Hello potential mentees! I’m Paris Wynters and this is my second year as a mentor for Pitchwars. Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each to spend three months revising their manuscript. It ends in February with an Agent Showcase, where agents can read a pitch/first page and can request to read more. This year I will be focusing on the ADULT CATEGORY.
ABOUT ME:
I write Romance and SFF. I’m represented by the wonderful Tricia Skinner of Fuse Literary Agency. I'm also the author of HEARTS UNLEASHED and have two books coming out with Tule Publishing in 2020. I live in New York with a wonderful teenager who plays travel hockey. I am mixed race and I suffer from a rare genetic disorder called Hemachromatosis. I am a teacher and have my M.S. in Biology. I am also a Search and Rescue technician and canine handler. My son is also a certified SAR Tech II. My canine partners live with me, and yes, I do have HR in my house. Makes for interesting conversation and adds a creep factor to those who visit. I love to travel, ride street bikes and dirt bikes, and pretty much do active and X-game type activities. I’ve been on a shark dive, practice trapeze, participate in Crossfit (I used to compete in Figure), practiced Muy Thai and Kali for seven years, and took airplane flying lessons. I love video games, Deadpool, and am a huge fan of Halo. Though, there will be hell to pay if 343 follows through on this Cortana/Master Chief love story, and if they make her good again.
WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR:
First and foremost, anything to do with Search and Rescue. I’m a certified SAR Tech II and a canine handler. I’d also love to see manuscripts involving Mongolian culture and Mongolian main characters (#ownvoices manuscripts preferred).
SCI-FI
I'm looking for Space Operas, Robot/A.I. stories, and Genetics/Bio based stories.Skippy from Expeditionary Force is one of my favorite characters of all time and I LOVE FIREFLY. I also love Ghost in the Shell, TAU, Extinction, and Ex Machina. I would love something that would be similar to Fringe.
To give you a sense of my tastes, here are some romance novels I adore:
Expeditionary Force series
Ghost in the Shell
The Martian (read it 5 times)
Annihilation
Planetside
The Host
Seveneves
Children of Titan series
What I'm NOT looking for in Sci-Fi:
heavy military themes (I'm not the best fit)
FANTASY
Specifically, I’m looking for manuscripts along the lines of Labyrinth, Willow, Legend, Ladyhawke, The Princess Bride, The Shape of Water. I also enjoy Dark Fantasy as long as it doesn't involve topics from my DO NOT WANT list.
“True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops.”- Miracle Max
To give you a sense of my tastes, here are some books I adore that have fantasy elements:
Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
The Language of Thorns
The Bone Witch
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
The Golden Compass
The Princess Bride
ROMANCE
I LOVE ROMANCE. I write it, I read it, I devour it. Here is what I am looking for when it comes to romance:
Contemporary
RomCom
Romantic Fantasy
Historical: must be NON-REGENCY/NON-VICTORIAN/NON-WESTERN
****I'm okay with all heat levels. Though I do lean toward medium to steamy heat levels****
To give you a sense of my tastes, here are some romance novels I adore:
Playbook series
The Kiss Quotient
When Dimple Met Rishi
Kathryn Fox Books
Tessa Bailey Books
What I'm NOT looking for in romance:
sci-fi romance
erotica or erotic romance
Inspirational romance
Romantic suspense
Sudden baby trope
Dark Romance
Romantic Suspense/Mystery
Paranormal Romance
HORROR
The only caveat here is don’t include gore for the sake of gore. But I would love to find a manuscript featuring DOLLS or GRAY ALIENS (like Fire in the Sky).
Miscellaneous
I love a good adventure story (Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider)
I love good science/medical thrillers a la Michael Crichton and Robin Cook.
Regarding Heroines:
Don't give me Wonder Woman (I dislike her). Give me Sarah Connor, Ripley, or Mazikeen (and Ella).
Other books I enjoy:
Dexter series
Unwind
American Psycho
Most Stephen King Books
TV Shows/Movies I like:
Dexter
Lucifer
Grey's Anatomy
Brooklyn Nine Nine
American Horror Story
Firefly
WestWorld
Lost in Space (love new Robot)
Dollhouse
Bitten
Alien (all of them)
Supernatural
Dr. Strange
Pan's Labyrinth
WHAT I'M NOT LOOKING FOR:
YA, MG, NA
Non-fiction
Memoir
Graphic Novels
Women's Fiction
Paranormal
Eating Disorder manuscripts
Zombies, Vampires
Manuscripts involving rape/sexual assault/abuse/ (not even off-screen)
Trophy Hunting
#Metoo manuscripts
Family sagas or multi-generational manuscripts
Inspirational or religious-themed manuscripts
Manuscripts involving abortion and stillbirth
Main character is a proud drug user or struggling with addiction.
Anything that's already been published. A self-published book is considered published.
If I've critiqued/read your manuscript before, I kindly ask you choose another mentor.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Skills
Big picture edits, plot holes, character development
Tightening language. Reducing unnecessary words and filtering. Finding your filler words.
Deepening POV
Hands-on mentoring
Line-edits
I’m constructive, thorough, BUT to the point (I’m blunt).
Brainstorming/someone to bounce ideas off of and problem solve
Communication Preference: Email is my preferred method. Text is awesome, too, as long as we remember time change differences and schedules. Phone calls would have to be scheduled. I’m open to Zoom, but like phone calls would have to be scheduled.
Thank you for reading, and I can't wait to see your words in my inbox! If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me on:
Twitter: @pariswynters
Comments