#321 Turning Tables with Ty Love

This week, we're running a takeover in collaboration with Reedsy freelancer Ty Love! The winner of this contest will not only be awarded $250 — they’ll also receive a special bonus prize: personal feedback from Ty himself. For your chance to get insight from one of Reedsy’s very own professionals, read on!

Hi friends!

I’m Ty Love, founder of Edge of August Editorial and a long-time Reedsy editor. I’ve worked for over a decade on countless books (including 18 New York Times bestsellers) that sold to just about every major publisher you can think of! I got my start working with visionaries like the Dalai Lama, Jane Goodall, David Attenborough, and Stephen Hawking on their nonfiction books. These days, I work primarily in SFF as a lifelong lover and reader of the genre (wherever there’s magic, that’s where I want to be!).

When you’re an obsessive reader (and writer and editor!) like me, you start to predict the love triangle from a mile away, see how the protagonist is inevitably the chosen one, and always spot Chekhov’s gun. That’s why, no matter whether it’s fantasy or big-idea nonfiction, I’m obsessed with what happens when the ground shifts under my feet: I love the thrill of a twist, the discomfort of seeing something familiar turned upside down, and the strange delight of realizing a story is not what I thought it was.

That’s why this week’s theme is all about subversion. I want stories that surprise me — that push against assumptions, betray their implicit promises, and leave me with that shiver of Oh, I did NOT see that coming. For me, subversion isn’t just about jaw-dropping twists: it’s creative interpretation, it’s turning tropes on their heads, it’s playing on the “rules” we’ve grown used to in stories and realizing, actually, we make the rules!

So, pens up everybody — I can’t wait to be caught off guard!

Xx

Ty

Special Update: The Results 🏆

Ty's top pick for his takeover was "Unleased" by Keba Ghardt. Here's what he had to say about it:

Oh Keba, this was an incredible read! Not only did you manage to squish two prompts into one (I saw the “You can see me?” line paired with this dialogue-only story!), but you also had me laughing through all of it! As soon as I read “And I refuse to respond to that tone,” I was done for. (You also had me cackling at “Don't fall victim to your work, and you can really work on your victims” and “That’s not me” after the mention of “oddly sexual” dreams.)

There’s great comedic timing and banter here, and you convey so much through the language use in a way that’s a real skill. But I think you do so much in this beyond just a bit of funny banter — you create clear character dynamics, let their individual voices shine without any frills, and that immediately makes me want to read a longer story centered around these two trying to make it work. There’s something so well done about the way you make the demonic force just someone trying their best, and that really put me in mind of Christopher Moore and his work. Bravo!

Congratulations to contest winner Keba Ghardt and the runners-up, Mariyah Porchia and Judy Keenan!