Monday, August 25, 2014

New Critique Contest: NAME THAT GENRE

Let's mix things up a bit!

Worldbuilding is a beautiful and difficult thing.  In order to create a solid, believable setting for our stories, we need to do our due diligence before we begin weaving the tale.  And once we bring those words to the paper, they must be infused with the world we've created, so that our readers are drawn in and stay in our stories--right from the opening pages.

So I've created this contest as a way for you to take the pulse of your worldbuilding.  Here's the challenge:

WILL YOUR READERS KNOW WHAT YOUR GENRE IS IN THE FIRST 150 WORDS OF YOUR STORY?

Think about it.  Settings can be created with the most subtle touch.  A mention of 3 moons in the night sky screams science fiction.  A woman spilling coffee on her blouse while waiting to meet the handsome new lawyer in the firm strongly suggests women's fiction.  Pa coming in from the fields because it's begun to hail hints that we're probably in 19th-century America.

Do your first 150 words paint the picture?  Want to find out?

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

1.  Use the web form to submit your first 150 words.  IMPORTANT:  Under "TITLE", ONLY LEAVE THE CATEGORY.  That means ADULT, NA, YA, or MG.  NO TITLE!  Under "GENRE", TYPE "SECRET".

2.  Got that?  TITLE = CATEGORY ONLY.  GENRE = "SECRET".

3.  All genres are welcomed EXCEPT erotica or erotic romance.

4.  Submission will open at 8:00 am EDT time TOMORROW (Tuesday, August 26) and will close at 5:00 pm EDT.

5.  THIS WILL BE A LOTTERY.  The Bot will choose 40 entries to post on the blog.

6.  Winning entries will post on Wednesday, August 27.

THE FEEDBACK PART:

1.  The first line of your feedback should be YOUR GENRE GUESS.  After you guess, you can leave any additional comments that you think may be helpful.  NOTE:  These comments should focus on THE WORLDBUILDING/SETTING OF EACH EXCERPT.   Full-blown critiques ARE NOT NECESSARY.

2.  Feedback/guessing may continue through the weekend.  THE TEN ENTRIES WITH THE MOST CORRECT GUESSES will be invited to submit their first 300 words for public critique on the blog (next week).

Questions?  Post them below!

25 comments:

  1. Web form link is going to page that says there are no open contests. I'm really excited to enter. Can you fix it please?

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  2. Emily-- There is nothing to fix. The contest doesn't open until noon tomorrow!

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  3. This is a great idea! I can't wait to make some guesses!

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  4. Good question, Jessie! Yes, WIPs are included--just so long as the excerpts are carefully proofread. :)

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  5. Oh, good! I'm so glad to hear that WIPs will be accepted!

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  6. Probably a dumb question: will there be a non-posted form field for us to tell you the actual genre so you know who moves on to round two?

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  7. Veronica -- another good question! I'm going to have the authors post their genres in the comment box at the close of the guessing period.

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  8. This sounds like a blast. I can't wait to post (bot permitting) and read the other entries. What fun!!

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  9. May authors enter this contest and Baker's Dozen with the same manuscript?

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  10. Yes! But only if it's a completed, agent-ready MS, since the Secret Agent contest does not accept WIPs.

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  11. (Note -- but if you are one of the 10 winners in the contest, then you will not be able to submit to the SA contest the following week.)

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  12. Such a fun way to test work building. Can't wait!

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  13. Is it okay to submit narrative non-fiction?

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  14. This is a fun idea. I tried to copy/paste, but a box came up with specific directions concerning my Internet settings. I followed said instructions, and it looked as though it was working, but when I pressed submit, it said I didn't fill in the body. I use Mac Pages by the way. (And I get the award for run-on sentences this morning.)

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  15. Sherry -- You can enter it if you want, but I'm not sure how world building would apply here. Narrative non-fiction is its own category, and I'm not sure how this critique round would be helpful to you.

    Alisha -- Try opening it in a different browser. Try also pasting it from plain text (like TextEdit set to plain text).

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  16. Your contests are the best! Can't wait to see the entries.

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  17. Linked here from @SarahNego. Love the blog so far already. Looking forward to joining the contest, you have me super curious!

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  18. Is this like other contests, where you finish your sentence even if you end up with 155 words, or is this a hard cutoff at 150?

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  19. Theresa -- Always finish a sentence. Always. :) The cut-off is at 155 to accommodate this.

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  20. Authoress, thank you. I didn't even realize I had to switch Text/Edit to Plain Text. Who knew I'd get a tech lesson on here today? : )

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  21. Who knew I was even capable of teaching one? :)

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  22. Eek, I am a noob. Would doing a hard cutoff at 150 mean disqualification?

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  23. Rachel, you're fine. You'll just look like...a noob. ;)

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