SLUSH PILE CHALLENGE October 2018 Winner Ross Harrington


Ross Harrington

Ross Harrington, winner of the October 2018 Slush Pile Challenge, tells us why he entered the competition and about his experience of discussing his submission with Hannah Sheppard,  Director and Agent at D H H Literary Agency.


Ross won this challenge by demonstrating he was able to write an elevator pitch, by introducing the problem and what's at stake … and making Hannah Sheppard care AND submitting the first 750 words of his completed manuscript.

Hannah chose Ross' pitch: 'After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke, DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must journey to battle for her life against Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.' 

Hannah thought the pitch for The Girl of Fire and Fear was "clear and concise and pulled us right into the story. We knew what the inciting incident was and what’s at stake if DC failed – although she’d work on ‘must journey to battle…’ as Hannah thought that could be clearer. The writing sample was lively and there was an immediate sense that there’s something unusual about DC which was great to see."



Ross:


If you’re thinking about entering a writing competition, do it! It can be unnerving and daunting for a host of different reasons. I myself have massive amounts of self-doubt, which I believe was spawned many years ago… 


When I was at primary school, dyslexia was unfortunately unheard of.  If it had been, maybe my teacher wouldn’t have told me that I could never be a writer. I guess she also did not imagine the invention of laptops, where someone with my handwriting and spelling ability could in fact, albeit slowly, write a novel. Her comment nevertheless stunted my writing significantly. 


I did still write (secretly). I would get through notebook after notebook with ideas, characters and stories, then rip the pages out and destroy them, anxious that anyone other than me would see how bad my writing was. 


As the years dragged, dyslexia was becoming more acknowledged, but still very much misunderstood, especially amongst children. I did everything I could to avoid being ‘diagnosed’ with this spreading ‘disease’. 
At the age of 11, I managed to pass - or fail - a dyslexia test, thanks mainly to the underdevelopment of the test at that time, and my exceptional ability to construct patterns from odd-shaped blocks. So that was that, I could go through the rest of my school years not branded with this dyslexia thing (what a silly boy I was).


Almost ten years later, I needed to write a dissertation for my degree, with a lure of a free laptop, and with dyslexia now being socially excepted and understood, I went for another dyslexia test, which was far more advanced and in-depth to the one I’d taken previously. The result? I am extremely dyslexic, which I was not surprised to hear. I received my laptop, and writing instantly became more achievable. Pages full of red squiggles could be changed with a click. 


A sliver of a thought leaked into my mind. Maybe I could write a novel. Ha. Too late for that!

Twenty years later, and with fresh motivation – a daughter, I finally dared to try and write a novel. I would write her something she could cherish forever. 


This, of course, meant that someone other than me would be reading my writing. Gulp. So I sought out a writing course, this lead me to the foundation's course with the GoldenEgg Academy, and that lead me to the Slush Pile Challenge. 


One of the many great aspects of the writing community is that we like to help each other out. So when Fraer Stevenson a great writer of Gnomes posted a link on our writing group. I clicked and entered. I instantly put it to the back of my mind. After entering a competition, I like to forget about it; it avoids disappointment. It also can cause confusion if you win. I was surprised and even suspicious when I received an email saying congratulations. I often receive emails saying congratulations, however, they usually are from bogus accounts trying to swindle me out of money. You’ve won a new iPad, you’ve won compensation for your accident, and so on. However, this was not a con-person trying to find out my particulars so they could clone me for identity fraud; this was real! I had won! (joint won). I hit the link. I read the feedback. Wow, I tingled all over. My smile began to hurt. Someone in the industry liked my idea! My writing (well, at least 750 words of it) had something that appealed to an agent. The amount of times I’d thought to myself, maybe this idea is just not good enough. Maybe the way I write is no one's cup of tea. I surged with belief. At least I’m on the right track, I thought. So this is the thing, if I had not entered the Slush Pile Challenge, those thoughts would still stifle me. 


The Meeting


Firstly, how do you prepare for a meeting with a literally agent? Obviously, you should go prepared, but prepare what? I wrote down a few questions about the pitch. I wrote down a few questions about the synopsis. And my mind was blank. So using the feedback that Hannah Sheppard had given online I edited the pitch five times and took all five of them along with me. Below you can read my edits.

1. After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke. DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must journey to battle for her life against Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.

2. After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke. DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must fight her way to a familiar new world to battle for her life against Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.

3. After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke. DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must face a world she only knows from her father’s tales and battle for her life against Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.

4. After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke. DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must control what she fears most to defeat Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.

5. After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke. DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must face, fear, grief, lies, and betrayal in the fight for her life against Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.

6. After witnessing her friend being throttled to death by smoke. DC, a young girl with a tormenting power concealed inside her, must conquer unearthly bullies, escape a malevolent wood-pixie, decipher her old fairy tales and defeat Lord Smoke who will stop at nothing to get his power back.


Hannah suggested that number 2, would make a great elevator pitch and that number 4, could be expanded to make a blurb. 


We then discussed various aspects like writer’s voice, the current book market and social media. I asked about the dreaded synopsis and Hannah suggested writing one focusing on the internal journey, which I since have and it is stronger for it. I found Hannah very easy to open up to about my writing weaknesses, and that although my manuscript was complete that I still had reservations about the main character’s fatal flaw and inner journey. I left the meeting feeling more confident and optimistic about the incredibly complex journey to publication.  


Thank you massively to everyone involved in the Slush Pile Challenge and to Hannah Sheppard of D H H Literary.

Feature photo: Ross Harrington



The Words & Pictures team wish Ross all the best with polishing his manuscript. A special thanks to Hannah Sheppard, Director and Agent at D H H Literary Agency for setting the competition, judging it and providing such valuable feedback to Ross.



Elaine Cline has been a SCBWI member for over six years and loves to write picture books, middle-grade and teen books. She lives by the sea and has two soft and silly cats. Elaine is a member of the Words & Pictures team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.


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