Kristin Smith: Pitch Wars

Showing posts with label Pitch Wars. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Interview with Michelle I. Mason, Author of Your Life Has Been Delayed

I am so excited to have my good friend, critique partner, and former Pitch Wars mentee on the blog today, sharing about her debut YA novel, YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, that released in September 2021. It's about a teenage girl who gets on a plane in 1995 and gets off 25 years later, and she hasn't aged a day.

Now, this was not the book I read/critiqued when Beth Ellyn Summer and I chose Michelle to be our Pitch Wars mentee back in 2017. It was another amazing book. However, I did get to read an early draft of YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED and fell in love with the concept and story. It's such a unique premise (and it was actually written BEFORE the show Manifest even came out). I loved all of the 90's references and differences between then versus today. And then there's Michelle's VOICE, which is spectacular and so perfectly YA.

Okay, enough gushing, let's get on to the interview! Thank you, Michelle, for agreeing to come on my blog and be grilled. :)

INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE I. MASON

First question: How long have you been writing or when did you start?

For as long as I can remember. I loved writing stories when I was a kid, especially when they’d bind them for you at school. For some reason, I was especially fond of horror stories when I was young (must have been all those RL Stine books!). Then as a teenager I was into romance novels and thought I might write those, but I didn’t truly find my niche in YA until I was, ironically, an adult.

Your writer's origin story sounds a lot like mine! :) If you had to describe yourself in just three words, what would those be?

Organized, Encouraging, Persistent

I wish I was a little more organized! What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

Isn’t that the million-dollar question? Honestly, my to-do list—and it’s most effective if I have deadlines associated with every item, including drafting/revising/submitting manuscripts.

I love a good to-do list. If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?

Ally Carter! I’ve met her at signings a couple of times, and she’s so fun. I’d love to hang out with her for a whole day and pick her brain about all her books.

Ally Carter would be a great person to hang out with! In YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, what was the hardest scene to write, and why?

The climax of the book, which is technically a few scenes. I had a lot of fun writing it originally, but it was a bit… over the top. That’s about all I can say without spoilers, but my editor warned me before offering on the book that we’d need to change it, and I was fine with that. But it still took three tries before we landed on the right climax for the book.

I didn't realize you wrote the climax three different times! If your book were made into a movie, which actors would play your characters?

I was totally picturing Melissa Joan Hart as Jenny while writing—but as she was in the nineties, of course ☺. For Jenny, I’m going to say McKenna Grace in a couple of years (since she’s only 15 right now) or maybe Kiernan Shipka. I had absolutely no actors in mind for Dylan while writing, so I just now went and searched teen actors on IMBD. Maxwell Jenkins or Jace Norman would work!

I had to go and search those actors, lol. I can totally see them as Jenny and Dylan! :) Okay, if you were to write a spin-off about a side character, which would you pick?

It would probably be someone else from Flight 237, like Valerie Wen, who returned to find her husband remarried with kids. On top of that, one of her former students asks her out. It’s such a great setup for a romance novel! Alas, I am not the one to write this story.

Me! Pick me! I volunteer as tribute. That would be such a cool concept to write about. ;) Let's get into the nitty gritty. What’s your favorite and least favorite part of publishing?

Favorite: Notes from readers who love my book. It’s the best feeling ever!

Least favorite: Waiting! Everything just takes a long time.

I agree, the waiting is the worst. But those notes from readers sure do make it all worth it! I know you're an avid book reader. What book (or books) are you currently reading?

Right now I’m working through my Christmas book haul. I just finished (and loved) SUNKISSED by Kasie West. Of course, I may have read three more books by the time this posts, so check my Instagram to see what I’m loving!

Ooh, I haven't read that one by Kasie West yet. Thanks for the rec! What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?

Find other writers you trust to exchange manuscripts with and work together to improve your craft. When you’re first starting out, that’s the most important thing you can do. And finish writing that book! For me, getting to the end was one of the hardest parts with the first book.

***

This is great advice! Thank you, again, Michelle, for sitting in the hot seat and answering my burning questions! Let's take a look at Michelle's book info, including where you can purchase your own copy.

Book Blurb:

It’s August 1995, and seventeen-year-old Jenny Waters is flying back home from an exciting trip to New York City. The biggest things on her mind are applying to Columbia and reuniting with her brand-new boyfriend. But when she and the other passengers disembark in St. Louis, they’re told that their plane disappeared . . . twenty-five years ago.

The world has fast-forwarded. Three of Jenny’s grandparents are gone, her parents are old, and her “little” brother is now an adult. There’s so much in the world she’s missed out on.

When a shocking revelation comes to light, she feels betrayed by her family and once-best friend. She’s also fighting her attraction to Dylan, a cute and kind classmate who has an unusual connection to her past. And then there are the conspiracy theories, coming from a group of people determined to prove that Flight 237—and Jenny’s own existence—is a hoax. Will she figure out how to move forward or will she always be stuck in the past?

BUY THE BOOK!

About the Author:

Michelle I. Mason is the author of Your Life Has Been Delayed and the forthcoming My Second Impression of You (September 2022), both from Bloomsbury YA. Michelle spent ten years as a PR manager promoting everything from forklift rodeos to Hotel Olympics before deciding she’d rather focus on made-up stories. When she isn’t writing, she’s probably reading, watching too much TV, cross-stitching, baking amazing brownies, or playing the violin. Michelle lives in St. Louis with her husband, two kids, and color-coordinated pets.

CONNECT WITH MICHELLE!

Website

Twitter

Instagram

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

How I Got My Agent

So, truth. I wrote this post a long time ago (over a year ago, to be exact). I'm not sure why I never published it?? But I do still want to share my How I Got My Agent story, even though I've had an agent for almost two years now. Hopefully, my story will help someone who is currently in the query trenches. Here is the original post...

***

For a while there, I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to write a post like this, so, of course, I'm over-the-moon excited to share that...

I'M REPRESENTED BY THE AMAZING MARLO BERLINER WITH THE JENNIFER DE CHIARA LITERARY AGENCY (otherwise known as JDLA)!!

When I first started querying years ago, I would scour the internet for the How I Got My Agent stories and I would soak them in. I would read example queries of those that "worked" and later on developed my own How I Got My Agent series on my blog. But that was a long time ago.

Since I loved reading those stories, I'm hoping there will be others who'll benefit from hearing my story, even if it's to convince them TO NEVER GIVE UP!!! So first, I have to tell you my story, and to do so, I have to start at the beginning.

So, here goes...

As most of you know, I published my first books, The Deception Game series, through a smaller press called Clean Teen Publishing. They've been absolutely wonderful. But in between writing, publishing, and marketing my near-future thrillers, I kept writing, switching genres to YA contemporary which is really and truly my first love. I finished ATWTSY (which is an abbreviation—not ready to share the title yet!) around May 2017. It was right before Pitch Wars started, and since I was a mentor, all of my time and energy was consumed by the contest. I loved every minute, but by the time the agent round was finished in October, I hadn't looked at my own manuscript in months. I started revising again in January or February, sent it to my critique partners in March or April and started querying in June. I sent the queries out in batches.

I immediately got lots of requests, mostly because I targeted agents who'd had other manuscripts of mine and who'd indicated they wanted to see more of my work. I was feeling really great about this new MS. I had a trip to Italy with my husband planned for July 2018, so I put my MS on the back burner and stopped querying for the rest of the summer. More requests (and rejections!) rolled in, but once October hit, I decided to send out another big batch of queries. I waited a while and then sent out what I thought would be my final batch of queries in January 2019.

Friends of mine had told me that I shouldn't stop querying until I hit the 100 query mark. That seemed like SO many to me. Too many. In the past, I never came close to that number before I threw in the towel and decided to focus on the next manuscript, then the next. But this time, THIS TIME, I knew I had to hit 100 before I could fully say that I'd given it my all. I believed in my story, and I was determined to not give up until I found the right agent for it.

In January, I formulated my list of agents I wanted to submit to. I discovered Marlo was a new agent, and when I realized I'd "met" her at the RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta a couple years before, I knew I needed to query her. We had something in common, and I really felt good about sending her a query. She requested the full manuscript fairly quickly, which, of course, I was excited about. Then on a random day in February, I received the email I'd been waiting for. It was an offer of representation, but it wasn't from Marlo, it was from another agent. We set up a time to talk and then I quickly set out to notify all of the agents who either had the full or partial or who I'd recently queried (and since I'd just sent a big batch, it was quite a few agents). Some agents requested the full immediately and asked for time to read, and others politely stepped aside, even agents who'd had my full manuscript since the fall.

Marlo was one of the agents who said she was reviewing it quickly and would get back to me by my deadline. And she did! I was sick at the time with a horrible head cold, and I'll never forget the email I received one chilly Saturday morning from Marlo. It said she'd finished my manuscript and was hoping we could talk on the phone. I think I probably jumped out of bed (yes, it was one of those sicknesses where all I wanted to do was stay in bed!) and screamed a few times before responding to the email. We set up the call for a couple hours later. Turns out, she was sick with a cold also so I didn't feel so bad about my hoarse voice! Lol.

From the moment we started talking on the phone, I could tell Marlo really GOT my book. I could feel her passion for my project, and it almost brought me to tears. After years of rejection, I'd finally found an agent who loved my book as much as I did. She understood the characters and their motivations, and her ideas on how to improve it were spot on. I really felt like my book would be in good hands with her as my agent. I happily accepted her offer once my deadline had passed. The hardest part was having to tell the other agent that I'd decided to go with someone else. For the first time ever, it was my turn to reject, and it didn't feel so great.

Working with Marlo has been awesome, and I'm so excited to see where this journey takes us!

So if you take away anything from this post, let it be this: Don't give up. Don't you EVER give up. If you have a dream, and you believe in yourself 100%, then it will happen. Keep writing, keep reading, keep learning, and keep growing. There's an agent/publisher out there for you.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

#PitchWars 2017 Mentor Blog Hop

Welcome to #TeamVictoriousSecret! If you're reading this, it's probably because you're a potential mentee and you're trying to choose the right mentor(s) for you and your awesome work. And Beth and I are about to convince you why WE are the mentors for you! (On a side note, Beth and I are accepting YA only.)

(On another side note: If you are thoroughly confused right now, you can read all about Pitch Wars HERE.)

WHO WE ARE:

Kristin Smith

Hi there! I am so excited to be co-mentoring Pitch Wars this year with my friend and critique partner, the very talented Beth Ellyn Summer. Beth and I have a great love for many of the same books, and we are dying to find that ms we immediately connect with and will go to battle for.

I’m a YA author who loves jewelry and scarves, and would trade summer for fall any day. I’m the best-selling author of the YA near-future thriller Catalyst (released Nov. ’16 from Clean Teen Publishing) and its sequel Forgotten (released April ’17). You can find my books in your local Barnes and Noble or online HERE.

Fun Facts:

I LOVE to dance and may or may not be the Just Dance champion in my house.

If you take me to a karaoke bar, I might not be the one drinking, but I’ll certainly be the one singing.

I play a killer game of Scrabble, but I suck at drawing—my biggest claim to fame would be stick figures and flowers.

I have a slight addiction to chocolate, and I’m a strong believer that if a dessert doesn’t have chocolate in it, then it’s not considered a dessert (except for creme brûlée—I can always make an exception for creme brûlée).

I love to laugh (no, seriously, I LOVE to laugh).

I’m a Southern girl by birth and by heart, but I’m fascinated with big cities.

As the only girl in a house of six boys (1 husband, 5 sons), I'm WAY outnumbered, which is probably why I love rom coms so much.

I love broadway plays, music, Zumba, sunsets, the ocean, my family, the piano, reading (of course), and a million other things.

You can read more about me and my books at kristinsmithbooks.com OR connect with me on Twitter: @SwordsStilettos OR find me on Instagram: @kristinsmithwrites

Beth Ellyn Summer:

Hi! I am so thrilled to be a Pitch Wars mentor with my good friend Kristin Smith. There is something so crazy exciting about this contest, and the lead up to it every year reminds me of the electric buzz just before a concert's about to start. We can’t wait to find the manuscript that makes us fan girl!

I'm a YA author in love with makeup, words and pretty pastel things. My debut novel, AT FIRST BLUSH was published by Bloomsbury Spark in April '17. Check it out HERE.

I firmly believe books > movies, but I do love television about as much as I love books. I’m a bit of a TV addict. I spent my college years interning at NBC for Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon (which means I possess the answer to the age old question: how many interns does it take to change a water cooler?) Also: please don't tell my journalism degree, but my favorite news source is Colin Jost and Michael Che on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.

Fun Facts:

I live, breathe, sleep, eat, exist for fitness (yes, I'm one of *those* people) with a special love for HIIT (actually HIIT classifies as a love/hate relationship), weight training, core work, and yoga.

I have a cat named Penny Belle who loves to "hunt" my laundry downstairs at night and "present" it to me in my room upstairs which is adorable, as well as incredibly helpful.

The Roots once wrote a song about me and Whoopie Goldberg eating frozen yogurt together on a desert island.

I can’t for the life of me remember high school math, yet Britney Spears’ entire dance routine to “Crazy” is still somehow embedded in my brain (and feet) for all eternity.

I can solve Wheel of Fortune puzzles with, like, three letters. Sometimes less.

I love Hanson. Yes, Mmmbop Hanson. Yes, they still have a fan base.

As I mentioned above, I love makeup. My main character in At First Blush is a makeup guru. But I can’t apply eye liner to save my life, and the one time I did a decent wing, I took 7,000 selfies to document the occasion.

To learn more about me and my writing check out www.BethEllynSummer.com or connect with me on Twitter and Instagram @BethEllynSummer

NOW ON TO THE GOOD STUFF!

We are interested in YA in the following genres: contemporary realistic, contemporary magical realism, contemporary suspense/mystery/psychological thrillers, fantasy/speculative fiction

Here are some things we’d LOVE to see:

-VOICE, VOICE, VOICE (If you have an ms with a voice that truly stands out, we are the mentors for you!)

-Romance (we’re a sucker for great romantic tension—however, the romance doesn’t have to be part of the main plot; it can be a subplot and we’d be happy)

-Complex family dynamics

-Unreliable narrators (If you have anything that can be comped to We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, we want to see it!)

-Love triangles (done right!)

-Complicated or flawed characters

-Twists and turns we don’t see coming

-Stories told in an unusual way (with letters or text messages, etc. Think Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher)

-Fairy tale retellings

-High concept plots (Think Pretty Little Liars)

-Own voices

-Writing that grounds us in the character’s every emotion

-Artistic characters: dance, painting, acting, singing, writing, photography, etc.

-Anything that can make us laugh or cry (preferably both!)

-Anything a la Pretty Little Liars or Gilmore Girls

-Characters dealing with the death of a loved one (Think The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson)

-Boarding schools

-Phantom of the Opera inspired retelling

-YA version of the Bachelorette

-Foreign settings

-Anything with cooking
-Anything that can be comped to Sarah Dessen or Stephanie Perkins

THE BREAKDOWN:

CONTEMPORARY:

It's no secret that we LOVE contemporary YA. So, if you've got swoony boys, complex characters and unique plots, we're your girls. We love the light and fluffy stuff (humor is always a plus) but on the flip side, if your character is gritty and dark, we want it too! In short, when it comes to contemporary, to quote Sharpay Evans, we want it all.

We love strong female friendships, but Beth has a love for the slow burn and inevitable heartbreak of close friendships falling apart.

Beth is also addicted to Disney shows and movies, so if your book is anything like High School Musical or Teen Beach (think What You Always Wanted by Kristin Rae), she will move heaven and earth for it! (bonus points for manuscripts with musical elements: rock stars, concerts, etc.)

Kristin is a sucker for voices, so if you have a voicey ms that can make her laugh (or cry) she’ll fight Wonder Woman-style for it.

Kristin would love to see anything that could be comped to Sarah Dessen, Stephanie Perkins, or Kasie West. She’s also a huge fan of Phantom of the Opera, so if you have a contemporary version of this classic masterpiece, she’d love to see it. Kristin ships stories that have emotional depth, such as dealing with the death of a loved one, so if you have a ms a la The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson or Hold Still by Nina LaCour, please submit to us.

MAGICAL REALISM:

We are looking for magical realism in a contemporary setting. Think If I Stay by Gayle Forman or Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Or anything else you think we'd love.

FANTASY/SPECULATIVE FICTION

We’re looking for light fantasy or light sci-fi/near-future sci-fi. So if you have an epic fantasy or anything with dragons, trolls, or unicorns, we are probably not the right mentors for you. We're also not the right mentors for spaceships or aliens. However, if you have a superhero ms a la Wonder Woman or anything as badass as that, we’d love to see it! Most of all, we want impressive world-building and unique plots. Give us something we've never seen before, and we'll be over-the-moon excited!

Some favorites include: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Defy by Sara Larson, Catalyst by Kristin Smith (*wink, wink* See what I did there?)

CONTEMPORARY SUSPENSE/MYSTERY/PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS:

We are open to thrillers and books that mess with your mind. If you have a suspenseful or psychological thriller that can keep us turning pages late into the night, we’d love to see it.

Specifically, we want anything a la Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, The Darkest Secret by Pintip Dunn, or a YA version of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

***

We know this is a wide range of interests, but mostly if you have a great story with a ton of VOICE and a lot or a little bit of romance (remember, romance can be a subplot), then we want YOUR manuscript!

FAVORITE BOOKS, MOVIES, & TV SHOWS:

Kristin

Favorite authors: Lauren Oliver, Jandy Nelson, Jenny Han, Kasie West, Stephanie Perkins, Sarah Dessen, Suzanne Collins, Jennifer E. Smith, Gayle Forman, Jennifer Niven, Rainbow Rowell, E. Lockhart, Kiera Cass

Favorite books: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, The Fill-In Boyfriend by Katie West, The Selection Series by Kiera Cass, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Favorite movies: The Notebook, Kate and Leopold, You’ve Got Mail, Family Man, Batman Begins, Wonder Woman, Titanic, Life As We Know It, The Holiday, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Dirty Dancing

Favorite TV shows: Gilmore Girls, Pretty Little Liars, Reign, Switched At Birth, Modern Family, Vampire Diaries, Drop-Dead Diva, Poldark, Hart of Dixie

Beth

Favorite authors: Kasie West, Sophie Kinsella, Kiera Cass, Stephanie Perkins, J.K. Rowling, Morgan Matson, Emery Lord, Sarah Dessen, Harlan Coben, Jenny Han, Allie Larkin.

Favorite books: Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins, Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Selection series by Kiera Cass, Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, P.S. I Like You, by Kasie West (all by Kasie West), The Summer I Turned Pretty series and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series by Jenny Han, My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord.

Favorite movies: Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, Harry Potter, Titanic, High School Musical 1, 2, 3, Camp Rock, Teen Beach Movie, Frozen, The Little Mermaid... All things Disney.

Favorite TV shows: Friends, The Middle, Modern Family, Gilmore Girls, Younger, Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, Wheel of Fortune.

NOT FOR US:

There are some things we know would not be right for us, and as a potential mentee, you want a mentor who will be a champion for your work. With that being said, here are some things we’re not looking for:

-The murdering of darlings is about all the blood we can handle, so please: no horror!

-Erotica

-Incest

-Glorification of rape

-Cruelty or death of an animal

-High fantasy

-Dystopian (while we LOVE dystopian, it’s such a hard sell right now)

-Paranormal in the form of vampires, werewolves, or shapeshifters
-Space opera

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE US (aka OUR GENERAL AWESOMENESS)

We love nothing more than finding that special something in a manuscript and exploring ways to make it come alive, while maintaining the structure and integrity of the story. BUT, that said, we'll push you to work hard and encourage you to make real, deep changes. Revisions aren't about cutting and pasting bits of the story and rearranging. They're about digging deep into structural edits and discovering new scenes (and sometimes characters) in the process. So be ready to kill some darlings and do whatever it takes to make that ms shine. Oh, and we LOVE brainstorming! So we'll always be available to bat ideas around and work through snags. In short, as long as you're willing to put the work in, we'll be there for you every step of the way!