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 . . .
E. E. Adams – Mentee
Sonia Hartl – Mentor
Annette Christie – Mentor
Sonia and Annette, why did you choose E. E.?
E.E.’s writing is gorgeous. This manuscript explores some big and difficult themes with nuance, and yet with an undeniable power. While reading, JACKAL quickly became one of our favourite books ever. Of all time.
When we were making our decision, we asked E.E. follow-up questions about her process and manuscript. We were really touched by the thought and care she put into her answers. E.E. is a true talent, JACKAL is an important story, and we look forward to seeing where her career takes her!
That is high praise, and I am intrigued! And E. E., why did you choose to submit to Sonia and Annette?
I remember going through all the blogs and Sonia and Annette’s wishlist described my main character, Liz, word for word. Then, the variety of their previous mentees’ work excited me since my manuscript straddled a few different genres. Also, I applied to Pitch Wars with a little to no experience in the publishing industry, so their combined years of knowledge was another big factor for me. And, finally, their mentorship style was exactly what I was after. I loved their precise plan of action for edits and showcase. This being my first manuscript, I wanted a team experience. I was looking for mentors who were more hands-on and inside my process in a big way. So, yeah, Annette and Sonia were at the top of my list!
I’m glad you matched up! So Sonia and Annette, can you summarize Erinn’s book in 3 words?
poetic horror page-turner
E. E., summarize your book in 3 words.
Intense. Chilling. Poetic.
I love poetic intense writing! Now Sonia and Annette, can you tell us about yourself? Something we may not already know.
Sonia: I once caught a shark while fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Annette: In my early twenties I made out with a guy who ended up becoming pretty famous. Whenever he shows up on our television, my husband declares, “It’s the one who got away!” I’m regretting this answer. Let’s pretend I caught a shark with Sonia.
I’m impressed you caught sharks together. E. E., what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I really hope to find my novel writing peeps! My previous writing experience has been in theatre and I’ve found novel writing to be much more solitary. I know I thrive in a group, so I see Pitch Wars as an opportunity to build that for myself. All the mentee’s stories are so timely and incredible (like, I want to read them NOW!) and they all have been super supportive. With my mentors, I wanted someone to help me push my revisions and inspire me to take chances. Sonia and Annette have done that and more. The revisions I made would not have happened without them. Also, the support they’ve provided during these insane last few months has been invaluable.
It’s so important to have the support and community of writers around you. I’m crossing my fingers that you have many successes! And finally, E. E. can you tell us about yourself? What makes you and your manuscript unique?
I’m a NYC based writer/performer. Currently, I’m getting my second MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. Before that, I was primarily acting. I’ve appeared on many stages and a few TV shows. When it comes to home, I’m a first-generation Haitian-American who grew up in a small mountain town in Pennsylvania. When it comes to writing, I’ve always been drawn to worlds of myth, tales of fantasy, horror and science fiction. My manuscript JACKAL is my attempt to grapple with what happens when your hometown doesn’t feel like home. Growing up a Black woman in a predominately white small town, meant that my presence was always questioned or challenged. While things were rarely overt, I constantly felt like I was being watched and I never truly felt like I belonged. Now that I have some distance, I wanted to pull apart my experience. If I could see its inner workings, I could begin to understand it. I took what I found, added multi-faceted layers of meaning, two unreliable narrators, a dash of horror, and wrapped it all up in a mystery.
Thank you Sonia, Annette, and E. E. for the interview!
Coming from Sonia on July 27, 2021…
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound
A smart, sexy, and witty romantic comedy—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne—about a twentysomething who lives out every woman’s fantasy: getting paid to give men who do us wrong a taste of their own medicine. But when a previous target unexpectedly shows up at her office, she’s forced to rethink her life as a professional heartbreaker.
Brinkley Saunders has a secret.
To everyone in the academic world she left behind, she lost it all when she dropped out of grad school. Once a rising star following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s now an administrative assistant at an insurance agency—or so they think.
In reality, Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs to be taken down a notch. It might not be as prestigious as academia, but it helps Brinkley save for her dream of opening an art gallery and lets her exorcise a few demons, all while helping to empower women.
But when her boss announces she’s hiring male heartbreakers for the first time, Brinkley’s no longer so sure she’s doing the right thing—especially when her new coworker turns out to be a target she was paid to take down. Though Mark spends his days struggling up the academic ladder, he seems to be the opposite of a backstabbing adjunct: a nerd at heart in criminally sexy sweater vests who’s attentive both in and out of the bedroom. But as Brinkley finds it increasingly more difficult to focus on anything but Mark, she soon realizes that like herself, people aren’t always who they appear to be.
With Sonia Hartl’s “bitingly funny” (Publishers Weekly) prose, Heartbreak for Hire is a clever romcom you and your girlfriends won’t be able to stop talking about.
Coming from Sonia on September 14, 2021…
When the vampire who turned Holly into the undead in 1987 (leaving her as a 16-year-old with badly crimped hair for all eternity) breaks up with her, she’s approached by two girls he also claimed to love, turned, then ditched. But their plan to kill him before he can strike again grows complicated when Holly starts to fall for the mortal girl they’re trying to protect.
Coming from Annette on July 13, 2021…
Fans of Josie Silver and Rebecca Serle will delight in this romantic debut novel–that has a Groundhog Day twist–about a couple who call off their wedding after a disastrous rehearsal dinner, only to wake up the next morning trapped in a time loop. Together.
Two people. One wedding. No ending in sight.
Megan Givens and Tom Prescott are heading into what is supposed to be their magical wedding weekend on beautiful San Juan Island. But with two difficult families, ten years of history, and all too many secrets, things quickly go wrong. After a disastrous rehearsal dinner they vow to call the whole thing off—only to wake up the next morning stuck together in a time loop. Are they really destined to relive the worst day of their lives, over and over? But what happens if their wedding day does arrive?
A funny, romantic, and big-hearted debut novel, The Rehearsals imagines what we might do if given a second chance at life and at love—and what it means to finally get it right.
Thank you Sonia, Annette, and E. E. for the interview!
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.