Posted November 20th: To any blog visitors who are not writers wishing to become published writers, please disregard this post. I owe you a moment. To any blog visitors who are indeed such writers, and are looking for my Pitch Wars contest bio and List o' Wish, you'll find it on my home page. See you over there...
Updated November 29th: So because of a question posed by a potential mentee, I thought I'd better elaborate a bit on my Pitch Wars "wish list" (such as it is not).
I did not include a detailed list of "types" or "styles" of stories that I would be particularly interested in, because I simply don't know myself that well. Especially the self which has yet to encounter your entirely unique story, told in your entirely unique way. Telling you I'd love to see a story about siamese mermaids or a set of kidneys with a heart of gold (or not) would feel arbitrary, and thus, in the end, not any more accurate than a list of all the things I didn't put on "The List" because I hadn't yet thought of them (I'm looking at you story about the eleven year old who gets a law degree and brokers a separation agreement for her parents). Anything might entrance me. Not everything will. And I haven't the foggiest conclusive notion as to why.
Telling you I'd prefer submissions to be more well-written than not, and then reminding you of the tenets of well-written-ness seemed similarly non-constructive, since I'm assuming that you believe you've covered your bases there or you wouldn't be trying to submit to agents. So I didn't do that either.
Now writers as a species tend to possess at least a modest imagination, and mine just kicked out a vivid image of one of you shaking her fist and saying, "Well, tell us something already! How are we supposed to know whether it makes any salted sense on a cracker to submit to you?" And that fist-shaker would have a point. So what else can I tell you about me that would be true and useful?
1. I love to critique and edit stories. I do it for friends and writing acquaintances because it's a satisfying and vivifying pleasure to help an author dig and chisel and tear and stitch a story into its own true elegant form. For better or worse, I keep forgetting that Pitch Wars is a contest. I'm looking forward to bringing my best energy to working with an author in our own private collaborative effort to make one story better, just as others have taken the time to do for me. What happens after that, happens!
2. I love a narrator experienced as a subtle character. I just do. Why? I think it has something to do with some kind of contrapuntal energy. There is a way of telling a story in the first person that can make me feel claustrophobic.
3. I would have a difficult time enjoying an entirely humorless story. Funny. Intelligent. Honest. My personal trifecta.
I know its not much, but may this be of some smidgeon of use. I wish you all the very best with your writing and submitting!
Updated November 29th: So because of a question posed by a potential mentee, I thought I'd better elaborate a bit on my Pitch Wars "wish list" (such as it is not).
I did not include a detailed list of "types" or "styles" of stories that I would be particularly interested in, because I simply don't know myself that well. Especially the self which has yet to encounter your entirely unique story, told in your entirely unique way. Telling you I'd love to see a story about siamese mermaids or a set of kidneys with a heart of gold (or not) would feel arbitrary, and thus, in the end, not any more accurate than a list of all the things I didn't put on "The List" because I hadn't yet thought of them (I'm looking at you story about the eleven year old who gets a law degree and brokers a separation agreement for her parents). Anything might entrance me. Not everything will. And I haven't the foggiest conclusive notion as to why.
Telling you I'd prefer submissions to be more well-written than not, and then reminding you of the tenets of well-written-ness seemed similarly non-constructive, since I'm assuming that you believe you've covered your bases there or you wouldn't be trying to submit to agents. So I didn't do that either.
Now writers as a species tend to possess at least a modest imagination, and mine just kicked out a vivid image of one of you shaking her fist and saying, "Well, tell us something already! How are we supposed to know whether it makes any salted sense on a cracker to submit to you?" And that fist-shaker would have a point. So what else can I tell you about me that would be true and useful?
1. I love to critique and edit stories. I do it for friends and writing acquaintances because it's a satisfying and vivifying pleasure to help an author dig and chisel and tear and stitch a story into its own true elegant form. For better or worse, I keep forgetting that Pitch Wars is a contest. I'm looking forward to bringing my best energy to working with an author in our own private collaborative effort to make one story better, just as others have taken the time to do for me. What happens after that, happens!
2. I love a narrator experienced as a subtle character. I just do. Why? I think it has something to do with some kind of contrapuntal energy. There is a way of telling a story in the first person that can make me feel claustrophobic.
3. I would have a difficult time enjoying an entirely humorless story. Funny. Intelligent. Honest. My personal trifecta.
I know its not much, but may this be of some smidgeon of use. I wish you all the very best with your writing and submitting!