PW #402: Adult Women’s Fiction: UNCONVENTIONAL

Manuscript Status: Finished

Mentor Name: Kristin Wright
Mentee Name: Mairi Kilaine
Title: UNCONVENTIONAL
Category: Adult
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Word Count: 92,000

Pitch:

A meeting with film producers at CometCon would be a beautiful alternate reality for any broke sci-fi author. But for Hollywood-wary Molly Watson, it’s a living dystopia. While her sharp mind and brutal honesty may charm a handsome British television star, they also threaten to supernova any chance at a film deal.

Excerpt:

With trembling fingers, she activated her cloaking device and prayed it would protect her from the sub-human steel-hearted despots who ruled these lands.

                                               Cyborg Prince Spec Chapter by M.E. Holmes

It sucks being right all the time. I told my agent this was a mistake. That nothing could be gained from sending me out in the wild to hawk my written wares at the biggest science fiction convention in America. Apparently being a hermit author is no longer acceptable, especially if one wants to make a living. One must attend massive conventions, do book tours, and become a brand. I’m not Molly Watson anymore. I’m M. E. Holmes™.

Headphones in, I crank my rain app from a drizzle to a tempest as I enter the San Diego Grand Hotel. The sound normally soothes my frayed nerves, but no ninety-nine cent app can undo the torture of that miserable stormy flight or the fact that I am walking through the swankiest hotel ever in a “WITCHES GET SNITCHES” t-shirt.

A couple of well-heeled guests pass and I plaster a smile on my face. The mask I created for all my husband’s social functions, back when there were social functions to attend. I never imagined that one day I’d be on my own, nobody there to tell me when it was slipping or tipping the scale too far into glassy-eyed grin. The guests don’t return my smile. No matter how hard I try, I never seem to get it right.