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Monday, April 7, 2008

First Page Feedback: Are You Hooked?

So in order to just jump right in, here's the deal:

If you'd like some feedback in the comment box on whether or not the first page of your latest (or not so latest) manuscript "hooks" the reader, here's what you need to do:

Email me your first page (up to 250 words) at AuthoressMail (at) gmail.com between now and Thursday at 9:00 am EDT.

Beginning Thursday afternoon, I will post each entry as a separate blog post. Readers are invited to post "Yes, I'm hooked!" or "No, I'm not hooked" in the comment box beneath your entry. It would be most helpful if the "no" answers are accompanied by reasons why (kindly stated, of course).

All genres except erotica are okay by me.

And remember, nobody's giving a "professional opinion" here (unless, of course, you happen to be an agent or editor yourself). This is all about "testing the waters;" seeing if we can "hook" readers into wanting more of our stories.

Are you game? I hope so! Post any questions in the comment box here.

4 comments:

  1. Coolness.

    I put first chapter in the header. :-)

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  2. Cool indeed! :D This should be fun.

    2 questions:

    If the hook has bad language in the dialogue and/or narrative, would you prefer I censor it with asterisks (etc) or do something else or leave it?

    Second question: can we send more than one hook? (No more than two, of course. ;) I'm on the fence about which one to send, so...)

    Thanks!

    ~Merc

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  3. Hey Merc --

    Sure, send 'em both. Just send each one as a separate email, as that will make it easier for me to keep track of them as 2 separate posts.

    As for the language -- thanks for your sensitivity! I do want to keep this site as "clean" as possible. If you want to just go ahead and use **'s, that would be fine. Or whatever else works for you without detracting from your narrative.

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  4. Thanks for the info! Appreciate the quick response, too. :)

    ~Mer

    ReplyDelete