We Are the Nobodies

BY scarlett barnhill

Query Letter

The queer experience of high school – bullying, self-discovery, and mental health – has always been vastly different than that of straight kids. In We Are the Nobodies, a 72,000 word contemporary YA, I explore the experience of being a lesbian teenager dealing with anxiety, grief, and figuring out who you are when you’re given tools you never had before. Based upon your interest in LGBTQIA+ characters, dark senses of humor, and nerdy pop culture references, I feel it would fit your list.

With her mother’s death behind her, Iris Fox arrives at her new foster home floundering under the weight of having money where she used to have none. When Jeremy Dunn, the pink-haired goth gay from across the street, shows up on her doorstep with his face bruised, they fall into a contentious frenemiship. Iris finds herself inducted into Jeremy’s group of nobodies: Dex, Jeremy’s Instagram-famous trans boyfriend; Morgan, a roller skating punk black lesbian; and Stevie, a two-spirit Navajo teenager who dresses like it’s 1987. Suddenly, Iris has blue hair and maybe, possibly, might have a crush on Morgan.

We Are the Nobodies combines the quirkiness of Leah on the Offbeat with the honesty of Jack of Hearts. This is a book that openly addresses the realities of mental health as an LGBTQIA+ teenager, and how we convince ourselves that we are somebody other than ourselves. We Are the Nobodies reduces the romanticization of suicidal ideation, tackles sexuality head-on, and reminds readers that bullies aren’t always other kids. Above all else, this is a book about friendship that centers around WLW and MLM solidarity.

I have also written a sequel, Nobody Asked You, which is complete at 69,000 words and follows Jeremy’s perspective.

I have previously been published in Tropes Publishing House’s A/B/O Anthology, and currently work with the team at Kevin Anderson & Associates as a ghost writer and developmental editor

About

Age Range

Young Adult

Genre

Romance (Contemporary)

Word Count

72,000

Book Link

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17253719.Scarlett_Barnhill

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Query Stats

Number of Queries Sent

~30

Number of Full Requests Received

4

Number of Offers of Representation

1

Number of Months Spent Querying This Novel

~2 months

Years Spent Writing Before Getting an Offer

10

Number of Manuscripts Queried Before This One

More than 3

Publication Status of The Book Queried

Went on Submission but was Shelved

Years Spent Writing Before This Book was Published

10 professionally, 20 in general.