2016 #pitchwars #pimpmybio

I am pumped to enter #pitchwars this year. I have been looking forward to it ever since my friend did it last year and gushed about the experience. For those who don’t know, Pitch Wars is a contest held in August where those of us with finished novels enter for the chance to pair up with a published/agented author as a mentor – check out Brenda Drake’s website). Here is a little about myself and my novel:

Me:

Literally every time I sit down to write #cats #cats #cats #writerslife #catwhisperer
A photo posted by @stacy_cat88 on Jun 15, 2016 at 3:13pm PDT

My dream of becoming a published author hit me early in life. When I was little, I would write chapters with premises and characters that were clearly stolen from whatever I had just read. One such chapter was based on Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum. (I read “One for the Money” as a child, but skipped the sexy bits.) Another was based on one of the many horse novel series I couldn’t put down. Another project I started was writing a family newsletter, which gave me a space to vent about all of the dirty socks that my older brother left around the house. Very gross, Ted.

I graduated from Georgetown with an English degree and Chinese minor. My high school English teacher told us never to major in English unless you only wanted to teach (I didn’t, but have mucho respect for those who do), which is why I considered every social science discipline before I finally realized that was terrible advice. I mean, Bradley Cooper has an English degree from my alma mater. And he’s doing fine.

(But she had us push through the whole of The Brothers Karamazov, which is an amazing, tough, and insightful read.)

Because I studied Chinese, I spent an entire nine months of my college years living in Beijing, learning everything I could about China (history, politics, literature, religion, you name it) and traveling to over thirty Chinese cities and towns across the country. The experience gave me a totally new perspective on the U.S. and the world at large and gave me ammo for settings and plot points that I use in my science fiction.

Can you believe it? I got to see this place twice.

After college, I lived in LA for a few years to try out the entertainment industry and see if TV writing was the life for me. I got some great insight into how the industry works, but ultimately decided that my true passion lies in novel writing. I studied scriptwriting including structure and read a ton of scripts, which I think have improved my writing. That’s what I’m telling myself at least.

About my novel:

It is a YA sci-fi space opera with a part-human female protagonist. When a corporation threatens to destroy the Alliance, a teen girl must chose to protect her tribemates or leave her planet to develop her powers.

It’s like Mass Effect if Commander Shepard was a teenager. I love world building and my universe is sprawling, but I keep the journey focused on my MC (close third POV) and take care to balance the pacing with plenty of action scenes and snappy dialogue.

Why Me:

My goal is to make my novel as strong as possible. This is a series that I plan to dedicate the next several years of my life to. I need help seeing any plot holes, confusing moments for readers, and making sure that themes thread through the novel nice and strong. At 105K, I am willing to cull whatever I need to since I have so much backstory and plot, so I will need your help with seeing what is relevant and what isn’t. I am in the process of finishing four short stories based on the universe, told from the perspective of other characters in the series. One of the short stories received an Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future contest, which is a highly competitive free entry sci-fi contest run by Scientologists (totally legit, actually).

I also love the community aspect (!) of Pitch Wars and would like to expand my writer friend circles beyond Iowa and California 😀

My favorite stories:

If I had to sum up my interests with just two of my favorite movies it would be Blade Runner and When Harry Met Sally. My mother stoked an early obsession with the 1995 Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice miniseries which continued with the Bridget Jones Diary adaption, though my favorite Austen novel is definitely Persuasion. I love Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and anything Philip K Dick wrote. My first science fiction novel exposure was to Marilyn Kaye’s Replica series and I’ve been hooked on sci-fi/fantasy ever since. I am super into Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and anything Joss Whedon has touched. My inspiration for my MC derives from powerful fictional women like Buffy Summers, Beatrix Kiddo, Rory Gilmore, Cher Horowitz, Veronica Mars, Trinity, Leeloo, and every female character from this last season of Game of Thrones #girlpower #whorunstheworld.