Pitch Wars 2021 Wishlist!

WELCOME!

[ID: apple blossoms fill the foreground of the picture, a path leading up to a house with a warmly lit window in the background]

Hey everyone! As many of you already know, I have the great privilege of volunteering as a Pitch Wars mentor this year. Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each to spend three months with revising their manuscript. It ends in February with an Agent Showcase, where agents can read a pitch/first page and, if interested, request to read more. I entered Pitch Wars twice, in 2015 and 2016, and while I was never selected as a mentee, I had incredible and positive experiences building connections with fellow entrants and mentors alike. I still keep in regular contact with many people I met through the contest, and my entire critique group is composed of people I met directly or indirectly through Pitch Wars! All that to say, I’m absolutely thrilled to be involved as a mentor this year.

WHO THE HECK IS LAURA WEYMOUTH?

[ID: a green hillside sloping down to a pond at sunset. Someone in tall rubber boots and a sweater sits on the hillside. That someone is me]

For those of you who are new to Ye Olde lauraeweymouth.com, I’m an author of Young Adult historical fantasy, and will be mentoring within the YA category. My published works are The Light Between Worlds and A Treason of Thorns (both of which received multiple starred reviews) and the forthcoming A Rush of Wings, which is releasing on November 2^nd! I’ve got another book, A Consuming Fire, on the docket for 2022 as well—what can I say, I like to keep busy 😉.

So, because I hope you all will end up pitching to me, I’m now going to pitch myself to you. I personally think I’m a GREAT option to send your query and samples to because, as aforementioned, I’ve got plenty of experience revising work of my own and leveling it up successively throughout different stages of the publication process. And not only am I a skilled writer, I also have plenty of experience mentoring, though this is my first year doing so via Pitch Wars. I’ve done long and short term critique work with other writers, and have several authors who started out as my mentees and are now dear friends with agents and publishing contracts of their own! My mentorship experience means I’m used to walking fellow writers through the setbacks of authorial world as well—with several of my prior mentees, I stayed on board to work through multiple manuscripts before we found the one that landed them an agent, and eventually a publishing deal. And I’m no stranger to setbacks myself—after all, I entered Pitch Wars twice and never got in! Think of me as a potential fairy godmother for this exciting step in your writing journey—someone who gets it, and who wants to see you end up the belle of the publishing ball, even if we have to cry over some lost slippers and smashed pumpkin carriages along the way.

WHAT I WANT

[ID: a rustic, oat-topped loaf sits on a plate, a white lace tablecloth beneath them both. Baked goods are a thing I want, though ultimately somewhat irrelevant to the subject at hand]

If you’ve stayed with me through all of that and are thinking “Well, bippity boppity boo, Laura, let’s do this!” here’s what I’m avidly seeking. As a general rule across genres, I am deeply committed to the movement to create a more diverse and equitable modern YA canon. In all genres and subgenres, I am eager to receive stories from historically marginalized voices.

Within YA, I’m searching for essentially everything that would fall under the umbrellas of Contemporary, Romance, Scifi and Fantasy. Within contemporary, I’m open to smart and funny books, dark and serious ones, or issue-driven stories. When it comes to humor, I love authentic, sarcastic teen voices, and kids who are a bit of a mess—if you have the book version of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, I’d adore seeing it. However, I also love quieter, more thoughtful stories, and even downright tearjerkers. I have a soft spot for well done, careful mental health representation in particular.

In romance, I have no preference as to subgenre. Send me your space romance! Your contemporary romance! Your paranormal! All the romances are great so long as the central relationship is swoony. I tend to favor a slower burn, with loads of tension between characters, but am not the best choice for a manuscript featuring explicit sex.

YA needs to get onboard and make scifi happen. I have a PASSION for science fiction as a genre, and have been a devoted Trekkie since the tender age of 5. I especially love scifi that sheds light on current day issues and takes a more hopeful view of the human condition—The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow and the Light the Abyss duology by London Shah are MAJOR standouts of the genre for me, so if you have something similar to those, I absolutely want to see it. I’m not picky when it comes to my scifi though—time travel, aliens, robots, the Creature from the Black Lagoon—I think they’re all the bee’s knees.

And lastly, fantasy. Oh fantasy. The thing I write, and my first and longest love. I’d like to see any and all iterations of YA fantasy, but have a special place in my heart for the dreamy, lush and literary. Similar to scifi, I adore a fantasy that says something relevant to our times and our world—if your fantasy manuscript has a definitive theme, like belonging, identity, etc, I’d love to take a look.

Within all genres, if you’ve written a story I might love that is currently NA, I’m willing to help you revise it down to fit the YA category.

MY MENTORING PHILOSOPHY

[ID: an image of forget-me-nots in my garden, because my hope is that if we end up working together, the experience will be, in the best way, unforgettable]

…is that I want you to end up with the best story you can possibly write, but that it still has to be YOUR story. I can make suggestions, and lend you my expertise, but the most important thing is that you come away with a book you’re proud of. To that end, I generally provide in-line comments on smaller changes that should be made, as well as a longer, more detailed edit letter. Once I’ve provided feedback, I’m always open to discuss changes with mentees via whatever communication mode works best for them—phone, Skype, email, I’m good with it all! If you’re unsure how to implement changes I’ve suggested or want to approach them in a different way, we can brainstorm, too. My mentorship style is very collaborative, and I’m happy to go back and forth to find just the right shape for your story.

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

[ID: a small black and white hen stares directly into the camera, because if you thought you were going to escape this post *without* a chicken picture, my friend, you were sorely mistaken]

I hope this has given you an idea of whether or not we might be a great team. If so, I can’t wait to get a glimpse at your work! If not, carry on to some of the other amazing mentor wishlists–one of them is sure to catch your eye 🙂

Pitch Wars 2021 Young Adult Mentors’ Wish Lists

Click here to view all Pitch Wars 2021 Mentors’ Wish Lists. To view the wish lists by genre, visit this link.

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