This will be my first time ever participating in Pitch Wars and the manuscript I'll be submitting is a YA Contemporary with a speculative twist titled HOW TO SAVE A LIFE.
For seventeen-year-old elite snowboarder Ina Nilsen, some things are just a given—the anti-anxiety medication on her nightstand, the many weird and wonderful moods of her best friend Amy Detweiler, the hopes of one day having as many Olympic titles as her beloved Norwegian father, and the fact that school shootings are something you only hear about on the five o'clock news.
But when the "five o'clock news" hits home in her small Pennsylvania town and the things she loves most are taken from her, Ina discovers that nothing in life is ever actually a given. Paralyzed from the waist down and unable to attend the Snowboarding World Cup or her own best friend's funeral, Ina sinks into a depression broken only by a strange phenomenon that allows her to communicate with the now deceased Amy.
When Amy offers Ina a deal—go back twenty-four days before the shooting and try to stop it from happening again—Ina naively accepts, going headstrong into a painful past with the idea that she's saving Amy's life and taking back her Olympic dreams. But Ina soon realizes she's gotten herself into something much deeper when Amy reminds her that the most important victim is the one who took everything from her in the first place—seventeen-year-old Lucas Kemp.
Complete at 86k words, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE is a speculative contemporary that explores how our lives affect others, with a strong focus on forgiveness, friendship, and taking responsibility for the differences—good or bad—our choices can make in other's lives. For fans of Jennifer Brown's THE HATE LIST and those who enjoy speculative elements such as those found in Lauren Oliver's BEFORE I FALL and Gayle Forman's IF I STAY.
FEATURING:
1. Undying friendship.
2. Biracial MC (South Asian/Scandinavian)
3. The creation of wounds, both emotional and physical.
4. Many Norwegian words (and several Italian ones too).
5. On and off-trail Snowboarding.
6. Anxiety Disorders.
7. An inseparable father/daughter duo.
8. Longboarding down abandoned roads (with said father).
9. Family secrets and the problems they foster.
10. Much discussion of physics projects.
11. Chuck Norris jokes!!
12. Awkward conversations.
13. The healing of wounds, both emotional and physical.
14. Many mistakes.
15. Many apologies.
16. Unexpected friendships.
17. And an even more unexpected romance.
If you want to see more, find the link to the Pinterest board I created for this project HERE.
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE is my second completed manuscript, and the first in its genre for me. My writing life began in the fantasy world and then spilled itself over into almost every other genres.
NOW THAT YOU'VE MET MY BOOK...
A little about me. In case you've already forgotten (an easy thing to do when you're staring down your screen at 100+ potential mentees) I'm Kay! My interest in Norwegian culture started when I was just a child and a Norwegian woman spent several months in our home . I've traveled to Norway three times since, and have been slowly learning the language for a couple of years now (Jeg snakker lit Norske!). Anxiety has also been in my family for several generations, and so it's a very personal issue for me.
I first started taking writing seriously about seven years ago, when I began uploading my work on the now deceased HarperCollin's website inkpop.com. I made the top five three times (twice for two different drafts of my first completed novel, and once for a WIP that is yet to be finished) and received incredible and helpful editorial reviews. Over the years, through various writing websites and critique partners, I've learned to LOVE the burn of constructive criticism. No pain, no gain! I'm so proud of my latest manuscript, but also ready to give it some much needed tough love. I've come to treat writing as a job, and will always invest the necessary time to take my work to the next level.
Some of my writer idols include Maggie Stiefvater, Elizabeth Wein, Lani Taylor, Melina Marchetta, Erin Morgenstern, J. K. Rowling, and Gayle Forman.
I can be found on twitter @KayLMcCray. So looking forward to potentially working together with one of you fabulous #PitchWars mentors. Thank you to Brenda Drake and everyone else behind the scenes for this incredible opportunity.
Ta Ta for now,
To check out more Pitch War hopeful's blogs, click HERE.