Pitches from the Pensive

So my team decided to join in the fun and show our mock entries to #PitchSlam! Below you will find my "rough" pitch and first 250 of my current WIP. And  just know, I too was nervous hitting publish so you are not alone!

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Title: Mad Season (WIP)

Genre: YA Psychological Thriller

Word Count: (Still growing.)

Hogwarts House: Addie values justice and is very loyal so she's totally a Huffelpuff. Her stalker ex-BFF, Eirwen, on the other hand is very cunning and everything about her screams Slytherin and the Sorting Hat would agree.

Pitch: Someone's murdering girls and if 17-year-old Addie Delgado doesn't suck up her fear and get close to her stalker ex-BFF to gain information to the killer's identity, she'll join the dead girls club next.

First 250:

Two-thousand two-hundred and forty-three. No matter how many times I’ve tried to will that last number to change, it refuses. I reach out and lightly trace the white paint making sure not to touch the ugly green surrounding it.

“Three. Bet it’s not counting us though.” I snort and quickly duck my head, hand falling to my side as the wave of shame washes over me. Goosies tickle the back of my neck. I know, Mom. It’s just stupid small town crap.

“But still…”

A mockingbird lands on a nearby tree branch and rings out it’s good morning song. And in a flash a tiny glow awakens in the sky. I check my watch. Six-thirty already. Even though I’ve done this every day since I got home from camp, I can’t shake the fake surprise when the world remains the same as yesterday.

I’m a mile away from home. Just a far enough walk away to clear my head, but not make me want to hurl from overdoing it. My moms will be getting up a little over an hour from now, something I’ve managed to use to my advantage. The humid stickiness of no air conditioning could rip anybody from a comfortable bed in the dead of summer. Luckily I’ll be in the shower by then, foe-dirty breakfast bowl in the sink, and we’ll dance around each other for the rest of the day.

Pitches from the Pensive - Rebecca Waddell

Title: A Different Kind of Awesome

Genre: YA Contemporary

Word Count: 57,000

Hogwarts House: Flynn is definitely a muggle, but he’d be at home in Ravenclaw where his thirst for riddles and puzzles would be much safer to solve than the one ruining his life right now.

Pitch: After regaining consciousness inside a locker, fourteen-year-old Flynn’s sure life sucks. When an anonymous video goes viral, branding him the Zombie Bomber, he has to find who's behind it before they destroy more than his reputation.

First 250:

I come to in pitch black. The air is too close, too musty to breathe easily. Everything smells like old banana peels and my mouth tastes like I’ve been using a car key as a chew toy. “Where am I?” I can’t remember how I got into this dark place. “I was running.” Thin strips of light filter through the vents cut into one wall. I reach for them; it’s not a wall at all. “Am I in a locker?” The only other illumination comes from the glow-in-the-dark letters on my “Zombies Happen” t-shirt.

The green lettering is still brightly lit. I can’t have been in this upright coffin for longer than a few minutes. Flashes of memory hit my aching skull like one of my dad’s ancient vinyl records skipping on the player. There was a gigantic guy after me. “I was running from Brandon.” My heart thuds as I remember the twisted rage that filled his eyes.

“There was an open locker.” My voice sounds strange bouncing off the metal walls. Closing my eyes, I try to picture it. Everything is scrambled. Something digs into my shoulder. Another flash of memory. “There was a latte.” I shake my head, a bad mistake, the world spins. If I could fall over, I would, but there isn’t room in the locker.

The thing digging into my shoulder is a hook. “How did I get in here?” My brain yields no further clues.