Never Write Alone

Most of my “writing tribe” has come to me through the Pitch Wars mentoring program, so I thought for this post I’d give shout-outs to three badass ladies I met through Pitch Wars. I cannot imagine my writing life without them!

Hannah Whitten

Hannah was a fellow 2017 Pitch Wars mentee; we first bonded over our shared obsession with Adam Driver. One of the best things about the writing community is getting to be friends with people you’re also fans of, and I am a HUGE fan of Hannah’s work. I’ve read her book For The Wolf like four times now, and honestly I want to quit writing this post and go pick it up again right this minute. Also she’s the best alpha reader / cheerleader a girl could ask for, and she makes the most epic aesthetics.

Wendy Heard

I can barely remember a time before my friendship with my dark soul sister Wendy. We officially met when we were both Pitch Wars mentors last year, and our wish lists had some similarities. (Okay, they were similar to the point of freakishness… as are our grown-up goth girl wardrobes.) Since then we’ve become critique partners, started a podcast together (with yet another badass Pitch Wars lady, Kristen Lepionka!), and exchanged countless brutal DMs about stupid men on the Internet. Love you, bitch.

Halley Sutton

Halley was my mentee in last year’s Pitch Wars. Now she’s my agent sister, and her writing career is on FIRE (trust me, this pre-empt deal for her debut is just the beginning). We may have started out as mentor and mentee, but now we’re colleagues and friends, continuing to inspire each other in a magical feedback loop of shine theory. I’m thankful every day that Halley and her incredible feminist noir The Lady Upstairs landed in my Pitch Wars inbox! (And that no other mentors tried to fight me for it because I WOULD HAVE DESTROYED THEM)

Finding your tribe is so important as a writer. This is a job you cannot do alone, even if you’re a massively antisocial introvert like me. Other writers will make you better and keep you sane—and you’ll do the same for them!

Author: Layne Fargo

Layne Fargo is a thriller author with a background in theater and library science. She’s a Pitch Wars mentor, a member of the Chicagoland chapter of Sisters in Crime, and the cocreator of the podcast Unlikeable Female Characters. Layne lives in Chicago with her partner and their pets.

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