Elisabeth Funk

OVERVIEW
I remember starting out in the writing world and thinking: this community is ENORMOUS and I’ll never find my place. I looked at my sprawling manuscript and felt despondent and directionless. I wanted someone who’d been there, done that, seen that to look at my book and say, “Have you considered…?” And then I found Author Mentor Match! I found what I was looking for: advice, guidance, and an amazing community. For the first time, I knew what to do with my book. It worked: Once I started querying, I found an agent quickly. You deserve that too. I love looking at a manuscript and figuring out how to fix the problems — and swooning over everything I love. I love lush, atmospheric prose. There’s a thin line between that and purple prose, and I challenge anyone to find it, but I’ll be looking for a mentee that’s more descriptive than sparse. Note: that doesn’t mean I’ll love books with pages and pages of description. No George R. R. Martin-ing here. I’m looking for a writer that brilliantly balances prose and short, snappy action. I’m a fantasy person through-and-through, but I also love a strong sci-fi, especially if it integrates fantastical elements. I love a good historical fantasy but please note I’m generally not interested in straight historical. And I’m not your person for contemporary — sorry. I wouldn’t even know where to start. But while I adore strong and unique worldbuilding — no princes and castles for me, please (probably. You can still try me, especially if it’s an #ownvoices take that’s outside traditional Western European tropes!!) — characters reign supreme. Give me your conflicted main characters, your brooding love interests, your brooding main characters, your conflicted love interests. If you’ve got a tense enemies-to-lovers romance SEND IT TO ME NOW PLEASE.

• Fantasy
• Sci-Fi
• Historical
• Magical Realism/Fabulism
• #ownvoices
• LGBTQIA

I read widely among fantasy and science fiction, but I particularly adore fantasies with unique magic systems (a la EVERLESS, JADE CITY, SIX OF CROWS). I do love a good romance (seriously, please, enemies-to-lovers!!!) but it’s not essential to a great book. I am also not opposed to love triangles. But any book where the romance is the meat of the story won’t be for me. For science fiction, I particularly adored THIS MORTAL COIL and THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET. If you can merge magic + space travel like Star Wars or A BIG SHIP AT THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE I would love that. If you can play with the concepts of god, angels, demons and multiverses like Laini Taylor, gimmeeeeee. I am not the best mentor for any stories about assassins, secret princesses, or damsels in distress. I am not interested in tyrannical governments or dystopians, but if you have post-apocalyptic fiction that is decidedly NOT dystopian a la a YA STATION ELEVEN, consider sending it my way. I do like portal fantasies, if they are well done and not just “here, I have shoved a normal fantasy book into a ~real world~ framework.” I don’t really like gratuitous violence and if your book can be best described as “creepy” it is probably not for me.

I WILL PROVIDE:

• Edit Letter (Big Picture developmental feedback)
• Line edit (dropping notes into a Word Document)

WORKING STYLE
I want you to feel inspired by my edit letter, not devastated. Expect thoughtful questions that can help you determine how YOU want to fix something — and not demands or harsh criticisms. I also like leaving notes directly in a Word doc for you to parse individually. Once you have your initial feedback, I’ll be available for as much or as little processing as you need. Want to work through a tricky scene? I’ll plot it out with you. I know how important a sounding board for your ideas can be.

IDEAL MENTEE
Someone excited about revision and ready to dive into the process. But also, someone who has worked through at least a revision or two on their own, too. I want your knowledge of the book to be deeper than a first draft. If you’re ready to accept some hard feedback — and then rally and fix it (with lots of help and encouragement!) — we’ll work well together.

SEND ME:

• Lush writing! With magic!
• Historical fantasy from any time, any place.
• Not-so-nice protagonists we can’t help but love.
• That perfect combination of atmosphere and fun.
• Twisty twists that will shock me.
• Romance. All the romance. As long as romance isn’t the primary plot.
• If someone has written a story from the POV of Mary, Queen of Scots’s handmaidens (a la Reign) and there is magic, I want it.
• Some variant of superheroes.
• ENEMIES TO LOVERS.
• Witty characters. Witty ensemble casts? Even better.
• Anxiety/OCD rep subplots/themes, although I don’t want any books focused on that exclusively.

DO NOT SEND ME:

• I’m not your mentor for fae. Unless if they’re part of a broad spread of various magical creatures. But straight fae aren’t for me.
• No pet death.
• Not Like Other Girls = no thanks!
• Not a big fan of court intrigue.
• I’m not your mentor for creepy monster books.
• No horror please. Limited body horror. Limited gruesome scenes.

FAVES
Books I’ve recently loved:

• THE WICKED KING
• TESS OF THE ROAD
• GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE
• THE GILDED WOLVES
• FURYBORN
• CIRCE
• STRANGE THE DREAMER

I’m extremely into Marvel and all things superheroes. Reylo stan.