DOWNLOADABLE PLAIN TEXT PDF OF MY WISHLIST
Hello potential mentees! I’m Paris Wynters and this is my fourth 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, The Navy SEALs of Little Creek series, LOVE ON THE WINTER STEPPES, and CALLED INTO ACTION. I have also completed a mentorship with Tessera Editorial and was an intern for Entangled Publishing.
I’m a multiracial author who is also disabled. I am also a full-time teacher and have my M.S. in Biology. I am a Search and Rescue technician and canine handler. I live in NY with my family and 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, practiced trapeze, participate in Crossfit, competed 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.
WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR:
Abbreviated version: sci-fi, romance, horror, thrillers, adventure stories, and anything to do with Search and Rescue. You can find more out below.
MARGINALIZED VOICES
I would love to see manuscripts with marginalized characters from authors who share that marginality themselves, I would especially love to see manuscripts that speak to the mixed race experience by multi-racial authors and manuscripts written by disabled authors.
**If you’re writing marginalized characters (mostly this applies to POV characters) and you don’t share that marginality yourself, I'm going to be cautious about selecting you.**
THEMES I WOULD LOVE TO SEE:
Character driven stories
Family stories- complicated families, found families, and meddlesome families that do so with good intentions even if they get it wrong (the funnier the better). For example, everything from the Aunties of Dial A for Auntie to the found family vibe of Firefly to the complicated father-son relationship of Peter and Walter in Fringe.
Strong friendships even if they go through rocky times (like in Bride Wars)
SCI-FI
I'm looking for all your CHARACTER DRIVEN sci-fi. I love it. I read it. I devour it. I would love to find something like Fringe.
To give you a sense of my tastes, here are some sci-fi novels I adore:
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
The Last Watch and The Exiled Fleet
Expeditionary Force series
The Martian (read it 5 times)
Hail Mary (Andy Weir again)
Planetside, Colonyside, Spaceside
Galaxy Outlaws series
Galaxy’s Edge series
ROMANCE
I LOVE ROMANCE. I write it, I read it, and I also devour it. I am okay with ALL heat levels, though I do read more books with a steamy/high heat level. The only tropes I don't find myself getting behind are insta-love or secret baby if it was done out of spite. Also, romance must have an HEA/HFN for me and no cliffhanger endings.
Here is what I am looking for when it comes to romance:
Contemporary
RomCom
Erotic Romance (must have an HEA/HFN)
Light Paranormal Romance
Seasoned main characters (meaning at least 38 years old)
I would love a spooky theme built in or something like witches in a contemporary world
What I'm NOT looking for in romance:
erotica
Inspirational romance
Romantic suspense
Dark Romance/Kidnapper/Human Trafficking stories
To give you a sense of my tastes, here are some romance novels I adore:
The Kiss Quotient
Tessa Bailey Books
The People We Meet on Vacation
Nina Crespo Books
The Roommate
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) or something like the movie Signs, Sweet Home, Alice in Borderlands, or A Quiet Place. I love Stephen King books...all of them.
THRILLERS
Give me dark thrillers. But something along the lines of A Simple Favor or You. Give me that edge of the seat feeling that borders on possibly being horror. Also, I absolutely loved The Girl in 6E series (Erotic Thriller). But I don't want Gone Girl or anything like the Alex Cross books. I’m not a fan of thrillers heavy in police procedurals. But I am totally down for medical thrillers. I love Robin Cook books.
ADVENTURE STORIES
I would love to see something along the lines of Tomb Raider, The Jungle Cruise, or The Black Stallion for adults.
*NOTE ON NA: I will not be accepting NA.*
Other books I enjoy:
Dexter series
American Psycho
The Girl in 6E series
Dial A for Aunties
The Suburbs
Rebecca Yarros books
Robin Cook books
TV Shows/Movies I like:
Dexter
Lucifer
Brooklyn Nine Nine
American Horror Story
Firefly
WestWorld
Lost in Space (love new Robot)
Dollhouse
Alien (all of them)
Supernatural
Dr. Strange
The 100 (my heda = Indra kom Trikru)
Archer
Loki
The Mandalorian
Turner and Hooch
Yellowstone
WHAT I'M NOT LOOKING FOR
GENRES I AM NOT LOOKING FOR (please don't waste one of your choices)
YA, MG, NA
Women's Fiction that isn't light/humorous
Fantasy
Suspense
Mystery
Nonfiction
Graphic novels
Memoirs
Historical
Erotica
Dark Romance
Crime/Police Procedural
Romantic Suspense
No COVID stories
Eating Disorder manuscripts
Zombies
Manuscripts involving rape/sexual assault/abuse
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/Mentoring Style
Developmental Edits focusing on structural issues, character development/consistency, overall plot arcs/holes, world-building, and cohesiveness.
Helping to understand Deep POV and how to apply it.
Hands-on mentoring, but also will give you space to work and not overcrowd you.
I’m constructive, thorough, BUT to the point (I’m blunt).
Brainstorming/someone to bounce ideas off of when trying to fix a problem area or for when you get stuck.
Communication Preference:
Email is my preferred method especially with time change differences and schedules. I’m open to Zoom or Google Meet, but it would have to be scheduled as I do have a full-time job and other responsibilities (I am on the East Coast so timing would be after work hours).
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