September 2018: the experience of winning Pitch Perfect at Bloody Scotland 2018

This blog post archives a Twitter thread by D. V. Bishop about his experience of winning the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival held at Stirling in September 2018…

Back from @BloodyScotland 2018 where I was one of eight finalists chosen from 60+ entries for Pitch Perfect. Each of us had three minutes on stage to pitch a crime fiction project to an audience - plus a panel of publishing industry people. Then the panel gives feedback.

D. V. Bishop sitting with the other Pitch Perfect speakers at Bloody Scotland 2018 • photo by Paul Reich

Following strong pitches by @DrForestIssac & @WhartonEileen I was third on deck. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Don't gabble. Leave room for listeners to absorb the info. Don't get distracted by a latecomer who decides to cross the hall, kicking what seems like every chair en route.

Focus. Breathe. Punch the key words and phrases. Make eye contact. Mostly it's all from memory, but a print version is a useful crutch to avoid panic/babble. Breathe. Pause before final line. Return to chair, don't trip over, explode or melt. Phew. Now for the feedback.

Feedback is an utter blur, can only recall two comments: don't put a comparison near top of my pitch [contradicting advice I've heard previously, but mileage does vary]; don't burden the book with historical detail at detriment of characterisation or plot progression [true].

Fortunately, I recorded whole session to listen back later as I wanted to review my pitch performance and capture the feedback. Once the whole panel had spoken, on to the other pitches - @PinkPalinka, @AnnaPietrzkiew1, @lockedinatardis, @mayrinaldi56 & @DanielCulver11 ...

So many cracking stories, so many strong pitches - last pitcher @DanielCulver11 has audience eating out of his hand, great presence and a very marketable USP for his book - certain Daniel had won, I relax as the panel retires to consider their verdict. I have not shamed myself.

The 2016 @BloodyScotland Pitch Perfect winner @AlisonBelsham takes the stage to talk about her journey in past two years - her amazing debut #TheTattooThief has just been published. The panel returns, with a result. I prepare to applaud the winner, turn voice recorder back on...

[A pause to explain something: When entering the #PitchPerfect contest, I borrowed my grandfather's name - C. O. Vollmer - as a pseudonym, a pen-name. I knew some of the Bloody Scotland festival organisers, and didn’t want that to have any influence or whether I was chosen to speak at the contest…]

Panel chair @agentjenny gives some general comments about the high standard, then announces the winner's name. And it's me - or, more accurately, my pseudonym. It seems I have won #PitchPerfect @BloodyScotland 2018. I was utterly gobsmacked. And pleased. But mostly gobsmacked.

Once I manage to stop grinning I'll listen back to my pitch, hear where the stumbles were and what needs improving. I'll sift the feedback for sage advice on the project. Tomorrow, it's back to writing. I've got another 20k to complete my first draft. Target completion: 31.12.18

Then it's time to get some feedback while I critically self-reflect on the first draft's strengths and weakness. I've been editing as I go along, about every 10k, so at a surface level it's quite tidy. But there's plenty of smooth out, enhance, and revise. Then it's query time.

My most optimistic target is sending the book out by the end of March 2019, but June might be more realistic, depending on how much work the next draft needs. If there are major issues, that could slip to August/September 2019 - or later. Never rush to query, be sure it's ready.

So there's a long journey still to come but winning @BloodyScotland #PitchPerfect 2018 is a lovely boost of encouragement to keep going through the long, dark teatimes of the writing soul that lurk ahead.

D. V. Bishop taking paqrt in the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland 2018 • photo by Paul Reich