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MENTOR:
Melody Thio (she/her)
CATEGORY:
Young Adult, Adult
SUB GENRES:
Contemporary, Rom Com, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Dark Romance, Romantic Suspense, Paranormal, Genre-bending romance/speculative elements, Fiction with strong romantic elements
BIO:
Melody Thio is a writer from Indonesia who writes fluffy romance, and romcoms heavy on the com. She loves K-Pop, K-dramas, anime, webtoons, and gaming, which shows in all of her work. She won RevPit in 2023 and will bring the experience of working with a professional editor into this program.
MSWL:
I’m open to anything YA/Adult, and love romcoms, contemporary romance, fantasy romance, romantic suspense, dark romance, paranormal, and genre-bending or romance with speculative elements. Below are some of my favorite tropes and what I could help with. If your book doesn’t have any of that, feel free to send it anyway. Sometimes I surprise myself with the unexpected.
MSWL
- Anything that comps “Better Than The Movies” by Lynn Painter, “Chloe and the Kaishao Boys” by Mae Coyiuto, “The Kiss Quotient” by Helen Hoang, “Dial A for Aunties” by Jesse Q. Sutanto, “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber
- Anything that comps a K-drama, anime, webtoon, or manga
- Best friends/childhood friends to lovers
- Fake dating
- Matchmaking
- Enemies/rivals to lovers
- Idol/Celebrity Romance
- Anything music related (bands/songwriting/theater/choirs)
- Anything online gaming/VR related
- That feeling of falling in love for the first time 😍
- Ballroom dance scene
- Love triangles
- Humor (I’ll laugh at puns and dad jokes)
- Power of family/friendship
- Uplifting/inspirational messages
- Mental health rep (especially depression and anxiety) and heavier themes
Anti-MSWL
- Characters that condone cheating (if cheating is a theme it’s fine as long as the characters are against it)
- Age gap where the main character dates their parents’ friend or friends’ parent
- Animals in pain
MENTORING STYLE
I learned from RevPit how important it is to focus on the author’s vision and will give feedback with this in mind. I tend to focus more on developmental edits and making sure the character’s voice is consistent. I’ll give actionable feedback to guide my mentee in their next steps and am always available to brainstorm. Since I'm an overwriter, I also pay attention on ways to reduce word count.
I can also be a cheerleader or a human alarm reminding my mentee to go write if they want me to. Due to timezone difference, it might be hard to set up a time for a call, so I prefer most communication to happen via text.