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Becca Fitzpatrick, the young adult author behind the Hush, Hush saga, has landed a deal for a new book called Sapphire Skies.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers plans to publish this stand-alone thriller novel in Fall 2015. Executive editor Zareen Jaffery negotiated the deal with Inkwell Management literary agent Catherine Drayton. The story stars a 17-year-old girl named Stella Gordon who ends up in the witness protection program due to extraordinary circumstances.

Fitzpatrick had this statement in the press release: “I’m delighted to be writing another young adult thriller for Simon & Schuster—this about a girl who’s running from dangerous men and a haunted past. I’m drawn to stories that weave heart-stopping suspense with broiling romance, and Sapphire Skies is no exception.”

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Got a great first paragraph?

Share it on author Nathan Bransford‘s site and you could win the chance to have InkWell literary agent Catherine Drayton read part of your manuscript. All the Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge finalists will win a query critique from Bransford himself–the former literary agent has been helping aspiring writers polish pitches for years.

Check it out: “Please post the first paragraph of any work-in-progress in the comments section of THIS POST. If you are reading this post via e-mail you must click through to enter. Please do not e-mail me your submission it will not count. The deadline for entry is this THURSDAY 7pm Eastern time, at which point entries will be closed. Finalists will be announced… sometime between Friday and the year 2078.”

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YA author Becca Fitzpatrick has landed a deal for her “stand-alone psychological thriller” called Black Ice. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers plans to release this novel in fall 2014.

Publisher Justin Chanda negotiated the deal with Inkwell Management literary agent Catherine Drayton. At the moment, Fitzpatrick is promoting the final installment of the Hush, Hush saga, Finale. That book will hit bookstores on October 23, 2012.

Fitzpatrick (pictured, via) gave this statement in the release: “Black Ice is about a girl who backpacks the Teton Range over spring break of her senior year of high school but things go terribly wrong. Like Hush, Hush, the inspiration behind Black Ice comes from my own experiences during my teen years. It’s very satisfying to finally be working on a project that has been floating around my head for so long.”

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Becca Fitzpatrick is tenacious. I encourage all writers who are afraid to trash sentences, paragraphs, even chapters that aren’t working to go to Becca’s webiste and read the Bio section. This part, in particular, floored me: “Even though it's embarrassing to admit, I probably have two thousand pages of deleted scenes, which is a nice way of saying unbelievably sucky scenes that were at one time, actually part of the book. Today, chapter one is the only part of the book that survived five years of rewriting.” Now that's a woman who believes in her story—and that's a woman with a two-book deal. Coincidence? I think not.

Here’s Becca’s deal report from Publishers Marketplace:

Becca Ajoy Fitzpatrick's HUSH, HUSH, a sexy and dangerous romance about a teenage girl who falls in love with a fallen angel with a dark agenda to get his wings back, to Emily Meehan at Simon & Schuster Children's, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2010, by Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management.

Hi Becca, can you please tell us how you met your agent?
I found my agent, Catherine Drayton, by chance on agentquery.com. The Universe was being especially nice to me, I suppose! The day after Catherine requested sample chapters, I received an offer of representation from another agent, and Catherine promptly threw her hat into the ring. Despite what I always believed, having more than one offer is an extremely uncomfortable place to be. In the end, my heart made the decision, and I told Catherine, "Let's do this!"

How did the story that became HUSH HUSH come to you, and how long did it take you to write?
I feel like I've been collecting pieces of HUSH HUSH my whole life, but three instances in particular stand out. When I was in third grade, I discovered Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. I kept a flashlight under my bed, and every night I read about the mysterious and frightening adventures of my favorite girl sleuths. I'm pretty sure all those hours spent reading mysteries played a role in my desire to write them! Also, I remember reading the Bible one day and coming across a passage of scripture in Genesis that talks about fallen angels. I experienced a Eureka! moment, and the sexy bad boy fallen angel in my book got his first breath of life.

Finally, in March 2008 I drove to Denver with two friends, Laura and Katie, to attend Left Coast Crime, a conference for mystery, suspense and thriller writers. I left the conference high on forensics, murder and crime and set about writing a sexy, sizzling mystery novel that would become HUSH HUSH. From first draft to book deal took five (yes, five!) years.

You sold your book in 2008, you pub date is spring 2010, can you tell us where in the process you are now?
Over Christmas break, I spent three intense weeks revising for my (brilliant!) editor. Next week I'm expecting line edits. Fun times!

Do you listen to music while writing? If so, what kind?
I was wondering if you'd ask that! Actually, there must be something wrong with my brain because I can't write with background noise. I do, however, listen to music when I'm plotting, and most of my plotting happens when I'm working out. Being the mother of two small children, I have to multi task as much as possible. If you spot me out running in the morning, there's a good chance I'm plotting my next scene/chapter/novel. I listen to a lot of everything, from classic rock to movie soundtracks.

You signed a two-book deal, is the second book a sequel or a standalone? Have you started it?
The second book is a sequel. I was never very good at the whole procrastination thing, so yes, I've started it. In fact, I'm close to finishing the first draft! Writing the sequel has been a blast, because I finally feel like I know what I'm doing. Both HUSH HUSH and the sequel are mysteries, which requires a lot of intricate plotting and twisting. The phrase, "Nothing is what it seems" is always at the forefront of my mind when writing.

Tell us about your exciting foreign rights sales! How many countries has your agent sold to at this point?
Life is definitely unpredictable! If you'd asked me a year ago if I thought I'd be published, let alone selling across the globe, I would have laughed myself sore! InkWell has an unbelievable foreign rights sales force, and so far they've sold HUSH HUSH in The United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, France, Japan, Holland and Taiwan. It really is exciting to think I'll have the chance to entertain readers all over the world!

Do you have any words of wisdom or nuggets of advice for aspiring writers?
Look for opportunities to learn from criticism. Keep a journal, and write in it daily. Be true to your story, but also be true to yourself. Oh, and read—it's brain candy.

Becca has all her webtastic bases covered: Website, LiveJournal, Myspace and Facebook.

Thanks for the interview, Becca. We’re looking forward to seeing your book with all those international covers!