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Libby💕
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An agent’s guide to Wraith, a dark academia speculative horror novel about fear, desperation, change, and hope.
When Sibyl finds herself cracking under the pressure of the program she worked so hard to get into, she’s willing to take help regardless of what it may cost her.
#questpit #w #a #s #h
cover slide with the title “Wraith: An Agent’s Guide” in the center and the words “Everything is fine” to the left of the title and “You love it here” to the right of the title. The top of the page reads “75K word paranormal horror” On the left side is a pitch which reads “Sibyl got everything she ever wanted when she was accepted into an elite graduate program at one of the world’s top universities, but once there finds herself desperately struggling to keep up with both academic and social responsibilities. An infuriatingly persistent shadow in the corner of her apartment threatens to send her spiraling, until it offers salvation. If she lets it in for just a little while, it takes care of all of her work for her and asks for nothing but a few hours in control in return. What’s the worst that could happen?” On the right side is a Query blurb which reads “At the tender age of 24, all of Sibyl’s dreams have come true. After spending countless hours revising, volunteering, writing, and interviewing, she’s made it into her top choice graduate program. Her only choice graduate program. She likes it there. She does, really. She’s not just saying that because she worked tirelessly to get there and that would all be pointless if she didn’t like it. It’s hard, but that’s fine. She knew there would be growing pains, but there just seem to be more and more and more of them. Just as she starts to feel herself cracking, help comes from the most unexpected place of all; a mysterious shadow in the corner of her apartment that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It does all her work for her. All it takes in return? A few hours where she is not herself. Far fewer hours than she would have spent doing the work. She doesn’t know what happens while she’s gone, but it’s a small price to pay nonetheless. “ For fans of Bunny by Mona Awad, A House with Good Bones by T Kingfisher, The Lamb by Lucy Rose. Themes of Dealing with anxiety & depression Processing grief Paranoia Toxic competition Platonic soulmates Family relationships Dark academia Key elements of Imposing gothic setting Unique paranormal encounters Unreliable narrator Surrealist bending of reality Strong imagery Excerpt reading “You one of the grad students?" The driver's voice wraps around me and cloaks me in warmth. "Yeah, how did you know?" I'm surprised she’s gotten it. I'm much younger than most of the other people in my program, most people mistake me for an undergrad. Sometimes I wonder if there’s a reason no one else is my age. "A little early in the semester to already be spending all night at the library otherwise." She looks at me in the mirror and smiles softly, the corners of her eyes and bridge of her nose crinkling ever so slightly. It reminds me of my mother, and for a brief moment I am a child again, looking at the rear view mirror in the back seat, and she looks back at the road and it's gone and the air is sucked out of my lungs. Immediately, I want it back so badly that a great yawning chasm of despair opens in my chest. I am simultaneously collapsing in on myself and bursting at the seams. The crack in my chest grows and grows, splitting first my ribcage and then my spine right down the center before they crash back together, the force fusing them into little mountains of bone. "I procrastinated pretty bad. Learned my lesson." The words burn my throat. I pray with everything I am that she’ll look up again, let me be a child for one more fleeting moment. But the moment is gone. "I hear that." She doesn't look up again. She keeps her eyes on the road. Did she ever look up in the first place, or did I imagine it? I spent too long in the basement in the library, too long working without a break today. My brain is fried. I haven't called my mom in three days, I'm just feeling guilty and it's manifesting in weird ways. This is normal. This is just a growing pain. Everything is fine.
May 7, 2025 at 2:00 PM