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 9, 2021, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2021 Pitch Wars Mentor and Mentee Teams.
Next up, we have . . .
Chandra Fisher – Mentee
Jessica Lewis – Mentor
Jessica, why did you choose Chandra?
I immediately fell in love with this book about a grief, and the pain of loss consuming you before you’re able to let go. I adore the way horror was used to tell a deeper story, and the writing!! Haunting, beautiful, terrifying at times. I just knew this story was something truly special. The shenanigans of Charlie and her zombie girlfriend were also super fun too 🙂
Chandra, why did you choose to submit to Jessica?
I submitted to Jessica not only because my novel was a perfect match for her MSWL of horror and ALL THE SAPPHICS, but because of a few specific things she said that made me think we might be a good match. She said horror is an interesting vehicle for storytelling, which I have found I agree with entirely. This is my first time writing horror, and the available space for metaphor and other intricacies is just too delicious to pass up! She said she was friendly, chaotic, and tough, and I could get behind all of that. And she said if I had her as a mentor I had her for life. And that struck a chord for me that I just could not deny!
Jessica, summarize Chandra’s book in 3 words.
grief, zombie girlfriend
Chandra, summarize your book in 3 words.
If I had to summarize ALL THINGS DEAD AND DYING in 3 words, I would choose “Lyrical Sapphic Horromance” (is Horromance cheating? I just can’t stick to three words!)
Jessica, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
I’m a Black writer and receptionist! I’m from Alabama and live with my hilarious grandmother. A little known fact about me is that I absolutely hate horses because of an evil horse-themed class I took in college (long story lol).
Chandra, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
From my Pitch Wars experience this year I’m hoping to gain a better sense of revision. It’s a tough skill for me, but Jessica has already taught me so much. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my eyes on the prize of an agent and a book deal, but I’m here for the ride and to gain as much as I can from the process.
Chandra, tell us about yourself. What makes you and your manuscript unique?
ATDAD is such a special manuscript to me. It earned a Canada Council for the Arts grant this fall and a spot in Pitch Wars?! Is this even real life? I had such a blast drafting it and telling the story of Charlie and her grief, her best friend (a genderflexible himbo named Lou, who is ride or die) and her girlfriend Marisol (an undead artist with an unmentionable appetite).
As for me, I’m a yoga loving mom with a whole lot of kids. I adore houseplants and textiles of all sorts, and I live in a small town just like Charlie. And what sets me apart is my sheer, relentless force of will. Look out publishing, I’m coming for you!
Check out Jessica’s recent release, BAD WITCH BURNING …
Katrell doesn’t mind talking to the dead; she just wishes it made more money. Clients pay her to talk to their deceased loved ones, but it isn’t enough to support her unemployed mother and Mom’s deadbeat boyfriend-of-the-week. Things get worse when a ghost suddenly warns her to stop the summonings or she’ll “burn everything down.” Katrell is willing to call them on their bluff, though–she has no choice. What do ghosts know about eating peanut butter for dinner?
However, when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And, warning or not, she has no intention of letting this lucrative new business go.
But magic doesn’t come for free, and soon dark forces are closing in on Katrell. The further she goes, the more she risks the lives of not only herself, but those she loves. Katrell faces a choice: resign herself to poverty, or confront the darkness before it’s too late.
Thank you for supporting our Pitch Wars Teams! The Agent Showcase is February 9-14, 2022. Make sure to stop by then and check out all our mentees’ entries when it opens.