Our mentors are editing, our mentees are revising, and we hope you’re making progress on your own manuscript! While we’re all working toward the Agent Showcase on November 3rd-9th, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2016 Pitch Wars Teams.
And now, we have . . .
Ariane Felix – Mentee
Cat Scully – Mentor
Kim Graff – Mentor
Ariane: Why did you choose Cat and Kim?
Their blog posts resonated with me. They love the same weird, creepy stuff I love, and I felt they would get me. And obviously I think they’re awesome. Both of them are skilled editors, and I know I’m in great hands. It still feels surreal that they picked me.
Cat and Kim: Why did you choose Ariane’s manuscript to mentor?
Cat: I fell in love with this book as I was reading it. I found myself hopping between fulls while I read and I kept coming back to Blue Waters. I couldn’t get the voice out of my head and the way she used sweeping metaphors coupled with science fiction mystery. It reminded me a great deal of Donnie Darko and the Matrix, two films I adore. I also felt like I was the right mentor for the weakness of the books as the portions that needed help were my particular strengths as a mentor.
Kim: The voice and writing was what drew me to Blue Waters. I was blown away by Ariane’s beautiful prose, and the twisted sci-fi horror element to it. I’d been craving sci-fi horror since I finished watching Stranger Things and Blue Waters really delivered.
Ariane: Summarize your book in three words.
Stars, meat, and duality.
Cat and Kim: Summarize your mentee’s book in three words.
Lavish, time rift, obsession
Ariane: Tell us about yourself. What makes you and your MS unique?
When I was a kid, my brother put me in bed every night and told me the stories of a game called StarCraft. It didn’t take long for me to start playing it, and my “Disney” princess is Kerrigan (pictures below). I grew up watching anime, making origamis, reading weird stuff, and obsessing about The Matrix (OBSESSING). All of these elements somehow translate into my book.
Cat and Kim: Tell us about yourselves. Something we might not already know.
Cat: Neil Gaiman once asked me to help wash his black shirts.
Kim: I watched my first horror movie when I was five, and have never looked back.
Check out Kim Graffs’ Short Story: Corrupt inside Horrors: Real, Imagined, and Deadly . . .
What are you afraid of? What causes the hair on your neck to stand up? Do you worry about what your fears mean? What horrifies you might be nothing to someone else. But there’s something for just about everyone in this collection of personal tales. Whether your fears remain secret or you laugh while you watch monsters devour your neighbors, you’ll find a reason to keep your lights on tonight. The first collection from Elephant’s Bookshelf Press focused purely on horror stories, “Horrors: Real, Imagined, and Deadly” includes tales from E.B. Black, Kay Elam, Kim Graff, Justin Holley, Precy Larkins, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Mindy McGinnis, R.S. Mellette, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Matt Sinclair, A.M. Supinger, and Charlee Vale.