Thank you, friends, for the awesome pitches you sent in! My favorite thing about this contest is seeing how creative you guys get. And your stories! I get so excited to crit when I see how much talent is out there. I'm really looking forward to how these pitches translate into the pages I will be reading.
Now, I picked winners solely based on my personal preferences and what I wanted to read. If I didn't pick your pitch, it has no bearing on the quality of your work or its potential to attract an agent/publisher. There were many great pitches and I just had to go with what grabbed me the most.
Shall we get on with it? I will share the first 6 winners and why I chose them, and then I will end with the GRAND PRIZE winner, who will also receive an ARC of HOUSE OF IVY & SORROW.
Beth Smith "Faithless girl meet town of true believers." — I loved the inherent conflict in this pitch, and the many possible directions this could be taken. I immediately wanted to see how this played out.
Kara "Shakespeare Festival road trip leads to LOVE!" — This caught my eye because of the topics involved. I was a techie in high school, so the idea of a Shakespeare Fest road trip warms the cockles of my heart.
Jenny "Zombie disease causes anxiety for germaphobic teenager." — This grabbed me because it was both funny with a hint of creepy, which reminds me of the awesome Carrie Harris. I'm a wuss when it comes to horror, but when there's humor fused with it I can totally get on board.
Leandra Wallace "Grieving teen fights gargoyles in 1777 Boston." — I liked the historical aspect of this, and am interested to see how the implied paranormal elements play in. Maybe because I'm in love with Sleepy Hollow, but 1777 Boston sounds like a cool time period to showcase.
Nicki "Reluctant princess betrothed to father's murderer." — The potential for conflict in these 7 words is just fabulous. And hey, I like princesses. Who doesn't like princesses now and then?
Steph Sessa "Framed for treason, synesthete fights for freedom." — Synesthesia is something I've always found very interesting, so that immediately caught my eye. I want to see how that pov is handled. It's sure to be a unique take on a "framed for treason" story.
AND THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER!
Stephanie Lynn Smith "Teen girl science prodigy resurrects dead boyfriend." — I just...this has "recipe for disaster" written all over it, which is golden. Also, I'm feeling like it may have a Mary Shelly connection, because of the Frankenstein themes. Either way, it sounds like good fun to me.
Winners! Please email me at nataliewhipple@hotmail.com so that we can work out the details of the prizes. If you MS isn't ready, please still email me so that I know to delay your crit (which is totally okay).
Thanks to all who entered! This will be a yearly thing, so I hope to see some of you next time!