Friday, March 11, 2011

I'm Only Slightly Neurotic and Obsessive

I've made myself a conference preparation to-do list. I've written, practiced and memorized my two shorter pitches (still working on the long one). I've cyberstalked Googled the agents I'm meeting to find out what kind of books they represent and who their clients are (I did a quick look a couple months ago, but nothing in-depth). I've been compiling all the feedback I've gotten on my excerpts that were critiqued this week, and am going to do some edits this weekend so my sample pages are prettier. And I've only started hyperventilating once... Just joking, but I did have to force myself away from my laptop last night and eat a PB and Nutella sandwich.

So, today I reveal the promised pitches! I know I mentioned a vlog. Right. Well, that's not going to happen. Sorry, but I taped myself with the webcam and it was really scary. So, moving right along....

I decided to do a one-sentence, one-paragraph and two-paragraph pitch like Nathan Bransford mentioned. Here you go:

One sentence:

A young, corporate climber discovers she’s a witch who’s lived countless lifetimes and must escape the immortal sorcerer intent on possessing her soul.

One paragraph:

Eva Westvale, a young corporate climber, is thrown into oncoming magical traffic when she attracts a cloaked stalker and begins to have strange visions of magic and times long ago. With the help of overly-confident shapeshifter Ambrose and sassy teen witch Elspeth, she discovers she’s a witch who’s lived countless lives. To escape her hunter and keep her soul, she must regain a millennia worth of memories and power.

Two paragraph:

Eva Westvale is a young corporate climber, planning the perfect wedding to her college sweetheart. Everything changes when she attracts a cloaked stalker and begins to have strange visions of magic and times long ago. With the help of overly-confident shapeshifter Ambrose and sassy teen witch Elspeth, she discovers she’s a witch who’s lived countless lives.

As her memories and power begin to return, Eva is caught between rival shapeshifters and coven politics. She must learn to control her growing powers and figure out what triggered their return. And most importantly, she must unravel the mystery of her cloaked hunter so she can survive, soul intact.


I still have time to edit these, so feel free to offer any feedback you may have! On Monday I'll share my conference checklist. Have a great weekend writer friends!

8 comments:

  1. I think you've hit a nice balance of modern day life and the magical story behind it.

    Jai

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  2. I like it, especially your one-sentence pitch, it really encompasses what your book's about (or so I assume, since I haven't read it). Good job and good luck at your conference. We'll look forward to Monday's post so we can see if your pre-conference checklist looks like ours (we mostly copied ours from agent Mary Kole's blog).
    erica

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  3. Oooh, what a fun pitch! I'm so intrigued. Good luck!

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  4. I've thought about those Vlog things, but I don't know that the world is ready to see such a thing. Besides I'm no match for Charlie Sheen.

    All of the pitches sound pretty good, but I guess the one sentence is enticing enough that if they want to hear more you can step it up to the next levels.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  5. I think you have a great pitch and I wish you the best of luck. Right now I'm not offering any advice because each one pulled me in. That being said I too have been working on perfecting my pitches and my queries... let's get something awesome going on soon!

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  6. I love how you did them in different "sizes." I'm terrible at pitches, so no help (or harm) from me. Good luck! I hope you get a ton of requests!

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  7. Great job! You sound very prepared - I'm sure you'll be fantastic!

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  8. I especially like your 1-sentence and 1-paragraph pitches. You should do well with these! Fun to see, now that I've read your Prologue. :)

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