WriteMentor 2021

I am so happy to be back as a YA mentor for WriteMentor’s 2021 Summer Program!

I was sad to have to take a year off last year, but like so many other people, 2020 was just too hard and I needed to spend more time taking care of myself and my loved ones and I didn’t think it would be fair trying to stretch myself too thin when things were already so difficult…

But that’s all in the past! Here’s to a new year and I am ready to go to the mat as your YA mentor!

WHO I AM

I am published under the name of M. Dalto, but most people know me as MB. I am a YA romantic fantasy author, and after winning one of Wattpad’s Watty Awards in 2016, I published my bestselling debut novel, Two Thousand Years, with The Parliament House in December 2018. Since then, I’ve released its two sequel novels and four companion novellas, with the final installment releasing November 2021.

I am a contributor to Wattpad’s Paid Stories program, and humbled to be accepted as a Wattpad Star.

As a WriteMentor Sparks author and mentor, this will be my third time mentoring YA writers for the WriteMentor Summer Program.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, I continue to live in my hometown with my husband, our daughter, a corgi named Loki, and a hamster named Jeremy. A full-time real estate paralegal by day and an ambitious writer by night, when I’m not typing all the words at my computer I can be found reading fantasy novels, playing video games, and drinking coffee.

WHAT I WANT

Short answer: Fantasy, fantasy and more fantasy. All of your fantasy subgenres belong in my inbox now, please and thank you.

Long answer: Ideally, I am looking for Older/Upper YA/Crossover/New Adult novels that will make me think, swoon, and/or laugh. Please send me your Fantasy, Romance, Mystery/Thrillers, Horror and Magical Realism stories. My favorite tropes include:

• love triangles and other various shapes of all kinds
• enemies to lovers
• slow burn romances
• dream sequences
• prophecies
• THERE’S ONLY ONE BED

I love novels with deep character development, a setting where I can get lost, and plot twists that make me want to throw the book across the room only to chase after it and reread it again. Whisk me away to a new land or just a unique circumstance with characters I can’t get enough of and I’ll love you endlessly.

I would love to get their hands on completely three-dimensional, fully-realized characters (especially the villains!) with clear motivation and a lot of voice, strong female leads who can save themselves, and at least a little romance. The more morally grey, the better!

LQBTQIA+ and marginalized voices are absolutely more than welcome!

WHAT I DO NOT WANT

I am not a fit for PB, MG or younger YA novels, or books that fall heavily in the Literary Fiction or Contemporary genres. I will not under any circumstance mentor a book that condones homophobia, transphobia, racism, misogyny or anything else discriminatory to anyone. Period. 

WHO I WANT

I am looking for a mentee who wants to have fun and laugh while also grinding hard to make their manuscript the diamond we know it can be. A lot of ideas and suggestions may fly around in our writing and editing sessions and I need a mentee who knows how to take criticism for what it is – positive suggestions on how to make their work sparkle. I need someone who knows that we’re in this together, with the same goals, until the very end.

WHAT TO EXPECT

I can be as available as a mentor as you want me to be, whether it’s checking in every day, or following-up once a week. I am always available via email and Twitter, Facebook messenger or Discord, Google or text. My main request is to keep an open line of communication, and to have a mentee that feels as comfortable reaching out to me as I will be to them.

I plan on working with my mentee through their full manuscript via track changes and comments in Microsoft Word. This is how I best work on my own editing, and I find it easier to collaborate and focus when the work is being done off of a program such as Google Docs. Together we’ll work through content and development edits, copyediting and proofing. We’ll make your manuscript shine, and we’ll do it together.

But the mentor/mentee relationship doesn’t stop there. I will be there for you through the whole process, happy to review query letters and synopses, and will continue to cheer you on throughout the submission process and beyond! I will be there for you because if I know nothing else about this industry, it’s that it’s a lot easier when you don’t need to wade through it alone.

RANDOM FAVORITES

Favorite Books: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, The Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare, The Wicked King by Holly Black, The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, anything from William Shakespeare

Favorite Movies: Jurassic Park, Mallrats, Empire Records, Se7en, Memento, pretty much anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most of the Star Wars movies

Favorite TV Shows: The Umbrella Academy, Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones, LOST, Westworld, Outlander, Law & Order

Favorite Video Games: Hades, Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda, Silent Hill, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Be sure to check out the official WriteMentor page where all the information you may need is already readily available.

There will also be a WriteMentor YA Mentor Chat on Twitter on Tuesday, April 13th so make sure to mark your calendars when the times are announced!

If there’s a question I haven’t answered, please don’t hesitate to ask! I can be found on Twitter at any time – feel free to DM me at @MDalto421

Thank you for considering me as your mentor- I can’t wait to read your novels!