NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza 2019
UPDATE: Congratulations to our 2019 winners!
The 2019 NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza winner is Polyglot by Devyn Fussman.
Fan Favorite goes to Solving for X by Bob Luckett.
You can watch NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza 2019 below.
Nano Nation Wrimos from all over the world graced us with our ninth straight pack of pulse-pounding pitches for NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza 2019! A lawyer who could melt your face with her mind, a teacher trying to make world peace using West Side Story, glittery ducks, a cat on a leash, a chameleon confessing, a homeless boy sleeping in his run-down car, Vincent van Gogh eating yellow paint, a serial arsonist, and a polyglot. As ever, we were jaw-dropped and gobsmacked by the vast volume and undeniable awesomeness of the writing that poured forth from Wrimos from this planet and we suspect, from several others… And yet, we were not in the least bit surprised. It was pure pleasure and privilege for the Book Doctors to breathe in the rare air of NaNo Nation. We can’t wait to do it again next year.
Now for the 411: The 20 pitches were selected randomly. You can watch the recording of NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza to hear our feedback. It’s our mission to try to help all you amazing writers not just get published, but get published successfully. That’s why we’ve told you what works, but also what needs to be improved.
But don’t let our opinion sway your vote. What story intrigues you? What pitch would prod you from the couch to the bookstore (or, if you’re really lazy, to buy it online)? The pitch that receives the most votes by 11:59 p.m. PDT on April 1, 2019 will be awarded the Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250). We’ll announce the Fan Favorite on April 2, 2019.
But please note: YOU CAN ONLY VOTE ONCE! So please choose carefully. Don’t just read the first couple of pitches — read them all. You owe it to your fellow Wrimos. Encourage your friends, family and random strangers to vote for you via the link to the poll. Connecting with your future readers is a vital part of being a successfully published author today. And this is a great way to get some practice.
We will also be posting these pitches—a couple a day–on social media. We encourage anyone to like your entry but only poll votes from the webpage will count toward the Fan Favorite.
Finally, through April 2, 2019, we are still offering a free webinar (worth $75) to anyone who buys a copy of our book The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published. Just email a copy of your receipt to nanowrimo@thebookdoctors.com and we’ll be in touch to set up a webinar.
Write on, Wrimos!
NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza 2019 Voting
Click the writers' names to read their pitches. Then vote for your favorite.
- Solving for X by Bob Luckett (34%, 1,298 Votes)
- Revenge Prose by Beth Burnett (27%, 1,007 Votes)
- Hear Our Voices! by Michele LeNoir (22%, 826 Votes)
- The Fire Under the Mountain by Kirstie Ellen (5%, 196 Votes)
- East Side Story by Elizabeth Wilder (3%, 113 Votes)
- Untitled by Brianna Bolduc (2%, 69 Votes)
- Polyglot by Devyn Fussman (2%, 57 Votes)
- Amelia Raglan and the Haunted Barn by S. A. Sinclair (1%, 53 Votes)
- All the Yellow Suns by Malavika Kannan (1%, 53 Votes)
- Library Hell by Kristina Cooper (1%, 26 Votes)
- Girls Break Things by Amren Ortega (1%, 20 Votes)
- Meritocracy by Michael Sherrin (0%, 14 Votes)
- Love, Lust and Romance in the Age of #MeToo by Veronica Monet (0%, 14 Votes)
- Northern Souls by Georgiana Derwent (0%, 12 Votes)
- Confessions of a Chameleon by Becky Ances (0%, 10 Votes)
- More Than Meets the Eye by Tonya Preece (0%, 9 Votes)
- Love Boy by Margarita Maldonado (0%, 5 Votes)
- Untitled by SShea (0%, 2 Votes)
- Expect the Unexpected by Denisa Stefania Stoian (0%, 2 Votes)
- The Twilight Stone by Fiona Kehoe (0%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 3,788
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Kirstie Ellen
The Fire Under the Mountain by Kirstie Ellen
(YA / (High) Fantasy)
In a dying world of magic, five tribes are divided against each other.
A sixth, has not been seen for centuries.
A tyrannical king with twisted secrets readies himself for war.
But one girl holds the answers to uniting magic and saving the planet.
The six tribes of Runelle have been divided for centuries, shutting off their magic from each other. But their separation means the planet is dying and with it, its people. In a battle for power, tribes will turn against each other, magic will be stolen and unknown secrets will be revealed as the ruthless, deranged king of the sky tribe, Kino, slaughters all who stand in his way.
Yet one brave and clever girl is the planet’s last hope. Sharmay finds herself unwittingly tasked with a quest to unite the people of Runelle. It’s a race against time to not only bring the tribes together before all is lost but to also find the missing sixth tribe. From the dark tunnels of the earth tribe, to the murky waters of the underwater kingdom, Sharmay will face her worst fears, find help in unexpected places and stand heroically for what she believes in.
While Sharmay prepares to face the odds alone, Kino’s son, Radon, escapes the abuse of his father, fleeing his home on his own mission to save Runelle. In a weaving of tales, these two fated beings will find the answer to the eternal question: what difference can one person make?
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
Michael Sherrin
Meritocracy by Michael Sherrin
In a city governed by test scores, Abel Allen is the most average citizen. He’s been stuck in the same job for years; he eats the same bland meal every night; and he’s not allowed to ask out the woman he loves, all because of his test scores.
After a co-worker is murdered, Abel discovers something that can replace studying: a pill that contains all the answers to all the tests. This answer key is rare and highly illegal. He must decide if breaking the law is a worthwhile price to no longer feeling average.
But something that valuable doesn’t stay secret for long. Abel’s boss, the mob, and the police all want the answer key, forcing Abel to decide who to trust and how to avoid getting caught. He discovers strengths and skills not found on his test results, and sets upon an adventure that puts the entire city under evaluation.
MERITOCRACY is a sci-fi noir with a dark sense of humor that questions how a standardized system can be fair to our individual qualities. Fans of bureaucratic nightmares will find much to love in this mash-up of 1984 meets Office Space.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
Devyn Fussman
Polyglot by Devyn Fussman
Polyglot: a person who knows multiple languages, AKA, Isabell Berzynski. She’s the only seventh grader who loves French class and the 6 other languages she’s learning for fun. Her dream job is world traveler, starting with Madame Angélique’s spring break trip to Europe.
Though Isabell’s immersed in the world of words, her protective parents don’t understand a thing she says about traveling. They want her safely in Plainville (population: 1,000), preparing for her bat mitzvah and making Jewish American friends. Not spending hours in GoGlobe chatrooms with foreign kids and reading travel guides. Besides, they can’t afford the class trip. They’re too busy paying for a venue, a caterer, and everything else a Jewish girl needs to come of age.
Isabell has 6 months to earn $2,100 and convince her family, especially her mother, that her baby, her only baby, is ready to leave the nest and see the world—even if she’s eleven.
Soon Isabell’s teaching English to immigrants with Madame Angélique, Latin to the deaf kids at her dad’s school, and French to her fellow classmates—all while juggling Hebrew school, regular school, and studying the Torah with Rabbi Josef. Still, earning the money is only half the battle. Winning over her mother is the hard part.
Every day Isabell’s yearning to see what’s beyond Plainville’s Jewish community grows. She has to follow her dream, even if her mother isn’t ready for it.
Polyglot is a 50,891-word middle-grade novel inspired by my Jewish American family and semester abroad.
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Elizabeth Wilder
EAST SIDE STORY by Elizabeth Wilder
Newly minted diplomat Jennifer Westfield thinks she landed her dream job in Jerusalem, until realizes she has been set up to fail. Her staff is MIA; pampered multinational toddlers (and their parents) have overrun her office; and the Palestinian and Israeli undergraduates in her program (who are enrolled in Conversational English) refuse to speak to each other.
As Jennifer gets to know her students, she realizes they are powerless in an endless conflict. Challenging typical diplomatic assumptions, she tries something (gasp!) new. The students won’t talk – but maybe they’ll sing.
Starting with six fellow music lovers, Jennifer teaches folk songs to the students. While the words are confusing – why is Suzanna crying? – their shared passion for music elevates the program and attracts both notoriety and praise. With the help of operatic UN diplomat Timot Kovac (from the ADIPOSE unit), Jennifer’s expanded show-choir attempts to stage a musical that should have been set in Jerusalem: West Side Story.
Can she find a performance venue? Will any VIPs attend? And will this ruin her budding career? Jennifer has to look within and around her to recruit a team of fellow diplomats who want to “dream the impossible dream”.
EAST SIDE STORY is a Christopher Buckley style satire crossed with a little Glee. I’m a musical-loving expatriate who sings only in the shower. EAST SIDE STORY is a 60,000-word NA contemporary novel.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
SShea
By SShea
Thirteen-year-old Devontae is poor and often homeless. He sleeps on the floor of apartments or in their rundown car without complaint. He eats one meal a day. He moves from school to school, and spends time in the principal’s office, which his mom attributes to the color of his skin, his intimidating height, and the ignorance of teachers and administrators. People stare at his parents – a petite woman with blond curly hair and blue eyes, and a basketball-tall man with a magnificently thick afro and skin as beautiful and dark as the black keys of a piano. He is a loner; his parents the only people he trusts.
When eviction slips litter their apartment, Devontae’s dad panics. He breaks his creed to never accept help or trust anyone outside of the family and makes a deal with a stranger to work a job for two days in exchange for staying at the man’s house for two nights. He didn’t ask questions; the pay screamed high risk.
They move in and two days later, his father comes back from the job to find Devontae beaten by the man’s oldest son.
In the backseat of the car, Devontae forces himself to face the truth about his parents and his dream to live a different kind of life. But, who can help him? Who can he trust?
A 30-year urban educator, SShea gives voice to the stories of children who experience homelessness and the foster care system.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
Denisa Stefania Stoian
Expect the Unexpected by Denisa Stefania Stoian
An abused engaged woman starts a new illegal life with her stalker teenager sweatheart.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
Fiona Kehoe
The Twilight Stone by Fiona Kehoe
For a normal human like May, having one of the mysterious fae for a boyfriend should really be more difficult than it is. Things in her life are pretty simple, up until the day another of the fae kidnaps him, dragging May into a magical world she doesn’t understand. When she meets the kidnapper face-to-face, he threatens to send her boyfriend’s head in a box if she doesn’t bring the Twilight Stone to him. As if that wasn’t enough, he then promises that her boyfriend won’t be the only loved one whose head she’ll find in a box on her doorstep if she fails.
May doesn’t react well to being threatened. She’d rather show the kidnapper the barrel of her revolver, but it seems the fae aren’t as impressed by bullets as most humans. She also has no idea what the Twilight Stone is, let alone where it is, and no one she talks to seems to know either.
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one interested in the stone’s whereabouts. Just as she thinks she’s getting close, a strange group of fae appears, willing to kill her if it means keeping the Twilight Stone out of her hands. Her neighbor, a sidhe whose motivation for helping her is unclear, and a gnome who deals in both fae gems and information, are unlikely allies in the race to save her loved ones. With their help, May might finally locate the Twilight Stone. Or at the very least, save her loved ones.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.
Georgiana Derwent
Northern Souls by Georgiana Derwent
Sadie Sadler lives in London. Practices human rights law. Drinks fair trade coffee, reads the Guardian, and never, ever burns her enemies alive using just the power of her mind. She’s totally grown out of that sort of thing.
Sadie’s relatives have used their dark magic to control the Yorkshire town of Mannith for centuries. But now, Sadie’s brother, Brendan, is on trial for murder, and Gabe Miller, the charismatic and sinister head of the Sadlers’ only rivals, is preparing to destroy her family. Only Sadie combines both the legal skills to defend an unwinnable case and the magical strength to face down their enemy’s spells.
The trouble is, there’s a good reason Sadie left Mannith and turned her back on magic: she sold her soul to Gabe Miller to save her damn brother the last time Brendan got himself into trouble. If she returns and takes the case, he’ll try to collect. But there’s no way she’s going to allow her brother to rot in jail or the Sadlers’ power to wane.
Sadie’s determination to forge her own path and stick to her principles is pushed to the limit as her family drag her back into their world of magic, violence, and power. And as she fights Gabe with spells and statute books, battling both her long-standing terror of him and her growing, twisted attraction, Sadie must decide who Mannith’s real villains are and how far she’ll go for her family.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Margarita Maldonado
Love Boy by Margarita Maldonado
Barely a month after her twelve year old shi tzu, Rocky, dies from cancer, a still grieving Janet Flores learns that her employer of the last seven years, the local newspaper, is cancelling her bi-monthly garden column, In the garden with Flores. That same week, Janet’s grown son, Liam, a recently graduated computational mathematician, announces he’s off to the Arctic to study climate change and Janet’s older sister informs her that their father is exhibiting signs of dementia.
In desperate need to exert some control over something in her life, Janet decides to start a big new garden project at home, but winds up throwing her back out in the process. When new neighbors move in next door with a dog they leave tied up in the yard 24/7, a recuperating Janet befriends him, calling him Love Boy whenever she speaks to him through the fence; in part because she’s never heard the new neighbors address him at all beyond telling him to, Shut up!
Increasingly worried about the approaching summer heat, Janet decides she’s going to try and help Love Boy get free of his tether, but both the neighbors and events conspire against Janet forcing her to determine just how far she’s willing to go to try and create change and whether one person ever really can make a difference or not.
Based in part on true events that are still unfolding.
Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Click here to listen to our feedback on this pitch.