MENTOR:
Audrey Ruoff (she/her)
CATEGORY:
Young Adult, New Adult, Adult
SUB GENRES:
Contemporary Romance, Rom Com, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Paranormal
BIO:
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff writes contemporary and witchy rom coms and fantasy, all with stabby, stubborn bisexual main characters. She also teaches high school English and journalism with the enthusiasm of Valerie Frizzle, but for secondary education. She lives in a suburb of Washington DC with her partner, two young children, and a scrappy but loyal little dog. You can find her on Twitter @MsAGoldberg, on Instagram, Threads, and TikTok @audreygoldbergruoff, and at www.audreyruoff.com.
MSWL:
I love an inclusive, swoonworthy romance that will make me root for your characters! I’m comfortable with contemporary, with grounded fantasy, and with second world/high fantasy, including paranormal. If you are comping to oddly specific interests, I love it. I’m also here for it if you’re comping to any of my auto-buy authors: Emily Henry, Talia Hibbert, Cortney Kae, Danielle Jackson, Erin Hahn, Alicia Thompson, Rosie Danan, Meredith Schorr, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Sonia Hartl, Alison Saft, Rachel Runya Katz, Tracy Deonn, or Hannah Whitten. That’s not an all inclusive list, so if you have something else that sounds like I would like it, send it my way! I’m particularly interested in supporting LGBTQIA+ writers, Black, Indigenous, Latine/x, and Asian writers, and other marginalized voices. Please include a content warning if your characters are experiencing homophobia, racism, antisemitism, or Islamophobia; I am open to reading them, I just want to be in the right headspace. I am not a good fit for stories that glorify gun ownership or have main characters in the police or the military. Please do not send anything that contains on page sexual assault or death of small children. I am also not the right fit for religious stories that uphold toxic purity culture. Sex and curse words aren’t dirty, so if you’re tempted to send something along and label it “clean,” it’s not for me. I am open to books of all heat levels; romances don’t need to have sex and they also don’t need to not have sex.
MENTORING STYLE
Clear feedback about what works and what doesn't. I will be honest about room for growth and what could be further developed, but useful feedback has to also include what is working and spotlight strengths, so expect enthusiasm about those parts of your writing as well. I'm a high school teacher, so I am also very open to people having different needs regarding feedback; if you can tell me what kind of feedback helps you most, I can probably provide it! I like to use comments (I can work in MS Word or Google Docs) and email, but I'm also open to text messaging, phone calls, or video chat, as well as open to not doing any of those things if they're anxiety inducing for a mentee.