Pitch Wars 2018 #BoostMyBio

About Me

My name is Meagan. I have always wanted to be a writer but for a long time I let life get in the way of my dream. In high school I published a few short stories and book reviews and I wanted to pursue a career in journalism but through a series of accidents became a scholar instead! I finally completed my first novel after spending eight years at university. I have a BA in Classical Studies and Classical Languages and a MA in Classical Studies. Knowing Ancient Greek and Latin isn’t all that useful in the real world so I am putting my knowledge to use by writing YA adaptations of Greek mythology. Someday I hope to write contemporary novels about my adventures as a Classicist: attending a week long conference speaking exclusively in Latin, living with archeologists in Rome, and delivering a paper on Greek Tragedy at a conference in Oxford. 

Favourite authors: Tamora Pierce, Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, Lloyd Alexander, Madeline Miller, Sarah J. Maas, Jay Kristoff 

My Manuscript

Riddles of the Sphinx

YA Historical Fantasy 

A family at war with itself. Will she be the only survivor? 

The Pitch

After a prophecy that has come to fulfilment changes her family forever, Ismene is desperate to keep the family she still has together. She tries to take fate into her own hands by using her visions to stop the war between her brothers, willing to destroy herself before they destroy each other. 

Inspiration

After I finished my MA in Classical Studies I found myself a little lost. When I entered graduate school I had visions of pursuing a PhD but realized that it might not be for me. After convocation I was without a job for months. During those months I rekindled my love of reading, something I had trouble making time for during grad school. While I was reading book after book I discovered that I wanted to write one, not just read them! 

I was really inspired after reading Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles, the well known story of the Trojan War but told through the eyes of gentle Patroclus. I was inspired to try to adapt Greek myths, finally putting my Classics degrees to use outside of academia. Like Miller, I decided to retell a well known story through the eyes of a secondary character. I chose to write the story of the Theban Saga through the eyes of the ‘forgotton’ sister Ismene. 

Comp Titles

Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles and Circe, Sophocles’ Theban Plays, Statius’ Thebaid, Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes  

Research 

One thing I have struggled with as I was writing was trying to lend some historical truth to a mythical story, and it was made even harder by the fact the most well known versions of the story (the ones I looked to for inspiration) were written during the Classical period and during the Latin Silver Age of Literature, so the conventions and roles of these periods really coloured the texts. In Oedipus at Colonus Sophocles really stresses how the sisters are unlike women of the Classical period in Athens, that they are active rather than passive figures. I tried to reflect this by talking about women’s roles but I worry my discussion of this clashes with the fact that story is set in the Bronze Age Boeotia and it is difficult to reconstruct social roles since the majority of evidence left from that period is archeological. To remedy my lack of knowledge about Boeotia I have been in touch with the director of the excavation going on at Thebes and she has graciously agreed to help me with my research. I have also been in touch with Madeline Miller and she has given me invaluable advice as a classicist and a writer. 

Why Pitch Wars?

I have done so much work on my manuscript so far but I realize that writing is not a solitary pursuit. I have reached out to friends, family and even strangers, finding critique partners and beta readers and incorporating their feedback to make my manuscript a better version of itself. When I learned about Pitch Wars and realized the submission deadline was approaching, I dove into my manuscript with renewed strength, polishing it up to submit. Having a mentor to help me with my manuscript would be a dream come true, and even if my manuscript is not chosen this year I am grateful to have done so much work this summer and to have met so many other writers. 

Visit me on Instagram @littleredreading