Find the serial killer, even if it’s a monster that pulls her back to her troubled past.
The Antagonist Plots the Point
The antagonist is the titular Ana, or more appropriately the hive of Anas. Anas are grotesque, skeleton-esque monsters that hunt and feed on humans. Their means of survival for the past centuries have been to hide in the skins of their victims (mainly young women), continuing in that girl’s place to lure others (mainly overweight men) to their hive. They’ve been able to survive in a way that they only need to feed about once a month, and as the United States has become more and more populated (and as people have cared less and less about the welfare of those they deem unattractive) they’ve been able to stay under the radar better and better. Part of their stranglehold on the populations of the small towns in northern California where they reside is in their black vomit. When ingested, a victim becomes intoxicated, willing to do whatever it takes to get more, even if it means seducing and luring men into the woods as an offering to the hive.
Conjuring Your Breakout Title
Ana
Cosmotopolis
When You’re Thin
The Woman in the Woods
One Last Hunt
Thin and Pretty
Deciding Your Genre and Approaching Comparables
Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Emily Schepp’s Marked for Revenge
Core Wound and the Primary Conflict
A former monster hunter tries to leave her hunting days (and partners) in the past, but when she stumbles across one last job, she must decide if she’ll return to that world.
Other Matters of Conflict: Two More Levels
The inner conflict for the protagonist (Sylvia) is whether or not to return to her monster hunting ways. She’ll feel torn between leaving it behind and letting new friends deal with a monster unprepared or helping them and diving back into a world that’s left her scarred and embittered.
The “secondary conflict” is the actual monster hunting itself. Once Sylvia realizes there’s a monster in the town she’s passing through, her friends decide to take it down. The monster poses a threat to Sylvia’s friends and unraveling what kind of monster it is and how to kill it become the secondary conflict.
The Incredible Importance of Setting
My novel will be set in a small cluster of small towns in northern California. The tight-knit community will make it difficult for Sylvia and some of the other secondary characters to gain the trust of the locals, and will have to resort to various unsavory means to be accepted and accomplish the tasks at hand. This cluster of small towns is also unique because almost every resident under the age of 18 is drop dead gorgeous, to an almost unbelievable degree for outsiders. The towns are extremely invested in the modeling agencies in southern California, many of the high school graduates going on to pursue a career in modeling. This unbelievable beauty standard sets Sylvia and other characters on edge as they try to maneuver through this unfamiliar setting.
New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
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The Act of Story Statement
Find the serial killer, even if it’s a monster that pulls her back to her troubled past.
The Antagonist Plots the Point
The antagonist is the titular Ana, or more appropriately the hive of Anas. Anas are grotesque, skeleton-esque monsters that hunt and feed on humans. Their means of survival for the past centuries have been to hide in the skins of their victims (mainly young women), continuing in that girl’s place to lure others (mainly overweight men) to their hive. They’ve been able to survive in a way that they only need to feed about once a month, and as the United States has become more and more populated (and as people have cared less and less about the welfare of those they deem unattractive) they’ve been able to stay under the radar better and better. Part of their stranglehold on the populations of the small towns in northern California where they reside is in their black vomit. When ingested, a victim becomes intoxicated, willing to do whatever it takes to get more, even if it means seducing and luring men into the woods as an offering to the hive.
Conjuring Your Breakout Title
Ana
Cosmotopolis
When You’re Thin
The Woman in the Woods
One Last Hunt
Thin and Pretty
Deciding Your Genre and Approaching Comparables
Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Emily Schepp’s Marked for Revenge
Core Wound and the Primary Conflict
A former monster hunter tries to leave her hunting days (and partners) in the past, but when she stumbles across one last job, she must decide if she’ll return to that world.
Other Matters of Conflict: Two More Levels
The inner conflict for the protagonist (Sylvia) is whether or not to return to her monster hunting ways. She’ll feel torn between leaving it behind and letting new friends deal with a monster unprepared or helping them and diving back into a world that’s left her scarred and embittered.
The “secondary conflict” is the actual monster hunting itself. Once Sylvia realizes there’s a monster in the town she’s passing through, her friends decide to take it down. The monster poses a threat to Sylvia’s friends and unraveling what kind of monster it is and how to kill it become the secondary conflict.
The Incredible Importance of Setting
My novel will be set in a small cluster of small towns in northern California. The tight-knit community will make it difficult for Sylvia and some of the other secondary characters to gain the trust of the locals, and will have to resort to various unsavory means to be accepted and accomplish the tasks at hand. This cluster of small towns is also unique because almost every resident under the age of 18 is drop dead gorgeous, to an almost unbelievable degree for outsiders. The towns are extremely invested in the modeling agencies in southern California, many of the high school graduates going on to pursue a career in modeling. This unbelievable beauty standard sets Sylvia and other characters on edge as they try to maneuver through this unfamiliar setting.