For those of you who are newer readers: "Drop the Needle" is an in-house critique session during which I call for excerpts from anywhere in your novel. (That's where the name of the crit round comes from -- those nefarious music professors who, in ages past, would "drop the needle" into the middle of a recording and expect the students to identify the piece of music by name and composer.)
So here are the guidelines for this round of Drop the Needle:
- Send a 25- to 50-word lead-in and a 250-word excerpt that you would describe as an ACTION SCENE. (i.e., a high-stakes, fast-paced scene in which there isn't necessarily a lot of dialogue)
- Use the WEB FORM to submit.
- Submissions will open at 5:00 PM EDT on WEDNESDAY, MAY 2 (that's tomorrow), and will remain open until 25 entries are received.
- The 25 excerpts will post on THURSDAY at noon, EDT, for critique.
- All genres except erotica are welcome.
- This excerpt can be from either a WIP or a finished manuscript. Either way, please make sure your work is proofread and clean.
And please please please don't neglect the lead-in. It's difficult to be dropped into a middle-of-the-story scene, and we will need the (brief!) lead-ins to set up the scenes for us. I believe this extra bit of information leads to better critiques.
Also, please remember that if yours is one of the entries, you are requested to critique a minimum of 5 entries.
Questions below!
How cool! I am new to this - so the "lead in" is a brief description of what's going on in the scene? Or what has happened in the novel so far? Something like "so and so is a bad guy who is trying to kill so and so?" Thanks! I am going to go find my action scene now!
ReplyDeleteaberthot -- Yep, you need to let us know what's going on -- just enough so that we understand the context of the scene.
ReplyDeleteExample:
Fred, the MC, has been arguing with his girlfriend Rhoda over which kid of pie she should bring to the annual pig festival. She has just thrown her first pie at him.
LOL! Ok - thanks! And can we enter if we also did a previous contest? (I did one a month ago for the opening 250 words)
ReplyDeleteI mean, I know it's not a contest, but - you know.
ReplyDeleteI love these Drop the Needle critiques! Just wanted to say that I received a request from Ammi-Joan Paquette during one of these critique sessions two years ago for a manuscript that wasn't even finished yet, so people ought to make sure they're taking this round seriously and only putting their very best work out there. These days, I'd bet at least one extra agent is reading along with just about every critique session and contest on MSFV (which is both scary and exciting).
ReplyDeleteaberthot -- Yep, the 6-month rule only applies to previous SA contests.
ReplyDeleteKrista -- THANKS for pointing this out! And yes, the lurkage (is that a word? :P) is fairly consistent, so you never know.
Definitely going to try and participate in this -- just have to find a good action scene in which to use!
ReplyDeleteAs a side note? As a former music history student, you realise you just sent me into heart palpitations? I graduated in 2006 and I had professors who would still do the drop the needle for our listening exams. Only it was "fastforward on the CD player" which isn't nearly as cool sounding. *SHUDDER*
Anya -- How horrible! I have a music degree, and I'm lucky to have always had professors who started the recordings at the beginning. :)
ReplyDeleteOh you are SO lucky. One of mine did? The other two... didn't. Recognising two different Bach pieces (when started in the middle) or two different 21st century pieces? *weeps*
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely way to start off this month. Can't wait! I've been working on perfecting my action scenes for quite some time now, in house critique will be very beneficial.
ReplyDeleteMy novel isn't high stakes action, but I have one scene that fits.
ReplyDeleteOooh. This sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteAhhh...I wish it was 500 words...I can't decide which part of this scene to pick!!!!
ReplyDeleteOK - can my lead-in be 55 words instead of 50? I got my action down to 250 exactly.
ReplyDeleteThe word count is set at 305. So have at it. :)
ReplyDeleteWoot! Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteYeah! Action scenes are the hardest for me to write. I struggle with body positions. Here's hoping I can get my scene in there.
ReplyDeleteWell, looks like I missed it. I'm new here, how many times do you do these? Thanks for all you do to inspire and assist writers. :)
ReplyDeleteOH! I am not reading very well today--it is not even open yet, maybe I have a chance after all! :)
ReplyDelete(good thing I re-read this!) *facepalm*
Looking forward to this! Action scenes are a big weakness for me, so need all the critique I can get. Now I just need to nail down the genre before tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI am reasonably new to this fantastic blog and eager to give this a shot.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Australia and I have already set my alarm for ten minutes before 5.00 pm EDT so hopefully, I don't miss this.
*hopes it's not too unearthly a time in Australia*
ReplyDeleteExciting! Action scenes are so challenging, and it would be great to get some feedback.
ReplyDeleteNeat. Action scenes are hard for me, because let's face it, my life is dull, and the closest I've been to a fight is in front of my tv. It will be helpful to see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteSeriously! I need to type faster. I hit that submit button just as fast as I could, but the contest was full after about 90 seconds.
ReplyDelete:-( I didn't make it.
ReplyDeleteWow, you guys -- I'm sorry! :-(( We will do another one after the SA contest, okay? I didn't expect THIS wild of a response to an in-house crit!
ReplyDeleteThat was crazy! I didn't make it either...guess I shouldn't have made the spacing change.
ReplyDeleteYep, I didn't make it either. Had to go back and get the italics in there. Sigh! Maybe another time.
ReplyDeleteBut it did force me to hone my action scene! :)
Wow! The puppy filled up in less than 3 minutes. Poo. Next time Gadget! =^)
ReplyDeleteOh man, I had everything up, refreshing until the contest opened, then I pasted and typed everything in and hit submit... and then the browser had to think about it. And think. And think.
ReplyDeleteI tried opening another window and trying again, but the contest was already full. :O Break my heart.
Dang! I didn't make it in! *slaps out of date work computer that would not open my file*
ReplyDeleteWoah. That was Nuts! I was on the money at 9 seconds to go, refreshed, pasted, filled in the info, submitted, and boom REJECTED!
ReplyDelete--can't wait for the next one, but very disappointed. Really wanted to be in the action one. :-(
I MADE IT! Yes, I was stalking this thing :) SO happy :) And I kind of did a line break after each of my paragraphs.... Is that all right?
ReplyDeleteYes, line breaks are good. :)
ReplyDeleteErr, it occurs to me perhaps a little late to ask - is it okay that there's an F-Bomb in mine?
ReplyDeleteUh yeah, line breaks. I was so nervous I just hit submit without really looking because I made sure it was perfect in Word for an hour before hand. And now it looks kinda soupy.
ReplyDeleteBut I made it. Squee!
I have a feeling the entries that made it will all look kind of "soupy." I also copied and pasted and hit submit without putting in the line breaks because the spacing was there in word. Oh well. Had I gone through and put in the line breaks I would not have made the contest. So, small sins hopefully in the scheme of things :)
ReplyDeleteJeffO -- It will be edited out with asterisks.
ReplyDeleteAnd y'all can send me chocolate for having to fix your line breaks. ;D
This is what worked for me (if I have any mistakes in my entry, boy will I be embarrassed): In Word, format to single space, under "special" for indents, put none (as opposed to hanging). Then, put a hard return between paragraphs. I believe italics gets: /italicized text/, but check that. Then you can just paste your entry in.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Authoress might do this again soon, so you disappointed people should have another chance.
Thanks for fixing the line breaks. Everything was double spaced in Word, but when I saw it after submitting, everything was smushed together. Is smushed a word?
ReplyDeletePlease please do it again.
ReplyDeleteGot caught in traffic and
MISSED the deadline. And I
live in EDT!!
I didn't make it either, however I was in class. I had a feeling it would be a frenzy of posting though right when it opened. :) Can't wait to see another up soon!
ReplyDelete