Amy H. Hawes has pitched two different Adult Thrillers each at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference. She previously shared her lessons learned from one year to the next. Take note of how her pitches evolved from year to year.
Pitch for BRAINSTORM, as given at the 2014 Writer’s Digest Annual Conference.
Nick Sperry investigates the disappearance of Sidney Ryder. His girlfriend, Melissa, brought the child to Sunshine Children’s Home eight years earlier. Nick isn’t fooled when the federal orphanage claims to have no record of her son. As an ex-CIA agent, Nick fully understands what the US government is capable of. Fueled by his suspicion, he teases out two disturbing facts from Sunshine’s encrypted records: Sidney isn’t the only lost orphan. Moreover, an unidentified man who claimed to be their uncle took the children at a very young age. This mysterious “uncle” presumably still has them in his dubious care.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jack Kerwin begins to work with Tabula Rasa, a highly effective think-tank based out of the Center for Interactive Research and Solutions, or CIRAS. Under the direction of Tabula Rasa, Jack’s research could save the lives of countless innocents. But his enthusiasm recedes when he discovers strange things lurking behind the center’s shiny walls. Jack is forced to decide if the good of the many indeed outweighs the good of the few.
Their pursuit for answers drags Nick, Jack, and Melissa into a dance with peril. If they can’t anticipate the steps of their foes, an important secret may slip back into silence. But for those suffering from a terrible disease, that muteness could herald a harbinger of life.
Pitch for EMBER, as given at the 2015 Writer’s Digest Annual Conference.
Harrison can’t remember his first day of school. In fact, he can’t remember his first anything. Not since he was thirty years old. He’s thirty-five now and none of his earlier memories made their way off the mountain in Vermont where the Doctor first came across his inert body.
Ember is a mainstream supernatural thriller of 87,000 words in which a highly talented man rebuilds his life from the ground up with the help of a retired doctor. The story’s foundation is cemented in the present but a rapid turn of events propels it into an unknown future and an undiscovered past.
In his current life, Harrison is content as a Providence firefighter and up and coming artist. His sense of satisfaction flees when distressing images begin to appear in the flames he combats. He believes the pictures represent his resurfacing memories. They portray him as an integral member of an international plot, which threatens the current alignment of world power. If the conspiracy succeeds a peaceful future on Earth will be impossible. Harrison fears he is the only one who can stop the destruction.
As he struggles to uncover his past, the cloudy details rise like oil on water. Harrison does his best to engineer a path through the murky terrain. The journey leads him to the discovery of unusual abilities. These emergent traits illuminate a startling truth–this world may not be the only one he has to save.
More on Amy M. Hawes
The ability to tell stories is one of humanity’s best gifts to itself. There is nothing like traveling to another world without having to get up from your comfortable chair. That’s probably why I like reading and writing so much! As I think back, I’ve been doing both my whole life.
As I child, I journaled, wrote poems, and created quite a number of works of questionable quality. As an Art History major, I wrote a paper comparing Goya’s artistic style to that of contemporary rap artists and another highlighting the relationship between Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity and the birth of Non-objective art. As a men’s specialist at J.Crew, I published several articles in their company newsletter including: Why Orange Pants Go on Sale and Tall AND Skinny Men DO Shop at J.Crew. Then I worked at my husband’s biotech company, and assisted with various scientific publications.
Now, I write novels, blogs, and the occasional poem. Seems like I just can’t stop myself . . . there are too many stories that want to be told and they know I’m an easy sell.
You can find Amy at her website www.amymhawes.com
novel pitch 