Twitter: @ariannecostner
Website: https://ariannecostner.wordpress.com/
Agent: Amber Caraveo
Published books: REVISING BEFORE SUBMISSION
Genre: MG
Bio: I live in California with my husband and two children. I previously taught 7th grade English, and taught the most lovable students who gave me loads of character inspiration. In my free time, I am a piano teacher and a violinist.
Experience: I participated in Pitch Wars 2017 with my MG manuscript SPUDBOY. I have CP’d with several of my Pitch Wars friends and discovered a love for helping others polish and revise their work! I scored an awesome agent post-Pitch Wars (Amber Caraveo),wer and am currently revising my own manuscript before submission.
Mentoring style: I’ll provide line edits for the first three chapters, as well as general notes about stakes/character development/etc. I had to re-write my first chapter so many times to get it right, so I hope I’ve learned a bit about what to include in that pesky opening 
I’m big into readability. We are writing for kids, not adults. If anything is confusing, or slowing down your story, I’ll let you know. My style is straight-forward, but also sensitive. That’s not an oxymoron, is it?
Mentee style: Mentees need to accept criticism! Of course, that doesn’t mean letting others be jerks to you, but if you are hearing similar comments from multiple people, you need to seriously consider how to implement it. Good writers re-write sections OVER and OVER. They throw out entire chapters that aren’t helping the plot, even if they’ve worked several hours on said chapters. Writing is painful! It’s hard work! But it’s worth it.
What you’d love to see in a novel? I’m a sucker for humor or anything to do with music. I love FUN books that kids would self-select. I’m probably not the best fit for serious or heart-wrenching stories. Those stories are important and can be beautiful, but I’m kind of a goofball. I wrote a book about a potato mascot, after all, I mean….
Favourite novels: THE WEDNESDAY WARS by Gary D. Schmidt, PICKLE by Kim Baker
Mentoring package offered: I could offer the Query package. However, I can probably also offer a full read-through with overall notes/developmental suggestions. (I know I was supposed to only choose one. It was too hard! I’m sorry.)
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