Pitchwars 2016 is almost here!!!

I know it's almost Pitchwars time again when my blog starts getting traffic. (Also because I work with Brenda behind the scenes and we've been at it for months.) When it occurred to me that hopefuls might be dropping by my blog to get a sense of me, I also thought about the fact that the most recent post was last year's wishlist. So feel free to read on to the next post, but just be aware that was my wishlist from LAST YEAR. This year it might be different.

In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, where I'm quite active, especially on the #Pitchwars hashtag or on my website.

The 2016 wishlists go live on July 20th, so that's when I'll be able to tell you all about what I'm looking for this year. For now, all I can say is that I'm mentoring Middle Grade again, and I can't wait to get started!!!

2015 Pitchwars Writers! Let Me At Your MG Manuscript!!

I’m so excited to be back as an MG mentor for Pitchwars! Whether you’re chosen by a mentor or not, you’re going to develop some amazing relationships – if you make yourself available for that. And you should! We all need more support on this writing journey!

That’s me in playwright mode, but you can imagine my eagle
eye on your manuscript, rather than on actors.

WHO I AM

You have a lot of great mentors to choose from. Here’s why I hope you’ll consider me. I know the road well—you can read about my agent journey here. I’ve been a freelance editor and ghostwriter for many years, and I assist a NYT-bestselling middle grade author. I made the longlist twice for the Chicken House/Times of London’s International Children’s Fiction prize, and I was a playwright for many years before turning to middle grade fiction.

Here’s what some of my critique partners have to say about working with me. Maybe you've read some of their books?

Joy's critiques are always intelligent, super helpful, tactful, and thorough. Her feedback makes me think about both the technical and emotional aspects of creating an authentic story. Without Joy as a critique partner, I would not be a published author. There is no doubt in my mind that Joy's guidance-based feedback and spot-on critiques throughout my writing journey have pushed me to become a better writer. Joy has an impeccable eye for identifying what works and what doesn't, how to eliminate manuscript baggage, and how make your pages shine. 

Jessica Lawson (The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher, Nooks & Crannies, Simon & Schuster)

If you have a chance to have Joy to critique your work - take it! Joy will help you find ways to make your WIP stronger, all while making you feel good about what you’ve accomplished so far. She’s done it for me, on multiple occasions. She is genuinely supportive and insightful and wonderful and great. If she had critiqued this endorsement, it would have been written so much better, but she didn’t, so...

Sheila Grau (Dr. Critchlore’s School for Minions, Amulet/Abrams)

Joy McCullough-Carranza is my fairy book mother. She was a supportive coach through the final revision of my middle grade novel. Why “final”? Joy is such a thorough critiquer and adviser that when an agent asked for a resubmit a few weeks after Pitch Wars, my manuscript was ready. I signed with my dream agent and the book went on immediate submission. Joy brings a playwright’s three dimensional understanding of character to her critiques, but she also knows how to tweak a story until it sparkles. You’ll work hard with Joy as your mentor, knowing she will guide you in making your book the best it can be.

Laura Shovan, (2013 Pitchwars mentee, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, 2016)

Don’t choose Joy for her query Jedi powers, although she certainly has those. And don’t choose Joy for her knowledge of the MG market or for her supportiveness, although you will be endlessly grateful for these. Choose Joy because she will take your story seriously. She will see through to why you had to write the story you wrote and she will find opportunities to make your story even more of what you dreamed. 

Ki-Wing Merlin (Weaving a Net Is Better Than Praying For Fish, Balzer + Bray, 2016)

Joy is so much more than a mentor. She's a cheerleader, a friend, a fairy godmother, an excellent brainstormer. I'm pretty sure she's smarter than Einstein and I'm certain my query and manuscript would not have garnered the attention it did without her expert critiquing skills. Joy as your mentor > winning a million dollar lottery.

Elliah Terry (2014 Pitchwars alternate, 

I Am Calliope June, Feiwel & Friends, 2017)

WHO YOU ARE

You are in this for the long haul. If you choose me, you might not “win” Pitchwars - as in, get the most requests in the PW agent round - because I don’t always pick the biggest, splashiest manuscripts. Hopefully you’ll get requests from Pitchwars agents, but I’m in it to be sure you’re ready to query effectively, too. Please don’t submit to me if you already think your manuscript is near-perfect and just needs a few commas moved. I’m likely to suggest some big changes. My mentees and alternates from previous years have all dug into really major revisions – strip out a POV, raise the stakes in a major way, develop (or cut) a whole subplot.

I entered PitchWars at the last minute, but I could not have found a better mentor for me if I spent a million years researching the different mentors--all of whom were fabulous! Joy helped me uncover the real vision for my book by providing insightful feedback and asking hard questions. I learned so much from Joy, not just about craft but about surviving the inevitable ups and downs of this crazy business! I am so grateful for her continued friendship and support. If you write MG, pick Joy! You'll be glad you did. I know I was.

Elizabeth Dimit, 2014 Pitchwars mentee, 
still on the agent-hunt!

WHAT I WANT TO SEE IN MY SUBMISSIONS

In years past, I’ve been greedy for aaaaaaall the middle grade, hesitant to limit whole genres. After all, there are always exceptions I adore!! This year, though, I’m going to do it. So, first of all, no fantasy, no science fiction, no horror. I’m sorry! You are awesome – go forth and seek the right mentor for you!

Everyone else, to get a feel for what I love, you can see the list below of some of my favorite middle grade books. I love contemporary, from serious issues to light and fun. I love magic realism (but again, no fantasy) and I tend toward the literary. While I could certainly pick something big and splashy and commercial, you’ll also find a welcome harbor for the “quiet” manuscripts here. I’m open to verse. And a big YES, PLEASE to diversity.

Here are some of my favorite books:

The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall

Splendors & Glooms, A Drowned Maiden’s Hair, and The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz

The Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker

Wonder by RJ Palacio

Unusual Chickens for Exceptional Poultry Farmers by Kelly Jones

A Crooked Kind of Perfect and Hound Dog True by Linda Urban

The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshish

Walk Two Moons and Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

The Winnie Years by Lauren Myracle

Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate by Tim Federle

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Allison Levy
Inside Out and Back Again by Thannha Lai
When You Reach Me & Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead 
The Boy In the Dress by David Walliams

 

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

UPDATE: I blog about the difference between magic realism and fantasy here. 


If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on this post or find me on Twitter @JMCwrites and I’ll happily answer. Putting your work out there takes so much courage and I applaud all of you who submit, whether to me or any of the other mentors. Good luck! And if you aren’t chosen – stick with it! I got my agent through traditional querying, and I know if you stick with it, you’ll connect with the agent who’s right for you.

So if you're excited and ready to go, here are all the details at Brenda's site about what's next! And here are the rest of your awesome mentors! 

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Pitchwars 2015 is almost here!!!

There’s been an uptick in visitors to this blog of late, and with the Pitchwars contest approaching, I’m guessing most of you are doing some preliminary mentor research (since I barely ever use this blog for anything else). I can’t post my bio and wishlist until August 3^rd, but while you’re getting to know me, you could check out this post about my writing process, or this interview with me about the difference between writing novels and plays. I'm looking forward to getting to know you once the contest is underway.

My 2013 Pitchwars mentee Laura Shovan has repeatedly called me her Fairy Bookmother.
So I made myself an appropriate costume.

And if you’re still on the fence about submitting to Pitchwars at all, DO IT. I got my agent through traditional querying and that option is open to everyone. But what I adore wholeheartedly about Pitchwars is the relationships formed. Even if you’re not chosen by a mentor, through the Twitter hashtag you’ll have the chance to connect with other writers at the same stage of the game (and with mentors, too). I have developed some wonderful friendships and critique partnerships through Pitchwars, and we all need more friends along this journey. So I say do it!

And I’ll see you back here on August 3^rd!

Telling Stories

Telling stories is powerful.

This is something I’ve known for a long time, of course. I wouldn’t have dedicated the last fifteen years of my life to making plays and novels otherwise. But the point has been starkly illustrated in my own life recently as Live Girls Theater produces my play Blood/Water/Paint. I wrote about the play’s long journey to production here.

Simply put, it is the story of my deepest pain. And to watch as a tremendous group of artists honors that story with their time and their talents has been tremendously validating.

Daniel Christensen and Alex Highsmith in Blood/Water/Paint
at Live Girls Theater, Joe Iano Photography

Especially with stories of sexual abuse and assault there is so much invalidation. The disbelief, the flat-out accusation of lies, the fear or shame around telling one’s story. And not everyone is willing or able to tell their story to their loved ones or authorities. But they still deserve to be heard, and have their story believed and honored the way Live Girls is currently honoring my story.

So I want to begin to gather the stories of other survivors of sexual abuse, assault, harassment, incest. My goal is to ultimately take these stories and create a documentary theater piece in the style of Twilight: Los Angeles or The Laramie Project, using the actual words you use as you tell me your stories.

I don’t yet know what the play will look like, exactly, at this point. I’m just in the earliest stages of gathering the stories. I’m not even sure what the story-gathering will look like yet. I think, as much as possible, I’d love to do in person interviews, recorded with permission to use the subject’s exact words. For those not in the area, or not comfortable with an in-person interview, I will develop a written questionnaire. And perhaps Skype/Facetime can play a role.

At this point, I’m gathering interest – people who would like to share their stories with me, to have their stories honored as source materials in a documentary-style play. So if that sounds like something you’re interested in, email me at painttheblood@gmail.com . Let me know if you’re in the Seattle area and would be comfortable with an in-person interview. If not, let me know if you’d be open to video interview, or if you’d prefer only written communication.

Around mid-March, I will begin contacting people, with questions and logistical details worked out. Please share this with anyone you think might connect with the mission and would like to have their story honored. I would love to reach well outside my own circle of friends. So many people have stories to tell. I’d love to help find an audience for those stories.

Thank you for your courage as you even consider sharing your story. 

On the Play of My Heart and its Journey to Production

I was supposed to be at Live Girls! Theater’s annual fundraiser tonight, talking about what their work on new plays by women has meant to me. I’m stuck at home w/this crud I can’t shake, but here’s what I was planning to say.

 Artistic Director Meghan Arnette probably doesn’t remember this, but my first encounter with Live Girls was an audition. It was my first audition in Seattle, in fact. I was twenty-five, newly transplanted, and I remember arriving at the Pioneer Square building and climbing stairs of dubious structural integrity, thrilled by the fringe-iness of it all. I auditioned for Quickies and was not cast – but now this theater that did all new plays by women was on my radar.

But let me back up even a few more years to my sophomore year at Northwestern University, where I had a brilliant playwriting professor. I ended up winning the school’s playwriting award and getting a full production of the first full length play I ever wrote. I knew it would be hard work, but life as a widely known, frequently produced playwright seemed spread out before me.

A few years out of college and just before I moved to Seattle, I wrote a play about Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi, which I called Blood/Water/Paint. I sent it to my professor, who had remained my mentor, and he raved. This play was going to be my break-out and make me a name, he said.

This was 2001.

But getting full productions of Blood/Water/Paint or any of my other full-length plays proved much harder than getting that first production had. Still, I kept sending things out. And after that Live Girls audition, I sent Blood/Water/Paint to Meghan at Live Girls.

She wasn’t ready to fully produce it yet, but something in the play spoke to her and she asked if Live Girls could use excerpts from the play in Notorious Women—LG’s collection of vignettes about, well, notorious women. That was the first of many times Live Girls put my work on their stage. My work was in countless Quickies, reading series, Notorious Women, and Holiday XXX. In 2007, Meghan said she wanted to do one of my full lengths plays in a season slot and I was thrilled.

I had continued sending my plays out all over the country and trying to connect with other Seattle area theaters. I had around 400 rejections to my name.  Blood/Water/Paint had had a workshop in FringeACT, many other plays had had readings and workshops around town and other places, but I had not had another full length production since the one in college in 1997.

I was kind of surprised that Meghan wanted to produce my play Mud Angel, and not Blood/Water/Paint, which I thought was stronger, but I was still thrilled. Live Girls had moved to Ballard, and while the space did not give me the near-death thrill of stairs that could collapse at any moment, it was absolutely overwhelming to see all the artists coming together in service of my play.

Any hopes I had that the Mud Angel production would lead to more Seattle area full productions were unfounded, though. While I continued to get readings and workshops and pieces in short play festivals, those rejections for productions kept rolling in.

Over the last five years, I’ve basically stopped writing plays. I didn’t stop writing – my focus is largely children’s fiction now – but for as much as I love theater, fifteen years is a long time to bang one’s head on the stage door. And yet, though I wasn’t writing new plays anymore, on a regular basis, Meghan would come to me and say, “Hey…what are you working on? Do you have something for Quickies? Do you have something for a reading series?” She refused to let me stop being a playwright completely.

So when I got an email from Meghan about a year ago, I wasn’t surprised – until I read it. She said she wanted to do a reading of Blood/Water/Paint. At first I was a little annoyed. Readings can be really useful at certain stages, but they almost never lead to production. And though I had pulled Blood/Water/Paint out several times since FringeAct and overhauled it, each time it had been met with scores of rejections. It is the play of my heart, and I honestly didn’t want to dredge it up if it was just going to get another reading.

But Meghan said no, she really wanted to consider it for a full production. And then she connected me with director Amy Poisson. Amy, if you guys don’t know, is a FORCE. She is going to completely take over Seattle theater, if not the entire world, and she is putting that energy behind my play right now. The play of my heart, which I was completely convinced would never find an audience. This play is my self-portrait; it says the most important things I have to say in the world, and for more than a dozen years, people have been telling me, “No. We don’t want it on our stage.”

But no longer. Because Live Girls is producing my play, opening February 20th at Theater Off Jackson. I cannot believe my good luck in having been partnered with Amy, except I have to remind myself that it wasn’t luck at all. It was Meghan and Live Girls remembering my play, remembering me, dragging me out of my hermit cave, giving me a place, and being the only company anywhere willing to put my heart on stage.

Thank you, Amy. Thank you, Meghan. Thank you, Live Girls. And thank you, everyone who supports new plays by women.

You can donate to support LG Theater HERE.

My Pitchwars Inbox - By the Numbers

I thought I’d do a bit of a breakdown of my Pitchwars inbox, for those who like numbers and stuff. (I’m generally allergic to numbers, though I’ve always found query stats interesting, so I thought this might interest a few.)

I got 84 submissions. Of those, NONE were for the wrong age category. Well done, my applicants! A few were in genres I mentioned as not being my favorite, but I think I sounded fairly open minded in my wish-list, so I didn’t auto-reject for that. (That said, it wasn’t a huge surprise that I didn’t end up selecting any sci-fi or high fantasy. Next year I think I’ll sound less open-minded in my wish-list. I hate to rule out a whole genre when occasionally I love a book from it, but I also want to be honest about what I’m most drawn to.)

I asked for more pages from 17 people, and there were several I thought were quite strong but did not request pages from. (Mainly because I just didn’t feel the connection from the opening chapter, but I felt certain someone else would – which is sooo frustrating, I understand, because I heard it a lot while querying.)

I could have very happily worked with at least 8 of my submissions.

10 of the people who submitted to me were chosen as a mentee or alternate.

At least 4 that I thought were quite strong did not get chosen at all (but I cheer them on as they query, from one writer who was never chosen for contests to another!).

I’ve gotten 49 email thank you’s (and more on Twitter). This is not expected – don’t feel like you should thank me or other mentors if you haven’t already. But the graciousness of the responses was really overwhelming. Even if you’re a very evolved person, it’s difficult to not be chosen for something. It’s difficult to thank someone who didn’t choose you. But I have only one response, of those 49, that was not completely and utterly awesome.

(Though I really appreciated the gracious response, do note that you should not thank agents for their responses to queries. You can thank them if they’ve responded to requested materials, but otherwise they’ve just got enough to deal with in their inbox. And if you thank them, do not ask follow up questions. This did not happen to me – again, well done! – but some other mentors had people asking if they could give feedback on a revised query, etc. Do not do this with agents.)

I chose 2 MG contemporaries. One of the writers has been working on her book for three years. The other has written and queried four previous manuscripts. They are in this for the long haul. I will do another upcoming post introducing you to them and their marvelous manuscripts.

For now, thank you so much for gracing me with your submission. I was blown away by the quality, and feel like I understand more and more what agents mean when they say they loved something but just not enough, or that they didn’t love it but are sure someone else will, or that they didn’t quite connect though the writing was strong.

So many of you are so very close. I hope you all will stick with it. And if you haven’t gotten an agent by the time Pitchwars rolls around again next year – though I hope for your sake that you have – I hope you will share your work with me again.

Another Successful Quiet Query

Since yesterday's successful query post seemed so helpful (I feel your pain, quiet contemporary writers!) I thought I'd post another. This was a previous manuscript that did not get me my agent - but it did get me 13 requests. So it did what a query is supposed to do - got the agents to read more. 

It also shows you how I focused the query on one main character, though the manuscript is, in fact, dual POV. (That is made clear at the end of the query.) I had one version of the query that focused on both girls, and it also got requests, but ultimately I preferred this one. Let me know if you have questions!

Twelve-year-old Marisol Higgins never really thought all that much about her mother’s homeland of Guatemala. But when she discovers that her dearly departed mom might not be so departed after all, Marisol has got to find out more. Especially when all signs indicate her mom must be in Guatemala.

So when Marisol finds out her dad is about to turn down an opportunity to study Guatemalan volcanoes for a year—complete with an invitation for her to tag along—she goes ninja and makes it happen. What better way to find her mom and get some answers? (Even if Marisol’s dad keeps acting like the peanut butter jar on the mantle really is filled with her mother’s ashes.)

But finding her mom isn’t as easy as Marisol thought it would be. Once she’s in the land of the Maya, she’s confronted with language barriers, attack kissers, unpredictable downpours, and the harsh realities of the Guatemala City slums. Not to mention a father who seems determined to keep her away from her own mother—if she can ever find her, that is.

NOWHERE BIRDS is a 40,000-word contemporary novel for middle grade readers, which interweaves Marisol’s story with glimpses into the life of Luz, a girl journeying from the Guatemalan slums to Marisol’s Southern California town. Eventually, their vastly different worlds collide.