Pitch Wars Blog Archive

Mentor Name: Ben Brooks Mentee Name: Erin Latimer Title: THE SAD STATE OF EMMALINE BLACK Category: Middle Grade Genre: Gothic fantasy Word Count: 60,000 Pitch: Found guilty during England’s witch-hunting frenzy, Emmaline Black is sent to St. Clements, London’s most prestigious witch correction facility. After she uncovers the awful truth about their “cure” for magic, patients begin to mysteriously vanish, and Emma, on the verge of revealing the facility’s secrets, might just disappear next. Excerpt: Read more…

Mentor Name: Brooks Benjamin Mentee Name: Melyssa Mercado Title: LITTLE MISS BLOGALOT Category: Upper Middle Grade Genre: Contemporary Word Count: 49,000 Pitch: Thirteen-year-old Ami Sanchez is DONE being the victim of mean-girl sabotage. So when she discovers anonymous blogging, she can’t resist plotting a secret-revenge scheme to take down the school’s queen bee…which might delete the trust of everyone she loves––including her only friend. Excerpt: I was ten steps from my locker when my training Read more…

Mentor Name: Mentee Name: Amanda Hill Title: GRIMM AND BEAR IT Category: Middle Grade Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Word Count: 69,000 Pitch: Jack’s supposed to protect the world from fairy tales, not get dragged into them. Especially not as some mooching bear character. To lose both tale and tail, Jack must find three stolen gems. Oh, and kill his best friend’s uncle. This isn’t Disney. Excerpt: If I had to choose between hunting enchanted mice or Read more…

Mentor Name: E.M. Caines Mentee Name: Ellen Hill Title: THE CONSPIRATORS’ CLUB Category: Middle Grade Genre: Contemporary Mystery Word Count: 52,000 Pitch: For thirteen-year-old Peter Holm, boarding school is as fun as a freezing shower in winter until his new friend, Samantha, asks him to help her start a Conspirators’ Club. Its goal? To challenge the school’s unfair regulations with covert acts of rebellion. But when a friend goes missing, the Club knows a criminal Read more…

Mentor Name: Joy McCullough-Carranza Mentee Name: Elizabeth Dimit Title: PHOEBE FRANZ’S GUIDE TO PASSPORTS, PAGEANTS, AND PARENTAL DISASTERS Category: Middle Grade Genre: Contemporary Word Count: 35,000 Pitch: Travel-loving, house-cleaning Phoebe Franz enters a local beauty pageant to win first prize: a trip to Ecuador. Even though she’s not-so-skinny and slightly scared of sequins, Phoebe’s determined to persevere. If she doesn’t, she may be stuck scrubbing her competitors’ toilets forever. Excerpt: The giant, glittery sign said: Read more…