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 . . .
Tyler Lawson – Mentee
Aaron Cole – Mentor
Tamara Cole – Mentor
Aaron & Tamara, why did you choose Tyler?
When we saw Tyler’s sub for BALLAD OF THE GODS’ BLESSED in our inbox, we both fell in love. Tyler had everything we were looking for, and then some. We found her retelling of Aeneid fresh, innovative, and compelling. The emotional journey her main character goes on reminded us of the iconic Daenerys Targaryen, if she was inspired by African American folklore. From Tyler’s voice, to the commercial plot, we knew her book was something special.
Tyler, why did you choose to submit to Aaron & Tamara?
I saw their wishlist, they were actually the first mentors I saw, and instantly marked them down as a must submit to, #1 choice! The comps they were looking for matched mine and were also personal favorites. And even their contemporary wishlist seemed to match a lot of the vibes I had for my high fantasy. I’ve *embarrassingly* never saw Star Wars, but #TeamSkywalker gave off such great, positive vibes and overall seemed really excited to be mentors and that made me super excited to be submitting to them. And after being selected, I knew I was right! They are super positive, and we have so much in common.
Aaron & Tamara, summarize Tyler’s book in 3 words.
Powerful Black Queendom.
Tyler, summarize your book in 3 words.
Black Girl Magic
Aaron & Tamara, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
We’re siblings, so we’ve been lifelong critique partners! Fun fact: Before we started writing novels, we wrote fun scripts together when we were kids. By high school, we’d transitioned to writing novels and really got serious about it when we started college at UCLA. Together, our writing is super contemporary and high concept; but apart, we focus on other genres. Aaron writes Sci-Fi and Fantasy for YA and MG. While Tamara writes YA Thrillers and Adult Contemporary.
Besides writing, we both work as actors, screenwriters, and travel influencers. Together, we have amassed over 150,000+ followers across our social media platforms.
Tyler, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I would love to develop lasting friendships both with my fellow mentees and my mentors. Everyone involved in Pitch Wars seems so interesting and fun and all of my interactions and conversations have been so positive that I really want to foster these connections. I also really want to learn more publishing and writing lessons during these three months. The industry can seem so subjective and indecipherable that I hope to leave more knowledgeable about the industry and more confident that I belong in it. Lastly, being able to take any future book I write and know how to make impactful and efficient revisions is definitely one of my biggest goals as well. Revisions can always seem so daunting so having more confidence in my revision ability would definitely improve my skills as a writer.
Tyler, tell us about yourself. What makes you and your manuscript unique?
I’m a first-year law student at the University Chicago Law School and I probably do more fiction reading than legal reading *sorry, not sorry*. But before I moved to Chicago for school, I came from the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
My book is based on African American folklore and a really specific Roman mythology story, Virgil’s Aeneid which is about an African princess I think more people should know about. Technically, the story is about the founder of Rome, but the real hero is the African princess and when I read the Aeneid in class, I knew she was done dirty and needed her own story to shine as a heroine.
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.