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Monday, February 28, 2011

Thanks and a Vote!

Two things!

1. I want to thank those of you who took the time to critique the teen work on Write On! over the weekend. What a wonderful gift to give these young, aspiring authors! I'm proud of all nine of them.

2. We're going to do another in-house critique right here on MSFV. I'm feeling ambivalent this morning, though, so I thought it would be fun to open it to a house vote!  Which of the following would you like to do:


  • Talking Heads (focus on dialogue-rich excerpts)
  • Drop the Needle (excerpts that are NOT opening pages)
  • Are You Hooked? including loglines
Leave your vote (only one, please) in the comment box below.  Whichever one gets the most votes by 7:00 AM EST tomorrow is what we'll do!  

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72 comments:

  1. Josin L. McQueinFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:39 AM

    Drop the Needle.

    First pages always get attention. The stuff that comes after is important, too.

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  2. Amanda HovingFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    Drop the needle sounds fun to me.

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  3. Marie ProulxFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    I would definitely go with Talking heads this time.

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  4. Jackie YeagerFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    Talking Heads is my vote!!

    It would be great to see fantastic dialogue.

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  5. tarakFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    I vote talking heads!

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  6. Lori M. LeeFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Talking Heads!

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  7. Amanda SunFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:56 AM

    Another vote for Talking Heads!

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  8. KatFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    I vote for Drop the Needle! :D

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  9. scriptoblamFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    I vote for Talking Heads!

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  10. JessFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:21 AM

    Oooh, they all sound fun! I'm happy with Talking Heads or Drop the Needle, but I'll give my vote to Needle.

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  11. Loralie HallFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:23 AM

    I vote for Drop the Needle. Those poor not first pages need love too

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  12. UnknownFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    I'm going Drop the Needle. Looks like you're going to get pretty even votes on that and talking heads, so either one works, but for my vote, I say needle.

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  13. Anita SaxenaFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    I vote Drop the Needle.

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  14. Sean Thomas FisherFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:40 AM

    I also like Talking Heads and Drop the Needle, but will go with Needle. If anything in my ms needs work, it's everything after the first page.

    Thanks for doing this!

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  15. AilsaFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    I love reading and writing dialogue, so I'd love to see some of that!

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  16. KellyFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    Drop the needle. Although, I wouldn't mind another first kiss round either. :)

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  17. Jennifer M (OR)February 28, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    I vote for drop the needle.

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  18. Danielle La PagliaFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    Talking heads

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  19. duwarrFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    It appears I'm in the minority, but I'd prefer Logline.

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  20. Kalen O'DonnellFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:17 AM

    Talking Heads! Agents are always talking about the importance of seamless, realistic dialogue and its hard to get a lot of dialogue or good dialogue critique from a first page.

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  21. HuntressFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    #3. Are you hooked, including logline

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  22. C.M. VillaniFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:35 AM

    Drop the needle!

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  23. KathleenFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    I'd say hooked/logline. Because I'm getting ready to pitch. :)

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  24. AFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:44 AM

    Definitely Drop the Needle. :D

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  25. LandraFebruary 28, 2011 at 11:50 AM

    Drop the needle.

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  26. JessFebruary 28, 2011 at 12:18 PM

    I vote for Are You Hooked/Logline

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  27. Holly BodgerFebruary 28, 2011 at 12:22 PM

    Obviously, I'm not going to follow the instructions. :-P

    I vote for Are You Hooked but sans loglines. I LOVE loglines as much as anyone. Sometimes, I make myself a cup of tea and then just write random loglines all day long. The problem is that the loglines take away from the power of the first 250. A regular reader wouldn't use a logline to decide if they were hooked and I think some people were getting hooked on the logline, not the excerpt. If you want feedback on a concept's hookability (made that up...patent pending...Julia Roberts being considered for movie role), I'd suggest you do another logline crit. Or...a query crit. *gasp* **ducks**

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  28. TiffanyFebruary 28, 2011 at 12:28 PM

    Talking heads!

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  29. Kate LarkindaleFebruary 28, 2011 at 12:29 PM

    Drop the needle. I love opening books up in the middle and reading a random page before I decide if I want to read the whole book.

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  30. Mandy P.S.February 28, 2011 at 12:36 PM

    I vote for Are You Hooked.

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  31. KaitlyneFebruary 28, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    Drop the needle. :D

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  32. Pat Kahn's ChildsplayFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    I vote for drop the needle.

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  33. Carol Newman CroninFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:09 PM

    Drop the needle.

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  34. Christine L. ArnoldFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    Are you hooked gets my vote

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  35. StinaFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:12 PM

    Drop the needle.

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  36. HGrantFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:20 PM

    Are you hooked!

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  37. TLFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:30 PM

    Drop the needle.

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  38. Yat-YeeFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:32 PM

    I agree that first pages have taken too much attention away from the rest of the book and therefore drop the needle is much needed. But I am not sure how we can overcome the inherent problem of looking at pages that are in the middle: we don't know what has gone on before and our responses become limited. But hey, I'm sure a community of writers brainstorming can come up with good solutions.

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  39. Nazarea AndrewsFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    Drop the Needle :)

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  40. CourtneyCFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    Of those, I vote for Drop the Needle. But someone else mentioned your past "First Kiss" contest and it reminded me of Nathan B's "Chase" contest, and now my eyes are spinning like a slot machine at the various possibilities.

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  41. Aldrea AlienFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:40 PM

    Drop the needle sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if my story can be read in the middle without confusion.

    I think I'll give my vote to "Are You Hooked?"

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  42. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    I'd say Drop the Needle. I'm with Yat Yee. What about a lead in paragraph (no more than 100 words) that tells the reader where the scene comes in the book and a one sentence synopsis of the story?

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  43. DJFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:48 PM

    Hooked, but like Holly suggested, without the loglines. Loglines take away the impact of the first two-fiddy.

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  44. MarybkFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:50 PM

    Drop the Needle gets my vote. :)

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  45. Jessica L. Brooks (coffeelvnmom)February 28, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    I vote for Talking Heads. =)

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  46. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:55 PM

    Drop the Needle :)

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  47. LauraFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:05 PM

    Are you hooked.

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  48. fOIS In The CityFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:06 PM

    Not hard to decide ... Drop the Needle :)

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  49. LisaFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:19 PM

    I agree with Holly—Are You Hooked sans logline.

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  50. RebeccaFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    Drop the needle.:)

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  51. CatFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:24 PM

    Drop the needle!

    :)

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  52. funny in the 'hoodFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    I also agree with Holly. Are you hooked without a logline.

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  53. Melissa SarnoFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:31 PM

    Drop the needle!

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  54. DrenFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:31 PM

    Drop the Needle.

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  55. euclidFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    Loglines. I have a doozy I want to show off!

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  56. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2011 at 2:52 PM

    Talking heads. I love to write dialogue.

    No matter how the vote goes, we win by having our work critiqued. Thanks so much for doing this.

    Violet

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  57. Mad :)February 28, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    Drop the needle, please! :) (We should do one of those on WO!)

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  58. Tatum FlynnFebruary 28, 2011 at 3:50 PM

    I like first pages, I'll go for Are You Hooked.

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  59. Robin LemkeFebruary 28, 2011 at 3:53 PM

    Drop the Needle!

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  60. BarbaraFebruary 28, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    Drop the needle.

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  61. BronFebruary 28, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    I like Holly's idea. I know the first pages always get lots of attention, but I find it really hard to critique something from the middle of a work, even if the author has written an explanatory sentence or paragraph.

    But I also like the idea of a query critique! I think we should have one of those too :-) Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact I'm currently querying...

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  62. Lisa CramFebruary 28, 2011 at 4:52 PM

    Talking heads.

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  63. Tere KirklandFebruary 28, 2011 at 5:09 PM

    I always love to read the Drop the Needle excerpts!

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  64. Ambiguous_AFebruary 28, 2011 at 5:59 PM

    Talking heads!

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  65. Mary FrameFebruary 28, 2011 at 6:14 PM

    I vote for Drop the Needle (because those of you voting for talking heads can always drop the needle on a dialogue heavy scene).

    I agree there needs to be a lead in to avoid confusion.

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  66. Empress AwesomeFebruary 28, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    Drop the needle! Although I would never know which section of my ms to choose

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  67. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2011 at 6:58 PM

    Drop the Needle!

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  68. MercFebruary 28, 2011 at 8:08 PM

    Drop the needle.

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  69. sbjamesFebruary 28, 2011 at 8:26 PM

    I agree with whoever said that all the choices are great- so thanks, as always, for the op.

    Now, like Holly I'm gonna be tricky (no offense, Holly). Can we do a Drop the Needle and those who want to can drop into a dialogue scene? That way almost everyone wins.

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  70. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    Everyone seems to be going for drop the needle, so I'll bite!

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  71. Sari WebbFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:57 PM

    I also agree with Holly—Are You Hooked sans logline.

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  72. alexiaFebruary 28, 2011 at 10:38 PM

    Drop the needle!

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