#PitchWars First 250 Critique Offer

O hai! I’m offering critiques on your first 250 words for #PitchWars. These are the rules (in so much as I have rules):

1. Send me an email (annemariewrites at gmail dot com) with your first 250 words pasted in the body. No query. No synopsis. And “Chapter One” doesn’t count against your 250. If this stops in the middle of a sentence, finish the sentence.
2. Add “#PitchWars250” in the subject line + your novel’s title.
3. Please let me know your age range (MG, YA, NA, or Adult) and your genre (contemporary, thriller, historical, etc.).
4. Leave a comment on this post with your title, in case my spam folder eats your email. (Has happened once already. Ah, technology!)

What I’m offering:

If I were an agent, I’ll let you know if I would request more pages + why or why not. I’ll give you line edits. I’m not going to be mean, but I will be honest and professional. This is just my opinion. No one but you can write the story of your heart! I’m aiming for a one-day turnaround. If you have follow-up questions, don’t hesitate to ask. 😀 Oh, and if you make changes, I’m 100% happy to look over the sample again.

I’m a voracious reader, a YA novel and short story writer, and an editor with a small press. I love seeing how books evolve. Even if I pass on your first 250, it’s just one opinion. I hope you’ll continue working on your craft and entering contests. And if I say “yes”, the same thing goes.

To get a feel for my reading tastes, here’s a list of some of my fav reads (alphabetical by author):

The Curse Workers trilogy by Holly Black
How the Irish Saved Civilization: the Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe by Thomas Cahill
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Grendel by John Gardner
The Wandering Unicorn by Manuel Mujica Láinez (trans. by Mary Fitton)
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (trans. by Lucia Graves)

You don’t need to follow me on Twitter, or my blog, or anything like that. If you want to signal boost this offer, that would be lovely but not required. Sound good?

❤

Edit to add: This offer is open until 8/15, so that you’ll have a couple days to incorporate changes, or at least have a chance to mull over my comments.