Hook

Here's the 150-word hook I wrote for Master of the Off-Chance. It's not as long as a query blurb, and it was hard to to convey a sense of character, setting, and conflict in that amount of space. And I really do not dig the last line, but I was sick of fiddling with it, so it's standing for now.


Maize Gersham is a second-generation hippie who’s been drifting though life like a bit of dandelion fluff on the wind, searching for the perfect place to put down roots. Nowhere could be more perfect than Eden House, the now-disbanded commune where she grew up, in the rural Vermont town of Hartfield. Maize blows back into Hartfield like a cloud of patchouli incense, planning to recreate the groovy utopia of her childhood— minus the messy love affairs that tore the commune apart. 

When Maize meets local boy Colin Grzeskiewicz, she doesn’t think much of him— just another cute redneck guy hoping for some free love. But there’s way more to Colin than a baseball cap, a pickup truck, and a great smile. And he’s determined to be her new best friend. 

Now Maize has to decide what “perfect” really means when you’re talking about home and love.