The first five pages of a manuscript may be all that agents, editors, and readers read, so the First Five Pages Workshop is here to help writers find their manuscript's best possible opening with the help of two published authors and a literary agent over the course of three weeks.
We have a fabulous list of permanent workshop mentors (see below!), including award-winners and NYT bestselling authors. Two mentors will be assigned to every manuscript in the workshop and will critique the submission several times. During the third week, our guest literary agent also critiques the pages plus a pitch and picks an overall workshop winner, who will receive a partial critique of their manuscript.
The First Five Pages Workshop opens the first Saturday of each month and accepts five participants. We will post when the workshop opens and closes on twitter (@eliza_daws, @TransmediaMutts) with the hashtag #1st5pages.
The Schedule
Week 1: After you submit your initial entry, your two assigned mentors and fellow participants provide feedback. You revise based on their comments and comment on the other participants' submissions.
Week 2: Author mentors and fellow participants critique your 1st revision. You do another revision and submit comments for the other participants.
Week 3: The author mentors, and the literary agent mentor, and your fellow participants review and critique your 2nd revision plus a pitch (up to 200 words) that would be the core of a query letter and describes what your manuscript is about.
The guest agent will choose a workshop "winner" -- but, of course, you win just by joining the workshop, accepting the feedback, and working hard on revising your pages! In most workshops, the guest agent will review and comment on a partial of the winner's manuscript or work-in-progress.
Please keep in mind, the mentors are all volunteers with writing deadlines and busy lives, and so sometimes things come up and they are unable to comment in a particular week.
Meet the Guest Agent
Heather Cashman
Heather has always devoured any book--fiction or nonfiction--that told a good story and introduced a new world, but she especially loves the ones that make her want to be the heroine of her own life. Her work in Biochemistry inspired her imagination for creating worlds. Writing for enjoyment turned into an interest in improving craft.
Heather was a professional editor for Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, editing middle grade, young adult, and adult books. She’s also helped authors by working as Managing Director of Pitch Wars, #PitMad, and Pitch Madness, as well as being a Pitch Wars mentor. Before becoming Associate Literary Agent and Agent Mentor at Storm Literary Agency, Heather interned for three years at The Bent Agency and Entangled Publishing.
Heather is currently seeking submissions for middle grade, young adult, and adult in fiction and nonfiction. For fiction, she’ll consider all genres and loves a good genre splice. For non-fiction, anything that takes her back to those days in the library when she wanted to learn about someone, something, and somewhere new.
Meet the Mentors
Thank the First Five Mentors by buying their books!
Martina Boone
Martina Boone is the award-winning author of Love for Two Lifetimes and the romantic Southern Gothic Heirs of Watson Island series, including Compulsion, Persuasion, and Illusion, for young adults as well as romantic fiction for adult readers starting with Lake of Destiny. She’s also the founder of AdventuresInYAPublishing.com, a three-time Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers Site, and YASeriesInsiders.com, a site dedicated to encouraging literacy and reader engagement through a celebration of series literature. She’s on the Board of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia and runs the CompulsionForReading.com program to distribute books to underfunded schools and libraries.
She lives in Virginia with her husband, children, Shetland Sheepdog, and a lopsided cat, and she enjoys writing contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she loves to visit. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate-flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.
Erin Cashman
Photo by Peter SuErin Cashman writes young adult fantasy novels. She’s the award-winning author of The Exceptionals, and Uncharted, now available from Page Street Publishing. She is a contributor to AdventuresInYAPublishing.com, a three-time Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers website, and a permanent mentor at The 1st 5 Pages Workshop.
Melanie Conklin
Melanie Conklin grew up in North Carolina and worked as a product designer for ten years before she began her writing career. Her debut middle grade novel, Counting Thyme, is a Bank Street Best Children’s Book, winner of the International Literacy Association Teacher’s Choice Award, and nominated to four state reading lists. 
Katya de Becerra
Katya de Becerra is the author of genre-bending YA fiction, What The Woods Keep and Oasis. She was born in Russia, studied in California and now lives in Melbourne.
Kelly deVos
Kelly deVos is from Gilbert, Arizona, where she lives with her high school sweetheart husband, amazing teen daughter and superhero dog, Cocoa. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. When not reading or writing, Kelly can typically be found with a mocha in hand, bingeing the latest TV shows and adding to her ever-growing sticker collection.
Brenda Drake
Brenda Drake is the New York Times bestselling author of the Library Jumpers series, the Fated series, THUNDERSTRUCK, and ANALIESE RISING. 
S. D. Grimm
S. D. Grimm’s first love in writing is young adult fantasy and science fiction. She is represented by Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Agency and author of SCARLET MOON and the forthcoming SUMMONER. She currently has four books under contract, including the remainder of her YA fantasy series Children of the Blood Moon. 
Stasia Ward Kehoe
Stasia Ward Kehoe is the author of YA novels THE SOUND OF LETTING GO and AUDITION, both published by Viking. She grew up performing at theaters along the eastern seaboard, then shifted from stage to page and has been writing fiction, marketing copy and educational materials for almost two decades! 
Christina June
Photo by Hannah BjorndalChristina June writes young adult contemporary fiction when she’s not writing college recommendation letters during her day job as a school counselor. She loves the little moments in life that help someone discover who they’re meant to become – whether it’s her students or her characters.
Christina is a voracious reader, loves to travel, and hopes to one day be bicoastal – the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. 
Christina is the author of IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, and NO PLACE LIKE HERE.
Sheri Larsen
Photo by Katelynn JF LarsenSheri Larsen (S.A. Larsen) is an author, reader, and Maine-iac ice hockey fan, who has watched more hockey games than she could ever count. She loves books that open up secret passageways and hidden worlds to inspire and challenge the heart. Her award-winning, fantasy adventure for middle grade readers, MOTLEY EDUCATION: The Urd Saga (former Leap Books, 2016) was released as a second edition by Ellysian Press, 2019; book II in the series will release late 2020. 
Jessica Lewis
Jessica Lewis is a Black author and receptionist. She has a degree in English Literature and Animal Science (the veterinarian plan did not 
Website |Twitter
Amren Ortega
Amren Ortega writes YA contemporary and fantasy fiction about people making terrible decisions – they can never let their characters be happy for long. At present, they are on submission with their first novel, GIRLS BREAK THINGS. Amren is a team member of the writing blog Operation Awesome, where they founded the First Page Impressions feedback event and where they currently host Query Friday. When they’re not writing, Amren enjoys being an evil dungeon master, cuddling with their shadow goblin (otherwise known as a black cat named Toothless), and brewing hard cider. In other words, Amren is a witch.
Shannon M. Parker
Shannon M. Parker, author of YA novels THE RATTLED BONES and THE GIRL WHO FELL and contributor to WELCOME HOME, an anthology of short stories focused on adoption, has also collected 37 stamps in two passports, hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and to the top of the Andes, 
Mary E. Roach
Mary E. Roach is an author in the MG, YA, and adult spaces. Their focus is thrillers and mysteries, though they do love to dabble in the occasional romcom. They are a #PitchWars alum, AMM R7 mentor, and member of several online writing groups, including the #LlamaSquad. They love mentoring first-time authors, and especially adding depth to characters and intrigue to opening pages. They are currently represented by Jen Udden at New Leaf Literary.
Stephanie Scott
Photo by Leah Lewis CreativeStephanie Scott writes young adult and romance about characters who put their passions first. Her debut ALTERATIONS about a fashion-obsessed loner who reinvents herself was a Romance Writers of America RITA® award finalist. FALLING INTO PLACE is sweet second chance romance part of a multi-author series. She also has a short story in the YA anthology WELCOME HOME from Flux Books. 
Ronald L Smith
Photo by Erik KvalsvikRonald L. Smith is the award-winning author of the middle grade novels Black Panther: The Young Prince, The Mesmerist and The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away. His first novel, Hoodoo, won the 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award. His latest is Gloomtown, a Junior Library Guild Selection.
Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked in advertising and wrote television commercials for cheeseburgers, cars and airlines. Without a doubt, he’s much happier writing for kids.
Wendy Spinale
Wendy Spinale is the author of EVERLAND and UMBERLAND, both from Scholastic. She's a published professional journalist with the AOL/Patch 
Beth Turley
Beth Turley is a graduate of the MFA in Creative and Professional Writing program at Western Connecticut State University. 
Rob Vlock
Rob Vlock writes fun, funny, fast-paced kids’ books that are perfect for reluctant readers. And when he’s not writing, you can usually find him somewhere in the greater Boston area trying to make his trumpet sound like 
Rob’s Books are Sven Carter & the Trashmouth Effect and Sven Carter & the Android Army.
Meet the Coordinators
Elizabeth Dawson
Workshop Coordinator
Elizabeth Dawson will be your guide during your First Five Pages journey. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area and lives vicariously through the adventures of her teenage characters as they run around the streets of San Francisco solving crimes. By day, she writes help articles for a software company in Tucson, AZ. Her two cats are gracious enough to let her and her husband live with them and cater to their every wish.
Shirlyn Chin
Assistant Workshop Coordinator
Shirlyn Chin was born and raised in Malaysia, where she works as a clerk by day and pursues her writing by night. Living in a multi-racial country, she is passionate about learning about different cultures, especially her own Chinese heritage. She has attempted sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery, manuscripts—basically anything that requires magic or the magic of innovation, preferably with a dead body or two. When not writing, she can be found hogging the kitchen to bake edible treats, in other words ‘writing fuel’.
Lorna Riley
Agent Coordinator
Lorna Riley is a scientist by trade and an optimist by nature. She lives with her husband and two children in a small village on the edge of the Peak District. In the virtual realm, she can be found all too often on Twitter as @lc_riley, and occasionally, on novel competitions' longlists or shortlists for her YA sci-fi. When she's not writing, she likes long walks, short runs, and a half-pint or two while playing the ukulele in her local pub with friends.
Danielle Simonelli
Agent Coordinator
Danielle Simonelli grew up in New York, where she spent eighteen years unaware of her strong, Long Island accent. She has a PhD in lasers, two patents in micro-electronics, and if you ask her to critique a science fiction manuscript, she might get a little too ravenous with her red pen. Danielle writes young adult fantasy late at night and spends her days leading engineering teams from various countries across the globe. As a writer for more than a decade and a former First Five Pages Writing Workshop mentee, she refuses to give up on her dream to find agent representation.
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