Brian

I got my first agent response for my YA thriller GENERATION ZOMBIE and it’s a partial request! 😻🫣

As someone who takes 5-7 days to read one book, this is a good reminder not to feel bad when I see someone say they finished a book in four hours!

Whether or not GENERATION ZOMBIE lands me an agent, I’m proud of myself for reaching this point. Teenage Brian would be freaking the f*ck out that I wrote a young adult thriller about social media and zombies!!

I started outlining this book way back in August 2023. Since then I’ve spent hundreds of hours writing and revising, completing four drafts and implementing a full developmental edit. The book is currently 85,000 words but I’ve probably written hundreds of thousands of words in all.

I’m ecstatic to announce that GENERATION ZOMBIE is finally hitting the query trenches!

Moodboard 3 by 3 grid of images: A hand proffering a red apple with a snake coiling around both A couple in the dark lit only by a match lighting a cigarette between them A man in a business suit offering his hand A long chain pulled taught seeming chained to the viewer A crude pentagram drawn on asphalt with pink Disney Princess chalk and one dollar tea lights lit at each point A businessman staring at his shadow which has horns and a tail A man crouched in a cave weeping hiding from the light outside A man in a white suit and a man in a black suit stand back to back and clasp hands An hourglass rapidly running out of sand with a skull resting atop it

THE OFFICE X GOOD OMENS

A satire of both business and the supernatural, Virgil Mora, Hell's Consultant, must restore Heaven's faith in Hell by saving a vampire-run Ohio gas station in just three months to save his job and Lucifer, the angel he's fallen for.

#QuestPit #A #F #W #LGBT

this sounds like a riot!

a moodboard detailing nine images related to my book ALL THE DEVILS in order they are: a neon rock n roll sign, london (notably big ben), a man playing the guitar, a man punching a mirror, a man staring forward into the camera with only his eye showing, someone walking down a hallway, stars falling from the sky, photos hanging from the ceiling and finally, an audience at a gig. all nine images have a red hue.

🎸 daisy jones x knives out 🗡️

the songstress, the high-flyer, the gambler, the sweetheart, the watcher, the matriarch and the rogue. seven suspects. one the killer of renowned rockstar sam corvi. but who? only they can tell you

#questpit #Q #A #LF #MY

A composite image featuring two side-by-side graphics: a TikTok “For You” page on the left and an Instagram profile page on the right. Both graphics feature imagery designed to evoke the mood of YA thriller novel GENERATION ZOMBIE: shadowy figures trying to break down a door; a pile of newspapers; a disembodied hand on a pane of glass; and a phone showing a grid of various social media app icons.

What to expect from GENERATION ZOMBIE, my 86K YA thriller/horror:

😬 Chronically anxious main character
🤬 Toxic father-daughter relationship
🕵️‍♀️ Journalist enemies to lovers
💀 Armageddon-causing cult
📲 Social commentary like BLACK MIRROR

#QuestPit #W #YA #T #H

such a great title! this honestly sounds amazing

holy crap the vibes are amazing. such a great spin on dark academia, would love to read!

tysm! so glad to hear that.

thank you sm!

thank you! love AJW!

Brian’s MS got me staying up at night reading. it’s SO SO SO good. @ agents watch this space !!

Mood board by my awesomely talented mentor @solarhoang.bsky.social! 🫶

A composite graphic featuring a grid of nine oversaturated images (three rows of three) that evoke the mood of YA thriller novel GENERATION ZOMBIE. From top left: a pile of newspapers with the word “classified” visible on one; a disembodied hand on a pane of glass; a young woman holding a phone; a young man staring at a phone with one hand on his cheek; an aerial shot of the Empire State Building with a red sky; a crowd of people; a phone screen showing a grid of social media app icons; a dark silhouette with an arm raised; and a large stack of newspapers.

BLACK MIRROR x HELL FOLLOWED WITH US

When a seventeen-year-old aspiring reporter discovers a mysterious social media app turning young people into zombies, she must expose the truth or lose her generation forever.

GENERATION ZOMBIE is an 86K YA thriller/horror.

#QuestPit #W #YA #T #H

duckduckgo is a replacement for google docs?

this! i wish google docs let you remove the gemini buttons. alas there seems to be no way! 🤷‍♂️

Ahhh! Thank you sm, Solar! 🧟

BEYOND thrilled to announce @helenzdong.bsky.social and i will be mentoring @brianbyrnewrites.bsky.social & his absolute feast of a YA horror manuscript for @roundtablementor.bsky.social

Brian’s MS got us screaming in our DMs since the logline. Many congratulations to all applicants this year! 🎉

2. You need to write for you, not for other people. Most people simply won’t care that you’re writing a book, and there’s no guarantee anyone besides a couple of close friends or relatives will care to read it. Which is why writing should be primarily for your own creative expression and enjoyment.

1. You need to be stubborn. There were many days when the words refused to come. Or they did but they sucked. I often thought I would be rewriting the same scene or chapter forever. All it took to get unstuck was sitting down the next day and trying again. And trying again the day after that.

Hi Marina! Done 🏳️‍⚧️

✨ My 66 reads of 2024! ✨

I had the privilege of reading SO many incredible books this past year. I also read more in a single year than ever before. I consider myself a slower reader, so I’m especially proud of the volume I got through in 2024.

Here’s to many more fantastic reads in 2025! 📚