURDER on THE BIKE TRAIL.

Vivian Storm @vivianstormauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

An agent’s guide to SAVING HER, a dark why choose romance. When the setting & theme of protecting the community like THE RAVENHOOD SERIES falls in love with GRAVES for the added darkness, sharing morally gray, murderous brothers and has a baby, you get my debut novel w older MCs #questpit #Q #R #A

InkandEmbers @inkandembers.bsky.social · 2w ago

#questpit #q #a #df

Graphic for the adult dark fantasy novel Souls of Verdance. A red-haired woman stands before a towering castle beneath a swirling blue-and-gold night sky, framed by flowers, vines, bones, severed fingers, eyes, and skeletal hands. A cracked gold coin with an eye symbol hangs above, and a gray hand holds a walnut below the title. Text reads: "Adult Dark Fantasy. In a kingdom where magic steals body parts, emotions, and even memories, a grieving young woman creates a soulless girl wearing her face to bargain with the Prince of the Underworld before the same magic that killed her parents comes for the rest of her family." Bottom text: "Now Querying

❄️ ⓐ. ⓡ. ⓛⓔⓔ ❄️ is querying @itsamabee.bsky.social · 2w ago

✨ SIX OF CROWS X ARCANA ACADEMY✨ After an ancient prophecy resurfaces mid magic trial, six artists must uncover who is trying to enact calamity. This Adult Epic Fantasy features: 📜Deadly Deals 😈Ravenous Monsters 🤫Secrets Best Left Unspoken 💔Rivals to Allies to 👀 #questpit #F #DF #R #A #Q

An Artistic Deception - An Adult Sapphic Epic Fantasy - A girl dancing in an abandoned church

Enemies to lovers
Sapphic
Sentient Magic School
Indigenous Diaspora
Can Your Fate be Changed?

Martyred by her people, a priestess awakens as a refugee displaced through time to find her sacrifice in vain.

Agni attends a magical college to build a new life, but when the past resurfaces, she must either embrace martyrdom again or flee, leaving behind the life she’s built and the woman she loves. before fate claims another kingdom.

Reads like Hozier’s Yell

Putting the con in economy - The lies of locke lamora
a deadly education - my school is trying to kill me
six of crows - ensemble cast x found family
witch hat atelier - magic consequences for me like 💀
arcana academy - so you like pining?

Character art of Agni and Fala

“Can’t you ever do as you’re told?” Fala snaps.
“No.” The word rolls off my lips, sweet as candy.
“Impudent.”
“Arrogant,” I bite back.
We are toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose, her amber irises trembling.
“You know nothing.” Fala seethes. I laugh, drunk on her wild temper on I can ignite. That may have been true at the beginning of term but not now.
I know all about the woman I’ve spent the year ruefully falling in love with.

K.M. Carlson @wanderingbutton.bsky.social · 2w ago

#Q #A #F #Questpit ASHMARKED: Feminine rage, social commentary, dangerous power... "They made obedience feel holy and used it as permission." Querying now!

Chantal Danieli — is editing! 🕯️@chantaldanieli.bsky.social · 2w ago

JANE EYRE x THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 🕯️forbidden gothic romance 🕯️slow burn 🕯️yearning à la anthony bridgerton 🕯️black swan-esque awakening 🕯️2000's setting 🕯️devouring obsession but make it consensual 🕯️secret lake meetings — coming to agent inboxes September 2026 🍂 #questpit #W #A #NA #R

My Sweet Unbecoming
A forbidden gothic romance
Coming to agent inboxes September 2026

Comps & Pitch
The Phantom of the Opera
Jane Eyre
Bridgerton — The Viscount Who Loved Me

When a scandal exiles her to Lucerne, disgraced Olivia Rooney falls for the one man she’s forbidden to love—Théodore Chair-Beaumont, the brooding aristocrat sworn to matrimony with another.
But beneath his restraint lies a wound that mirrors her own. And falling for him could not only repeat the tragedy that broke him before. It could ruin her reputation, once and for all.

Tropes
Forbidden Romance
High Society Match Making
European Setting
Slow Burn
Love VS Duty
Black Swan-esque Awakening
Masquerade Ball
2000’s Setting
Obsessive yearning
Secret Lake Meetings

Author Kelly G @authorkellyg.bsky.social · 2w ago

The world’s last living Vila and last living Krsnik team up to figure out who is murdering villagers—otherwise, they’ll be blamed for the deaths. 🐺 it’s not in their nature to get along 🦋 her bite is worse than his bark 🩸 if you’re not human, you’re guilty #questpit #A #PR #F

Gert Ramm 🦋@rammwriter.bsky.social · 2w ago

The UK government frames an intelligence agent for a temporal disaster, putting him in the crosshairs of ruthless state assassins. To save his skin he must seal a lethal time rift, before a Russian spy from the future uses its secrets to start a war that will destroy everything. #QuestPit #Q #A #SF

Kat Devitt @katdevittwrites.bsky.social · 2w ago

My Darling, Dreadful Thing X The London Séance Society A fabled witch howled the Blackstone Curse and mired generations in madness, murder, and mayhem. Only a monster and an heir to an earldom may break the spell, but first they must find each other. #QuestPit #Q #Gothic #A #H #LGBT

Clare Donnelly @claredonnelly.bsky.social · 2w ago

#DVpit - Diverse Voices Pitch @dvpit.bsky.social · 3w ago

#Giveaway Time to prepare for #DVpit! Enter from July 13-18, 2026 to win query and/or first pages critiques from agents! TO ENTER: • repost this post • AND reply with your category & genre! (e.g. YA Fantasy) • Entries must be for completed, unpublished work. Full rules: dvpit.carrd.co#giveaway