Our mentors are editing, our mentees are revising, and we hope you’re making progress on your own manuscript! While we’re all working toward the Agent Showcase starting on February 5, 2020, we hope you’ll take a moment during your writing breaks and get to know our 2019 Pitch Wars Mentor and Mentee Teams.
Next up, we have . . .
Angel Di Zhang – Mentee
Michelle, why did you choose Angel?
Sometimes you see a movie or read a book and you can’t stop thinking about it for days. That’s how I felt with THE LIGHT OF ETERNAL SPRING. It’s outside my comfort zone genre-wise. Yet, Angel’s characters grabbed me and they wouldn’t let go from the first line: My mother died of a broken heart, or so the letter said. I also loved the premise. A woman of two worlds, China and America, searches for reconciliation with her family, her mother, herself.
It’s the manuscript I read that wasn’t finished with me. I needed this story and this story needed me. Also, Angel might have used magic on me. 😊
Angel, why did you choose to submit to Michelle?
I love Michelle’s Birth of Saints trilogy. I admire her ability to draw out the core of the story and the protagonist’s motivation on page one then never let go. Her books feature strong female characters and true virtue.
I knew Michelle was generous with her wisdom—not only in Pitch Wars but also through hosting #QueryKombat, #SunvsSnow, #PBParty, #NoQS, and her website. I stalked her on Twitter. I read all her Pitch Wars interviews from previous years. In one interview, her choice of a snow shovel named Clive as the best weapon against her nemesis delighted me.
Michelle is magic realism manifest in the world. I conceived of the perfect mentor, and she appeared!
Michelle, summarize Angel’s book in 3 words.
Light. Heart. Belonging.
Angel, summarize your book in 3 words.
Manchu. Magic-realist. Mother.
Michelle, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
I’ve never read a craft book about writing. Now I’m about to start one thanks to fellow mentor Carrie Callaghan. It’s not just the mentees who learn new things and make lifelong friends with peers during Pitchwars. Thanks, Carrie, for being friend and co-mentor.
Angel, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I hope to learn from Michelle’s wisdom and experience. I know that at the end of Pitch Wars, I will have the best possible version of my manuscript ready for agents. I hope to become friends with my mentor and fellow mentees. Pitch Wars is a fantastic community, and I am proud to be a member.
Angel, tell us about yourself! What makes you and your manuscript unique?
I was born in China and raised there and in England, Canada, and the United States. I was educated in the joint BA-MIA program at Columbia University and am an internationally exhibited fine-art photographer.
THE LIGHT OF ETERNAL SPRING is a magic realist novel about a Manchurian-American photographer who falls into photos and her quest to reconcile with her dead mother.
I wrote the book that only I could write.
Thank you for supporting our Pitch Wars Teams! The Agent Showcase is February 5 – 10, 2020, and our next Twitter Pitch Party on #PitMad is December 5, 2019! Want to know more about #PitMad? Go here.
