Stephanie Stein

More #MSWL items as always on my official Manuscript Wish List page! Looking forward to reading--and if it's been a while since we chatted, agent friends, would love to reconnect! manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/step…

🌏 Historical fiction from before the year 1900, especially from BIPOC perspectives; and also, specifically, queer historical fiction set in under-examined moments of the 20th century #MSWL

😎 Those "I wrote this for myself, without thinking about anyone else's expectations" books--the ones that lean so hard into an author's voice and the depths of their mind that NO ONE else could've written anything like it. You know the ones! #MSWL

😂 Make me laugh! Note I am not one for super zany young MG or grossout humor, but I love self-aware wryness or a bit of quirk
😭 & make me cry, especially with contemporary MG about family, friendship, & kids figuring out their place in the world #MSWL

🏳️‍🌈 Would especially love a multi-generational queer coming-of-age story, bridging the gap between Gen Z/Gen Alpha LGBTQIA+ kids and the Queer Elders of previous era(s)
💜 Queer romance, too, especially ones full of ✨yearning✨--I'm ready to P I N E this year! #MSWL

🌈 Queer stories written for the teens and young readers of the 2020s, who grew up with the internet in their pockets, and are taking journeys of identity and finding their place in the world of *now*. Exploring 201-level questions beyond the 101-level basics. #MSWL

😼 MG fantasy with factions/houses/teams that make readers want to declare allegiance and inhabit that world--think warrior cat Clans
🌿 Cottagecore fantasy romance--homey worlds (not w/o darkness) where I'd want to set up my own Baba Yaga hut and herb garden in the forest #MSWL

🌻 MG fantasy with an inventive central conflict/no individual antagonist. Characters solving problems that are structural or inherited or driven by people trying to do what's right but disagreeing on what that is. Think recent Disney movies like Encanto & Moana #MSWL

📚 Stories about stories, language, and how and why myths are made and passed down, especially from BIPOC and diaspora perspectives
🌟 Hopepunk! I want to be in tears about humanity's potential to work together and light a spark in the face of darkness #MSWL

😈 Ruthless schemers with a secret squishy marshmallow heart of gold (Roy Mustang vibes, basically)
🌃 YA contemporary fantasy with vintage Holly Black/Curse Workers vibes
👀 Narrators that knock big ol' holes in the fourth wall #MSWL

🎼 While we're on Broadway: a retelling that feels as fresh and topical but perfectly, wholly, inevitably classic as Hadestown. Also very much looking for retellings/riffs on folklore and legend that decolonize and reclaim magic from white patriarchy (think LEGENDBORN) #MSWL

Some specific things I would love to see in my inbox:

🗡️ YA fantasy with sharp teeth that takes no prisoners and makes no apologies
💃 Dramatic historical romance/fantasy romance with Phantom of the Opera/Moulin Rouge/Great Comet ambience #MSWL

... a broad range of MG & YA fiction and graphic novels--fantasy (my first & greatest love as a reader), historical, romance, some great humor, and high-concept contemporary (especially with a framing device such as epistolary elements, then-and-now timelines, etc.) #MSWL

Agent friends, I have officially wrapped on 2021 submissions! Looking forward to signing up some fantastic new voices in 2022. Send me some exciting manuscripts to read! I'm looking for... #MSWL

Always a YA #mswl!

In the middle of @CatSWrites's new book and deeply wishing for YA historical romance to become More Of A Thing. Agents, if you've got one coming up, send it my way! #mswl

Always on my #mswl for YA 😈✨

#mswl!!!!

While it's still pitch dark outside by 5:30, I'd be extremely down for a middle grade ghost story, agent friends #MSWL

Mainlined all of Lupin last night & this afternoon, and it is SO EXTREMELY MY SHIT! A kind-of retelling where the source material exists in-universe and the characters are consciously riffing on it? Meta af, sign me up. Also an eternal #mswl