Hi. I’m Michael Mammay, and my Co-Mentor AR Lucas and I are mentoring Pitch Wars in the adult category. We’ll be looking for science fiction and fantasy only, so if that doesn’t apply to you and you want to move on, good luck to you in your further search. If it does apply, read on and see if we’re a good fit for you.

If you got here by accident and are wondering ‘What is this Pitch Wars thing?’ You can read all about it here: Pitch Wars If you just want the basics, it’s a mentorship program where developing authors enter for a chance to work with an establish author/pair of authors to help make their manuscript better before querying agents.

Who we are:

I (Michael) am a full-time writer, mostly of science fiction. I’m the author of two published novels, PLANETSIDE and SPACESIDE, with a third due out in December (COLONYSIDE). I’m at work on my fourth novel—my first outside the PLANETSIDE series—which is under contract with Harper Voyager and should come out in late 2021 or early 2022. I’ve also got a fifth novel under contract with Audible. I’m a good editor, my strengths in that regard being plot development, pace, and character arcs. This is my fourth time mentoring Pitch Wars, and I was a mentee in 2015.

I (Alina) write part time, with a focus on upmarket light science fiction. I currently have a novel on submission and am beginning work on my next project. This is my first time mentoring, and I was a previous Pitch Wars mentee. My strengths are on scene structure and on the prose itself. Think of it as Mike as the big picture guy, and me focusing more on the details and the flow.

How we work:

Pitch Wars isn’t about us. It’s about you. With that in mind, we’re here to do whatever we can to help you reach your fullest potential as a writer. As part of that, we’ll work with you on whatever your novel needs in order to develop it into the best thing you can make it. The ultimate goal of that process is representation and publication, but failing that (and let’s face it, adult SFF is a tough place to break in) we aim to give you the skills and knowledge to improve as a writer and find success in the future.

Our plan for you is flexible, based on what you need, but our base plan going in is to provide two rounds of edits. Michael will be first with a developmental edit that will focus on plot, character arc and big picture things while also addressing any potential craft issues we see. For the second round, Alina will line edit with you and get your work polished for the agent showcase and querying. As we reach the agent showcase, we will work with you to prepare you for querying and submitting materials, and we (if you want) would continue to advise you through that process.

In the end, this is your book. We’re going to give you advice to bring out the best in your voice and your story. But it’s exactly that: your voice and your story. We will never lose sight of that.

As for style…as you can see by this super long wish list, we’re…thorough. If you’re looking for someone to send you gifs and emojis, we’re probably not the right team. If you want to nerd out and have long discussions about writing and publishing, now you’re speaking our language. We prefer email as our main communication form, but are open to DM/chat also, if needed and if it fits better for you. I suppose we’d skype if there was a reason, but honestly, we’d rather eat lint than talk on the phone.

Who we’re looking for:

Notice that we list WHO before we list WHAT. The book is important, but we also want to find someone who is the right fit for us. How will we do that? No clue. But we’ll try. Because Pitch Wars is a partnership between mentor and mentee, we become a team. And a good fit among the team is at least as important as the book. So, WHO are we looking for? Someone who is going to put in the work. Pitch Wars is a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work. After all, there’s a book to edit, and there’s no way to do that without putting in the writing time. We are going to put a lot of effort into this, so we expect you to also. Not everybody can do that…we totally get it. Everyone has different life circumstances. But we encourage you to think about how invested you are in this and make your decision accordingly.

1. Someone who wants to get better. Feedback is useless unless you grow from it. You only grow if you want to.

2. Someone who is looking to pursue publication, even if it’s not with this book. Unfortunately, not all books make it. In adult SFF, that’s doubly true. Markets are fickle. So, we’re looking for someone who isn’t planning to write one book and give up if it doesn’t hit. Obviously, we can’t know this, and it’s your life going forward. But that’s our thinking at the moment.

3. Someone who is “good enough” as a writer. What’s that mean? Given a year, we could get almost anybody to the level they need to be to query. But we’ve only got a few months. So we need somebody who, while they may not be ready now, is close enough to where we can confidently get them there during the time allotted. We’re not looking for an agent ready book…we’re looking for one that can be agent ready in 3 to 4 months. Which means we’re looking for an author who is only a few steps away.

4. We’re looking for someone who is really strong in some areas, even if they’re weaker in others. Something we can build on. Something that shows us that with help, they can be special. If in doubt, send it in and let us be the judge. After all, that’s what we’re here for.

5. Someone who knows where their genre is today. If the newest fantasy book you read was Robert Jordan or you think that all SF should be in the mold of Asimov or Heinlein, we’re probably not going to be a great match.

6. If all this sounds serious, it’s because we’re pretty serious about it. If it sounds intimidating, we apologize. We really are easy going once you get to know us. We understand that most (all) writers suffer from some level of impostor syndrome, and it’s easy to look at a list like this and think ‘Oh, crap, I don’t fit!’ Please don’t worry. Nobody will fit perfectly, and we’re NOT going to go down a checklist and say ‘nope, they didn’t meet this one criteria. Reject.’ We’re just trying to give you an idea of what our ideal candidate looks like so you can get a better idea if you want to work with us. I promise we’re a lot more flexible and fun as mentors than it appears from this document. What? Spreadsheets can be fun. Seriously. We love spreadsheets. That’s half of why we signed up as mentors. Okay…that’s a lie. Maybe.

What we’re looking for:

This is probably what most of you really want to know. First off, and most important, we’re looking for a project that we will enjoy working on for multiple passes. What is that? No clue. We won’t know it until we see it. Yeah, we know that’s not super helpful. But it’s the truth, and we’re all about giving you the true information and letting you run with it. We’re especially looking for voice and character, as those two elements of a story can cover up a lot of other things, and they’re pretty hard to teach. Plot we can fix. Craft we can fix. We can tweak scenes to gain tension. Voice, and to a lesser extent character, is harder.

We’re also looking for a book that we know how to help. How will you know that? You won’t. And neither will we until we see it. Please rest assured that I don’t see many manuscripts that I don’t think I can help. Yes, I know that’s arrogant. It’s also true. So here we are.

In both genres, we’re more on the spec side than the literary side when it comes to choosing a project. With that said, Alina writes literary SF and I read it, so we’re not 100% on that distinction.

We are open to romantic elements in both SF and Fantasy, but they should first and foremost be SFF, not romance. Put it this way: Where do you see it shelved in Barnes and Noble? If it’s in the SFF section, it’s for us. If it’s in the romance section, it’s not.

In Science Fiction:
We’re especially excited for Military SF, Space Opera, space travel, and distant future stories. We’re also receptive to Science Fantasy with original concepts.

We’re okay with some near future SF, especially if it has exceptionally unique elements or an interesting/original take on artificial intelligence; and some cyber punk.

We’re not particularly excited about dystopian, climate SF, Superheroes, or near future SF beyond that mentioned above

In Fantasy:
We’re especially excited for second world fantasy with unique world-building elements, original settings, or based on history traditionally under-represented in the genre.

We’re okay with portal fantasy, but only if the vast majority of it is set in the second world, as noted above.

We’re mixed on historical fantasy. We’d love a second world fantasy based on history, but don’t necessarily want something set in a real-world historical era. Unless it’s an era/region that hasn’t been done very often. We would be open to something like JADE CITY, for example.

We’re not at all interested in urban fantasy, though we would look at a UF style story set in a second world setting. We’re not interested in steam punk, but we could maybe be talked into Gaslamp if the world was interesting enough. We’re not looking for books that have gods as characters (characters who worship gods or are influenced by gods are fine). If you’ve got a god as a very minor character but fit the other criteria we’re interested in, don’t sweat it. We’re probably not interested in gunpowder fantasy.

We are not at all open to horror. Let us stress, not at all. Neither one of us will read it. It’s just not our thing.

Other random things we don’t want: Rape as a plot device. Violence against women and children (Caveat: we mean helpless women and children. If the women are combatants or it’s a level playing field, that’s great). Fridging of characters (Killing a character (usually a woman) or a companion animal with no purpose other than to motivate another character). Killing your gay or minority characters (unless there are lots of them and it makes sense for some to die). Killing of innocent animals. Seriously, if the dog dies, you can keep it. One dimensional soldiers (really, one dimensional characters are always bad, but because of my background, cookie-cutter soldiers always rub me the wrong way). Graphic torture. Erotica.

We are not open to NA, because there is no NA in SFF. No major publisher is publishing it, which means very few (no) agents are taking it. As this is a program to help you find traditional publication, the decision is pretty easy. We do recommend that if you have what you think is a NA SFF story that you choose either adult or YA and be prepared to do the work to shift it slightly older or younger. Please also note that you can have an 18 to 21 year-old character in adult SFF (or even younger). It’s more about themes and voice. Don’t believe me? The titular character of HARROW THE NINTH starts the book at age 17. Mark Lawrence’s character Jorg is something like 14 at the start of the series.

Please note that we’ve made these choices not as any sort of judgment on the genre or what you write, but what we like and/or what we think we can help. It’s important that we like your book, since we’re going to read it 2 or 3 times.

Some favorite books:

In the last year or two, Michael has really loved:

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Velocity Weapon by Megan O’Keefe
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Martha Wells’s Murderbot books
The City We Became by NK Jemisin
This is How you Lose the Time War by Amal Al-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen (This one was an ARC…you probably haven’t read it…but it’s going to be one of the top debuts of 2020 when it comes out)
The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang

Alina has loved:

Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Themis Files Trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Wanderers by Meg Howry
Before Mars by Emma Newman
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Things that should go without saying, but can’t:

We are absolutely open to working with any gender, any race, any orientation, and any disability. If you have a marginality that we don’t share, we’re committed to preserving your perspective. Again, this mentorship is about you, not us. If you are an author from a traditionally under-represented background and you want references, DM Michael on twitter and he’ll provide them. You deserve to feel safe in this process.

If you’re writing marginalized characters (Mostly this applies to POV characters) and you don’t share that marginality yourself, we’re going to be cautious about selecting you. I’m not saying we wouldn’t do it, but before we do, we’ll think about it very hard. If we do take on a project that depicts marginalities that none of us have, we may insist on sensitivity reads, but we’d contact you and discuss that before making our selection (and help you through that process). Don’t let this scare you off if you think your project fits us in other ways. We’ll treat the process with the sensitivity it deserves.

Please note: Write what you want. We’re not telling you that you can’t do what you want with your book. This is an expression of our comfort level, not a judgement on your work.

Frequently asked questions:

If you’re still with us, I’m going to assume that you’re at least somewhat interested. To help you make your decision, I’ll try to answer some questions here. You may think to yourself, wait, they just posted this. How can these questions be frequently asked? This is my 4^th year as a mentor. Some questions are the same every year. You’d think I’d find a way to just work them into the body of the wishlist, but I didn’t, so again, here we are.

1. What word count is appropriate for my genre?

This is a super complicated question that has no correct answer. You’ll find that the common opinion for adult SFF is 80K to 125K. And that’s not a horrible guideline. At the same time, you’ll find some great fantasy debuts that top 150 or even 200K. We’re not here to tell you what’s right and wrong. What we will say is this: If your book is outside the norm, it needs to be better than the norm. If we take on a book that’s more than 125K, it has to earn every word. It needs to be that good. Some of this is market reality, some of this is the limited time we’ve got to revise. If you want us to take on a 200K word book, it’s going to have to absolutely blow us away.

To sum up: we have no set requirement, but the closer you are to the expected range, the better chance you’ve got.

2. Are you more likely to take SF or Fantasy?

We’re undecided. While we’re both SF writers, we also read and enjoy fantasy extensively. For me, I mostly read things that came out in the last two years, so I’m up on what’s happening in both genres. Have no fear, I’ve also read a lot of the classics. I’m old. What you call classic, I once called a new release. (I’m joking, somewhat. I’m 51).

3. What happened to Dan?

As with all master/student relations in SFF, I had to destroy him in order to take his place. I killed him in an extended and dramatic writing battle, complete with slo-motion camera work, Matrix-style.

4. Really?

Not really. I didn’t destroy Dan. Alina did. What can I say? She really wanted the spot. But the Matrix part is true.

5. REALLY?

No, not really. He’s around, but he’s got other commitments. He will be advising our team from the shadows. As one does.

6. What happens if you and another mentor both want my book?

We settle it in a karaoke riff off, as per the rules. As we are both surprisingly good singers, we really like our odds.

What’s that? Hold on. I’m being informed that those are not, in fact, the rules. Apparently this is Pitch Wars, not Pitch Perfect. Which is…disappointing. I’ve apparently wasted my time preparing a rendition of “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana.

Okay, here’s how it will really happen:
In the unlikely case that we and another mentor both want your book (no offense to your book…I’ve simply done this three times before and it’s never happened) we will discuss it with that mentor and come to a decision between us about who is the better fit and who should back out. Then we will invite that mentor to meet us in a deserted forest, and we’ll take care of business. Wait…that’s not true. As far as you know. Seriously, though, as we’ve said a couple times, this is about you. We want you to have the mentor that’s best for you and your project. If that’s us, it’s us. If it’s someone else, we will wish you luck. If your ego demands that mentors war for you, you’ll want to find someone else (or probably another genre). I’ve never seen a war in adult SFF in all my years participating. There are just too many entries and too many different tastes among SFF mentors.

7. What will you do if you find a manuscript that’s ready to go to an agent?

We probably won’t. Sorry. In three years as a mentor, I’ve received something like 500 submissions for Pitch Wars, and that’s my experience. Even if we do find something that is potentially agent ready, I’m confident that we can make it even better. Planetside, my debut novel, was likely agent ready when I entered Pitch Wars in 2015. But I made it better during that time, and my agent made it better before we went out on submission, and my editor made it better before it went on sale. Everything can be better.

8. How can we find out more about you as mentors?

Ask around. I’ve got three former mentees floating around and dozens of people I’ve worked with over the years. You won’t hurt our feelings if you ask people about us. Just don’t believe anything that Barnes says about us. Really, it’s probably good practice not to believe anything he says about most things.

9. You followed me on twitter! What does that mean?

Nothing. Sorry if it got you excited. We’re pretty random about social media. We quite likely won’t even remember why we followed you, and it will have NO impact on who we choose as a mentee.

10. You were a soldier. Are you open to modern military stories/thrillers?

No.

11. I submitted to you in a previous Pitch Wars. Can I submit again?

Yes. Especially submit new projects. I love to see how you’ve grown. You can submit the same project, but it has been two years, so I hope you’ve done some work on it. Even if I requested in previous years, if you’ve worked on it, send it along. We passed on projects for lots of reasons. Maybe the writing wasn’t quite there, but maybe now it is. It’s hard to say.

12. I’ve received critique from you before via other venues. Should I submit to you?

DM me and ask. Generally I’m open to it. But absolutely understand that a past relationship won’t make me more likely to choose you, so if that’s your angle, don’t waste your entry if there’s someone else who is a better fit.

13. I was a mentee in the past. Should I submit to you?

You can, but know that we’re somewhat disinclined to take on people who have been mentored through Pitch Wars previously. A huge part of Pitch Wars is the experience and the connections. Much more so than the mere editing of the book. If you’ve been a mentee, you’ve already had that experience, and we’d rather spread it around to someone else. I’m going to stop short of saying we’d never take a previous mentee. But if we did, it would only be in the perfect situation. (Exceptions to this: If you were a mentee in 2014 or earlier, this doesn’t apply. Enough has changed since then that we’d give you full consideration. I would have said 2015, but if you’re a 2015 mentee, you already know me pretty well so just reach out and talk to me).

14. Obviously, you two are my first choice, because you’re the best. (Aww! Thanks!) What other mentors are good fits for the things you like?

Sorry, can’t help you. We will overlap with many, many of the adult SFF mentors in small ways and some in big ways. There are more than 15 mentors taking some sort of adult SFF this year—the most ever. We don’t even know all of them yet.

15. What if you don’t find a project you love?

Love is overrated. If we don’t find a book we’re absolutely in love with, we’ll find a good writer with a concept we like and help them get better.

16. You didn’t answer my question!

Feel free to @ us on twitter. If it’s a sensitive question, our DMs are open. Please don’t abuse that. Please don’t ask book-specific questions or send pitches. Example: Are you open to a story about a vacuum cleaner that’s infested with an advanced AI and tries to take over 2027 Chicago? I mean…obviously yes. But that’s not the point. General questions good. Specific questions about your book…not good. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, oh, I’ll disguise my specific question as a general question and outsmart them! Sure. Because nobody’s ever tried that before…

Pitch Wars 2020 Adult Mentors’ Wish Lists

1. Mia P. Manansala and Kellye Garrett (Accepts NA)
2. Rochelle Karina (Accepts NA)
3. Ren Hutchings (Accepts NA)
4. Mary Ann Marlowe
5. Rachel Lynn Solomon
6. Anna Kaling
7. Gwynne Jackson (Accepts NA)
8. Kristen Lepionka and Ernie Chiara
9. Rachel Howzell Hall
10. Lyn Liao Butler
11. Michael Mammay and AR Lucas
12. Paris Wynters (Accepts NA)
13. K A Black (Accepts NA)
14. Heather Van Fleet and Jessica Calla (Accepts NA)
15. Hudson Lin (Accepts NA)
16. Sonia Hartl and Annette Christie (Accepts NA)
17. Taj McCoy (Accepts NA)
18. Ian Barnes (Accepts NA)
19. Keena Roberts (Accepts NA)
20. N.E. Davenport (Accepts NA)
21. Elizabeth Little
22. Anne Raven and Janet Walden-West (Accepts NA)
23. Charish Reid and Denise Williams
24. Kalyn Josephson and Kat Enright (Accepts NA)
25. Gladys Qin (Accepts NA)
26. Tanen Jones (Accepts NA)
27. Clay Harmon (Accepts NA)
28. Jake Nicholls (Accepts NA)
29. Layne Fargo and Halley Sutton
30. Denny S. Bryce and L. Penelope
31. Roselle Lim and Farah Heron (Accepts NA)
32. Morgan Rogers (Accepts NA)
33. Samantha Rajaram
34. Rob Hart
35. Damyanti Biswas (Accepts NA)
36. Maria Heater
37. Cynthia Pelayo (Accepts NA)
38. Gia de Cadenet
39. Nicole Glover (Accepts NA)
40. Rosie Danan and Ruby Barrett (Accepts NA)
41. Cole Nagamatsu and Sequoia Nagamatsu
42. Carly Bloom and Sam Tschida
43. P.J. Vernon and Kelly J. Ford (Accepts NA)
44. Matthew Quinn Martin (Accepts NA)
45. Stephen Morgan (Accepts NA)
46. Alex Segura and M. J. Soni
47. Roma Panganiban (Accepts NA)
48. Tricia Lynne (Accepts NA)

Click here to view all Pitch Wars 2020 Mentors’ Wish Lists