New York Write to Pitch - June 2025

[Chief Editor]

Introduction to Pre-event Assignments 

The below seven assignments are vital to reaching an understanding of specific and critical core elements that go into the creation of a commercially viable genre novel or narrative non-fiction. Of course, there is more to it than this, as you will see, but here we have a good primer that assures we're literally all on the same page before the event begins.

You may return here as many times as you need to edit your topic post (login and click "edit"). Pay special attention to antagonists, setting, conflict and core wound hooks.

And btw, quiet novels do not sell. Keep that in mind and be aggressive with your work.

Michael Neff

Algonkian Conference Director

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR POSTING

Several Algonkian groups utilize this forum. After you've registered and logged in, create your reply to this topic (button top right). Please post only one reply for all of your responses so the forum topic will not become cluttered. Your reply post, submitted by clicking on the "Edit Topic" button, will appear on the last page of this thread.  And one last thing, we suggest typing up your reply to the seven assignments in a separate text file then copying it over to your post before submitting. Not a good idea to lose what you've done.

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THE ACT OF STORY STATEMENT

Before you begin to consider or rewrite your story premise, you must develop a simple "story statement." In other words, what's the mission of your protagonist? The goal? What must be done?

What must this person create? Save? Restore? Accomplish? Defeat?... Defy the dictator of the city and her bury brother’s body (ANTIGONE)? Struggle for control over the asylum (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST)? Do whatever it takes to recover lost love (THE GREAT GATSBY)? Save the farm and live to tell the story (COLD MOUNTAIN)? Find the wizard and a way home to Kansas (WIZARD OF OZ)? Note that all of these are books with strong antagonists who drive the plot line (see also "Core Wounds and Conflict Lines" below).

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: write your story statement. 

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THE ANTAGONIST PLOTS THE POINT

(Photo : Javert from "Les Misérables")

What are the odds of you having your manuscript published if the overall story and narrative fail to meet publisher demands for sufficient suspense, character concern, and conflict? Answer: none. You might therefore ask, what major factor makes for a quiet and dull manuscript brimming with insipid characters and a story that cascades from chapter to chapter with tens of thousands of words, all of them combining irresistibly to produce an audible thudding sound in the mind like a mallet hitting a side of cold beef? Answer: the unwillingness or inability of the writer to create a suitable antagonist who stirs and spices the plot hash.

Let's make it clear what we're talking about.

By "antagonist" we specifically refer to an actual fictional character, an embodiment of certain traits and motivations who plays a significant role in catalyzing and energizing plot line(s), or at bare minimum, in assisting to evolve the protagonist's character arc (and by default the story itself) by igniting complication(s) the protagonist, and possibly other characters, must face and solve (or fail to solve).

CONTINUE READING ENTIRE ARTICLE AT NWOE THEN RETURN HERE.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. Keep in mind their goals, their background, and the ways they react to the world about them.

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CONJURING YOUR BREAKOUT TITLE

What is your breakout title? How important is a great title before you even become published? Very important! Quite often, agents and editors will get a feel for a work and even sense the marketing potential just from a title. A title has the ability to attract and condition the reader's attention. It can be magical or thud like a bag of wet chalk, so choose carefully. A poor title sends the clear message that what comes after will also be of poor quality.

Go to Amazon.Com and research a good share of titles in your genre, come up with options, write them down and let them simmer for at least 24 hours. Consider character or place names, settings, or a "label" that describes a major character, like THE ENGLISH PATIENT or THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST. Consider also images, objects, or metaphors in the novel that might help create a title, or perhaps a quotation from another source (poetry, the Bible, etc.) that thematically represents your story. Or how about a title that summarizes the whole story: THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, etc.

Keep in mind that the difference between a mediocre title and a great title is the difference between THE DEAD GIRL'S SKELETON and THE LOVELY BONES, between TIME TO LOVE THAT CHOLERA and LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA between STRANGERS FROM WITHIN (Golding's original title) and LORD OF THE FLIES, between BEING LIGHT AND UNBEARABLE and THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING.

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: create a breakout title (list several options, not more than three, and revisit to edit as needed).

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DECIDING YOUR GENRE AND APPROACHING COMPARABLES

Did you know that a high percentage of new novel writers don't fully understand their genre, much less comprehend comparables? When informing professionals about the nuances of your novel, whether by query letter or oral pitch, you must know your genre first, and provide smart comparables second. In other words, you need to transcend just a simple statement of genre (literary, mystery, thriller, romance, science fiction, etc.) by identifying and relating your novel more specifically to each publisher's or agent's area of expertise, and you accomplish this by wisely comparing your novel to contemporary published novels they will most likely recognize and appreciate--and it usually doesn't take more than two good comps to make your point.

Agents and publishing house editors always want to know the comps. There is more than one reason for this. First, it helps them understand your readership, and thus how to position your work for the market. Secondly, it demonstrates up front that you are a professional who understands your contemporary market, not just the classics. Very important! And finally, it serves as a tool to enable them to pitch your novel to the decision-makers in the business.

Most likely you will need to research your comps. If you're not sure how to begin, go to Amazon.Com, type in the title of a novel you believe very similar to yours, choose it, then scroll down the page to see Amazon's list of "Readers Also Bought This" and begin your search that way. Keep in mind that before you begin, you should know enough about your own novel to make the comparison in the first place!

By the way, beware of using comparables by overly popular and classic authors. If you compare your work to classic authors like H.G. Wells and Gabriel Marquez in the same breath you will risk being declared insane. If you compare your work to huge contemporary authors like Nick Hornby or Jodi Picoult or Nora Ephron or Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling, and so forth, you will not be laughed at, but you will also not be taken seriously since thousands of others compare their work to the same writers. Best to use two rising stars in your genre. If you can't do this, use only one classic or popular author and combine with a rising star. Choose carefully!

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: - Read this NWOE article on comparables then return here.

- Develop two smart comparables for your novel. This is a good opportunity to immerse yourself in your chosen genre. Who compares to you? And why?

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CORE WOUND AND THE PRIMARY CONFLICT 

Conflict, tension, complication, drama--all basically related, and all going a long way to keeping the reader's eyes fixated on your story. These days, serving up a big manuscript of quiet is a sure path to damnation. You need tension on the page at all times, and the best way to accomplish this is to create conflict and complications in the plot and narrative. Consider "conflict" divided into three parts, all of which you MUST have present in the novel. First part, the primary dramatic conflict which drives through the work from beginning to end, from first major plot point to final reversal, and finally resolving with an important climax. Next, secondary conflicts or complications that take various social forms - anything from a vigorous love subplot to family issues to turmoil with fellow characters. Finally, those various inner conflicts and core wounds all important characters must endure and resolve as the story moves forward.

But now, back to the PRIMARY DRAMATIC CONFLICT. If you've taken care to consider your story description and your hook line, you should be able to identify your main conflict(s). Let's look at some basic information regarding the history of conflict in storytelling. Conflict was first described in ancient Greek literature as the agon, or central contest in tragedy. According to Aristotle, in order to hold the interest, the hero must have a single conflict. The agon, or act of conflict, involves the protagonist (the "first fighter" or "hero") and the antagonist corresponding to the villain (whatever form that takes). The outcome of the contest cannot be known in advance, and, according to later drama critics such as Plutarch, the hero's struggle should be ennobling. Is that always true these days? Not always, but let's move on.

Even in contemporary, non-dramatic literature, critics have observed that the agon is the central unit of the plot. The easier it is for the protagonist to triumph, the less value there is in the drama. In internal and external conflict alike, the antagonist must act upon the protagonist and must seem at first to overmatch him or her. The above defines classic drama that creates conflict with real stakes. You see it everywhere, to one degree or another, from classic contemporary westerns like THE SAVAGE BREED to a time-tested novel as literary as THE GREAT GATSBY. And of course, you need to have conflict or complications in nonfiction also, in some form, or you have a story that is too quiet.

For examples let's return to the story descriptions and create some HOOK LINES. Let's don't forget to consider the "core wound" of the protagonist. Please read this article at NWOE then return here.

• The Hand of Fatima by Ildefonso Falcones
• A young Moor torn between Islam and Christianity, scorned and tormented by both, struggles to bridge the two faiths by seeking common ground in the very nature of God.
• Summer's Sisters by Judy Blume
• After sharing a magical summer with a friend, a young woman must confront her friend's betrayal of her with the man she loved.
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
• As an apprentice mage seeks revenge on an elder magician who humiliated him, he unleashes a powerful Djinn who joins the mage to confront a danger that threatens their entire world.

Note that it is fairly easy to ascertain the stakes in each case above: a young woman's love and friendship, the entire world, and harmony between opposed religions. If you cannot make the stakes clear, the odds are you don't have any. Also, is the core wound obvious or implied?

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound following the format above. Though you may not have one now, keep in mind this is a great developmental tool. In other words, you best begin focusing on this if you're serious about commercial publication.

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OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT: TWO MORE LEVELS

As noted above, consider "conflict" divided into three parts, all of which you should ideally have present. First, the primary conflict which drives through the core of the work from beginning to end and which zeniths with an important climax (falling action and denouement to follow). Next, secondary conflicts or complications which can take various social forms (anything from a vigorous love subplot to family issues to turmoil with fellow characters). Finally, those inner conflicts the major characters must endure and resolve. You must note the inner personal conflicts elsewhere in this profile, but make certain to note any important interpersonal conflicts within this particular category."

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have. Why will they feel in turmoil? Conflicted? Anxious? Sketch out one hypothetical scenario in the story wherein this would be the case--consider the trigger and the reaction.

Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment. Will this involve family? Friends? Associates? What is the nature of it?

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THE INCREDIBLE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING

When considering your novel, whether taking place in a contemporary urban world or on a distant magical planet in Andromeda, you must first sketch the best overall setting and sub-settings for your story. Consider: the more unique and intriguing (or quirky) your setting, the more easily you're able to create energetic scenes, narrative, and overall story. A great setting maximizes opportunities for interesting characters, circumstances, and complications, and therefore makes your writing life so much easier. Imagination is truly your best friend when it comes to writing competitive fiction, and nothing provides a stronger foundation than a great setting. One of the best selling contemporary novels, THE HUNGER GAMES, is driven by the circumstances of the setting, and the characters are a product of that unique environment, the plot also.

But even if you're not writing SF/F, the choice of setting is just as important, perhaps even more so. If you must place your upmarket story in a sleepy little town in Maine winter, then choose a setting within that town that maximizes opportunities for verve and conflict, for example, a bed and breakfast stocked to the ceiling with odd characters who combine to create comical, suspenseful, dangerous or difficult complications or subplot reversals that the bewildered and sympathetic protagonist must endure and resolve while he or she is perhaps engaged in a bigger plot line: restarting an old love affair, reuniting with a family member, starting a new business, etc. And don't forget that non-gratuitous sex goes a long way, especially for American readers.

CONTINUE TO READ THIS ARTICLE THEN RETURN.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: sketch out your setting in detail. What makes it interesting enough, scene by scene, to allow for uniqueness and cinema in your narrative and story? Please don't simply repeat what you already have which may well be too quiet. You can change it. That's why you're here! Start now. Imagination is your best friend, and be aggressive with it.

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Below are several links to part of an article or whole articles that we feel are the most valuable for memoir writers.

We have reviewed these and agree 110%.

MEMOIR WRITING - CHOOSE A SPECIFIC EVENT (good general primer)

How to Write a Memoir That People Care About | NY Book Editors

NYBOOKEDITORS.COM

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Are you thinking of writing a memoir but you're stuck? We've got the remedy. Check out our beginner's guide on writing an epic and engaging memoir.

MEMOIR MUST INCLUDE TRANSCENDENCE

Writing Memoir? Include Transcendence - Memoir coach and author Marion Roach

MARIONROACH.COM

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MEMOIR REQUIRES TRANSCENDENCE. Something has to happen. Or shift. Someone has to change a little. Or grow. It’s the bare hack minimum of memoir.

WRITE IT LIKE A NOVEL

How to Write a Powerful Memoir in 5 Simple Steps

JERRYJENKINS.COM

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When it comes to writing a memoir, there are 5 things you need to focus on. If you do, your powerful story will have the best chance of impacting others.

MEMOIR ANECDOTES - HOW TO MAKE THEM SHINE

How to Write an Anecdote That Makes Your Nonfiction Come Alive

JERRYJENKINS.COM

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Knowing how to write an anecdote lets you utilize the power of story with your nonfiction and engage your reader from the first page.

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[MaitreyiAishwarya]

Assignment 1: Story Statement

 Discover her true identity and find her grandparents’ murderer.

Assignment 2: Antagonistic Forces

The main antagonistic force is found within the protagonist herself, Rosalind.  To shield her sensitive heart from the tragedy of her father’s death and her mother’s emotional neglect, young Rosalind circumscribed her world, creating a small, safe sphere with few friends and rigid goals.  Her tightly controlled reality is shaken when she meets a boy who wants to love her.  In this burgeoning romance, Rosalind’s inner conflict is her primary enemy. But, even as she starts to open her heart, Rosalid accidentally learns of a shocking secret her mother has been keeping from her, a secret that threatens Rosalind’s newfound security and hope. To determine the origin of the forces that harmed her family and to embrace the chance to remain with the boy she loves, Rosalind must return to her mother’s homeland, solve the mystery of her grandparents’ murder, and understand her true identity.

Assignment 3: Working Titles

The Legacy of Light: The Awakening

The Legacy of Light: Illumination

The Legacy of Light: Book 1

Assignment 4: Comparables

My first comparable is Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me. In both books, the main characters face the loss of their father and must solve a mystery relating to it. Elements of science fiction are interwoven into an otherwise realistic story.  Two differences are that my character is older, and the tone of my writing is, at times, softer and more emotional. 

For its tone and tenor, a second comparable would be “Sarah Dessen Meets Science Fiction.”  At its core, “Legacy of Light” is about a girl navigating her relationship with her mother, her hopes for the future, and a boy who genuinely loves her.  Told from the main character’s perspective and set in 2003 middle-America, this coming-of-age story deals with love, loss, and family secrets.   It so happens that these secrets relate to paranormal abilities and result in a struggle with a secret society.  But these are secondary facts.  The heart of the story is the protagonist’s journey to find her true identity and accept her place in the world.

Assignment 5: Core Wound and Primary Conflict

After a secure childhood shattered by the sudden death of her father, a teen girl constructs a safe reality for herself only to have it unravel when she discovers a shocking secret about her identity, an identity she must confront to protect her life and her chance at love.

Assignment 6: Conflicts

The protagonist’s inner conflict:

After her father’s sudden death and her mother’s subsequent emotional withdrawal, Rosalind found solace in her best friend and created an identity centered on academic success.  However, Rosalind’s rigid world is shaken when the new boy in town, Reid, expresses interest in her.   The fact that Reid is her academic competitor further contributes to her inner struggle.  Despite her intense avoidance, Rosalind is attracted to Reid’s sincerity and his own experience of childhood loss.

Scene that triggers protagonist:

Rosalind’s defenses against Reid crumble in the scene when she is exhausted and argues with Reid about the yearbook, for which they are co-editors.  After she storms off, Reid follows her to comfort her, and when she accuses him of having an easy life, he opens up about his younger brother's death from leukemia.  Reid’s grief and suffering, which so closely mirror Rosalind’s own experience, touch her core trauma, causing her to lower her guard.  Simultaneously, this connection to her core releases Rosalind’s paranormal abilities, propelling another layer of the story. 

Secondary conflict:

Rosalind’s newfound powers, ones she does not yet understand, dangerously explode when she accidentally meets another member of the secret group to which she belongs, unbeknownst to her.  This leads to the revelation that her mother has been lying to her.  When Rosalind is integrated into this secret group, the Light Seekers, she meets the leaders, one of whom is her mother’s childhood best friend, Mildred.  Though her mother feels only gratitude and comfort in her reunion with her long-lost friend, Rosalind is wary of this powerful and capricious woman who holds no fondness for her.  Rosalind is forced to keep her powers a secret and surreptitiously begins a journey to discover the cause of her grandparents’ murder over 20 years ago.

Assignment 7: Setting

Rosalind’s journey and her setting are intertwined.  As one expands, so does the other.  Rosalind’s story begins in a small town in Iowa where her father grew up and runs the family farm.  She lives down the street from her elementary school, her parents work at the local community college, and she takes swimming lessons at the YMCA.  It is safe, cozy, and mundane.

The summer following her father’s tragic death, the house across the street is remodeled into a beautiful fairy tale home, and an equally perfect family moves into this jewel.  Enamored, Rosalind becomes best friends with the daughter, a girl her age.  This magical and beautiful house is the first seed of change in the setting. 

Rosalind’s feelings for a boy are the catalyst that expands the setting beyond her safe Iowa town and beyond what she can perceive with her senses. She begins to see lights that are not there, and when she takes a trip to Des Moines, her visions explode into the real world. Rosalind discovers that reality is not as it appears, and she can see what is underneath the surface.    

Prompted by these events, Rosalind travels to a mysterious castle in Ireland and then to beautiful Sardinia.  These exterior settings, the all-American town, chilly Ireland, and sunny Sardinia, are the platforms for her journey to a deeper reality, one where she might find the answers she seeks.  

[Madison Morris]

NYC Write to Pitch Pre-Event Assignments.docx 

 

 

[Natalie Walsh]

1: THE ACT OF STORY STATEMENT

Overcome her trauma with men and find her best friend.

2: THE ANTAGONIST PLOTS THE POINT

The primary antagonist in Madison’s story is her best friend, Frankie—an enigmatic and reckless character who deliberately pushes Madison beyond the bounds of her comfort zone, coaxing her into encounters that stir a deep fear of boys and urge her toward teenage hedonism. When Frankie abruptly withdraws from their friendship, Madison is left unmoored, her absence a wound that festers in silence. Then, after Frankie disappears, her shadow lingers, consuming Madison’s world as she retraces her friend’s illicit and intimidating path in a desperate search for answers. Thus, even in her missingness, Frankie’s overwhelming presence remains a complicated, often antagonistic, force. 

A secondary antagonist emerges in Dylan, a fellow high school student and varsity lacrosse player whose cruel harassment resurfaces the buried traumas Madison has long sought to shove to the bottom of her consciousness. Through her encounters with him as lacrosse team manager, she is forced to confront the specters of her past—ones that continue to distort her present with a quiet, debilitating fear.

3: CONJURING YOUR BREAKOUT TITLE

A Bite from the Grapefruit Sun 

In the Sun Washed Silence 

Gentle Voices Speaking 

4: DECIDING YOUR GENRE AND APPROACHING COMPARABLES

The dark exploration of coming-of-age possesses similarities in tone and narrative to The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. Although the gender of the narrators is inverted, both my novel and The Virgin Suicides explore the fragile, electrifying, and, at times, terrifying experience of girlhood. Also, both center around the rumor, secrecy, and isolation of the female characters within their small town. They teeter on the threshold of Young Adult fiction, centering around teens, but the core of their stories are heavy with mature content. 

Further, the thematic mistrust of memory and examination of female vulnerability is akin to Animal by Lisa Taddeo. Taddeo’s probing of the violence that inheres in the men who colonize femininity and the after-effects of trauma are very much in alignment with the essence of “A Bite from the Grapefruit Sun.” Animal also has a complicated narrator whose wavering reliability shows similarities to Madison.

5: CORE WOUND AND THE PRIMARY CONFLICT

After her best friend disappears, introverted Madison Delmar is thrust into a search through the tantalizing yet menacing world of boys and privilege, forcing her to confront the traumas she’s long tried to bury. 

6: OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT: TWO MORE LEVELS

Internal conflict: 

After a sexual assault that Madison cannot accept happened, nevertheless finding herself grappling with its constant visceral after effects, she hides in her friendship with Frankie and her school work. But, after one fateful night, Frankie metamorphoses into someone unrecognizable—she begins partying with older boys, having sex, and even biting back the baby blue pills she gets from her new drug-dealing boyfriend. She no longer has any interest in her friendship with Madison. Madison is left drowning alone in her anxieties, every man a spectre of her repressed fears, and the shadow of the one who forced himself where he did not belong haunts her room, unable to sleep, caught in an endless routine of paranoid insomnia. 

In her quest for answers as to why Frankie changed, and then, pressingly, where she has disappeared to, Madison must face her past and current traumas, caught in a web woven by the boys whose baby-blue button-downs overlay their violence. 

A scene that triggers the protagonist: 

She ventures to a rave, caught in the cacophonic throng of party-goers, to confront Frankie’s drug dealer. Through this encounter, she hopes to further uncover what happened to her best friend. His slippery hands roam around her body. She must wrestle with the flooding onslaught of memories that rattle inside her, on a collision course with her fears in the pursuit of the truth. He is an embodiment of her worst nightmare, an unsatiated man who grabs hold of her like her limbs belong to him. Men from her past are superimposed onto him, and, still, she stands her ground, able to fend off the trauma responses long enough to get answers. 

Second conflict: 

Madison exists within a world of inescapable masculine threat—an eerie presence that slinks beneath the pressed linen and rumble of laughter on manicured lawns. Dylan’s cruel, unrelenting tongue becomes a daily torment, and Madison discovers that the few boys she trusted harbor devastating secrets. In White Oaks, a coastal enclave polished to a mirror sheen, violence against girls is not punished but concealed. The town’s pristine veneer depends on secrecy: the pretty boys continue to smile with marble teeth, no one asking why the girls have bite marks. As Madison searches for Frankie, she begins peeling back this facade. Safety is a lie, sisterhood a fragile thing under siege. In a world designed to protect its sons, the cost of being a girl is borne in bruises, silences, and vanishing acts.

A scene that triggers the protagonist: 

A scene exemplifying such is after Frankie’s strangled body is eventually found, the town’s society still finds itself—after an appropriate mourning period, of course—at the country club. The button-down boys devour their plates clean, men wash their hands three times in the bathroom, and the women clutch their necklaces, speaking in corners with soft voices. It couldn’t have been someone from White Oaks. The men here don’t do that sort of thing. Madison shrouds herself in her ritualized silence. Is she the only one who sees behind their good-boy acts, or are all the women merely pretending their sons don’t have arms like baseball bats?

7: THE INCREDIBLE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING

In this Southern California town nestled on the coast of the Pacific, wealth and ennui seemingly wrap its inhabitants in safety. Nothing bad happens in a place where the ocean endlessly reflects the pastel sunshine—or so they think. But the falacy cracks, splinters, and eventually outright shatters the further Madison ventures into the social circles of White Oaks. Still, she cannot escape its clutches, the mentality of perfectionism ingrained. As much as Madison is repelled by her town, is she a product of it. She looks the part of the beautiful, together girl, but can’t feel it. The setting reflects this; on the precipice of the renewal of summer, the idyllic landscape juxtaposes the dark realities beneath the surface. 

Sometimes the environment is a friend—the sunshine swaddling Madison in warmth. Other times, an ominous foreboding—the ocean’s current, obscured in the flat darkness, sways ambiguously. The indulgent parties, where boys’ hands linger beyond their bounds, sand stuck between toes when liquor makes limbs limp, Jeeps going too fast over hot asphalt, is teenagerdom in a nutshell, but something is wrong. And, in the pool, when the dusk blankets the splashing water, eyes looking into one another suspiciously, no one can be trusted. 

White Oaks also augments the experience of growing up as a girl. With exposed flesh and a need to be more socially advanced than the next, it is a race for adulthood. In this wealthy town where teenagers try to behave well beyond their years, it poses a direct threat to Madison’s emotional well-being and the sensitive self-preservation she futilely tries to maintain.

[Suzette Francis]

Suzette Francis

 

First Assignment:  

Geneva Shaw must reclaim her family’s ancestral land in rural Alabama, and in doing so, confront the buried secrets of her lineage, navigate a hostile legal battle, and reconcile her identity as both heir and outsider in a place that never fully accepted her.

 

Second Assignment:  

Davenport Stockton is a wealthy land developer and heir to one of the South’s most powerful families. Raised to value legacy, control, and appearance above all else, he sees the world as his to dominate through wealth, charm, and calculated force. His public persona is one of refinement and civic pride, but beneath the surface lies a man driven by the fear of losing power, and the fear of being exposed.

His goal is to acquire Murray Farm, absorb it into his expanding empire, and erase the last remnant of the past that threatens his spotless legacy. To him, the land is leverage. A symbol of dominance.

But Geneva Shaw’s return, and her unwavering claim to the farm, threatens to unravel everything he’s built. As old secrets begin to surface, Davenport's grip begins to slip. He reacts not with humility, but with resistance. Yet as cracks appear in his armor, so too does a creeping awareness that perhaps his empire was built on theft and silence.

Davenport is not a villain in the classic sense, but he is dangerous. Because he’s willing to destroy anyone who threatens his carefully curated myth, even if that someone is his own blood.

 

Third Assignment:

The Southerner

The Inheritance

Blood and Boundary Lines

Murray Farm

God, Guns, and Acreage

Fourth Assignment: 

1. Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe (May 13, 2025)

Set in early 20th-century South Carolina, this sweeping family saga follows Eliza Mayfield from her childhood on a Lowcountry estate through the upheavals of war, societal change, and personal loss. As Eliza matures into the family's matriarch, she grapples with preserving the Mayfield legacy amid shifting times. Monroe's evocative prose and rich character development mirror the atmospheric storytelling found in The Southerner, making this novel a compelling read for fans of multigenerational Southern epics.

 

2. Gothictown by Emily Carpenter (March 25, 2025)

In this modern Southern Gothic tale, disillusioned urbanite Billie relocates to the seemingly idyllic town of Juliana. However, as her sleep deteriorates and her marriage frays, Billie uncovers the town's unsettling secrets and the menacing nature of its elders. Carpenter's novel delves into themes of small-town decay, hidden histories, and the psychological unraveling of its protagonist, resonating with the haunting and introspective elements present in The Southerner. 

 

3. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (April 2025)

Hall's debut novel offers a poignant exploration of a family's fractured history in the rural South. Through lyrical prose, the story examines generational trauma, the weight of secrets, and the quest for redemption, resonating with the emotional depth and Southern Gothic elements characteristic of The Southerner.

 

4. Fortitude by M. A. Holm (February 2025)

Set against the backdrop of the Spanish-American War, this novel follows Claire O'Farrell, a young woman challenging societal norms in the Jim Crow South. Holm weaves a narrative rich in historical detail and emotional complexity, exploring themes of courage, identity, and the enduring impact of the past on the present.

 

Fifth Assignment:

The fight for Murray Farm isn’t just about land. It’s about blood, betrayal, and a Southern town’s reckoning with the ghosts it tried to forget.

 

Sixth Assignment:

The Protagonist’s inner conflict:

After her husband divorces her like a bomb suddenly dropping overhead, Geneva learns that the large farm she inherited in Rutherford County, Alabama has been seized through eminent domain by Davenport Stockton, the wealthiest man in town. Before she has time to heal from the hurt of losing the man she would spend the rest of her life with, she is forced to prepare for battle. With the weight of four generations of ancestors on her shoulders, she is determined to save her family’s farm so that her son can inherit it, a promise she made to her father before he died. Geneva struggles with leaving a thirty-year nursing career, her home in Northern Virginia, and her best friend, Jessica.

Scene that triggers the protagonist:

Exhausted from traveling, Geneva arrives at Murray Farm to find a strange lock on the door, a condemnation notice fluttering in the wind,  and a sheriff suddenly appears. Sheriff Tate forces her off the property she inherited. With bitterness boiling over from her divorce and what she views as the theft of her property, she goes to see an attorney the next day. The attorney informs her that eminent domain is a legal maneuver that towns can use to condemn property they determine could be put to better use. Geneva is stunned to learn that most of the black-owned farms that used to be in the Mount Zion section of Rutherford County were taken by this method. Even knowing that a case like this could be expensive and take years to resolve, Geneva is determined to fight.

Secondary Conflict:

After the hearing is delayed for a year, Geneva and her son, Zane, work to turn Murray Farm into a profitable enterprise that serves the community, but along the way, there are death threats against them, vandalism, and a conflict of interest—-she is falling in love with Davenport Stockton’s attorney and her son is captivated by his granddaughter. In a place and time that presents more danger than Geneva and her son are prepared for, she makes the tough decision to continue the struggle and keep her promise to her father.

 

Assignment 7: Setting

When Geneva returned to Rutherford County, it was not the weathered patchwork of red clay roads and tractor tracks she remembered. The rough-edged, slow-moving farm town of her childhood had been paved over, glossed, and reshaped into something nearly unrecognizable. Where the old grainery once stood, its silos creaking in the wind like rusted statues, there now rose Whispering Pines, a pristine subdivision with manicured lawns and streetlamps that glowed like pearls at dusk. 

At the county’s center, what used to be thousands of acres of cotton and forgotten machinery had been razed to make room for Stockton Place, the most exclusive gated community in three counties. It sprawled like a fortress of ambition, all brick and stone and wrought-iron fencing like wealth wearing a smug smile.

And Mount Zion, where blight and boarded windows had once whispered of generational poverty, a glossy new shopping mall now shimmered with fluorescent light. Beside it, the fresh-planted trees of Belle Meadow lined the sidewalks of yet another new development, each house nearly identical—bright, polished, soulless. But beneath the veneer, Geneva could still feel the bones of the past. What used to be black-owned farmland had been swallowed whole, the erasure humming beneath every welcome mat, with only a few holdouts remaining.

The condition of the house Geneva inherited on Murray Farm, built long before the Civil War ever began, stood like a relic from a museum. Two stories of weathered red brick and stubborn endurance, its Georgian bones etched into the Alabama earth.  A wide veranda stretched across the back, sagging slightly at the edges, as though weary from carrying so much memory. Below, a cellar carved into the clay still held the cool breath of generations gone. A crooked stone path, half-swallowed by weeds and time, led to what once had been a thriving garden, now a tangle of honeysuckle and neglect. Beyond that, the land opened like a breath held too long: acres of soybeans and corn pushing skyward, bordered by woods so thick they whispered secrets. In spring, the scent of magnolia blossoms rode the breeze like perfume; in summer, the trees stood like soldiers, guarding against the blistering heat. A little farther on, the peach orchard drooped with the weight of its past, its trees shedding overripe fruit that sank into the soil like offerings. And through it all wound a silver-threaded creek, cool and glistening, catching the sunlight as if to remind whoever still watched: the land remembers everything.

Geneva meets with her attorney, Lydia Thomas, at her office perched on the twenty-third floor of a sleek glass tower in downtown Birmingham, overlooking the city skyline like a queen surveying her dominion. The space was minimalist but intentional—brushed brass fixtures, abstract Black Southern art on the walls, and a curated shelf of legal texts and biographies, each spine uncreased and gleaming under soft, recessed lighting. Lydia’s desk, Italian walnut with clean lines, was cleared of all but a silver pen holder and a slim MacBook. 

While Geneva met with Alexander Walters, she couldn’t help but contrast Lydia’s office with his. A converted antebellum house just off the courthouse square, its wraparound porch shaded by dogwoods and humming with the low buzz of cicadas. Inside, the air smelled of cedar, old paper, and pipe tobacco long since retired. His office was cluttered but lived-in: case files in leaning towers, yellow legal pads half-filled and fraying at the corners, a green banker’s lamp casting a low glow over his battered oak desk. The centerpiece, however, was mounted proudly behind him: a massive largemouth bass, caught in 1986 and preserved with more love than most family heirlooms. 

After the appellate judge granted her the opportunity to live at Murray Farm until after the hearing, Geneva agreed to meet with Davenport in order to retrieve the house keys. The Stockton house sat atop a low, manicured hill like a crown half-tilted on a fading monarch. Built in 1944, the year Davenport was born, the estate was a sprawling testament to wealth that refused to whisper. Its brick façade, once a deep crimson, had faded to a softer, rosier hue, as though time had tried to humble it but failed.

 

 

[MarsyDotes]

Write to Pitch Conference June 2025 PreWork

Maria Miller Silvert

Assignment 1: Story Statement

Leilani Drew, a Hawaiian beauty and grand niece of famed detective Nancy Drew, upholds her family legacy by investigating the double mysteries of Turtle Cove, a violent murder and a fabled buried treasure.

Assignment 2: The Antagonist(s)

Mike Campbell: Treasurer of the HomeOwners Association at Turtle Cove and retired lawyer, Mike Campbell becomes increasingly suspicious, desperate and threatening as Leilani investigates the murder and buried treasure. A gambling addiction threatens to ruin his life, as do his ties with The Palaoa, a dangerous drug running gang on Maui.

Mr. A.: Rumored to be the ruthless leader of the Palaoa gang on the Hawaiian islands, A stands for anonymous, because no one knows his true identity and anyone who did discover it met their demise soon after. Mr. A. is introduced in this book, and his presence will continue in the planned series.

Maud and John Finkley: Flamboyant Maud, president of the HomeOwners Association, and mild mannered husband John, are a senior couple living at Turtle Cove resort. But appearances aren’t all they seem and these tragic antagonists create life threatening problems for Leilani. 

Assignment 3: Breakout Title

Mystery of Turtle Cove, a Leilani Drew Mystery

Murder at Turtle Cove, a Leilani Drew Mystery

Secrets of Turtle Cove, a Leilani Drew Mystery

Assignment 4: Comparables

Enola Holmes Mysteries, by Nancy Springer

Because the series is a spin off of Sherlock Holmes, set in historical London, and the appealing younger sister, Enola, solves the mysteries, it has some characteristics similar to Mystery of Turtle Cove. 

Leilani Drew is an appealing and complex young woman, grand niece to Nancy Drew, and the first murder is set on contemporary Maui. Leilani relies on her two siblings for help in making her investigations. A parallel setting related to the buried treasure takes place on Maui in the mid 1800s to early 1900s. 

The Lei Crime Series, by Toby Neal

Like the Mystery of Turtle Cove, the Lei Crime series portrays a female multi racial protagonist compelled to solve crimes amidst stunning island settings, showcasing the contrast between paradise and a seamy criminal underbelly that infests the islands, framed by a strong Hawaiian cultural context.

Assignment 5: Core Wound and the Primary Conflict 

A chilling murder and an ancient buried treasure draw Polynesian beauty Leilani Drew, grand niece of famed detective Nancy Drew, into the dual mysteries of Turtle Cove, an oceanfront resort on the island paradise of Maui. Despite tragic personal losses, an inner ear imbalance that hampers her dreams, and the disapproval of her older brother, Leilani follows her family legacy, compelled to prove her own worth as a detective even as a dangerous investigation threatens her life.

Assignment 6: Other Conflicts

Inner Conflict:

She sat for a moment, thinking about her conversation with Keke. She had lied to her about falling off the cliff. And she was hiding information from Kai. A denseness squeezed her chest, and razor-like wires of guilt wrapped themselves around her gut. 

Even as she acknowledged her deceitfulness, she knew she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, stop her investigations. 

At eleven, after her mother’s death, Leilani realized she couldn’t control anything, so she lost herself in Aunt Nancy’s books. Reading about Aunt Nancy’s adventures, she felt she too could solve mysteries, and that maybe, it was something she could be good at. Perhaps even be a hero like her Aunt Nancy, and have something of value to offer others. As time went on, she discovered solving mysteries took her out of herself and helped her feel in control. The rest of her life was so messy. Her depresssion, fueled by grief, fear, and loneliness, she numbed by drinking. Then her father died and she was driven to discover what happened, even though it remained a desolate mystery. She was afraid to get too close to anyone because she didn’t want to go through the hurt of losing them, like her parents. Solving mysteries gave her a purpose, and when she felt shy and awkward, it helped her talk with people. 

 

Secondary conflict:

(Leilani has broken into the house of the murdered man at night to search for evidence.)

 

She took out her phone and snapped photos of the back and front of the painting. Then she gently pressed the frame closed and carefully hung the painting back in its place on the wall. The sound of a motor alerted her.  It was a car, creeping up the street. An urgent necessity to leave exploded in her gut. Turning off the flashlight, she walked out of the house, locking the door behind her. She jumped down to the ground and ran to the side yard. From her vantage point behind a bush, she saw the radiating blue light of a patrol car.  It stopped in front of the house. She hoped the officer wouldn’t do a physical check of the grounds. Holding her breath, she moved into the shadow of a Japanese silk tree. The officer slowly got out of the car. Suddenly, the police radio cackled and the dispatcher’s voice came through. The officer got back into the car and answered. The cruiser's blue lights flashed and the car took off. Leilani breathed a sigh of relief. That was too close. Imaging Kai’s reaction if she had been caught took her breath away and she forced herself to not think. 

Assignment 7: Setting

Maui, an iconic paradise that conjures images of sun filled days spent lazing on butter colored sand beaches, swimming glittering turquoise waters, and snorkeling with sea turtles and kaleidoscopic fish. Drinking pina coladas from a beach side lanai while watching humpback whales breaching next to toned surfers catching waves, muscles glistening in the sun. It’s a massive sandbox and playground for sports lovers and hedonists alike offering an array of water sports, whale watching, volcano climbing, MaiTai drinking, world class golfing, ukulele playing, karaoke singing, hula dancing, horseback riding, polo playing panoply of delights. 

 

And yet, beneath the stunning natural beauty of the island, its tranquil aquamarine waters, plumeria scented breezes, melodic bird song, and lush emerald colored valleys and peaks of neighboring islands, for all its outward celebration of life and living, lies a seductive lull from deep beneath the earth, a pulsing from the heart of the island, a sepulchral whisper that says “one day soon you will be mine too.” For evidence of Death’s mark is everywhere for the awakened eye to see. 

 

On the islands, shark attacks are more common than being shot, hit by a drunk driver, drowning in the ocean, goring by wild boar, or dying from a falling coconut. But these dangers, and more, lurk everywhere - from razor sharp black lava rocks that line the coastline, to sea mangos (the suicide fruit) that look similar to the delicious sweet and tangy lilikoi to fiery red monster centipedes. And then there are the human dangers - gun violence, gangs, meth labs, pot fields, drunk drivers, pissed off islanders, steep pali trails covered in vines that grab at the ankles of naive tourists, throwing them headlong down a thousand foot drop, and the jungle itself, breathing, heaving, sweating, devouring all that enter, well, the list does go on.

[Kate Reilly]

Assignment 1: 

Amidst violence, rebellion, and the awakening of long-dormant powers, Tristan and Ellasmer must work together to overthrow the Torrolc King and his immortal mystic, Galrwin, traveling to the Ebysand Isles in hopes of securing allies and a prophecy that might just help them succeed. 

Assignment 2: 

Ellasmer Isona is the rightful heir to the throne of Starn and one of the last surviving members of the Royals after the bloody sacking by the Torrolc tribe twelve years ago. But her plans must change when a boy named Tristan, the same boy prophesied to her by the waters of the Ebysand Isles when she was six to help her retake said throne, lands half-dead on her doorstep. 

Glarwin Elden was not always this empty, rotting, immortal mystic. Four hundred years ago, he had been a mortal, cursed to this existence by the Ultesca Stone when the one he had loved, Sira, was taken from him by her possessive mate. Now Galrwin has struck a dangerous deal with the new rebel King and the same ancient being in The Stones that took his mortality to win it back. His first task: kill a boy named Tristan. 

Assignment 3: 

1. Voice in the Stones

2. Stonebound

3. The Prophecy of Water and Stone 

Assignment 4: 

The hero's-journey reminiscent of 'A Darker Shade of Magic' by V.E. Schwab, with alternating POV narratives like 'Six of Crows' by Leigh Bardugo. 

'A Darker Shade of Magic' follows the journey of a man who becomes the target of a dark conspiracy, pairing with a fierce and reckless adventurer. Readers of this story will like the high-stakes, adventure, witty conversations, and magic of my novel. 

'Six of Crows' narrates different POVs, capturing the internal conflict and struggle of each character. My story follows the POV of three main characters, including the antagonist, allowing readers to know what motivates and troubles each character. 

 Assignment 5:  

Primary Conflict: Tristan must confront the truth of his bloodline and unravel a prophecy in order to survive. 

Secondary Conflict: Galwrin is trying to kill Tristan to win back his immortality and rescue Sira from her prison. 

Ellasmer wanted to use Tristan for her own ends to gain the Starn crown. 

Despite his efforts to stay focused on revenge, Tristan falls in love with Niressa. 

Inner Conflicts: Tristan doesn't believe he is worthy of any of it. It all feels too big for someone with such simple beginnings. 

Assignment 7: 

Tristan’s story takes place in a country called Starn, a larger part of the continent Matria. Starn is famous for its mountains and weapons, with a ragged history of conflict and stories of long-buried magic within the Earth. The kingdom is now poor and broken, torn apart by the mountain barbarians, the Torrolc, who razed the kingdom to the ground twelve years ago. Life is a brutal existence for most who live there, facing down poverty, famine, and the cruel whims of the Torrolc King. Because of this, most of people turn to stories to sate their thirst for life and what it used to be. Stories of old about magical beings who used to love humans and bestow them with gifts of power and elongated life. Of dragons who flew high and proud against the bluest of skies and men who lived within the mountains, carving tunnels deep into their depths and stashing away the treasure of a hundred kingdoms. Stories that most everyone, especially Tristan, sees as nothing but childish tales…until they start coming true.

Tristan, isolated in his small farming town in Yú Valley, knows very little of the world beyond his sight and the stories their town weavers tell. But after his family's slaughter, Tristan is forced to flee, encountering places he never dreamed of—a beautiful cottage next to the sea, ports bustling with people from distant lands, taverns packed to the gills with delicious food and exotic music.

It is within these new places that he meets people equally incomprehensible. The soft kindness of a girl named Juniper and her fiery sister, Ellasmer. The stoic and constant of Rose, their caretaker, and the quick smile of their friend Niressa. One bad decision leads to another, and soon Tristan finds himself aboard an ice ship, headed far beyond the borders of Starn across the seas to the ice-covered Ebysand Isles in search of an ancient prophecy, rumored to exist deep within their cold waters.  

[Jamie Tudor]

New York Write to Pitch – First Seven Assignments

1.      The Act of Story Statement –

a.       Find a lost and legendary magic to save his people

2.      The Antagonist–

Captain Culpepper, a disgraced former League officer turned pirate, is the story’s most direct and dangerous antagonist—ambitious, calculating, and obsessed with reclaiming the power he believes was stolen from him. He sees the discovery of Terre Magic not as a cultural artifact, but as a weapon to restore his influence and reshape the world on his terms. Ruthless and resourceful, Culpepper operates from the shadows, sending operatives like Raul to manipulate, threaten, and sabotage Teague’s progress. His personal history with the League mirrors Teague’s own inner conflict about where his loyalties lie, but where Teague seeks meaning and redemption, Culpepper pursues control and revenge.

Culpepper’s presence drives the chase, but the story’s deeper antagonistic force is ideological: the battle between those who would exploit Molloy’s magic for political gain, and those who wish to protect it. That tension is embodied in both Culpepper and Cattaneo, the Anbessan military leader who distrusts Chesher’s alliance with outsiders and seeks to preserve the island’s secrecy at all costs. Together, they represent the opposing extremes of domination and isolation—forces Teague and Chesher must navigate if they hope to do more than simply survive.

3.      Title Options –

a.       The Island of Molloy: Part 1—Marked for Travel

b.      The Edge of Magic

c.       Echoes of Magic

4.      Genre and Comps –

Fantasy/Action/Adventure/Romance. The Island of Molloy fits seamlessly into the market alongside recent breakout titles that blend atmospheric fantasy, moral complexity, and emotionally resonant character arcs. With its immersive worldbuilding, slow-burn romance, and magic tied toa dark history, culture, and control, it will appeal to readers who crave depth alongside adventure.

Comparable to Fable by Adrienne Young and To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, The Island of Molloy offers a seafaring edge, an emotionally guarded protagonist, and a hidden world with political stakes. Like The Atlas Six and A Darker Shade of Magic, it balances high-concept magical systems with themes of loyalty, identity, and the ethical cost of power. Readers drawn to The Starless Sea will recognize the layered mystery and the way the story and setting fold into one another, while fans of Sorcery of Thorns will connect with the reluctant alliance at the heart of the narrative.

With strong crossover appeal between Young Adult and Adult audiences, The Island of Molloy stands out for its introspective tone, and lyrical style. It’s ideal for readers who want fantasy that lingers—rich in tension, secrets, and slow-burning emotional stakes.

5.      Core Wound and Primary Conflict – Logline

a.       When an ex-navigator turned undercover archivist uncovers a missing girl’s journal from a forbidden island, he’s thrust into a dangerous chase for ancient magic that could save his crew, rife with tangled loyalties, and buried truths—haunted by his past and hunted by pirates, Teague must decide who he is, and who he’s willing to become, before the island consumes everything left of him.

6.      Inner/Interpersonal Conflict Summary –

The Island of Molloy is built on a tightly layered web of conflict—external, interpersonal, and internal—that drives both the plot and character development. At the story’s core is the primary conflict: Teague Dubois, a disgraced League navigator working undercover, joins a diplomatic mission to the mysterious island of Molloy in pursuit of a legendary travel magic known as Terre Magic. His goal, complicated by secrets and shifting loyalties, places him in direct opposition to multiple forces—his own government, a ruthless pirate from his past, and the islanders themselves, who seek to protect their power and sovereignty. The rediscovery of magic becomes a political flashpoint, one that threatens to upend fragile diplomatic relations and reignite old wounds.

These high stakes are intensified by interpersonal conflicts that ripple through the narrative. Teague’s growing bond with Chesher Tello, the explorer long thought lost and now embedded with the Anbessans, begins in suspicion and slowly deepens into emotional tension. Both are forced to navigate their conflicted loyalties and unspoken truths as they are drawn closer by mutual purpose and personal history. Meanwhile, Teague’s duplicity strains his relationship with his Havalan companions, Bakshi and Valverde, as trust fractures within the diplomatic party. On the island, Chesher faces opposition from Cattaneo, her Anbessan superior, who fears her alliance with outsiders may jeopardize their people’s survival. The reemergence of Captain Culpepper, a former League officer turned notorious criminal, adds external pressure, forcing Teague to reckon with a past he thought he had outrun—and an enemy willing to weaponize the island’s magic.

Beneath these political and interpersonal layers lies Teague’s most personal conflict: the battle between the man he once was, loyal to the League and the man who raised him, and the man he might still become. Longing for his old life, but forced to remain on his path of subterfuge, Teague clings to a fabricated identity and fight his own uncertainty as he is driven to reclaim purpose and worth. As his connection to Chesher and the island deepens, Teague must confront his core wound—his fear of being permanently lost, directionless, and unworthy of redemption. Choosing between duty and desire, control and trust, becomes the emotional fulcrum of his arc. In this way, The Island of Molloy builds tension not just through external danger, but through the intimate choices that shape identity, power, and belonging.

7.      Setting –

The setting of The Island of Molloy is central to the novel’s atmosphere, conflict, and narrative momentum. Officially abandoned, Molloy is a place the outside world has written off as uninhabitable—once used as a dumping ground for dangerous fauna and now dismissed as a ghost island. But this surface-level mythology conceals a thriving, secretive civilization and a layered geography shaped by misinformation, history, and magic. The terrain itself is a character: dense jungle, hidden valleys, treacherous coastlines, and overgrown ruins create an environment that is as disorienting as it is beautiful. Much of Molloy’s power lies in what it withholds—its camouflaged communities, false maps, and its manipulation of distance and perception through Terre Magic, a transport-based magic controlled by the Anbessan people. The magic is not only a tool but a cultural safeguard—used to protect Molloy from discovery, and to resist the colonizing forces that would exploit its secrets.

The island’s political structure reinforces this tension: a shadow government keeps its own people in line through magic-bound oaths and power plays, complicating the protagonist’s efforts to determine who can be trusted. Molloy is more than a hidden world—it’s a contested one, with its own stakes, loyalties, and history of suppression. As Teague and his companions move through this landscape, they are forced to confront the blurred lines between exploration and intrusion, diplomacy and exploitation.

While Molloy serves as the novel’s emotional and narrative core—a hidden island cloaked in mystery, forgotten history, and tightly guarded magic—other settings expand the political and cultural scope.. The story deliberately introduces readers to the wider world of Vemados, using the journey itself to expand scope and tension. Teague’s diplomatic mission departs from Havalivala’s capital, Kasoji—a city desperately trying to modernize, seat to the government, and a burgeoning military force—and passes through Brahma, a bustling coastal city shaped by trade, culture, and political rumor. Their travels continue into the border nation of Tiebout, the inland metropolis of Sabazan, and the small maritime power of Baldassare, all members of the Kysh Alliance. Each of these locations offers distinct political climates and social dynamics, anchoring the novel’s themes of secrecy, erasure, and contested history in tangible environments.

These settings aren’t simply worldbuilding—they’re plot-driving forces. Each place introduces new cultural rules, unseen threats, and interpersonal challenges that shape Teague’s mission and personal arc. The novel uses movement across these landscapes not just to add texture, but to build tension and purpose. Together, they form a living world that reflects the novel’s core questions: Who gets to write history? Who controls the truth? And what does it cost to uncover what was meant to stay buried?

[Julie Summers Walker]

1.      Act of story statement

Sylvie March is a food writer who often neglects her feelings and relationships. When her best friend actress Sugar Mark drowns in front of her, Sylvie must face her complicity in allowing her friend to die. When she is accused of Sugar’s death—is it murder?—an old flame reappears to defend her. Did he love her or only Sugar?

 

2.      Antagonist

Sugar Mark has been Sylvie March’s best friend for decades, but she always gets more attention. Is Sylvie finally tired of being second?  

 

3.      Title

Mostly True

                Recipe for Murder

Watching Her Drown

 

4.      Genre: Women’s Fiction/Chick Lit/Beach Read

Paging Aphrodite by Kim Green

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

 

5.      Hook line

As she watches her famous best friend drown in her swimming pool and hesitates to act, a food writer must discover her true feelings for the friend she thought she loved.

 

6.      Inner conflict/Secondary conflict

Sylvie March always hesitates, putting others first and stepping away from the spotlight. She hides behind her writing, letting others—especially her best friend, an actress—get the attention. Is she finally tired of coming in second?

Accused of murder, Sylvie March faces a long lost love and questions her true feelings.

7.      Setting

“East Coast girls are hip…” sang the Beach Boys and Sylvie and Sugar have lived from Boston to Cape Cod, Virginia to D.C., and enjoyed the best of their East Coast experiences—from beach to city and the mountains of the Blue Ridge to the cobbled streets of Boston. Oh, and time in London, too.

Algonquin Novel Development.docx

[Michael Chorost]

Michael Chorost

1. Story Statement

Short version:

Jonah Loeb, a deaf and underestimated grad student in entomology, must learn an alien language in order to negotiate peace with a sapient, and angry, ant colony menacing Washington DC.

Longer version:

Jonah Loeb, a deaf and underestimated grad student in entomology, has to negotiate peace with a sapient, and angry, ant colony that is menacing Washington DC. Its primary weapon is an electromagnetic field that makes humans go psychotic. Jonah’s deafness somehow protects him—so it is he and his small team (a linguist, a neuroscientist, and a physicist) who must go to the planet Formicaris to learn the ant colony’s language. When the neuroscientist begins sabotaging their efforts, Jonah must figure out how to lead his divided team to master, together, an extraordinarily alien way of thinking and speaking. 

2. The Antagonist

Calvin Armitage is a brilliant grad student in neuroscience, but he is also a ruthless user who believes that he can directly perceive the existence of God. His encounter with the psychosis field makes him believe that the hives of Formcaris are evil, and cannot be trusted to negotiate peaceful coexistence. He secretly begins sabotaging the data that the team’s linguist is using to crack the language, in order to derail even the possibility of negotiation. At the same time, he wants to use the data to advance his own career. Thus he publicly helps the team while privately sabotaging it. Jonah cannot simply replace Calvin; without his formidable intelligence, the team will certainly fail. Jonah is intimidated by Calvin’s arrogance and prowess, but with encouragement from the team’s linguist and from an alien robot, he grows into a confident leader. In the final confrontation with Calvin, Jonah must draw on skills honed by a lifetime of deafness.

3.  Title

Genre: Science fiction

Potential titles: HOW TO TALK TO ALIENS; THE HIVE THAT SHOOK HER HAND; and INTENTIONALITY FIELD. I am not satisfied with any of these.

4. Comps

Ted Chiang's novella STORY OF YOUR LIFE; China Miéville's EMBASSYTOWN; R.F. Kuang’s BABEL. All of these novels focus on problems of translation and communication.

5. Core Wound and Primary Conflict

A deaf graduate student in entomology struggling for respect and inclusion finds himself, and his small team, thrust into learning an alien language so that they can persuade a sapient, and angry, insect colony to coexist peacefully with humanity. Jonah must overcome his lifelong marginalization in order to successfully lead fellow scientists who are more accomplished than he is.

6. Protagonist’s inner conflict

Jonah is attracted to, but ambivalent about, Daphne, the team’s linguist, because she—like him—has a prosthetic body part. (He has a cochlear implant, she has a prosthetic arm.) He cannot make up his mind whether he is attracted to her. This stems from his own doubts about himself: is he worthy of respect and inclusion—that is, is he whole? He unwittingly projects this insecurity onto her. This dynamic is important to the story because he will only be able to defeat the hives’ primary weapon, the psychosis field, when he is able to see both Daphne and himself as whole. 

Protagonist’s secondary conflict involving social environment: scenario

When Jonah and Daphne are in the psychosis field, they can only see each other as machines. Jonah perceives Daphne as ugly because of her prosthetic arm, and scornfully tells her so. She reacts with fury, and later—when the threat is past—treats him with cool remoteness because she is deeply hurt. When Jonah tries, awkwardly, to apologize by saying that she is attractive despite her arm, she sets him straight by telling him that he is attractive because of his deafness. The reason is that he has intelligence and insight despite having struggled to hear early in life—he’s had to learn to be tenacious and resourceful. This sets the stage for Jonah’s later realization that Daphne, too, is beautiful because of, not despite, her prosthetics.

7. The Setting

The novel is set in present-day Washington, D.C. and on the hives’ planet, Formicaris.

On Earth, key scenes happen in graduate student lounges and scientific labs. The lounges’ grubbiness underscores the low social position of graduate students. On the other hand, they showcase intellectual ambition, with stacks of professional journals and conference posters on the walls. These posters play a crucial role in Jonah’s first encounter with Daphne. When he asks her to explain one of her posters, he realizes that she would be a good fit for the mission to Formicaris.

The labs are filled with astoundingly sophisticated equipment, but they show the human side of science as well: they are workplaces, with post-it notes of tech support phone numbers and magnetic poetry on the refrigerators griping about failed experiments.

On Formicaris, the team encounters a civilization totally unlike Earth’s. They are shocked by the planet’s high gravity and cacophonous sounds. Initially, they completely fail to understand what they see: enormous polyhedra stacked like toy blocks, hollow spheres zipping about, and dog-sized “elephants” plodding the ground while carrying tools. Vast networks of pipes and plants run through the spaces between the polyhedra. Only gradually do the team members realize that the polyhedra are hives contained in metal shells; the spheres are groups of flying insects that function as their “ears” and “eyes”; and the “little elephants” are their hands. They gradually discover how the hives communicate, and one of the hives—a relatively small one in a misshapen shell—reaches out to the team and eagerly begins teaching them the civilization’s language. It has a disability in that it thinks too fast to communicate easily with its fellow hives, but this makes it uniquely suited for communicating with humans.