Claribel & Kat’s Pitch Wars Wishlist!

It’s HERE! That time of the year when Pitch Wars is starting up and we are finally able to share our wishlists! Claribel Ortega and I are co-mentoring as #Teamoji this year and we are so stoked! Send us all of your YA fantasies and spec fic so we can devour them! (Nom nom nom)

First a little about us!

Claribel Ortega got her start editing student’s often times hilarious ads and ramblings on the back page of SUNY Purchase’s Independent Newspaper. From there, she became a small town reporter, where she enjoyed going to board of education meetings and texting the town mayors about the line at Starbucks. Today she’s busy turning her obsession with eighties pop culture, magic and video games into books. She lives in New York with her motorcycle-riding poet boyfriend & her suspiciously intelligent yorkie, Pancho Villa. She is represented by Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary. You can find her at claribelortega.com as @claribel_ortega on Twitter or making promo gifs for authors and anyone else who will pay her at GifGrrl.com.

Kat Cho writes Young Adult Sci-fi and Fantasy. Mostly ownvoices and mostly involving as much angst as possible (don’t @ me). She has been a mentor or judge in other events such as Author Mentor Match and WCNV. And She is a volunteer coordinator for DVPit. She is agented by the amazing and lovely Beth Phelan at The Bent Agency. Her current MS is a contemporary fantasy based on the Korean myth of the gumiho. She believes the writing world is a community and loves to share thoughts and advice as a contributor over at Write r’s Block Party or on her Youtube vlog. You can also find her on Twitter as @KatCho.

So we’re writing this to let any potential mentees out there know what we’re into. What stories catch our eyes? What characters make us swoon? Stay tuned to find out!We love a wide-range of fantasy including historical, urban and epic! We are lovers of diverse stories that tell tales that aren’t centered around Western/European origins. We are fans of strong ensemble casts and strong ladies. But, instead of just rambling on, let’s just give you a quick bullet list of some stories we’d love to see (this is not at all comprehensive as we both like being surprised by stories we never knew we’d love).

So, without further ado, here is our Pitch Wars Wishlist:

Ownvoices Fantasy (especially set in worlds inspired by non-Western/Non-European cultures)
Retellings with a twist (Think The Star Touched Queen’s retelling of Hades & Persephone)
If your book is like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (think emotion/characters/relationships)
Hamilton told from the POV of the Schuyler sisters
Books that take place over a short period of time (like a weekend or day) think Breakfast Club
If your book reminds me of a Miyazaki Film send it to me yesterday
Enemies to lovers
Misfits/unlikely groupings, Ragtag group of friends or enemies to friends, on a quest or heist, and Multi-POV
Anti-heroes, villains journey (think FOTL, Young Elites, Vicious)
Bad-ass girl gangs
Serial killers in a fantasy setting! (Claribel loves murder)
Street smart characters
Strong friendships

Wish List in video format cause we’re extra like that:

Things on our oh-no-no list aka don’t send these to us

We don’t really do pure contemporary (usually)
Fairies/Elves
Dystopian
Suicide, cancer, or child abuse
Abusive relationships presented as romantic
Books about race or oppression from the perspective of the oppressor

For your reference, here are some of our favorite Books:

Claribel’s Faves:

Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
The Jackaby Series by William Ritter
Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye
The Millennium Series by Stieg Larson
The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
The Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Kat’s Faves:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter Series) by JK Rowling
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Black Cat by Holly Black
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Darkest Minds Trilogy by Alexandra Bracken
Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Blood of Eden Trilogy by Julie Kagawa

And for another peek into our tastes, here are some non-book favorites:

Kat’s Faves

Musicals: Les Miserables, Hamilton, Rent
Anime: Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop
Movies: Spaceballs, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pacific Rim, Star Wars (IV, V, VI, VII, Rogue One), Moana
Badass TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica
Funny TV: Psych, Happy Endings, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99
ALL things Miyazaki, Ghibli: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo
K-Dramas for dayz: Oh My Ghostess, Gaksital, Heirs, School 2013, Shut Up Flower Boy Band, Goblin

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Claribel’s Faves

Food
Video games: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (especially VII aka the best RPG of all time, FIGHT ME) Just Dance,The Sims, Harvest Moon, Super Paper Mario, Street Fighter, Grand Theft Auto
Puppies
Murder Podcasts
The 80s
Movies: Amélie, Beverly Hills Cop, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Pacific Rim, Coming to America, Pretty in Pink, Wonder Woman, The Goonies, Guardians of the Galaxy
Watching YouTube makeup tutorials while eating ice cream then passing out
TV: How to Get Away with Murder, Brooklyn 99, Empire, Twin Peaks, GLOW

As for our future mentee, both of us really believe in revision. We actually have permanent residency in Revision-town. It’s a quaint little place with cute cottages and pools of our tears. Wine fountains and cheese fountains are equally present. And there’s a nice little path you can take to the top of a mountain where you can scream your frustrations into the uncaring sky. Anyway…what we mean to say is we’re not afraid of revisions and neither should our mentee. Revisions are meant to tighten and polish the MS. At the same time, we also don’t think the path to successful querying is perfection. We’re looking for a story that has potential (and we believe that’s what agents are looking for too).

Our future mentee should be ready to work hard. We want someone who is as kind as we are but as ruthless in making the cuts and changes necessary to make their book the best possible. We want someone who will keep an open mind and be willing to discuss big changes if they arise.

We believe your story will always be yours, we’re just here to collaborate with you and provide guidance and internet hugs and GIFs.

Good luck everyone and we can’t wait to read your submissions!

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