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 . . .
LC Milburn – Mentee
Kimberly Gabriel – Mentor
Dawn Ius – Mentor
Kimberly & Dawn, why did you choose LC?
LC is a fantastic writer, and we were immediately pulled in by her sheer skill, and her main character, Annie. Annie is flawed and rough around the edges, but we were compelled by her strength. Not to mention, LC’s book is a creepy horror story with a jaw dropping twist at the end we couldn’t stop thinking about.
LC, why did you choose to submit to Kimberly & Dawn?
Kimberly and Dawn’s wish list included high-concept horror and a love for tension above all else, so adding them to my mentor pick list was already a no brainer. But it was their personal dynamic that had me excited to submit to them specifically. Dawn was Kimberly’s mentor in 2017. They got along so well they became co-mentors in 2018, and are continuing the party in 2019 (with me, OMG!). Add in their friendly, funny, effusive, wine-and-very-specific-gif-loving personalities? SOLD! From day one Kimberly and Dawn have given such good advice and have shown a willingness to go above and beyond to help me succeed, and in the way that works for me. I feel incredibly grateful to have chosen so wisely, and wildly lucky that they chose me.
Kimberly & Dawn, summarize LC’s book in 3 words.
Atmospheric, twisty, edgy
LC, summarize your book in 3 words.
Bad girls good
Kimberly & Dawn, tell us about yourself. Something we may not already know.
Kimberly: I took mother-son archery lessons with my son this past fall and discovered a hidden talent shooting targets with a bow and arrow. I made many Katniss references during this time.
Dawn: I’m a sports car junkie with a special place in my heart for muscle cars—in particular the Shelby GT 500 otherwise known as Eleanor. Despite my need for speed, though, I’m an avid kayaker with the goal to leisurely paddle more than 100 different bodies of water in my lifetime. I’m at 26.
LC, what do you hope to get out of the Pitch Wars experience?
I hope to soak up all of Dawn and Kimberly’s expertise and energy over these three months, and to capitalize on their collective brainpower to help me refine my manuscript into the absolute best book I (we) can make it. I feel like maybe it’s got legs, but Kimberly and Dawn can help make it fly.
And like the other mentees have said, I’m also here for the community. I’m kind of a fancy introvert – it’s not always easy for me to make new friends, but once I’m in the room, I’m there for the long haul. Pitch Wars is already proving to be the perfect place to cultivate these critical friendships on this wild ride of writing and publication.
LC, tell us about yourself! What makes you and your manuscript unique?
Growing up, horror, and anything with a dark side centering around girl heroes rather than victims was at the core of my fiction-loving heart: Christopher Pike and Lois Duncan and the heavier Judy Blumes like Tiger Eyes and Deenie were my favorites.
I wrote my Pitch Wars story wanting, in a humble, homage-y kind of way, to carry the torch of these writers forward. To write a scary story about girls who don’t always get things right but learn that they need to keep fighting like hell for what is right. But more than that, I wanted the girls in my story to be fighting for what’s right for them, not for some kind of abstract values construct. On top of all that, I wanted them to work together to save themselves, because girls fighting for each other is what’s really going to save us.
I had fun writing this story, and I freaked myself out a few times too. I can’t wait to get this book to its best self with Kimberly and Dawn at my side.
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 March 5, 2020! Want to know more about #PitMad? Go here.
