Our mentors are mentoring, 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 10, 2021, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2020 Pitch Wars Mentor and Mentee Teams.
Next up, we have . . .
Kayleigh Carpenter – Mentee
K.A. Black – Mentor
K.A., why did you choose Kayleigh?
Kayleigh struck me right away as someone driven and someone I could work with without any difficulty. Pitch Wars, while about making the mentee’s book better, is also about building relationships between writers (mentee to mentee and mentee to mentor), so having someone understand that–on top of wanting to make their book better–is amazing and I’m so happy to be working with Kayleigh.
Those relationships are the best! Now, Kayleigh, why did you choose to submit to K.A.?
I choose K for a few reasons. Firstly, I got a really good vibe reading her mentor profile. We had similar interests outside of writing and I really liked her editing style and most of her favorite tropes were mine as well. On top of that, I realized she was just super cool once I headed to her twitter. Like I said, I got a really good vibe and realized her and I would be great friends.
Foundations for a great partnership. So, K.A., summarize Kayleigh’s book in 3 words.
Fun, adventurous, and refreshing
Kayleigh, summarize your book in 3 words.
Chaotic, Fun, and (sometimes) Funny.
That sounds like a great read. And, K.A., tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
When I was in college I cloned the BIK cancer gene in my genetics lab.
Oh, hey! Origin story! OK, Kayleigh, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I don’t look at writing as a hobby. I see this as my future. My initial goal with PW was to work with someone more knowledgeable than I to gain the experience and insight needed to continue growing as a writer. Now that I am working with K, I am already beginning to spot things within my writing that need work and things that work well. Obviously my dream is to see AVOTS on a bookshelf one day, but even so, I’ve already had such an invaluable and exciting experience and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
And it’s exciting to see the next steps of the journey. Now, Kayleigh, tell us about yourself. What makes you and your manuscript unique?
Well, I’m Kayleigh! I’m 32, a Gemini, and don’t know what the definition of boredom is. I run two online businesses full time creating handmade items, love getting tattoos any chance I can get, and could eat Taco Bell for the rest of my life if I was given the choice.
As far as it goes with my manuscript, I began writing this story as something *I* would want to read. I’m really big into the “a nobody being chosen for something great” trope, and we never see that with MCs in their thirties. Harry Potter is great, but let’s face it–I’m never getting a letter to Hogwarts because I’m not 11 anymore. I wanted my story to be something that people my age could resonate with. A story that allowed “older” readers who love fantasy and sci-fi to feel close to. That’s what I am trying to do with AVOTS.
Thank you for supporting our Pitch Wars Teams! The Agent Showcase is February 10-15, 2021. Make sure to stop by then and check out all our mentees’ entries when it opens.