MY 2016 PITCH WARS WISHLIST - YES, I AM SHOUTING!

​WHY SUB TO ME?

I am part angel, perfection in every sense, and I will guard your words with the pure light of love.

​And, this takes me nicely to an announcement... this year's team name is... wait for it... have you guessed it yet?... Yep, that's right... TEAM ANGEL! Quite fitting, don't you think?
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​On top of this, I'm a professional developmental editor, the editorial director at Lakewater Press, and an award-winning MG author. I've been mentoring authors, both debut and published, for a number of years now, and I like to think quite successfully!

Amongst my successful clients is my now friend J.S. Roberts. This gorgeous young specimen was my Pitch Wars mentee in 2015, and her book, the wicked MG mystery Delayed, was snapped up earlier this year by fabulous agentSara Crowe! Oh, and look! She's popped by to say a few words about me!

'If you have a middle grade manuscript, you owe it to your career to choose my amazing mentor, Kate Foster! (Yes, I still call her mine. She still gives me great advice!) Here’s what Kate did for me during Pitch Wars: She taught me what revision really is. Hint: it’s not changing a few words around and adding occasional small scenes. She showed me how to bring my characters to life. She read and re-read my manuscript until it gleamed! And she helped me create an amazing pitch.

'Here's what Kate did for me after Pitch Wars was over: She stayed with me. She helped me with my query and synopsis. She checked in with me regularly and encouraged me not to lose hope. She offered to help me with more revisions. She gave great advice when my agent SARA CROWE scheduled THE CALL. She cheered and announced on Twitter when I signed my contract. And only a month ago, when my agent suggested super major revisions, Kate helped me get my head in the right place to actually make it work. Then she read the whole manuscript again. I’m so thankful Kate liked my manuscript enough to give it a chance!'
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​Thank you, BFF!

​So also, I am a mother of three boys, a wife and a dog-lover. I'm English, but live in Australia, and I don't do much else other than play with words; sometimes my own, but mainly other people's. I love the sunshine, my bed, and eating – particularly cake.

​MY PITCH WARS WISHLIST! 

Everything. All the awesomeness. Just go ahead and fill up my inbox with scrumptious literary cookies!
How's that? Does that help?

Mmmm, I guess not. OK, so I probably need to be more specific. But, in truth, I am definitely one of those readers who devours books in most genres, most settings, and for most age groups. Quite honestly, I never know what book I'm going to fall for until I'm... erm... falling for it.

So, forcing my heart's soppy and painful need to love all the stories at once out of the equation, there are two elements that run through most of the books that make my worship, take-to-bed, smoochy, lets-go-for-dinner list.

Detailed, well-defined, flawed characters
A dark undercurrent

To run into a little more detail of both so maybe you can see if you fit my wishlist...

Characters drive a story for me. Of course plot is important, but if your characters are weak, or you haven't put any time into getting to know them, I'll notice and get frustrated. I know, I'm that shallow. I will work on characterisation with my mentee, of course, it's my speciality, but I need to get swept up in the characters' personal stories from the first page or I'm out. My opinion is, that if you put the effort into building and knowing your characters better than your closest friend or partner, then it will strengthen both your voice and the engaging quality of your writing.
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Yeah, I love dark, creepy, eerie, what's-in-the-shadows, we're-all-gonna-die, that-person-is-following-me, is-there-someone-in-my-house stories. I do. Not necessarily in-your-face horror with axe-wielding maniacs leaping out of mirrors chopping people's limbs off and drilling into brains – although I like a bit of that too! – but more a dark, haunting, sinister undertone that makes me shiver and unable to sleep, makes me over-think, makes me wonder what I would do if this happened to me. That 'Could this happen in real life?' question. Scare and thrill me at the same time, and do your best to keep me up at night. I will love you for it!

• ​Send me mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, paranormal, action, adventure. 
  
• Send me stories that are unique, dark, horrifying, haunting, thrilling, coming-of-age, mystifying, striking, surprising, unforgettable, disturbing.
  
• ​Send me characters you've nurtured, loved, hated, argued with, wanted to punch, virtually hugged, dreamt about, sent on terrifying journeys.
  
• ​Send me worlds I can feel, hear, smell, touch, step into, and never want to leave.
  
• ​Send me a book that I will be heartbroken to end.

Some other pointers:

• I am not the right mentor for historical.
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• Generally, I avoid contemporary or 'issue' books unless they are utterly unique. It's so easy to fall into the 'educating the reader' trap or try to tick the 'diversity' box because it's what you think's expected with this genre, and many I read now feel clichéd.
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• If your main character has dead parents, don't sub to me unless you resurrect them – or your main character killed them! – because again, this is becoming a cliché.
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• Research 'Show Don't Tell' if you're considering me as a mentor.
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• Be prepared for hard work and a lot of silliness.
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• Some of my favourite books (not necessarily MG): A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, There's a Boy In the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar, The Uninvited by Liz Jensen, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon.
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• Currently on my Kindle: The Unwind series by Neil Shusterman
  

And that's it. I hope this helps. Fundamentally, I just want stories that I can drool over, so if you've written one, send it to me NOW!

If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment below. I will answer!

​Good luck, everyone, I look forward to reading your work.
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Check out all the other MG mentors right here. Though all amazing, none are as amazing as me. Just sayin'.

1. Joy McCullough 2. Shari Schwarz 3. Lisa Lewis Tyre 4. Jessica Vitalis 5. Brooks Benjamin and Caroline Thompson 6. Melyssa Mercado 7. Ashley Martin 8. Juliana L. Brandt 9. Ellie Terry 10. Stefanie Wass 11. Rebecca Petruck

12. Kate Foster 13. Julie C. Dao 14. Kim Long 15. Gabrielle K. Byrne 16. Kevin Springer 17. Patrice Caldwell 18. K.C. Held 19. Gail Nall and Abby Cooper 20. Dee Romito and Jen Malone 21. Laura Shovan and Tricia Clasen 22. Alexandra Alessandri

23. Kara Seal 24. Amanda Hill and Cindy Baldwin 25. Sarah Cannon 26. Jenna Lehne 27. J. C. Davis 28. Timanda Wertz and Wade Albert White 29. Elly Blake & Ron Walters 30. Rebecca Wells 31. J. C. Davis & Addie Thorley 32. Allison Ziegler

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