Check out our fellow Pitch Wars MG Mentors via the links below, or return to the Pitch Wars 2020 Blog Hop post here.

​​GREETINGS, REVISION WARRIORS! [Link to text version of Team SparkleMode's Wishlist HERE.]

I’m K.C. Held and I'm so excited to be mentoring Middle Grade this year with Shana Targosz. 

Together we are #TeamSparkleMode!

QUESTIONS?
​​​​If you have questions, hit us up on Twitter @KCHeld, @ShanaTargosz, the Pitch Wars forum, or via the contact form here! ​

We can't wait to see what Pitch Wars 2020 brings!

Again, Part II of Team Sparklemode's wishlist can be found HERE!

Pitch Wars 2020 - Team SparkleMode's Wishlist, Part I!

​ABOUT ME​
I write MG and YA. My YA debut, HOLDING COURT, won the YARWA Athena Award for Best First Book, as well as First Place in the Contemporary Category.

​​I have a background in historic costume & costume construction technology, and an MFA in costume design. Before officially making the shift from costuming to writing I interned at a literary agency where I waded through the slush, requested submissions, and wrote reader reports. This will be my fifth year mentoring MG for Pitch Wars (my previous mentees' projects have included a contemporary mystery set in a historic mansion, a Russian folklore-inspired fantasy with an animal MC, a novel-in-verse with an MC who is diagnosed with celiac disease, and a steampunk fairytale fantasy set aboard an airship).

 I’m a graduate of the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program, an experience that had a huge impact on my writing journey. Having the opportunity to work with a mentor (the brilliant Emma Dryden) and connect with other writers/mentees was an invaluable experience that I hope to pay forward with Team Sparklemode's mentee!​

For the uninitiated, Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors and publishing professionals help an unagented writer revise their completed (but unpublished!) manuscript in time for an Agent Showcase, where agents can read a pitch/first page and, if they're intrigued, request to read more. 

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE TEAM SPARKLEMODE
If you’re looking for someone to tell you your manuscript is perfect as is, we're not the mentors for you.

If you’re looking for someone to tell you EXACTLY what you HAVE to do to make your manuscript perfect, we're also not the mentors for you.

If you’re looking for someone to dig in and take a look at your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, give you big picture and line-level feedback, assign craft homework as needed, help you brainstorm solutions and create a plan for revisions, and provide support, encouragement, and professional guidance along the way, Team Sparklemode might be the team for you!​

TEAM SPARKLEMODE'S MENTORING STYLE
Please know that if we choose you as our mentee, it means we LOVE your story and its potential, and that we believe you have what it takes to make your book as strong as possible for the Agent Showcase and the querying trenches.

We won't do the work for you. We will guide you and equip you to do the work for yourself. Our goal is to help you assemble a toolbox of revision skills you can apply to future projects!

We'll be available via email/DMs to talk through your initial edit letter and go through any questions you may have. Together we'll make a plan and craft a timeline with deadlines to meet as a team.

Our ideal mentor/mentee relationship is one with open communication, including lots of encouraging gifs/emojis sent back and forth during the revision process, extreme excitement when a plot point is detangled and ideas/words start to flow, and a dollop of (happy, proud) tears when our mentee crosses the finish line with a fully polished, query-ready manuscript!

Team SparkleMode will be here to cheer you on throughout the mentorship... and beyond!

​To find out more about my teammate, Shana Targosz, and the kind of manuscripts we're looking for, see Part II of Team Sparklemode's wishlist!

K.C. Held