Pitching an Agent, Editing, and Writing Non-White and Non-Cis Characters

Tomorrow, April 29th, I have my first ever pitch to an agent at the Seattle Writing Workshop. As a member of Emerald City Romance Writers, I attend our monthly meetings and read newsletters, and it’s how I am able to learn more about the process of publishing a romance novel, as well as making connections within that world, and finding out about events to aid writers like tomorrow’s Workshop. This group is an invaluable resource to me. Through several of the meetings, I’ve learned more about the editing stages.

I finished writing my novel back in November of 2022, two full years after starting it for 2020’s NaNoWriMo. I felt so relieved when I finished, a cathartic release. I birthed an idea into being. Being overly confident in my writing ability, I thought it was already nearly ready for sending off to an agent for publication. Boy was I wrong! There are many stages to the editing process of a novel:

1. Editing it with a critique partner (fellow writer who takes a broad view of story to make sure it’s cohesive and makes sense)

2. Editing it myself to the best of my ability using tools I learned at ECRW meetings, such as the MICE quotient taught by guest speaker Mary Robinette Kowal (stage I’m currently at)

3. Sending it off to Beta readers (people who read my genre for fun, not other writers)

4. Sending it off to professional editors and working with one who best understands what I’m trying to achieve

5. Editing with a line editor (someone who makes sure grammar, spelling, and punctuation are in order)

6. Pitching to agent

As you can see, I’m in stage 2, and my event tomorrow is stage 6. Suffice it to say, I am nervous as all get-out. I’m going to give my very best pitch possible as though my novel is already in its final stages. Today I am finishing reverse outlining my plot points using the MICE quotient so I can have a broader view of my story in order to succinctly pitch it under 90 seconds.

One key component I want to hit on during my pitch is the accessibility of my novel. I wanted to write a historical fiction that honored the real experiences of non-white and non-heteronormative people who lived in the Orkney Islands during the 1920’s, the setting and era of my novel. Bridgerton is so much fun! I love watching it on Netflix. Their colorblind casting makes for some wonderful and dynamic performances, and I love the color palette of the show’s creative design. As a historian, however, I want to see not a fantastical retelling of history, but a genuine portrayal of people’s lived experiences…with romance. I highly recommend the movie Belle as a historical romantic adaptation of a real Black aristocratic woman during the 18th century.

My genre is “Agatha Christie with Sex.” So I wanted to make sure I represented real experiences in my fictional characters.

Meet Eloise Baines. Age 26, orphan, self-sufficient and intelligent. Resourceful. Ambitious. In love. 1/4 Cree, and 3/4 Orcadian.

Beginning in late 18th century, Hudson Bay Company fur traders comprised primarily of men from the Orkney Islands. These men often married and had children with First Nations women, primarily residing in Canada, but sometimes these wives and children would be sent back to the Orkneys to live and work. I imagine Eloise to look like this woman. I looked for photos of any wives or children in the Orkneys, but nothing was readily available, and I will have to do more digging to find if any records remain of individuals whose stories deserve to be told.

Meet Alan Alexander. Also age 26, shell-shock from WWI, became a vicar after the war. In love. 1/2 Barbadian, 1/2 English.

Alan’s story, while different than Walter Tull’s, shares a lot of similarities. Walter Tull was a professional soccer player and WWI hero born in Birmingham, UK of Afro-Carribean and English parentage. Where Second Lieutenant Tull died in France during the war, Alan’s story continues to find love and peace after the war.

Meet Sarah Daniels. Age 37, Medical Examiner, protagonist’s best friend, in love. Male presenting, female pronouns.

While in appearance, Sarah more resembles Victor Barker, her story is more similar to a combination of Nesta Wells, who was the first female police surgeon in 1927, and Mark Weston who had reassignment in 1936, happily married his wife also in 1936, and they lived happily ever after having 3 children together. Sarah likewise is set to find love and happiness in my novel, when she’s not performing autopsies!

There are 10 characters in total in my novel, with my protagonists’s (Quinnie Greene and Fred Spence) story being that of falling in love AND solving a murder. Whose murder it is, and who committed it, you will have to wait to see if the agent accepts my pitch. Wish me luck tomorrow!!