I knew going in to Pitch Wars that I could expect to do a lot of editing, but I had no idea just how much work would be involved. I had to move several key scenes around, which messed with the continuity a LOT. I added some extra motivation and nuance. And I aged the whole thing down from YA to MG (this post has the full story). After all the smoke cleared, I was left with a manuscript that might be publishable at last.
Honestly, the agent round was a little disappointing for me. I got two requests, which I was ecstatic about, but they both ended up passing. Still, it's not so much about the Pitch Wars requests as it is about the potential for even more requests later on -- which become more likely once you have a polished pitch and tuned-up manuscript (that's not to say that the agent round was completely useless -- some of my amazing classmates got dozens of very well-deserved requests, and several of them have offers and even agents already!).
So now I'm back in the query trenches for the first time since April. But this time, I'm not alone -- I have my amazing mentor, Laurie Dennison, to help me with strategy (mentors aren't even required to do this. Laurie's just phenomenal). And of course, the Pitch Wars Class of 2017 always has each others' backs. Time to see what happens!
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| Writing rule #1: You never have to go it alone |
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