Jonathan Peto’s #PitchWars Contestant Blog Hop Bio

[About Me]

Distant, dark past: angry young man who liked to draw;

Not mine, Albrecht Durer's, a favourite then - I liked lines!

 



soldier; ice cream scooper/maker; barista; literature degree.

Dark present: 4th Grade teacher at a Catholic girls school; strict not mean; champions big ideas, not minutia; enjoys teaching it all: reading, writing, math and units of inquiry (science/social studies); sneaks off for over ten years of Saturday mornings to write...

Techno-willing but prefers to curl up on the couch with a book or do yoga; cosies up to first adopters though.

Maker wanna-be.

Cook wanna-be.

Doesn’t get fashion (or marketing). Not yet.

When my book is published, plan to model my author fashion on Prince RIP.

Husband. Wife does household repairs and family accounts.

Father of two

Reads the gamut from literary, classics, and poems to many genres, including non-fiction. Details on Goodreads.

Nearing fifty, curmudgeonly, yet refreshing with spark. Other teachers laugh at my jokes during lunch - they do! Some of the jokes are even intentional! Children occasionally laugh at my jokes too - seriously!

Still animated by my inner child.

Completely unfamiliar with what’s on television.

[About My Entry]

My #PitchWars entry,Vintage Rob, is a highly-polished, male mid-life crisis/suspense novel with a lot of attention on the character arc. The MC, like the author, is not from an underrepresented minority. However, the cast is diverse, as the story takes place in Japan and Boston. The diversity includes characters of color and several LGBTQ+ characters, but diversity is not a main theme or issue.

Reading the mentor blog posts was eye-opening. Here is some additional information about Vintage Rob that may not come out in the query or first chapter but may be important:

There is creepy subject matter, mainly in the climax (threat of rape) and in parts of the complication (a pedophile), but the story is not dark. There is a lot of humor. The violence is minimal, the sex is closed door, so the squeamish need not fear. Romance, unfortunately for the MC, has a part, but it is small. There is a near-bromance between the MC and a villain.

More women than men stuck with Vintage Rob over the many, many months I subbed it on the Internet Writers Workshop, so it seems to appeal to women readers, perhaps because it includes strong women characters…?
(…and I just read the great article about strong women that mentor Holly Faur linked on her wish list blog, and my women characters are, it seems, strong.)

Vintage Rob: 60+ chapters, 300 pages; 98,000 words.

I may need the most help with voice and narrative that reveals character. The MC is clear in my mind, less so on “paper”... I think I know the solutions in theory, but not in practice: distinctive character language, including the way the character views things, descriptions from the character’s perspective…

Also, Vintage Rob is a literary/suspense mash-up. Unfortunately, my minimalist tendencies still undermine my literary style/voice. Help there would be great!

Dialogue and structure may be strengths…


Enjoy other #PitchWars writer bios here.

I’m still tuning in to PitchWars, but it is clear to me that it involves a lot of work, so please donate! Two extra entries if you do!

Thanks to Brenda Drake, all behind-the-scenes personal (Heather?!), and all mentors. Your community spirit and enthusiasm is amazing and inspiring.

On Twitter? Me too! Here.