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5 Things I Learned as a Pitch Wars Mentee

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fs_cover_smallA year ago I entered THE FUNERAL SINGER in a contest called Pitch Wars. The experience was simultaneously terrifying, exciting, and rewarding. It also proved to be the most important step I would take in my five-year path to publication.

If you are already obsessed familiar with Pitch Wars, you can skip this bulleted list while I explain how the annual contest works:

  • Contestants send in a query letter and the first few pages of their manuscripts to mentors–authors and agent/editor interns or assistants who volunteer to participate and who specify on the Pitch Wars website what genres they’re most interested in. Last year’s rules stated we could submit to three mentors of our choosing.
  • The mentors then review their submissions and select one writer and two alternates they wish to work with.
  • The selected contestants send their full manuscripts to their mentors for critique and, if they agree with the mentors’ suggestions, they have about five weeks to make revisions.
  • With a new and improved manuscript ready to roll, contestants post a pitch and the first 250 words of their manuscript on the Pitch Wars site.
  • A group of amazing editors and agents review the pitches and first pages and make requests to see more if interested. The contestant with the most requests wins!

I entered the contest in December 2012 and was thrilled to be selected by one of my targeted mentors–the generous, talented, and incredibly supportive Erica Chapman. Getting accepted (from among about 2,000 total entries) was a thrill, but it was just the start of my Pitch Wars rollercoaster ride. So, what happened, and what did I learn? Here are the top five lessons I took away from my Pitch Wars experience:

1. Prep, prep, prep.
I’d spent four years writing and revising this manuscript and another year exploring publication options, so my query letter and pages were definitely as strong as I could make them. At last, all those critique partners, workshops, and hours of hard work would pay off.

Also, I researched my selected mentors carefully. All three were people I wanted to work with, and all three were people who seemed like they would be great fits for my manuscript. This targeting–much like the targeting writers need to do when seeking agents and publishers–made a huge difference in my response rate, as all three of the mentors expressed an interest and requested to see more pages.

Finally, I did tons of research on the market. I knew where my story would fit in the young adult world and what types of readers might like it. In my query letter, I said THE FUNERAL SINGER “took AUDREY, WAIT! and dropped it onto the set of SIX FEET UNDER.” Turned out, Erica was a huge SFU fan and had also read and loved AUDREY, WAIT! Talk about a perfect match!

2. Sometimes your manuscript needs tough love.
As I freaked out about waited patiently to see Erica’s critique, I had some hopes and fears about what she might suggest. Were there sections that moved too slowly? characters who needed more fleshing out? word choices that didn’t quite work?

Hahahahaha! If only. No, Erica came back with one main comment: I needed to change my main character’s ultimate love interest. Yes, you read that correctly. SHE WANTED ME TO MAKE A DIFFERENT CHARACTER THE MC’S LOVE INTEREST! That is not a tweak, people. That is not a light revision. That is a REWRITE of most of the novel. And I had five weeks to do it. Keeping in mind, it took me FOUR YEARS to write it.

My immediate reaction: I’m done. I’m quitting. I cannnot deal for one more minute with this novel. I told my husband this. Then I made the mistake of through the grace of God read him Erica’s email. “Can you believe that?” I asked. “She wants me to make HIM the love interest!” At which point, Joe, who by the way is SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE, DAMMIT, said, “I think she might be right.”

This did not make me feel better. This made me want to go to bed and cry for fourteen hours. But it also made me go back, review my novel with Erica’s critique in mind, and decide to try. And you know what? She was right.

3. Sometimes you need to go with your gut.
In addition to the whole love-interest thing, Erica made a number of smaller suggestions. Some of them I followed, but a couple I didn’t. While I of course respected her expertise and her opinions, in the end, THE FUNERAL SINGER was my story. Certain elements meant a lot to me, and I wanted to stick with them.

I did, however, take a look at her comments and consider other ways to address them. Sometimes when an agent, editor, or critique partner suggests a change, what they are really saying is, “What you did here isn’t quite working.” As they say, there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

For example, Erica wanted me to make a major change to my climactic scene because she worried that my main character’s actions in that scene made her too unlikeable. Without giving any spoilers, I did not make that change, but I massaged it enough that, while her actions remained the same, the context around them changed enough that (I hope) the reader is able to at least understand them.

4. With enough motivation, incentive (and a hard deadline!), anything is possible.
As someone who works full-time and writes at a snail’s pace even on the weekends, the thought of revising my novel in time for the agents/editors round was more than a little intimidating. Did I mention I had five weeks? And needed to change the LOVE INTEREST?!? So, yeah.

But I knew Pitch Wars offered a great opportunity, I knew there were hundreds of writers out there who had competed for that opportunity, and by now I knew that Erica’s revision suggestion was just what my novel needed to take it to the next level. So, I did it. And even if this list of lessons ended right there, it would have been worth it.

5. Contests can work!
But, the list doesn’t end there! I received seven requests from agents/editors (which was not enough to win … the winner got eight … but I wasn’t complaining!). I ultimately did sign with one of the agents, Andrea Somberg from Harvey Klinger Inc., and even ultimately (outside of the contest) found a home for my novel.

Had it not been for Pitch Wars, THE FUNERAL SINGER would not be a book today! It was released on September 24 by Swoon Romance, a longtime dream come true.

Don’t you just love happy endings?

… Said No Teen, Ever

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Yes, Mom, I’d love it if you came to the concert with us!

headshake

… said no teen, ever.

* * *

A strong teen voice is probably the one ingredient most likely to make or break a YA novel. So how does a writer get it?

While “voice” is one of those qualities that can be hard to define and even harder to develop, there are some basic things writers can do:

Avoid overly manufactured “teen talk.” Teens have highly sensitive fake-o-meters. Adult-manufactured “teen talk” sets those meters spinning. Yes, each new generation of teen-age speech has its own slang, its own cadence, its own set of cultural references. But a little bit goes a long way. Overdo it, and you come off as unrealistic at best and grating at worst.

Listen to how teens (and people in general) talk. This is especially important for writing dialog (which is different from voice, but which does contribute to your writer’s voice). People don’t speak in complete sentences. They use contractions. They interrupt each other in conversation. They use shorter sentences when they’re excited and longer sentences when they’re waxing poetic. Your characters should, too.

Don’t generalize. I hope this goes without saying, but … teens are people, too! Not all teens are alike. In fact, no two are alike. So give them their own personalities, dreams, failings, and flaws.

Think like a teen. Writing with a teen voice is less about using the latest “hot” phrases and more about seeing the world and responding to it the way a teen sees it and responds to it. Remember how it felt to be a teen? Good. That’s all you need! Drawing on your own feelings and experiences is the best way to make your teen voice real and believable.

* * *

And now, just for fun, some things teens would NEVER say, as contributed by real-live teens (and a few former teens) from my church’s youth group:
I wish my curfew was earlier.
I wish there was less food in the house.
I wish I didn’t have a smart phone.
I wish my internet connection was slower.
(Kyle Snoich)

I wish school was 10 hours a day.
The school lunches are so yummy! I could eat them all the time!
(Andy Vest)

I wish I had to wake up every day at 6 a.m.
I wish there was no such thing as football.
I wish there was no such thing as summer.
(Thomas Crowson)

Video games are boring.
I wish teachers were super mean.
TV shows from the ’90s are so boring.
I love paying for textbooks.
(Teresa Artigas)

All high school girls are really nice to everyone.
No one is ever insecure.
I just love doing chores.
I’m not attached to my cell phone.
(Emily Gallihugh)

Yes! Another essay assignment!
(Andrew Dietz)

I wish the driving age was 21.
I wish we had year-round school.
I wish texting had never been invented.
My parents need to be more strict.
(Billy Vaughan)

I wish I had more homework.
I really enjoy cleaning my room.
I sure hope I get to wake up early tomorrow!
Let’s go to the library! (Aw, that one makes me sad.)
I hate it when people text me.
(Nick Yother)

I want to be a telemarketer when I grow up.
(Laurie Cummins Morris)

On a Wing and a Prayer (But Mostly a Prayer)

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Writing and prayer … what could be more natural? As writers, many of us find ourselves praying for inspiration, for guidance, for good news, for acceptance, for positive reviews.

So much of writing is outside of the writer’s control. Certainly most of the publishing process is out of the writer’s control and, though this may come as a surprise to non-writers, much of the writing process can be as well. Creativity so often has a mind of its own.

So … we pray.

acceptable_wordsFor those who write and pray, Acceptable Words: Prayers for the Writer offers a compendium of prayers for, and for the most part by, writers. I first found this book when searching Amazon for anything and everything written by one of my favorite middle-grade authors, Gary Schmidt. Turns out he and his wife, the also very talented writer Elizabeth Stickney, put this wonderful volume together.

In addition to entries written by those who are perhaps the “usual suspects” – C.S. Lewis, George McDonald, Thomas Aquinas – it includes prayers from Jane Austen, e.e. cummings, Madeleine L’Engle, and two of the three Bronte sisters. Somehow I feel better just knowing that even these fabulous authors felt the need and desire to pray.

While the prayers themselves are great sources of inspiration, one of my favorite sentiments in the book is found in the introduction, where Schmidt and Stickney write:

“… when the writing day comes to an end, when we shut down the word processing program, put the vinyl cover back on the Royal, set the pencils back in the pencil holder our children made the summer they were four, and when we look at the word count for the day and it’s not even close to what we had hoped for, and when we re-read our stuff and realize that we didn’t manage to say something that might be unique and important – when all of this is done, then what matters is that we worked hard and faithfully at the task that we were called to do: to bring acceptable words into the world, to bring acceptable words into God’s world.”

Voila! It’s a Book!

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I first started writing THE FUNERAL SINGER five years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. (Well, not really. I mean, it was five years ago!)

But here’s how it started: In April 2008, I went to a children’s writers conference, where T.A. Barron, author of the wildly popular MERLIN and MERLIN’S DRAGON series, gave the keynote address. Barron was talking about everyday heroes, and he commented that kids and teens today too often have a skewed idea of what it means to be a hero.

His remark stuck with me, and on the four-hour drive home from that conference, I started formulating the plot for THE FUNERAL SINGER. I decided to write a novel about a girl who becomes a pop “hero” but who ultimately discovers it can be more rewarding, more real, to be an everyday hero. Next thing you know, voila! It’s five years later and I have a book! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Seriously, though, let’s take a look at my path to publication, by the numbers:

  1. I went through one agent “break up” while working on this book. My former agent was smart and successful and sweet, and I admire and adore her, but she didn’t love this book like I did. I had to choose, and I chose the book. I’m not going to pretend it was easy. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t cry. But ultimately, it was the right choice.
  2. I entered two online contests with this book. It did well in both contests, and in one of them I received some feedback that ultimately led to major revisions and improvements.
  3. I put this book through three writing workshops. The feedback and support I received in those classes played a huge part in my writing and revisions.
  4. I received four “close, but no cigar” rejections from agents on this book. The ones where you get so close, where you can practically hear the phone ringing with the agent’s offer, are the toughest. Rejection sucks and leaves you with two choices: Give up, or try again. Only one of those choices offers the possibility of success.
  5. Did I mention, I spent five years writing, revising and submitting this book? That’s like, a lifetime (if you’re a five-year-old) (or a hamster).

Had I known my journey to publishing this manuscript would have meant going through all of that, I’m not sure I ever would have begun it. But I’m glad I did and am so thrilled to finally have a chance to share THE FUNERAL SINGER with the world!

Swoon Romance will publish it in Fall 2013 as an e-book. I want to thank publisher Georgia McBride, editor Amy Garvey, and agent Andrea Somberg for believing in this book!

Stay tuned to this blog for details and updates—including a sneak peak at the cover—as we lead up to its release!