From September 21-26, we’re posting mini-interviews with most of the 2020 Pitch Wars mentors. We thought it would be fun to have them answer one question. A question that would give you an idea of their likes and personalities. And possibly point out a mentor you may have missed on your exhaustive search for which mentors you’ll submit to when our submission window opens. Don’t know what Pitch Wars is START HERE.
Giveaway!
We’re giving away 2020 mentors’ and committee members’ books! Go to the bottom of this post for details and to enter for a chance to win.
Need to connect to the community?
Join the Pitch Wars forum to have discussions with some of our mentors and other writers or get your work critiqued by your peers and sometimes mentors or search for critique partners. It’s our gift to you for being so awesome, and we hope you find this space useful. To join the forum go here: http://pitchwars.proboards.com/
Mark your calendars!
Join us for our official #PitchWars #askmentor chats on Twitter and our live mentor video chats happening on Sarah Nicolas’ Youtube channel. Go to this blog post for dates and follow @PitchWars on Twitter for all the details.
This is the question we asked our mentors to answer: Invite three authors (living or dead) to dinner – who and why?
And here are their answers …
“I would invite Oscar Wilde so he could keep our dinner funny with his wit. I’d also invite Maya Angelou to hear her recite her beautiful poetry. Last, I’d invite James Joyce so I could say “Gee, thanks a ton for making me suffer in college. I couldn’t understand a dang thing from Dubliners!”
Darlene P. Campos
“Let’s talk horror and mystery with Edgar Allan Poe, Jorge Luis Borges, and Agatha Christie. Poe of course, because he invented the detective with C. Auguste Dupin in “The Murders of the Rue Morgue,” Borges because of his cerebral writings, many of which paid homage to Poe and Poe’s works of mystery, and finally Christie because she mastered many of these elements, bringing them to wider audiences.”
Julie Artz
“If I could invite three authors to dinner, I’d invite Erin Entrada Kelly, Neil Gaiman, and Shannon Hale. Erin because she single-handedly changed the trajectory of my career and I’m dying to meet her in person (plus I’d love to discuss middle grade literature and her character-driven approach to writing), Neil because I’d love to know what goes on in that head of his, and Shannon Hale because I’m a forever fan (and because I marked up my daughter’s personalized copy of Princess Academy with highlighters and she’s never forgiven me; this would give me a chance to redeem myself). “
Jessica Vitalis
“Mary Shelley! I want to high five her over inventing science fiction. William Shakespeare, because I dunno, he seems like he’d be fun to have a conversation with. And Rena Rossner, my agent, who is also an amazing author, because I have fun when we hang out in person, and presumably this magic dinner is going to pay for transportation (she lives a very long way away from me!).”
Sofiya Pasternack
“Easy peasy! I’ll invite Adrianna Cuevas and Sarah Kapit to ask them why the heck they chose me as a mentee last year (huge mistake!). Then I’d invite R.L. Stine to tell us all a spooky story as we make s’mores over a campfire.
George Jreije
“I’d have dinner with Jorge Luis Borges to talk about labyrinths and hidden worlds; Diana Wynne Jones to explore magical lands in walking houses; and Ted Chiang to find out what inspires his brilliant short stories.”
Sylvia Liu
Enter for a chance to win one of our mentors’ or committee members’ books. We’ll choose ten winners to receive one book each. All you have to do is search our mentors’ and committee members’ books, pick one you’d like to receive should you win, and enter it in the rafflcopter at the bottom of this post. The book must be one from our 2020 mentors or committee members.
You can find our mentor pages here: https://pitchwars.org/mentor-status/active/ And you can find our committee members here: https://pitchwars.org/about/meet-the-pitch-wars-committee/
It’s open internationally, but only for books available on the Book Depository. Make sure to go to their site and verify the book is listed for sale before choosing your book in the Rafflecopter.