Pitch Wars 2017

I'm probably on the same schedule as you, CJ. I have one last scene that's giving me issues on the edits, then a quick read-through to make sure it looks good and I haven't forgotten anything obvious. The rest is all ready to go.

Well I'm in. I'm still doing a bit of tinkering here and there in the later parts of my MS, but the first chapter is set and it could be sent out as a full right now so I went for it! I also made some last minute mentor switches, so hopefully that wasn't a mistake.

I'm quite happy with this MS, and although I am realistic about my odds in PW, at least it motivated me to get this edit done sooner.

helios said:

I submitted as soon as the sub portal opened. I thought that'd mean I could concentrate on my real work, but I was wrong! Those #pwteasers are killer.

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Yeah, I had to stop paying attention to those. Just started stressing me out and doing bad things to my stomach.

I've sent off. Very grateful that my four choices don't tend to tweet a whole lot (the frenetic tweeters make my head spin).

I can still do this...

But gettin' stressed.

One of the mentors posted a spreadsheet and "logline" is one of the things she rates on there. Does anyone know - should we be putting a logline in our queries? I have a logline / pitch, but the directions said we don't need that for the submission, just have it ready. And the logline messes with my query.

Thoughts?


And is this a crappy logline or okay?


Seventeen-year-old Gabe Giordano will do anything to be better than his mobster dad, even rescue the mob's trafficked kids, whatever the cost.

Sage said:

A logline is something that a lot of people add to queries because they think they're supposed to do so...and almost always they don't do the job. There is no part of the submission form that includes a logline. If you have one, it will be part of your query. If you know a mentor you like wants one, you might consider using one at the top of your query. If not, don't stress about it.

CJ, that's fine, but I would avoid the cliche of "whatever the cost."

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Thanks, Sage, this is all helpful!

You're completely right about the cliché. The logline reads stronger without it and I guess it's already implied there will be a cost based on what it is he's doing. So I'm just going with:


Seventeen-year-old Gabe Giordano will do anything to be better than his mobster dad, even rescue the mob's trafficked kids.

Did anyone do the donation option where you get to pick two extra mentors? I'm sorely tempted.

sockycat said:

Did anyone do the donation option where you get to pick two extra mentors? I'm sorely tempted.

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I've been thinking about doing it. The AW member who encouraged me to enter Pitch Wars donated and got the two extra mentors (I'd give him a shout out, but I never know if people like to be named, so I don't without permission). It seems too easy to pick the wrong 4 and none of those 4 connect with your characters, story or style.

sockycat said:

Did anyone do the donation option where you get to pick two extra mentors? I'm sorely tempted.

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I did that last year, actually. Didn't work out for me. Neither of the extra mentors I picked showed interest in my manuscript, but I got requests from my original "free" picks. But that was my experience. Yours may be better.

Sage said:

I decided in the end to do it, not just because it meant I didn't have to narrow down my picks quite as much, but because Pitch Wars has helped a lot of people, and donating is cool (and tax deductible).

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I TOTALLY did not know this.

Dammit.

The chapters not attaching is a known problem - it's fixed now, but the server went a bit wonky in the initial stampede! You'll be contacted if we didn't get your pages.

Good luck guys, it'd be great to see an AW-er find a mentor.

BreeC said:

Congratulations to all those who've finished a revision in time to submit. If nothing else, that's such a fantastic accomplishment.

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Thanks and this is how I'm looking at it. I know I'd still be so much further back in my revisions if I weren't faced with this deadline.

PeteMC said:

The chapters not attaching is a known problem - it's fixed now, but the server went a bit wonky in the initial stampede! You'll be contacted if we didn't get your pages.

Good luck guys, it'd be great to see an AW-er find a mentor.

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Thank you, PeteMC! Yep, I'm hoping at least one of us here finds a mentor. Rooting for all of you/us!

I told myself I wouldn't obsess, but I submitted over a day ago and no requests soooo

noranne said:

I told myself I wouldn't obsess, but I submitted over a day ago and no requests soooo

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It doesn't have to mean anything yet. I saw some saying they're not requesting anything until this weekend. And lots seem to have a "maybe" pile.

I'm not submitting but just wanted to pop in to wish you guys good luck! I've been watching the PW madness unfold on Twitter, and I'm super excited for everyone.

Mine haven't given any teasers about entries they like either, and there have only been about a handful of tweets on the main # from all of them combined since the sub window opened. I don't know what's worse - radio silence or tweets you can obsess about, wondering if they relate to *your* entry, lol. Still, it's entertaining to read the other mentors' teasers and see how inventive they get to baffle/delight/tease/torment us!

ETA: No requests for me so far - not sure whether mine are requesting once the sub window closes/if they're waiting until the weekend to start/they prefer other entries to mine (they haven't indicated either way & might just be concentrating on reading all their entries for now).

Don't stress - lots of mentors aren't making requests yet, and the radio silence just means we're swamped and too busy to Tweet much! The sub window isn't even closed yet and I've had well over 100 already...

Crikey--hats off to you guys, that's a heck of a lot of reading.