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 starting on February 6, 2019, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2018 Pitch Wars Teams.
Next up, we have . . .
Lorelei Savaryn – Mentee
Juliana L. Brandt – Mentor
Lacee Little – Mentor
Juliana and Lacee, why did you choose Lorelei?
We chose Lorelei, because we very much believe in both her and the story her manuscript tells! Her book has the potential for enormous emotional resonance, all wrapped up inside a beautiful, thrilling tale that’s set in an incredible circus! We couldn’t resist.
Lorelei, why did you choose to submit to Juliana and Lacee?
I was drawn to Juliana and Lacee as a mentor team immediately, but I almost didn’t sub to them!
I didn’t know all the weak spots in my manuscript, but I did enter Pitch Wars knowing that my main character didn’t show much growth. But I also didn’t know how to fix it, and character arc was one area they emphasized that they could help with. I also felt my story matched so many things on their wishlist. Magic, sibling stories, hope and whimsy mashed up with darker stories, to name a few. Juliana and Lacee also collectively understood the Pitch Wars experience from both the mentor and the mentee sides of the coin and I was (and still am!) so ready to learn and grow.
But they had mentioned portal stories on their do not send list, and I wasn’t sure if the way REVERIE worked would fall too much in that category to be appealing to them. Still I kept going back to their wishlist and decided it couldn’t hurt to ask about it on their AMA thread on the Pitch Wars forum. It turned out my story wasn’t too portal-y in the ways they wouldn’t be interested in, at which point I felt great about choosing them as one of my mentor submissions. Taking that risk and asking the question made all the difference!
Juliana and Lacee, summarize your mentee’s book in 3 words.
Dreams. Circus. Hope.
Lorelei, summarize your book in 3 words.
Dream Circus, healing
Juliana and Lacee, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
Juliana: Eeyore is my favorite character in Winnie the Pooh; my heart couldn’t stand how sad he was when I was a kid (still can’t as an adult!).
Lacee: When I was 7, I dressed up as Emily Dickinson for Halloween.
Lorelei, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I already know I’m going to come out of this a better writer. The outlining work and digging into all the pieces that make a story tick prior to starting rewrites has changed everything for me both now, and for my future stories. I’m so looking forward to the rest of the revision process. I’m a writer for the long haul, so while I hope my PW story is successful, I know I will have many, many new tools as a writer that will help me continue to grow towards my goal of publication.
I also know that while writing is often something one does while spending a lot of time in one’s own head, no book is written in a vacuum. There are so many people lifting a story up from the first inception of an idea to a shelf at the bookstore. So I’m definitely hoping to expand my writing community through Pitch Wars, and have already been loving the process of connecting with my fellow mentees as well as my mentors.
Lorelei, tell us about yourself! What makes you and your manuscript unique?
About Me: I was born and raised in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area and I think I will always carry with me a fondness for dairy farms and football. But my family (husband and three kiddos) live in Illinois. Besides writing, I love to sing, have done improvisational comedy, and work in education as an instructional coach.
About My Story: I was hunting around for a new story idea this summer when my 6-year-old daughter told me about a strange dream she imagined. That, coupled with her relationship with our 4-year-old son, began the seed that turned into REVERIE. I also have a fascination with the idea of the circus. I haven’t been to many, but I enjoy books and movies that play with the fantastical and the escape from reality that circuses represent, and I wanted to bring those ideas into a world created especially for middle grade readers.
My extended family also experienced a tragic loss earlier this year, and while I would do almost anything to go back in time and change what happened, I don’t think REVERIE could have been told in this way if we hadn’t gone through that grief. Because of our loss, it has become very important for me to tell the story of a girl who finds her way to healing, and gets the chance to fight to bring someone she thought she lost home.
Thank you for supporting our Pitch Wars Teams! The Agent Showcase is February 6 – 11, 2019, and our next #PitMad is December 6, 2018!