Books on literary agents’ Manuscript Wish Lists: real or fake? (A quiz.)
Sometimes, it can be hard to know exactly what a literary agent is looking for. Other times, they just come out and tell you, via a “Manuscript Wish List” (#MSWL). These can be both helpful and oddly specific. The following is a quiz: some of these are real #MSWL requests, posted by agents and editors on social media or elsewhere. Some are not. Answers (with links) below. The prize is agent representation. Good luck!
Real or fake? Make your best guess:
1. Card playing and/or gambling teens in a dystopian setting.
2. Locked-room murder mystery set inside an IKEA.
3. Underground grandma karaoke goes awry.
4. Characters with celiac disease—especially in the rom-com space. How does one navigate kissing on a first date when your partner has
had gluten?
5. Soft mermaids who never go in the water.
6. Dark academia in space.
7. Enemies-to-lovers set in the world of competitive eating.
8. Goodfellas on ice.
9. Literary fiction where the story takes place in a “Terms and Conditions” agreement, think Pale Fire meets Severance.
10. A prison-abolitionist utopian SF novel.
11. Would love some fresh takes on Hades.
12. BDSM erotica written in second-person future tense with a TPE dynamic and light pet play, e.g. “You will beg for the leash using only your paws.”
13. You’ve Got Mail but actually about letters between postal workers.
14. Brutal murders set to soft sunshine, cannibalism and cinnamon-apple tarts.
15. Steampunk Western featuring a love story between a gunslinger and his robot horse.
16. A toast cookbook.
17. Point Break meets Break Point: an undercover FBI agent infiltrates the pro tennis circuit to investigate a gang of match-fixing ball kids.
18. Climate change romance about weather forecasters for rival networks stranded in a hurricane.
19. Imagine if Tomb Raider was a cat shifter hunting magical relics.
20. More sporror (horror involving fungi/spores…).
21. High-concept, commercial books with series potential.
22. Epic bromantasy.
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For writers ready to query:
Real: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11
Fake: 2, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 22
