Alyssa Miele
Quill Tree Books / HarperCollins Children's Books
My Manuscript Wish List®
As a member of the Quill Tree Books imprint, I am looking for books written by, and about, BIPOC people, queer people, and people of varying abilities and identities. As a later-in-life queer person, I wish I had more access to stories that reflected things I felt growing up—to have seen myself a bit more clearly in literature—and so it has become really important to me to find those underrepresented voices, characters, and stories.
My taste steers me more frequently toward contemporary realistic fiction in YA and MG. From commercial to literary, queer to straight, and everything in between, I’m looking for manuscripts that are chock-full of strong, flawed, and loveable characters that stay with you long after you’ve lived their story with them. I also have started to acquire picture books. For those, I love emotional, thought-provoking stories where questions are asked, worlds are discovered, and hearts grow at least three sizes by the last page.
To drill down a bit more into my YA and MG wish list, I’m looking for stories that:
- feature characters from different backgrounds, cultures, parts of the world
- feature LGBTQI characters
- feature characters of varying abilities and identities
- are mostly rooted in reality, but can have dashes of otherworldliness (I’d love a speculative!)
- deal with complex family dynamics
- explore toxic relationships (romantic, platonic, familial)
- showcase strong, uplifting friendships
- take me through the worst of high school/grade school, but bring me out on the other side of it
Also: I would love a submission that somehow incorporates a character’s musical playlist/taste throughout the narrative or as some sort of narrative device/structure. Like High Fidelity for YA.
Additionally: I love stories that play with format and medium.
Other words that dance around my head when I’m thinking about what I want: voice-driven, coming-of-age, feminism, unreliable narrators, fresh narrative structure, secrets, sex-positive, body-positive, atmospheric, romantic, emotional, thrilling
Submission Guidelines
Agented submissions only
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
AAPI Horror, AAPI Sci-Fi, African Diaspora, African Sci-Fi, Africanfuturism, Asian American Literature, Asian Diaspora, Asian Fantasy, Asian Horror, Asian Sci-Fi, Author-Illustrator, BIPOC, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Mystery, BIPOC Sci-Fi, Book Club, Character-Driven Horror, Character-driven SciFi, Children's, Children's and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Clever picture book, Commercial MG, Commercial YA, Commercial and Literary, Complicated Relationships, Contemporary Culture, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary YA, Contemporary Young Adult, Cross-genre, Dark Female Friendships, Dark Humor, Dark topics with a light touch, Disability, Diverse Protagonists, Diversity, Dystopia, Dystopian, Family Drama, Fantasy Grounded in Reality, Female Friendships, Feminism, Feminist, Feminist Horror, Fiction Picture Books, Gothic, Gothic Horror, High-concept YA, High-concept YA/MG, Horror Comedy, Humor YA, Immigrant Voices, Intersectional Feminism, Intersectionality, LGBT YA, LGBTQ Contemporary, LGBTQ Romance, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi, LGBTQ+ rom coms, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAP, Latine Diaspora, Latinx Horror, Latinx stories, Layered Family Stories with multiple narrators, Layered Rom-Coms and Comedy of Manners with a cultural component, Literary Crossover, MG Horror, MG contemporary, MG mystery, MG/YA, Magic Realism, Magical Realism, Magical Realism YA, Marginalized Voices, Mental Health, Middle Grade, Middle Grade Contemporary, Middle grade magical realism, Minority Voices, Multicultural, Multicultural Romance, Multicultural and Diverse Thriller and Mystery, Multiple POV, Multiple Timelines, Muslim, Mysteries, Neurodiversity, New Adult, Novels in Verse, Occult, Occult Horror, POC, Picture Book, Pop Culture, Psychological Horror, Psychological Thrillers, Racial Justice, Relationships, Same-Sex Romance, Sexuality, Slice of life, Social Issues, Social Justice, South Asian, South East Asian Literature, Southern Fiction, Southern Gothic, Speculative, Speculative Fiction, Speculative Middle Grade, Speculative Thriller, Tarot, Trauma, Underrepresented Voices, YA Contemporary Romance, YA Contemporary Romance with layers, YA Crossover, YA Mystery, YA Rom-Coms, YA RomCom, YA Romance, YA horror, YA memoir, Young Adult, afrofuturism, body horror, book club fiction, character-focused fiction, character-focused stories, children's diversity, coming of age, commercial, commercial middle grade, commerical, contemporary, contemporary MG, contemporary middle grade, crossover, crossover adult, crossover appeal, dark academia, diverse, diverse and own voices, diverse heroines, diverse voices, dramedy, family saga, family stories, found family, friendship, friendship stories, gender, ghost story, gothic romance, horror, light Sci-Fi, light fantasy, memoir, mental illness, music, queer, queer horror, queer narratives, realistic fiction, speculative slice of life, stories that don't fit neatly into a genre, subversive
I’d like the next…
Euphoria
Now & Then
Virgin Suicides
Moonlight
Jellicoe Road
Breakfast Club
Girl, Interrupted for YA
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Say Anything (pls gimme a Lloyd Dobler)
Dead Poets Society
American Beauty (but with much more focus on the teens)
My favorites include…
The Miseducation of Cameron Post, She’s Come Undone, Your Voice in My Head, On the Jellicoe Road, Virgin Suicides, Ramona the Brave, Clementine, P.S. Longer Letter Later, The Glass Castle, Out of My Mind, Tweak, Speak, Ask the Passengers, Franny & Zooey, This One Summer, Wonder Boys, Grit, Sharp Objects, The Fever, The Impossible Knife of Memory, Honor Girl, My Sister’s Keeper, Cut Both Ways, All American Boys, Saint Anything, All the Bright Places,
