Hello! We’re Denise (she/her) & Charish (she/her) and we’re so excited to form Team Leo as Pitch Wars adult mentors in 2021.
Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each to spend three months revising their manuscript. It ends in February with an Agent Showcase, where agents can read a pitch/first page and can request to read more. You can learn more about it at www.pitchwars.org.
Why Team Leo? While Di Caprio and Da Vinci are dope, we’re both July babies and try to bring big Leo energy to everything we do. Go big or go home, right? Below, we’ll share our writing experiences, dream manuscripts as adult mentors, and mentoring style.
Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each to spend three months revising their manuscript. It ends in February with an Agent Showcase, where agents can read a pitch/first page and can request to read more. You can learn more about it at www.pitchwars.org.
Why Team Leo? While Di Caprio and Da Vinci are dope, we’re both July babies and try to bring big Leo energy to everything we do. Go big or go home, right? Below, we’ll share our writing experiences, dream manuscripts as adult mentors, and mentoring style.
🚨🚨Some of this also may reference topics that are NSFW, so take care from here forward🚨🚨
Give us your adult CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE manuscripts. We love love stories!
*A romance should center the relationship between two or more people and end in a happily-ever-after or a happy-for-now.
We are NOT a good fit for:
What are we looking for?
We love a wide variety of things in our romance novels, so this is not an exhaustive list, but we hope it gives you ideas of the kinds of projects we’d be excited to see.
*A romance should center the relationship between two or more people and end in a happily-ever-after or a happy-for-now.
We are NOT a good fit for:
- Other sub-genres of romance (i.e. historical romance, romantic suspense, inspirational romance, paranormal romance)
- Science Fiction or Space Operas
- Fantasy
- Historical
- Literary fiction
- Inspirational
- Erotica (we’re good with high heat romance, though!)
What are we looking for?
We love a wide variety of things in our romance novels, so this is not an exhaustive list, but we hope it gives you ideas of the kinds of projects we’d be excited to see.
At the top of our list:
Tropes We Love:
- We’re excited to discover stories from a diverse array of narratives, written by voices who have a direct experience within these intersecting communities (i.e. BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disability, neurodivergence, body size, etc.)
Tropes We Love:
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Friends-to-lovers
- Forced proximity/Only one bed
- Workplace romance
- Vacation
- Next door neighbors
- Marriage of convenience
- Found families
- Small town (but make it multicultural)
- Comedy-of-errors
Things that leave us tickled:
- Swoony moments--is there a confession of love that makes our hearts burst into glitter? We want that.
- Heroines (if the stories feature women) who have agency. We <3 feminism.
- Cinnamon roll main characters
- Stories with meaningful stakes/realistic conflict
- We prefer to read Medium to Spicy heat level or sensual closed door (that’s what we write). If the physical intimacy is closed-door, we want to feel the heat on the page, even if we don’t see the act.
- Consent is sexy.
- We are here for fat main characters and body diversity!
- “Get stuff done” main characters
- Holidays (and not just Christmas and Valentine’s Day)
- International travel/Interesting locations
- Interesting occupations
- Sexy banter
- If you make us laugh, that is huge.
- Nerds. The more the merrier. We love them. We write them. We married them.
- FOOD- We love reading about different cuisines.
- Comedy. If you pitch a RomCom, it should make us laugh and the story should be rooted in a comical situation. Think of: Always Be My Maybe, You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Love Birds (which is maybe more suspense than romance but their swoons are serious swoons and I’m counting it)
Things we are NOT seeking:
- Secret babies. They are some people’s catnip, but not these lions.
- Dubious consent
- On-page sexual assault
- Bully heroes/Alpha-holes
- Major age gap or minors involved as heroes or heroines (this should go without saying, but we're saying it anyway)
- Helpless/damsel heroines
Our Mentoring Style
We both have enough teaching experience to know how helpful office hours are for our own students. We want to have regular and consistent check-ins with our mentee to discuss progress, questions, or talk through roadblocks. We also want to celebrate wins, be they busting through a difficult scene or managing to write during a hard day.
We’re likely to assign my mentee “homework” in the form of beat sheets or character questionnaires (if needed). We don’t plan to micro-manage because the story ultimately belongs to you, but we’ll be there with plenty of suggestions.
We are really good at pep-talks. Self-confidence is necessary in the publishing industry and we want our mentee to know we believe in them every step of the way. Denise started an empowerment and personal development program for womxn that includes silencing the inner critic and harnessing the inner mentor—we would hope to bring those conversations to mentoring in terms of writing and revising.
Because of the time difference between the US & Sweden, we'll plan to schedule DM or Zoom/Video chats with mentees. Because of the relatively tight timeline and busy schedules for all three of us, we'll plan to establish deadlines together and try to stick to them. The mentee can let us know if they are struggling to meet a deadline.
We both have enough teaching experience to know how helpful office hours are for our own students. We want to have regular and consistent check-ins with our mentee to discuss progress, questions, or talk through roadblocks. We also want to celebrate wins, be they busting through a difficult scene or managing to write during a hard day.
We’re likely to assign my mentee “homework” in the form of beat sheets or character questionnaires (if needed). We don’t plan to micro-manage because the story ultimately belongs to you, but we’ll be there with plenty of suggestions.
We are really good at pep-talks. Self-confidence is necessary in the publishing industry and we want our mentee to know we believe in them every step of the way. Denise started an empowerment and personal development program for womxn that includes silencing the inner critic and harnessing the inner mentor—we would hope to bring those conversations to mentoring in terms of writing and revising.
Because of the time difference between the US & Sweden, we'll plan to schedule DM or Zoom/Video chats with mentees. Because of the relatively tight timeline and busy schedules for all three of us, we'll plan to establish deadlines together and try to stick to them. The mentee can let us know if they are struggling to meet a deadline.
Meet Charish
Charish Reid currently lives in Sweden with her professor husband, who enjoys walking and biking way more than she does. While he walks and bikes, she writes contemporary romance featuring sexy academics, who are trying to find love and adventure from under stacks of student papers. She is the author of three contemporary adult romances: The Write Escape, Hearts on Hold, and (Trust) Falling for You.
A few authors whose books are insta-buys for me:
Other authors I love
A few authors whose books are insta-buys for me:
- Katrina Jackson- “high heat, diverse and mostly queer erotic romances and erotica.” (lgbtqreads.com, 2/6/20) Pink Slip, From Scratch, Room for Three, Office Hours, Neighborly. LGBTQ characters, menages, and characters who “get shit done.”
- Tessa Dare (historical) I’ve read almost everything Dare has written. I know she’s a Historical Romance author, but her characters and tone are what really shine for me. The characters usually feature intellectual curious women who are strong-willed and passionate. The novels are steamy and humorous rollicking good fun, and low-ish angst.
- Alyssa Cole- The first Cole books I read was A Duke by Default and whew! It involved everything I love: #ADHD rep, Interracial, interesting occupation, international travel, found family, workplace (competence porn)
- Sierra Simone- Priest and Sinner were steamy and angsty as hell. This series feature brothers and their respective romances. Taboo-ish, religion, and steamy scenes. Sinner made me cry and swoon and hot.
- Sarah Smith- Faker and Simmer Down. Filipina main characters who “get shit done.” Smith knows how to do great enemies-to-lovers. High steam and fantastic stakes, Simmer Down has food, comedy of errors, international travel, multiculturalism, and workplace competition
- Denise Williams- She isn’t just my friend and Pitch Wars co-mentor, but she’s a great writer who brings heat, humor, and heart to each story she writes.
Other authors I love
- Rebekah Weatherspoon
- Jodie Slaughter
- Melissa Blue
- Sarah MacLean
- Zaida Polanco
- Robin Lovett
- Suleikha Snyder
- Alisha Rai
Meet Denise
I wrote my first book in the 2nd grade. I Hate You and its sequel, I Still Hate You, featured a tough, funny heroine, a quirky hero, witty banter, and a dragon. Minus the dragons, these are still the books I like to write. After penning those early works, I finished second grade and eventually earned a PhD in education. I’m represented by Sharon Pelletier at Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret who I connected with through DVPit in fall 2018 and I was a 2019 finalist for the Golden Heart award though Romance Writers of America. My debut novel, HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING came out December 1, 2020 from Berkley and my sophomore novel is out November 2021, with four others coming out in 2022.
A few authors whose books are insta-buys for me:
A few authors whose books are insta-buys for me:
- Charish Reid, but maybe that’s a given! I could re-read Charish’s books over and over again because of her strong and soft heroines, sexy and vulnerable heroes, and S-E-X-Y scenes. Hearts on Hold is in my top reads of 2020.
- Mariana Zapata - The queen of the slow burn, the contemporary romances always feel rooted in real world problems and the slow burn leads to delicious heat and lots of pining. The Wall of Winnepeg, Dear Aaron, and Kulti are some favorites.
- Christina Lauren - This duo has written too many books to list, but a few favorites are Dark Wild Night (high heat + nerds? YES!), The Unhoneymooners, and My Favorite Half-Night Stand.
- Olivia Dade - Swoony moments, cinnamon roll heroes, fat heroines, sexy times? Here for it. Olivia writes big-hearted, realistic books that always leave me smiling. Teach Me is in my top ten romance novels of all time.
- Kennedy Ryan - Beautiful prose, unflinchingly realistic, and always featuring women of color taking the world handed them and molding it. Kennedy writes eloquent, descriptive prose and love scenes that make me blush. Queen Move and the All The Kings Men Duo were recent favorites.
- Priscilla Oliveras
- Talia Hibbert
- Rebekah Weatherspoon
- Helen Hoang
- Katee Robert
We’re so excited to meet your characters!
The field of Adult mentors is wide--please visit the other mentors' pages.
Pitch Wars 2021 Adult Mentors' Wish Lists
- Anna Kaling (Accepts NA)
- Ian Barnes (Accepts NA)
- Jackson Ford
- Jake Nicholls (Accepts NA)
- Jesse Q. Sutanto and Grace Shim
- Charish Reid and Denise Williams
- Saara El-Arifi (Accepts NA)
- Rosie Danan and Ruby Barrett (Accepts NA)
- Carolyne Topdjian
- Falon Ballard and Brooke Abrams
- Mary Keliikoa (Accepts NA)
- E.A. Aymar
- Amanda Elliot (Accepts NA)
- Kelly Siskind
- Vaishnavi Patel and Sarah Mughal (Accepts NA)
- Mary Ann Marlowe and Laura Elizabeth (Accepts NA)
- Mia P. Manansala (Accepts NA)
- Peggy Rothschild (Accepts NA)
- Natalka Burian
- Courtney Kae and Jenny L. Howe (Accepts NA)
- Rochelle Karina (Accepts NA)
- Swati Hegde (Accepts NA)
- Nanci Schwartz and LL Montez
- Paris Wynters
- Hudson Lin
- Sarah Remy (Accepts NA)
- AM Kvita (Accepts NA)
- Heather Van Fleet and Jessica Calla (Accepts NA)
- Melissa Colasanti (Accepts NA)
- J.A. Crawford (Accepts NA)
- Michella S. Domenici
- Yvette Yun and Marith Zoli (Accepts NA)
- Sari Coritz and Rosalie M Lin (Accepts NA)
- Stephenie Magister and Noreen (Accepts NA)
- Regina Black and Nikki Payne (Accepts NA)
- Farah Heron and Namrata Patel
- Alicia Thompson and Amy Lea (Accepts NA)
- Lyn Liao Butler
- Preslaysa Williams (Accepts NA)
- Keena Roberts and Molly Steen (Accepts NA)
- Alexandria Bellefleur (Accepts NA)
- Samantha Rajaram
- Ashley Winstead
- Clay Harmon (Accepts NA)
- Rob Hart
- Cole Nagamatsu and Sequoia Nagamatsu
- N.E. Davenport (Accepts NA)
- Katherine Lim
- Alexia Gordon
- Cynthia Pelayo (Accepts NA)
Click here to view all Pitch Wars 2021 Mentors' Wish Lists. To view the wish lists by genre, visit this link.