Defining Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is basically your ability to pitch a book in 1 or 2 lines. So…for example, let’s take a look at some classics most people know.

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire: Four wizards compete in a three-wizard tournament. Scandal! (I borrowed that from @polandbananas20).

The Hobbit: middle-aged introvert dragged along by dwarves who want to slay a dragon and get their kingdom back.

Throne of Glass: Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games with really pretty dresses.

Delirium: Romeo & Juliet in a dystopian world where love is considered to be a mental illness.

Great (by Sara J. Benincasa): an adaptation of The Great Gatsby in modern day except with lesbians.

The Selection: The Bachelor, royal edition, with mild civil war (also borrowed/paraphrased from @polandbananas20)

So like, if I wanted to do elevator pitches for some of my books, I might write them something like this:

Eidolon: Edgar Allan Poe meets Batman when Jack the Ripper stalks a neo-Victorian kingdom of half-human magicians.

The Silver Princess: royal Elf twins fall in love with a young doctor while their nations teeter on the brink of civil war.

Frost & Fire: a vindictive brother and sister try to ruin the lives of their fellow students at magic school.

Make sense?

Pitch Wars Mentee Bio

Hi everybody!

 My name is Cathryn and I have a double-hyphenated last name because there were only 8 Martyn-Dows in the world (my 2 brothers, my niece, my parents, my sister, my sister-in-law, and me before I got married) so instead of changing my last name I just tacked my husband's on at the end. My husband is amazing, and he's taught me a lot. He's high-functioning autistic, very set in his ways, and LDS (Latter-Day Saint; aka Mormon) but he loves me, the Tim Burton-loving bisexual Mormon girl with Asperger's. I blame him for addicting me to My Little Ponies, though. Evil, evil man...

 


 I also blame him for our only girl-cat loving him more than me. But that's okay, because I hold the other two in thrall. Muahahaha!

I go by LA Knight because that's what I was first published under on Fanfiction.net and then later in Foliate Oak Magazine and Combat Magazine back in 2007 and 2008. Blame this young lady for inspiring me at an early age and giving me the name idea.

That's Amelia Atwater-Rhodes and her first book, written when she was like, 12, is amaze-bunnies.

I've been published three times—one sci-fi western short, one poem that was reprinted in a Best Of anthology—and I've got two pieces slated to be published in the next year: a Cthulhu mythos piece and a Persian steampunk fantasy short. I've also won a bunch of Inkpop contests (they're Figment now) and got second or third place in a few others. The photosets displayed on my background are for various projects, some complete and some not.

I own over 2600 books (impressive cuz my apartment is itsty-witsy). Some of my fave authors include Laini Taylor, Neil Gaiman, Francesca Lia Block, Catherynne M. Valente, Ally Condie, JD Robb, Anne Bishop, Ann Brashares, Libba Bray, Naoko Takeuchi, Rosamund Hodge, Michelle Hodkin, Tahereh Mafi, and Marissa Meyer. I work at a call center that provides services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. I have no adorable carnivorous munchkins (aka children) at this juncture but I wish for them.

I started writing with Power Rangers fanfiction in crayon when I was a kid.

(don't judge me, lol)

 

Now my epic fantasy Hellboy fanfic series, Once Upon a Time, has over 1200 reviews. Because dude...haaawt prince!

 
And my Loki fic, Darkness There and Nothing... isn't doing too shabby, either.

I wrote my first book when I was 8 over the course of third grade. It was horrible. I later felt compelled to kill it with fire.

I've written other books since then (including this past November for NaNoWriMo). But last year back in February 2014 I wrote a book in about 3 weeks that was basically 

mixed with  

 
but looking like 

And I'm still madly in love with it, even after a year of revisions, but it still needs some work. I've had it critiqued by several of my peeps, and it's gotten several full requests but no takers. Clearly I need some outside expertise. I love writing. Like, I have to do it or I can't sleep or focus on anything. I love the worlds I make. I also love cats (I have three; and I'm extremely ADD except when it comes to writing; once I sit down to work, I work until my back begs me for mercy 'cause my chair is awful). 

I love my book and I know it's got a lot of potential. It just needs something, obviously, and I'm hoping I can get that from Pitch Wars.

So, the big question.

WHY SHOULD YOU PICK ME AS YOUR MENTEE???

I will work my butt off. I know how to take constructive criticism and work with it. I'm professional, but I'm friendly and cute, too! And cuddly! See?

 

Also, my book offers kick@$$ girls who don't need to be catty to each other to feel good about themselves, healthy romantic relationships, complex sibling relationships and fun girl-friendships, gorgeous clothes, guns, epic mythology, an MC who's interested in STEM, and time-space travel! 

Also romance! This kind! The swoony kind!

Except my male lead looks like this. Sort of. 

Mostly. Complete with the cracked face.

Biggest reason you should pick me! Ben Barnes is my MC's love interest! Okay, not really, but he makes a good model for the guy. :)

For the record, a disclaimer: that is not a demon. Repeat, that is not a demon.That is a [redacted due to spoilers].







 


So to sum up you should pick me because

Thank you!

#SFFPit Results - 6/19

So #SFFPit was yesterday! So excited because I got 2 faves, one for each project! Sent in EIDOLON this morning and I'm sending in GEARS tonight. Cross your fingers and wish me luck! So nervous for this! These two ladies seem really cool. EIDOLON went with the first 10 pages, GEARS will be with a partial of 50 pages (if I can get stupid AOL to work, ugh). So nervous!

GEARS Pitch: Dybbuks. Cucuy. Golems. Cinderella w/ male Sleeping Beauty. Judeo-Spanish folklore. A kidnapped sister. Stolen memories.

EIDOLON Pitch:  The Red Death, a Ripper-esque killer, hunts the young aristo vigilantes of the Raven Society in the city of Nevermore.

#PitMad Results - 6/4

So I got 3 favorites, 2 of them from the same agent! She favorited pitches for both EIDOLON and GEARS! Another agent favorited my GEARS pitch. I'm super excited. What's funny is the first lady previously favorited an EIDOLON pitch during #KidPit, which was last week. She really wants me. :D

EIDOLON 1: Re-imagined Poe: House of Usher rules a Victorian kingdom of magical beings & the Red Death is a Ripper-esque serial killer.

EIDOLON 2: 17yo Janine must stop a killer targeting the members of her vigilante team. Criminal Minds+Black Jewels+Batman.

GEARS: Nightmare world based on Spanish legends & Jewish mythology. Girl must rescue kidnapped sister from monsters.

OTHER GEARS: Juliet must fight for her sister, love for a rebel leader, her life, and her right to choose. Steampunk fantasy.

Already sent in my EIDOLON submission to the first lady and my GEARS submission to the second lady. Cross your fingers, my peeps!