Write, Edit, Pitch, Edit . . .

. . . summarizes the cycle of my writing life over 2012

Calvin takes a break from chewing on rope toy & listening to my pitch.

What have I learned?

A strong Pitch has four parts:

* Main character (MC)

* Initial conflict 

* Obstacle

* MC's desired goal

Good pitch includes

* Hook - An intro to your pitch that latches the read and creates interest.
* Describes plot, not theme 
* With voice in 3rd person POV

Types of pitches

Pitching sounds straight forward, but each online pitch contest has a twist.

Twitter Pitch - 140 character count 

includes the hashtag

Blog Pitch - specific word count

2 or 3 Sentence Pitch - word max

My MG novel: TRIPLE B
Main character - 13-year-old Samantha 
Initial conflict - home not safe with alcoholic father & mom as bystander

Obstacle - school no longer safe place with verbal and cyberbullying

MC's desired goal -Breaking the circle of bullying, so Samantha feels safe at home, school and community.

TRIPLE B Twitter Pitch   
13yo Samantha’s Triple B List: Bullied-Samantha, Bully-dad & Bystander-mom. Now lies & texts at school turn friends into bystanders. #tag

TRIPLE B Blog Pitch

Thirteen-year-old Samantha sums up her family in a Triple B list: Bullied- Samantha, Bully- father and Bystander- mom. But when Samantha’s verbal fights with the popular girl at school cross the line into bullying, her BFFs also turn into bystanders. Now all cell carrying eighth graders are passing mean word and picture texts about Samantha. With her safety at risk, Samantha must break the circle of bullying in her family and school.

TWITTER PITCH PARTY! 

For the over 500 of us who didn't make it into Pitch Wars, there will be a twitter pitch party on the hashtag #PitMad on January 25. Details will be announced on: Brenda Drake Writing . . . under the influence of coffee http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com. So get your twitter pitches ready and make sure to include the hashtag in your 140 character count.