Tuesday, April 16, 2019

FICTION PROPOSAL (An Example from a published novel) 

For anyone in need of submitting a fictional book proposal to a publisher, here is an example of one for a book that is now published. As always, paying acute attention to grammar and spelling is crucial. Different publishers will have different requirements, so pay close attention to those and meet them. I certainly hope that you will find this useful and relevant. 

Yours Truly, 

B.C. Jensen 
P.S. - All major spoilers have been deleted. 

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FICTION PROPOSAL 
REZ's EDGE - "Destruction & Redemption" 
Welcome to Dakota's hell! Welcome to the REZ's EDGE! 
​ 


The  REZ's EDGE  dives into the life of a middle-school aged white-boy whose world is wracked by tragedy.   Join him in his trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains; his  
"Destruction & Redemption".  Ride the REZ's EDGE!  
Summary 
It's late at night and Dakota's father, Gordon, is driving them home down a lonesome highway. It's 1974, one year after the takeover and occupation of the village of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement (AIM) and a militant population of 300 Indians. 
. 
Headlights pop over a hill, blinding Gordon. The oncoming vehicle streaks across the double-yellow lines, smashing into Dakota and his father. Their car careens, catches, flips, and smashes into the ditch. Dakota is seriously wounded. His father is dead. 
. 
After a year of rehabilitation and many visits to his shrink, Dakota returns to his first day of eighth-grade middle school to face his mental demons and the tribal cousins of his father's killer. 
. 
Dakota's anger burns within him and finally comes spewing up as he throttles ... [spoiler deletion]. 
. 
Dakota finds that his next-door locker mate is an Indian girl named Cheryl Two Bulls. His disgust at her and her race eventually froths off from a boil to only a simmer, and he asks her for information on the Indian meaning of his namesake. This sparks off an attraction towards Cheryl and her white best friend Olivia, which leads into tricky territory of young love and hormones gone rampant. 
. 
Dakota is forced to meet each class day with student counselor, Bruce Radcliffe. In cahoots with Dakota's mother, Bruce proposes a Big Brother figure for the thirteen-year-old to hang out with. Upon an almost impromptu introduction, Dakota sees that the Big Brother is ... [spoiler deletion]. Dakota's mind is shredded and he runs from Bruce's office and the school grounds. With Bruce's coaxing, this finally resolves itself and Dakota turns to his Big Brother, Jonathon, as a friend and confident. 
. 
Dakota and his white friends torment the hell out a number of Indian kids in their classes. He has two Indian friends that he had become estranged with after sixth grade. Dakota is also bullied by a large upperclassman Indian, whom he has altercations with during their football practice sessions. He's forced into dealing with his tormentor and he also rekindles the friendship of his Indian friends, but to the criticism of one of his white friend's, a fellow Indian tormentor. 
. 
Dakota and his mixed group of friends gather at one of the boy's house, whose parents are gone for the weekend. Olivia shows up at the doorstep with torn and bloodied clothes. The group then goes on a rescue mission to find her friend, Cheryl.  ... [spoiler deletion]. 
. 
Dakota falls into a deep depression. His Big Brother takes him out to Cheryl's grandfather's cabin on the reservation for a sweat lodge, Inipi, cleansing. Dakota is searching for a resolution to his guilt and his sorrow. During the sweat, he is sideswiped by the realization that he has been tricked by his Big Brother and Cheryl's Grandfather into performing the ceremony with  ... [spoiler deletion]. 
. 
Dakota finds peace in the end, and the reader finds out, in the very last sentence, that Dakota's father's killer is ... [spoiler deletion]. 
Main Genre: Coming of Age Action & Adventure Historical Fiction 
Other Genre's It Fits Under: 
Action & Adventure  
Coming of Age 
Cultural Heritage 
Family Life 
Historical 
Native American & Aboriginal 
Psychological 
Romance - Multicultural & Interracial 
Small Town & Rural 
Word Count: 133,075 
Target Audience: Ages 13 and up. Those that enjoy: 
- The Body by Stephen King or the movie Stand By Me should love REZ's EDGE 
- John Steinbeck's writing style, but desire more action and a plot that move's along faster than that of East Of Eden, should also be fully engaged by REZ's EDGE 
- The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall and his followers will dig REZ's EDGE 
- Learning about reservation lifestyle, Indian history, religion, spirituality, tragedies, triumphs, folklore, and the American Indian wars. 
- Books on race issues, injustice, prejudices, inequality, equality and justice. 
- Music of the 1970s, including pop, rock, metal, and a touch of country western. 
- Gripping coming of age stories 
- Small town life in the 70s 
- The news on the Indian's standing up against the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline. 
- Multicultural & Interracial Romance 
REZ's EDGE is different in that it takes the viewpoint of a Caucasian boy, and his somewhat prejudiced upbringing, to address the racial inequality of American Indians through his own eyes. It ultimately is a story of a boy looking to find resolution with the chaos that has turned his world upside down. Dakota is a torn up boy looking for healing and redemption in a world of conflicting signals. 
REZ's EDGE intertwines historical juicy tidbits, American Indian folklore, Native rituals in a manner that most definitely 'Does Not Suck'. In fact, readers will be gulping it down. 
  
Bio 
Brad Jensen was born, raised, and educated through 12th grade in a small town in western South Dakota, approximately 30 miles from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation border. He attended South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota, and then went to work In Seattle, Washington for the Boeing Company as an engineer for 22.5 years. He always felt misplaced as an engineer, because he never fit the stereotype. In his heart, he has always been an artist and a writer, that happened to be damn good at math. He always wrote: prose, poems, stories, etc. B.C. Jensen has had his work published in newspaper form and internet forums.  
Brad has been a reader most of his life. In Seattle, however, he began diving into books about his homelands, the Dakota's, and the people that first lived there, the American Plains Indians. This stirred in him the desire to write about the people of his homeland, the injustices, the tragedies, and their triumphs. He's seen it first hand and works to give it a vibrant life in his stories.  
Brad has been working diligently at growing his social internet reach. He has a large following on the below websites: 
  
Personal Website: http://bradjensen.wixsite.com/authorbradjensen 
Tumblr: http://aminoapps.com/page/books/680756/brad-jensen-author 
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bradjensenauthor  
Google+ Page: https://plus.google.com/…/10505…/105054276127718924831/posts  
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/…/rezs-edge-ancestral-novels-by-…/  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorBJensen  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorbradjensen/  
Books & Writing Amino: http://aminoapps.com/page/books/680756/brad-jensen-author 

  
Contact Info 
  
Brad Jensen 
[address] 
[phone] 
authorbradjensen@gmail.com 
http://bradjensen.wixsite.com/authorbradjensen  
  
The following 25 pages of single-spaced text has been expanded to double space for your reading ease. Enjoy!  
  
THE REZ's EDGE - "Destruction & Redemption" 
Introduction 
I had it all. 
. 
I was only twelve, but everything was there for me. Food, clothing, shelter, friends, the love of my mother and father, and the protective wall that my father constructed around us. 
. 
But the walls of my soul were decimated the summer before I started seventh grade. 
Five-thousand pounds of sheet metal and steel came barreling down upon my father and me, obliterating my wall, my protector. 
. 
So, now, how the heck do I rebuild some kind of wall? Because, Lord knows, I need one to protect my wounded and scared to death heart and soul. 
. 
You know, nothing is more dangerous than a hurt and fearful animal... 
... [spoiler deletion]... 
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That's All Folks! 
Hope you found it informative and worthwhile.  
Cheers! 
B.C. Jensen 





1 comment:

REZ's EDGE Official Book Synopsis

In the vein of the movie "Stand By Me", the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", and the novel "The Miracle L...