<<<<< Scavenger Hunt Letter, now back to your regularly scheduled blog post!
I am excited to be a Pitch Wars Mentor once again. Last year was so much fun and am so proud of my mentee landing an agent so quickly! To get an idea of my style and what type of stories I like, you can read my debut book, Extraordinary Sam.
Here are a few guidelines to what I will be looking for:
Genre: Middle Grade
Types of Stories: Last year I read so many good stories, but chose the one I felt I could add the most to, something in my wheelhouse. What is that you ask? Stories that could be an adventure (love The Luck Uglies by Paul Durham), a touch creepy (similar to Dead Boy by Laurel Gale), or solving a mystery. I enjoy a little humor sprinkled about to balance the action, but not in your face. Paranormal and magical realism are cool as well!
Other books I have really enjoyed: The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier; Alistair Grim’s Odditorium by Gregory Funaro; Hunted by Kevin Hearne (adult book, but excellent magical realism).
What I am not looking for: You may have an amazing story, but if I feel I can’t add to you getting published, I will pass. Genres in this category would include historical fiction (unless strong adventure at center), sad/touching stories (The Thing About Jellyfish is great book, but I wouldn’t have been much help as her mentor), non-fiction, or stories that do not include the things listed above.
Summing it up… send me your strongly defined characters (gender doesn’t matter) that grow throughout the story. I need a well paced book that quickly carries me through the pages and wanting more. Create a world (real or fantasy) I can see with my mind’s eye – love visuals. Don’t move too quickly and jump into things without showing me why I should care if the MC is successful or not (exception is if the start is action and moves quickly into building the MC and reasons for caring what just happened).
I’m excited to dive into some great stories!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.
Kevin A. Springer 