Currently closed to queries
Heyooo, hopefuls!
Welcome to the dark side––I have brownies, and that is a recipe I will only share with my subs, and only if they use the password which is not so cleverly hidden in the body of my wishlist.
What do I bring to the table, you ask? Besides brownies? Well, I was a Pitch Wars Mentee in 2016. I know how intense it can be to apply to be mentored and have to rip apart your baby to put it back together again. I’ve also been a Pitch Wars Mentor and a Kiss Pitch 2.0 mentor. One of my former mentees is now a Kiss Pitch mentor. I’ll let you guess who it is…
What’s Kiss Pitch, you ask?
It’s a mentoring program where unagented writers who want to become published authors submit manuscripts to agented/published authors (mentors) to help them make their manuscript the best possible version of itself. When we’re all done working together, my mentee will have a beautiful little book baby with the best chance of grabbing an agent’s attention.
But first, read on to understand why you might-should-maybe submit your words to me.
About Me
I’m an award-winning and USA Today Bestselling traditionally-published author of three books and one anthology short.
I’m a midwestern girl, but I’ve lived in Dallas for fifteen years with my husband, a Clumber Spaniel, and a rescued Cane Corso. I cuss a lot, drink whiskey,–but I don’t turn my nose up at wine or beer–I have an extensive collection of Vans, and a polka-dot bow tattooed on my middle finger for those special occasions when someone deserves to be flipped off.
I started writing seriously around 2015. My first manuscript was about a chubby female engineer with a filthy mouth and a frontman who wanted to rock her bod. It became my Pitch Wars manuscript and later my debut novel. It got some props, too––a starred review here, an editor’s pick there, an award, among other things.
I co-founded a thing called All The Kissing with my Pitch Wars sisters. You now know it as the Friday Kiss Facebook group. I’m also to blame for the original #KissPitch on Twitter. I helped organize the Kiss Pitch 2.0 Mentoring Program with Gwynne as well. I’ve been around since conception, and I get involved in planning whenever I can spare time.
If you want to know more about me, feel free to snoop around my Instagram and Facebook page, or Threads and BlueSky. I’m still trying to decide where I’m going to focus post-twitter. Full disclosure–2023 was a bitch of a year, and I didn’t spend much time on Social Media.
Now, the good stuff.
My strengths are as far as craft.
- Character development and character arc.
- Story development and story arc.
- Settings.
- Descriptions.
- turning settings into a secondary character.
- Plot holes.
- Pacing issues.
- Cultivating a STRONG UNIQUE VOICE.
My biggest weakness–-because I’m honest like that.
- I will never catch all your typos. I make waaay too many of my own to do that. If you’re looking for the best line editor of the mentor group, I AM NOT IT.
My Kiss Pitch Mentor Wishlist
First and foremost, I––and my wishlist––am diversity-friendly. I write #ownvoices and encourage you to submit your own voices manuscripts, as well as LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, basically any underrepresented writers with something that fits my guidelines.
I will only accept manuscripts in the Adult or New Adult category in Romance and Women’s Fiction.
If you have something that isn’t listed but think I might like it or have questions about whether it’s right for me, hit me up through Facebook Messenger. I don’t bite. Often.
WOMEN’S FICTION
I want to laugh and feel the depth of your characters as they grow. Do they have a strong character arc? Are they flawed and real? Please, please, please, send them to me. I am also all about strong women and female friendships with a hardy plot.
Do you have a Pitch Perfect reboot?
What about Insecure, or a Sex and the City reboot with diverse characters?
Orange Is the New Black or Grace and Frankie?
Diverse Golden Girls with Millenials, Gen Z, or Gen X?
How about Good Girls?
I also want all the women in STEM or other careers where women are underrepresented.
Perhaps your heroine likes to sleep with lots of men, but doesn’t need another person to get her HEA? (grabby hands). I want to be able to root for your characters to kick some ass, whether it’s climbing the corporate ladder, finding her inner strength, or shaking off societal norms.
I am less likely to go for a family saga manuscript as I am a story focused on one or two characters’ growth and relationships. I don’t require a romantic arc, but I do appreciate it. Also, magical realism is my catnip.
ROMANCE
First and foremost, follow the romance rules. Your manuscript must have a central love story and follow the romance arc. If it doesn’t end in a HEA (happily ever after) or HFN (happy for now), it’s not romance.
But if it does meet the criteria…
Some of my Favorite Tropes:
Opposites Attract (Psst. This is the password.)
Strong Heroines/Unlikeable Heroines
Soul Mates/Fated
Love triangles
Enemies-to-lovers
Friends-to-lovers
Second chance
Forced Proximity
Fake boyfriend/girlfriend
I’m open to all heat levels except sweet and including erotic romance, but for reference, I write and prefer open-door boinking. Bring on the magical realism as well. I love a little bit of the fantastic.
I’m accepting these romance sub-genres:
- Contemporary Romance
- Rom-coms with spice.
- Full on Raunch-coms.
- UNLIKABLE HEROINES – If your heroine would shock the pearl-clutchers please send her to me.
- Doggos and puppers of any kind.
- Football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and outside the box sports. I.e., MMA, cycling, extreme sports like BMX, skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, boxing, auto racing, etc. Give me your adrenaline seekers. AND I AM HERE FOR YOUR FEMALE ATHLETES.
- Rock stars — especially the ones that aren’t quite stars yet, and definitely female rock stars.
- Stories heavy with music of all kinds (except country – sorry).
- Alpha males, but with a healthy dose of Alpha females to counter.
- Bad boys with a good heart – tattoos are a plus.
- Blue-collar anybody/white-collar person – think mechanics, construction workers, etc. Ex: A mechanic who falls for a doctor.
- Confident betas and Alpha rolls––I’ve got a sweet tooth.
- Freaks in the sheets and gentlepersons in the streets.
- Tattoos peeking out from suit cuffs (caaaat niiiiip).
- Sexy firefighters.
- Tortured heroes.
- Foul-mouthed, snarky heroines – Tattoos are a plus.
- Someone, please give me a Gen X love story…Pretty please?
- Character-driven storylines.
- Romantasy with great world-building, i.e., Rebecca Yarros Empyrean Series
- FAT HEROINES—YAAASSSS GIVE ME ALL YOUR CHUBBY GIRLS, YOUR CURVY LADIES, AND YOUR PLUS-SIZE BADASSES.
- BONUS POINTS IF THE CHARACTER DOESN’T HAVE A FOOD-RELATED CAREER!
- I’m happy to get heroines making their journey from insecure to secure.
- I’m ecstatic to get heroines who are already secure in their bodies.
- I am completely here for your BOPO (body positivity) warriors.
- Travel Romance — take me away, please. Some of my favorites are:
- Ireland
- Scotland
- England
- Italy
- The Mediterranean
- The Pacific Northwest
- Anywhere tropical with sand
- New Orleans
- Basically anywhere but where I live.
- Retellings
- Particularly with gender swaps. And I LOVE mythology.
- Light Romantic Suspense
- If it includes elements from above and has a suspense plotline, please send it to me.
- Fantasy Romance
- Paint me all the pictures. I love being immersed in other worlds. Take me to far-off places and show me all the magic.
- Paranormal Romance
- Give me your werepire-shifter-faries falling madly in love with your merpeople-demon-sprites while hiding out in New Orleans (or the like).
- Erotic Romance
- Throuples of any combination.
- Reverse menage/harem.
- Light BDSM and kink – Do you have a heroine that’s a Dom? Please tell me you do.
- Dark Romance – but this is case-by-case. I will be extremely picky about it but your welcome to submit it to me.
Please Don’t Send Me…
- Stories with on-page rape (pre-consented, planned-out scenarios, i.e., The Ritual is okay) or incest.
- Anti-LGBTQ+, racist, anti-Semitic, or body-shaming agendas disguised as manuscripts.
- Hate speech of any kind.
- Pandemic or politically-based stories rooted in real world-politics.
- Anything dystopian.
- Historical Romance (of any kind).
- Sci-fi romance.
- Erotica.
- Inspirational or religious-based works.
- Eating disorders.
My Ideal Mentee
I still have a wonderful relationship with my Pitch Wars mentor. If I have questions about writing or publishing, I can call her, and as long as she’s not in the middle of a signing in London for her new release (whoops), she’ll give me advice. She’s still teaching me and cheering me on in my publishing journey all these years later. I’d also like to have that kind of relationship with my mentee.
If your manuscript is shiny and polished, meets my wishlist, you’re open to suggestions for improvement, and don’t mind my f-bombs, then Buttercup, I am your Westley.
What I’ll expect in return is that you’re open to feedback and understand that communication is crucial between teammates. Because that’s what we are––a team. I’ll be there every step of the process. Mentoring isn’t just about this one manuscript; it’s about filling up your writing toolbox for future manuscripts as well.
My mentee should understand that this is an intense process of brainstorming, editing, rewriting, and hopefully learning things you’ll carry forward. I will be your cheerleader whether you want me or not, but I can be your shoulder if you need one. In return, I ask that you come to me with an open mind and be willing to do the work.
If you’re ready to do those things, like to laugh through the hard parts, are okay with a potty-mouthed mentor, want to be part of a team, and are serious about learning your craft, then you are my Ideal Mentee.
My Mentoring Style
I like to gush about what I love. I’ll be your biggest cheerleader, nurture your ideas, and watch you run with them, and I’m going to fangirl about your writing because I already love it. That’s super-important to your sense of accomplishment, mindset, and success moving forward. Should I request more material from you, we can discuss how you would like to receive critique.
If selected as my mentee, we’ll assess strengths and weaknesses and how to improve the latter while making the former work for you to create the best possible story. Should characterization be an issue, we’d discuss character sheets. When we have a plot issue, I’ll help you brainstorm plot holes. If your voice is outstanding, we’ll discuss how to parlay that into character development, etc. There may be homework depending on the issues we find.
We can have as many conversations as we need to get our game plan and schedule together and work through developmental edits (but please be mindful I have responsibilities and deadlines, too). I prefer Zoom, but phone or email works, too.
I fully believe it’s my responsibility to explain why each change would improve your story, too. I would never expect you to follow my advice blindly. I expect you to ask why? a lot. If we come to an impasse about a change, we’d work together to find a solution we both think serves the story best. On the off chance we can’t find that sweet spot…this is your work, not mine––I get that. Remember, I’ve been on your side of the fence.
After you’ve finished developmental edits, I’ll read it again and return to you with any tweaks and copy edits. Next, we’ll work on your query, synopsis, and pitch because you kicked the shit out of your developmental edits, didn’t you? Hell yes, you did, you rock star!
Sooo…
Do I sound like someone you want to work with? I hope so…
If you’re uncertain whether your story is what I’m looking for, ask. You can hit me through Facebook Messenger. If you can’t get me through Messenger, email me at info@tricialynnewrites.com. Please mention “Kiss Pitch Mentorship Question” in the subject line.
Are you ready to submit?
Kiss Pitch Submission Form for Tricia Lynne