Standing Out in a Sea of Slush: Tips for crafting a dynamite pitch and opening pages to match

So you've finally finished your novel or picture book, and you're ready to query agents. Or maybe you've been querying, but you've only received rejections­­ or worse, not heard back at all. Now is the time to revisit your pitch opening pages to make your story pop. In this session, I'll give you insight about what it's like to read submissions and how I manage my query box, including the types of projects I find most compelling. We will discuss what it takes to stand out in a sea of slush and do several exercises to help you identify which elements of your story to pitch, as well as what not to include, to best hook your reader.

This session will give you tips on how to:

(1) craft an attention-grabbing pitch,

(2) write a dynamite first line,

(3) establish the stakes for the character,

(4) launch into a scene to get the story moving,

(5) and other ways to engage the reader and pull them into the story