Pitch practice update

[annathepiper]

Y'all know how I have said before that I tend to fall behind on my LJ comments? Well, I'm getting caught up again today, and I have some additional comments in from pinkdormouse, who jumped in on the thread here. Those of you who were participating on the pitch practice thread before, stop back by and give her pitch a glance and offer your comments! Thanks. :)

Comments

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Some great points for me to answer there:


1) I was trying to keep my description of the hero concise, maybe I should include something about either his fencing/swordfighting skills or the fact that artefact has reappeared while he's been adventuring abroad (a simple field trip can easily turn into something far more involved). A lot of the research is involved with actual tracking down of contacts since the artefact has been missing for the sixteen years between when the hero first saw it, and it's reappearance around the time his ex-girlfriend died. And the first fight scene proper takes place in Chapter Three.

2/3) I'm originally from North Derbyshire, which is what I'm basing my novel's fusion of Christianity and rural tradition on.

I was privately educated in Sheffield from the age of nine, and am basing the female lead's background on pupils and teachers from that school.

I'm an Edinburgh University graduate, a Cambridge PhD-dropout, and have a range of contacts who are/were working in academia/research in Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh.

Why Oxford rather than Cambridge? Partly the fact that the city feels more compact, and partly because of the Pitt Rivers Museum, which is only now starting to catalogue its vast collection, and so is an ideal place for artefacts to turn up with no real provenance.

I live with the owner of a large collection of occult books; two of my contacts ran an occult bookshop before turning to writing; another contact lists 'professional exorcist' amongst his talents; I've put a lot of thought into my novel's mythology, although I admit it still needs a few tweaks. The one thing I haven't done yet is visit the Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle, mainly because last year's floods happened two days before I booked my trip there, and I haven't had much opportunity to travel since the museum reopened. I'm not sure how important that's going to be, as I've used alternative sources due to the problems caused me by the flooding of the village. If I set a subsequent novel in Cornwall, I shall be paying a visit, obviously.

Does that answer all your questions?

Gina

[annathepiper]

Commentary on your novel aside, it sounds as though you have quite the circle of interesting friends!

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It makes a change from the 'are all your friends weird?' comments I sometimes get.

Gina

[annathepiper]

You're quite welcome! Perhaps it says something about the sorts of folks I hang out with myself; your crowd sounds quite cool. :)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you're ready to field any question that might come up in a pitch session.

At a group pitch session at WW, I watched with interest how an author's answer to the editor's initially skeptical questions about the book's Native American elements made all the difference. The author's ability to speak as an insider about the community she was writing about made her sound not only authoritative as a writer, but also marketable as a speaker. Obviously, you've got comparable moxie.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the encouragement.

Gina