Annabel Pitcher

Annabel (view her author website) is a multi award-winning author of books for children and young adults. Her sensational first novel, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, won the Branford Boase Award for most outstanding debut, and was shortlisted for several major national awards. Her second novel, Ketchup Clouds, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the UK and an Edgar Award in the USA for best young adult fiction. Annabel is a hugely successful international author, whose work is published in twenty-five territories, and the film rights of two of her novels have been sold.

Specialises in: Children’s and young adult fiction, women’s fiction.

Annabel provides tuition for our Mentoring Service.

I am absolutely thrilled you have found my page and I am so excited to be going on this writing journey with you.

If you’re here, you have a creative itch that needs scratching. Perhaps you have a big, exciting idea, but no clue how to turn it into a saleable novel. Or maybe you’re stuck half-way through an unwieldy first draft and need some help to find your way to the end. You might even have a completed manuscript, but need advice on fine-tuning and polishing your work before you submit to agents. Whatever stage you’re at on your creative journey, I would love to be your compassionate, knowledgeable guide.

I know how exciting and difficult it can be to write a book. I have written four award-winning and prize-nominated novels and a series of picture books, due for publication in 2021. Each has presented me with a unique set of joys and challenges. I have developed a range of strategies to cope with most issues writers face, from writers’ block to creative anxiety due to perfectionism. I have reached the half-way point of a book and not known whether to abandon the project or push on through, and I have stared at a first draft and understood in my gut that something is wrong, without necessarily knowing how to fix it in the first instance. I have found solutions, worked hard at my craft, and been rewarded with commercial and literary success around the world. I would love to share my expertise with you.

Alongside writing, teaching is my passion. I graduated with a BA Honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University and a PGCE from Cambridge University, and I have guest-lectured at Sheffield Hallam and Bath Spa Universities on their Creative Writing MAs. I have a positive, growth-mindset approach, believing that writing skills are teachable and creative ability is not fixed, and I aim to nurture your talent while offering concrete, practical advice.

Every writer is different, so the mentoring I offer is uniquely crafted to the individual. Together, we will devise a bespoke twenty-hour plan, keeping in mind at all times that mentoring is a dynamic process, and your needs and desires may change as we move through the hours. Mentoring usually takes place over a few months with plenty of time for you to write in between sessions. There is no time limit. After initial advice, if you would like to spend a year writing a new draft before coming back to me, that’s absolutely fine. Equally, if you prefer to use the twenty hours in one month for a more intensive back-and-forth mentoring experience, that’s okay too. It is entirely up to you, but my aim is for every mentee to finish their programme having made substantial, tangible progress on their manuscript, and having taken real, practical steps towards getting published. That is why we’re here, after all! I understand your passion to see your work in print and I can help you fulfil that aim.

If you would like to find out more, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am particularly interested in children’s and young adult fiction, but work with writers of all genres.