#pitlight

[theboarsbride]

A fun thing from Twitter!💙🐍

[aritany]

everyone pitching for pitlight on twitter… during a writer’s strike…. wyd

[blaqsbi]

Post: https://www.blaqsbi.com/4XDl?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[kareneiizabeth]

Absolutely no clue what these are called, but they certainly look pretty! So #pitlight on Twitter happened yesterday, and it was a blast! I saw so many lovely new stories and made more author friends! I decided to post both about my novel PHOENIX and about EYES OF MELTED MOONSTONE. And I noticed that the buzz for both of them was pretty equal!! I figured that the plot and appeal of EoMM would overshadow PHOENIX given the current reading trends, but that wasn’t the case at all. It was a great reminder for me that not everyone reads the same things and prefers the same stories. I suppose the same is probably true for agents. With my full manuscript floating around out there in someone’s digital desk, it’s a little harder to remind myself that not everyone is going to prefer PHOENIX over EYES OF MELTED MOONSTONE. It’s a long process to query and get to the stage in a particular query where they’re asking for the full, so sometimes it’s harder to remember that. In any case, on we go! Tune in later this week for an exciting announcement, okay? 🤗 #nature #naturephotography #montanaauthors #montana #montanalife #montanamoment #montanacolors #bozeman #bozemanmontana #bozemanmt #bozemanlife #author #authorlife #authors #writing #writer #writerscommunity #authorscommunity https://www.instagram.com/p/ChP3RFmJXUY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[botherkupo]

Made these for PitLight event on Twitter but thought I’d share them here too.

These boards focus on the two main characters of my original novel (dark fantasy with ff7 x mistborn vibes)

I’m hoping to have it finished this year so I can start looking for an agent 👀

[words-after-midnight]

Here are all the books (with links) that I'm currently planning to read in 2023!

Have a book I should add to my TBR? Reblog, comment, or send me an ask. ❤️ I especially like adult crime, thriller, mystery, horror, and speculative. Major bonus points for queer and/or trans characters. I'm particularly still looking for good comps for my own novel, Life in Black and White (querying ~May 2023) - check out my pinned post to get an idea of the vibes I'm looking for.

-----

If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio

A murder mystery set in a Shakespeare conservatory? Count me in. Goodreads

Mindfuck series - S.T. Abby

A dark romantic thriller series recommended to me by a Twitter mutual as a potential comp for Life in Black and White. Goodreads

Criminal Intentions - Cole McCade

An episodic, queer investigative thriller series recommended to me by a Twitter mutual as a potential comp for Life in Black and White. Super excited for this one! Goodreads

The Locked Tomb - Tamsyn Muir

Three (soon to be four) book series about lesbian necromancers in space. I'm not much of a fantasy reader, but my roommate is too obsessed with these books for me not to read them. Goodreads

Sundial - Catriona Ward

A 2022 novel recommended on multiple lists of best psychological horror books. Goodreads

Angels Before Man - Rafael Nicolás

A queer retelling of the fall of Satan. Enough said. Goodreads

They Hate Each Other - Amanda Woody

Coming May 2023. This is a debut YA novel about a fake dating plot, written by the founder and host of Twitter's Pitlight event, which I had the joy of participating in this month. Goodreads

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

Recommended to me as a potential comp for Life in Black and White by one of my beta readers. Goodreads

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

This one's a mystery thriller around a woman who stops speaking after a sudden act of violence against her husband. Right up my alley, and it's been recommended to me by multiple people. Goodreads

Red X - David Demchuk

A queer horror story set in 1980s Toronto, during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Goodreads

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Yeah, I know, I can't believe I've never read this either. My protagonist has been compared to Holden Caulfield multiple times by independent readers, so I figure I'll read it mainly for potential comp purposes. Goodreads

What's on your TBR this year? 👀 Is there a book in particular you're looking forward to?

[golden-heretic]

hey hey hey it's pitlight over @ twitter

[nailamoonsi]

I edited my Blue Horizon pitching through 2 and a half years heritage post with the first time I got an agent like. (Not reblogging because long post.)

It was during Nano and the post otherwise only had 8 likes, so overall if you want to get an agent through pitching, my advice for Twitter is just pitch consistently, interact with others, and don't worry too much about the amount of likes or retweets.

Overall I learned pitching and especially querying is too stressful so events like Pitlight with no agent participation were my favorite, lol.

(Edit: Regardless, hopefully it's noticeable by now that I'm solo self-publishing Blue Horizon.)

[asablehart]

What can such an arrival mean—the flight of this black-cloaked sorcerer—except the end of all things?

[team-moonlark]

Little aesthetic for my ya sci fi novel, LUNA'S QUEST 🚀💫🌈

[boomloaded]

The last thing any retired person wants to be dealing with is debt. Whether youre restricted to a fixed

[smm-alamin]

If you need a #SEO #Expert to rank your website, Just let me know. Check out my service:http://fiverr.com/share/xyyqE4 or http://tinyurl.com/hytkpah8 #Spotify #NationalCookieDay #pitlight #cryptocrash #SaturdayMorning #Caturday #MCOsocks #OurMiracleSoobinDay #Crumbleys #SuperTunaByJin #SaturdayMotivation #NEWBUR #SmallBusinessSaturday #EXEvSAR #MusicOrDanceCelebsAndTVShows #googleadwords #google #googleadsexpert #googlemarketing #googleadscampaign #googleadvertising #googlemybusiness #googlead #follow #followers #following #followforfollow #followforfollowback #followforlike #followback #likeforfollow

[words-after-midnight]

i posted about libaw for pitlight on twitter and people actually like it??? what is HAPPENING

[nailamoonsi]

2 and a half years worth of Blue Horizon book 1 pitches (mostly Pitlight) [and a bit of light novel and book 2]

The first "pitch" ever, and it mostly dealt with draft 1 of Blue Horizon book 1--back when in my mind I fancied writing a simple novella with the dads, Ranvir and Armando, before tackling an epic novel project after that (but that's now book 2).

I realized a lot in the process of figuring out book 1 through 2020 and 2021, however, and it quickly grew into a monster of a project--yet another epic science fantasy book for the series in my head. In my head I think of it as "the prequel novel." However I've long called it "book 1" online, so it'll stay "book 1." (It is complete but not yet published.)

Some parts of the pitch above barely has anything to do with book 1 as it is now...for Ranvir and Armando and friends. Weirdly, it might work for characters who show up later within book 1.

The moodboard above I'm very fond of as the first moodboard ever, and it involved the Chandrani family's energy re: ocean and water as well as a concept for "a wide open world." However I rarely wound up using it compared to the later regulars. (And apparently never for pitch practice again or any pitch event.)

A big note for all pitches is that any photography is by someone else and gotten from free-to-use stock image sites like Pexel and Unsplash BUT any drawn art is mine.

Above is the first times I tried bringing up the eerie aspect AND the soft aspect of Blue Horizon book 1. This was my experimental stage in all ways--a pitch with a mood and my first attempt at a "typical" moodboard, though obviously I wound up dropping these moodboards immediately. As can be seen with the moodboards I would settle on hereafter, I did need this stage to understand what I really wanted to go for!

As for the pitches--in the former, it basically revolves around the way the reader first walks into the novel, so to speak. In the second, it hints something about Ranvir and Armando, and brings up the Protector of Worlds without naming the role.

THIS WAS THE FIRST DEBUT OF MY MAIN 2 MOODBOARDS!!! And the first Pitlight I ever took part of in 2022. It somehow got to 23 notes without retweets (that 1 is for a quote retweet).

This was a quick Nanowrimo write-up--I can tell why people didn't take to it, but I guess in terms of pitches, I was learning and it didn't really matter, especially in the early days. Currently I'm doing Camp Sapphic instead.

This was the first time I referred to the Protector (of Worlds). It's technically a typical storyline across epic fantasies and many other types of stories--a "chosen one," so to speak, but in reality this is a job that's passed from person-to-person in their world, and was once representative of their place in the galaxy.

So this pitch very much focused on Ranvir and Armando right as I was finishing up Part 1, which is largely THEIR story arc! I'm very affectionate of it.

For a few posts in the early days, I kept reusing the first digital Armando and Ranvir art I ever drew. ; v ;

This was the first time I brought up the Mysterious Children (they keep appearing before Ranvir and Armando at different ages). This wasn't the first time I utilized this moodboard--the first time was January 2022!

But as people can tell at this point, this moodboard actually represents Alejandro Altaha and Antonio Chandrani-Rivera! Specifically, the sun, moon, lavender clouds, and the white clouds with shadowed figures skating across them with a teal sky surrounding--the shadowed figures are Ale and Tono.

I reused the same pitch for the later November Nano:

--this year however I'm doing Camp Sapphic and have let go of Nanowrimo due to its controversies. Edit in the evening is that this was the first time I got an agent like!

Even though this was extremely exciting and kept me going, I'm solo self-publishing Blue Horizon.

Next, back to summer 2022 pitches:

This was something I was hoping people would like, and in the end wound up one of my most popular pitches! :D This focuses on the warmer side of Blue Horizon and brings up a key character we all know by now--Antonio Chandrani-Rivera--for the first time!

(I'm unsure how much agents can gauge from this pitch, but I do like the feeling of it though and thus obviously used it for Pitlight.)

The rest under a cut because honestly I'll admit this is insane long.

This was the first time I brought up the children borne by magic lore! I forgot I did that when I looked back at old posts like 2 weeks ago. I'm actually surprised it got 11 likes, as I wasn't sure how people would see the children borne by magic subplot. Noticeable through the webcomic already!

So these two pitches are nearly identical; I was just worried one of the first pitch wasn't specific enough. However the first pitch got more retweets, likes and views, LOL. (It's an interesting situation--I think sometimes you wind up lucky with pitches.)

It'll become noticeable that I wanted to start referring to Antonio and Alejandro's conflicts, but Layla and Alia are major characters too, and thus I tried to put Layla in as well. However, at one point, people mentioned Layla comes off a bit random at the end of these sort of pitches. :"3c I do get that, but aw...

Overall, I realized what was best to focus on--Ranvir and Armando and their son (a.k.a. a direct connection) Antonio Chandrani.

MY FIRST OFFICIAL AGENT-RELATED PITCH EVENT... QueerPit! Official pitch events have been sporadic on Twitter since around 2022 but I was happy to catch this one.

Since I wound up emailing a lot of agents I decided not to take part in that many official agent-oriented pitch events in the end--my last was only my second one I believe, a.k.a. DVPit (unless I've blanked out another agent-oriented pitch event on Twitter). Those I won't show here directly from DVPit on Discord but from what I dropped for Twitter afterwards.

FOR THIS ONE... It was the first time I ever pitched... THE LIGHT NOVEL (also completed but unpublished). Just wanted to try.

This wasn't a real pitch exactly, and I dropped it on Twitter on September 28, 2023! However, this was the first time I brought up the scope of the epic science fantasy book 1 and its LGBT romances. My last Main pitch for Blue Horizon back a few days ago focuses on that too.

SO THIS IS THE FIRST OF 2 NEW PITCHES THAT I CRAFTED FOR BOOK 1 IN THE DVPIT SERVER ON DISCORD FOR THE OFFICIAL AGENT-ORIENTED PITCH EVENT, DVPIT...

For some reason neither were very popular on Twitter, but I like both of them a lot. My guess is due to the decision to try using a video for this one and a cropped art for the other one. [I did get agent likes...for the pitch I reused from QueerPit 😂 (which thankfully also got agent likes). However, I'm solo self-publishing Blue Horizon, as most of y'all know.]

Above is the first moment I was stressed, but thankfully by early this month I wound up cheery again.

So this was my first serious dud pitch after a very long time (i.e. my first Nano in March 2022). This one isn't the one I dropped on the actual NYEPitch day (also 1 like)--I'm embarrassed to show that one, but I was excited over people having fun about sun mage OCs at that time around the original day of January 1, and didn't think about terminology (I paid attention for my book)--since I use the term "water-bearer" and "ocean-bearer" a lot in my book, I ORIGINALLY used the term "bearer of the sun" for Alejandro [who's part of a binary star system] and "moon-and-sea-bearer" for Antonio in the pitch. (I do not use anything near "bearer of the sun" within Blue Horizon's epic fantasy books as I don't want to use similar terminology used in a popular published book.) I realized my mistake very late and changed it on January 5th, after 4 days! There's also the fact that this wasn't a pitch for book 1--I wanted to relax and try a first and second-to-last pitch for book 2~

However, thankfully that started my artist adventure because I got gloomy over only getting 1 like for the original and decided I wanted to destress.

I think it's also partly due to my showing up late and not participating with others due to it (I was feeling nasty tbh), possible shadowban (my posts at this time started plummeting in views compared to before in the months prior), and not specifying in the post that it isn't a sudden change from book 1 pitching, but a random attempt at a book 2 pitch.

It's because I got really emotional over finishing a story arc between Antonio and Alejandro for book 2, essentially.

THIS WAS THE SECOND DVPIT PITCH I CRAFTED IN THE DVPIT SERVER, AKA FOR THE OFFICIAL AGENT-ORIENTED EVENT... The only change from DVPit server is that I used Antonio's surname there, a.k.a. used Antonio Chandrani.

This IS about book 1; the epic science fantasy is a multi-POV book. I liked this one too, but I'm guessing either Antonio's depression era POV or the cropped-looking art made it not appetizing? This pitch is essentially a flip in perspective to Ranvir and Armando's perspective, and done partly due to my admitting that obviously Antonio Chandrani-Rivera (and Layla Chandrani) are the "traditional" main protagonists (though it's a very ensemble cast-oriented epic science fantasy book [and comic]).

This was for ChaosPit. Pitch as badly as you can, iirc.

SOOOOO AFTER A LOT OF STRESS AFTER AUGUST... I'M GLAD MY LAST PITLIGHT AND PITCH EVENT FOR BLUE HORIZON WENT OFF WITH A BANG...!!! On April 6th:

FOR THIS LAST MAIN PITCH FOR BOOK 1, I really really wanted to show off the "epic science fantasy" scale as well as mention tons of BIPOC and LGBT characters existing in it! (Calling back to that earlier proto-pitch.) I'M REALLY GLAD IT WAS WELL-LIKED.

I liked being able to use those emojis, too! They just feel like they give implications and have a weird or '90's clipart vibe together.

This is still the same Pitlight! I just wanted to try pitching the completed (but unpublished) light novel before I stopped pitching for Blue Horizon. Surprised and glad it was liked more than I expected! :D

Since it was my last time pitching for Blue Horizon after 2 and a half years, I wanted to drop one pitch for Book 2~! The first story arc is pretty serious but I thought it'd be an interesting note for anyone curious about Blue Horizon book 1 and the light novel.

AND FINALLY... I originally wanted a "cyclical" ending to all those months and even years pitching by utilizing my first Pitlight pitch ever (which was never reused in the interim).

It would've looked dreamy like this. However, I f*cked up the pitch due to changing the first sentence BUT MAKING A HUGE ERROR. LAST PITLIGHT WAS FUN. That's all!