A Coke and a compliment is all it takes and Sarah is wrapped around his little finger again. When her ability as atrainer becomes invaluable, he kills her mother and is granted custody. He gaslights Sarah, grooming her until winning is all that matters. He convinces her to drop out of high school and work for him training the dogs and making him a ton of money at the track, but it’s never enough. Sarah wins, but he knows the dogs have more potential. She’s too soft on them. A little cocaine and some pain killers gives dogs an advantage.
Breakout Titles
Hair of the Dog
Run Dog
Sacrifice
Comparables
●Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
●The Marsh King’s Daughter, Karen Dionne
●The Woman in Cabin Ten, Ruth Ware
●Northern Exposure, Schneider and Frolov
If Kya from Where the Crawdad’s Sing had found the town of Roslyn in Northern Exposure, it would feel like Hair of the Dog.
Like Owens and Dionne, my story is about a young woman and an abusive man. She has to be resourceful in order to survive in nature. Like theirs, my protagonist must grow from being traumatized to standing up for herself physically, and psychologically. I am also comparing my story to Ruth Ware’s and the writers of Northern Exposure. Dionne and Owens have primarily gritty settings and plots, whereas Ware and the writers of Northern Exposure throw in more relief, such as good times and quirky friends. My story is similar in that my protagonist finds support and acceptance in the community of Whitefish between threats.
Hook Line
Sarah must protect herself and her dogs from her controlling uncle who exploits them to satisfy his own twisted desires. .
Inner Conflict and Secondary conflict
Inner conflict
Sarah has an anxiety disorder due to the PTSD she has from spending eight years in the kennel. After being surrounded by shady bookmakers and the drug trade, she has trust issues, poor social skills and tends to overreact. When she sees a man correct his dog using a shock collar, she pulls a knife and cuts the shock device from his neck and dumps it in the man’s drink.
Secondary conflict
Sarah and Hank are both damaged in different ways. Hank's toxic masculinity is familiar to her due to her former lifestyle, and yet she can tell he’s putting on an act. They grow close as he helps her while she hides in a cabin in the woods. She learns through friends in town that he is passionate about euthanizing dogs. He believes he is protecting the community in a way he had failed to before. This reaffirms that she should trust no one.
Setting
The story begins in Key West at Berenson’s Greyhound track during the 1980s. When Sarah escapes with the dogs, she runs to Whitefish, Montana, a small community in the Rocky Mountains. At the local gathering place, The Slow Squirrel, the townspeople learn her story and consider her a hero. They circle up, giving her supplies and shelter. For the first time in her life she is accepted, quirks and all.
New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2022
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
Posted
Seven assignments
Two damaged people kill or save each other
A Coke and a compliment is all it takes and Sarah is wrapped around his little finger again. When her ability as a trainer becomes invaluable, he kills her mother and is granted custody. He gaslights Sarah, grooming her until winning is all that matters. He convinces her to drop out of high school and work for him training the dogs and making him a ton of money at the track, but it’s never enough. Sarah wins, but he knows the dogs have more potential. She’s too soft on them. A little cocaine and some pain killers gives dogs an advantage.
● Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
● The Marsh King’s Daughter, Karen Dionne
● The Woman in Cabin Ten, Ruth Ware
● Northern Exposure, Schneider and Frolov
If Kya from Where the Crawdad’s Sing had found the town of Roslyn in Northern Exposure, it would feel like Hair of the Dog.
Like Owens and Dionne, my story is about a young woman and an abusive man. She has to be resourceful in order to survive in nature. Like theirs, my protagonist must grow from being traumatized to standing up for herself physically, and psychologically. I am also comparing my story to Ruth Ware’s and the writers of Northern Exposure. Dionne and Owens have primarily gritty settings and plots, whereas Ware and the writers of Northern Exposure throw in more relief, such as good times and quirky friends. My story is similar in that my protagonist finds support and acceptance in the community of Whitefish between threats.
Sarah must protect herself and her dogs from her controlling uncle who exploits them to satisfy his own twisted desires. .
Inner conflict
Sarah has an anxiety disorder due to the PTSD she has from spending eight years in the kennel. After being surrounded by shady bookmakers and the drug trade, she has trust issues, poor social skills and tends to overreact. When she sees a man correct his dog using a shock collar, she pulls a knife and cuts the shock device from his neck and dumps it in the man’s drink.
Secondary conflict
Sarah and Hank are both damaged in different ways. Hank's toxic masculinity is familiar to her due to her former lifestyle, and yet she can tell he’s putting on an act. They grow close as he helps her while she hides in a cabin in the woods. She learns through friends in town that he is passionate about euthanizing dogs. He believes he is protecting the community in a way he had failed to before. This reaffirms that she should trust no one.
The story begins in Key West at Berenson’s Greyhound track during the 1980s. When Sarah escapes with the dogs, she runs to Whitefish, Montana, a small community in the Rocky Mountains. At the local gathering place, The Slow Squirrel, the townspeople learn her story and consider her a hero. They circle up, giving her supplies and shelter. For the first time in her life she is accepted, quirks and all.