Welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to read the Team Tiger Wraiths Pitch Wars 2018 Wishlist. We are BEYOND EXCITED to help our future mentee polish their work until it shines.

About Us

Roseanne A. Brown is an immigrant from the West African nation of Ghana and a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she completed the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program. She was an editorial intern at Entangled Publishing, and her work has been featured by Voice of America among other outlets. She currently teaches in Japan, where in her free time she can usually be found exploring the local mountains or thinking about Star Wars.

She is represented by Quressa Robinson of Nelson Literary Agency.

Swati Teerdhala is a storyteller at heart. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a BS in finance and BA in history, she tumbled into the marketing side of the technology industry. She’s passionate about many things, including how to make a proper cup of tea, the right ratio of curd-to-crust in a lemon tart, and diverse representation in the stories we tell. She currently lives in New York City. She is represented by Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency.

The first novel in her debut trilogy, THE TIGER AT MIDNIGHT, will be released on April 23, 2019 from HarperCollins.

Add THE TIGER AT MIDNIGHT on Goodreads

Preorder THE TIGER AT MIDNIGHT

Here are some things you won’t learn about us from our official bios:

Rosie is a Huffleclaw and her favorite HP character is Harry Potter.
Rosie’s favorite video game is Fire Emblem Awakening. She physically can’t play the game without marrying Chrom.
Rosie once got lost on Mt. Fuji and had to be carried down the mountain by a very attractive Marine.

Swati is a Slytherdor and her favorite HP character is Sirius Black (RIP)
Swati found ATLA about a decade late (aka in 2017) and has LOTS of opinions about it. Beware.
Swati hates onions with a passion. Yes, she can taste and smell them a mile away. No, you won't trick her.

Swati and Rosie both believe it’s bullshit that there wasn’t enough room for Jack on that door.

Our Mentoring Style and Strengths

We plan on doing at least two full rounds of revision with our mentee, plus a final read through before the agent showcase if time permits. Our editing style is extremely thorough. (Rosie once left 362 comments on her own manuscript during edits.) However, we will be as equally vocal on the areas we feel are working as we will be on the areas we feel need improvement.

Our MS comments are known to include many Kermit/ATLA gifs.

Swati’s specialties are finding the emotional core of your story and worldbuilding (this is where her inner history nerd comes out). She loves diving deep into character’s emotions and their relationships with others to add weight and depth to prose. She also loves immersing herself into a new (or familiar!) world—exploring the history, politics, magic (if there is any), religion, food, and cultural nuances to craft a true-to-life world that feels unique and whole.

Rosie’s specialties are character development and plotting. She loves breaking down how characters interact within the story and finding ways to make those interactions more engrossing and those emotional climaxes even more gut-wrenching. She also loves rearranging scenes to have the most compelling effect they can have. She enjoys the kind of endings that leave readers screaming “WHAT THE FRICK FRACK!?” and also weeping.

We plan to share with our mentee our favorite, tried and true craft and publishing resources. We’re talking craft books. We’re talking beat sheets. We’re talking query tips and how to navigate the wild world that is publishing. You know the “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” montage from Mulan? We as a duo are sexy, shirtless Shang, ready to get down to business and help you defeat the Huns (The Huns being whatever is keeping your manuscript from being the best version of itself.)

Communication-wise, we are extremely flexible. Swati is on Eastern Standard Time and Rosie is on Japan Standard Time, so it’s likely one of us will be awake for any questions/concerns you may have during revisions at any time of the day. You will never have to wait more than 24 hours for a response from at least one of us, barring extenuating circumstances, plus we will alert you ahead of time if communication will be difficult for any reason. We are big fans of Slack, but can communicate over email, twitter DM, Skype, or other platforms as needed.

Also, we have both been where you are right now. Rosie was a 2017 Pitch Wars mentee and Swati was a Round 1 Author Mentor Match mentee, so we know what it’s like to pour your heart and soul into a revision with no guarantee all your hard work will pay off. Because we are so familiar with this process, we will be there for you through the highs and lows of the revision process, all the way through the agent round and beyond, like our mentors have been there for us.

Once a Tiger Wraith, always a Tiger Wraith.

Our Ideal Mentee

Our ideal mentee is someone who is ready to dive into the nitty-gritty of their book. We believe that the true writing magic comes in rewriting. Our ideal mentee would come into Pitch Wars with the knowledge that their manuscript can always be improved and a willingness to do what needs to be done to push their story to the next level.

Though we don’t expect our mentee to agree with every suggestion make, we would want them to give serious thought to our feedback. We hope that they are ready to explore their work from multiple angles and are prepared to go through the kind of work required for two plus rounds of revisions. Our ideal mentee is someone who is working towards building a career, not just publishing one book. They are someone who wants to know more about the ins-and-outs of publishing, while also being aware of the challenges and sometimes frustrating realities of pursuing traditional publishing. Basically, if talking for hours about why and how books work is your idea of a fun time, then you’ll be perfect for us.

and now without further ado...

What We're Looking For!

Category: YA

Genre: Fantasy (High, Epic, Contemporary, Urban)

Sci-Fi (think Star Wars)

Things We Love

Fantasy worlds inspired by non-Western societies
Enemies-to-lovers
Characters who lead double lives and/or have secret identities
Cool creatures! Monsters! Dragons!
Fierce girls who fight for what they believe in (doesn’t have to be with a sword!)
Soft boys who challenge toxic masculinity
Political/court intrigue
Real, true friendships
Royalty who actually do things
Stoic soldier boys
Humor!!
Heart-racing action scenes
Found families/Strong group dynamics (think Six of Crows or ATLA)
Unique magic systems
Compelling descriptions of food

Books We Love

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
The Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo
Warcross by Marie Lu
The Wrath and the Dawn by Reneé Ahdieh
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.S. Schwab
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

No-no’s

However, we probably wouldn’t be the best mentors for any works featuring one or more of the below:

Any age category outside of YA (We aren’t allowed to accept Middle Grade or Adult per the rules! Don’t waste a slot on us if you wrote a manuscript in either of those categories!)
Fae
Mermaids
Any premise based on a bigot learning to be a better person at the expense of marginalized people
Explicit depictions of sexual assault/rape
Hard science fiction (Think Star Wars level soft for the kind of SF we like.)

Phew! That was a lot. Thanks for reading and hopefully, we've convinced you that you should be a part of #TeamTigerWraiths!

Can't wait to see all of your amazing submissions!

Love,

Rosie & Swati