Brenda Drake Writes . . . under the influence of coffee: It's on! ... SHOW ME THE VOICE blogfest/contest starts now

Saturday, March 19, 2011

It's on! ... SHOW ME THE VOICE blogfest/contest starts now

3/23/11 THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED COME BACK ON MARCH 24TH TO SEE THE TOP TWENTY SEMI-FINALISTS!

It's on! Everyone post your entries to your blog now. Get critiques from your followers and the participants, and when you've polished those first 250 words send them to me at *** in the body of the email. Or if you don't need the critiques send off your entry now. And here's more details...

Here's how we're doing it: Sign up on the linky below. On March 20 and 21, post the first 250 words of your finished manuscript (any genre) on your blog to get critiques from your followers and then hop around to the other participants' sites and give critiques. Polish those 250 words and email them to me at *** with CONTEST in the subject line by 11:59 PM (EST) on March 22 or before the clock turns 12:00am on March 23 (for clarification :D) This is my birthday, so while you all are scrambling around to get your entry in, I'll be eating a hot Molten Chocolate Cake at Chili's--all diets are off! Woot!

Format your entries like this example:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Brenda Drake

Title: Library Jumpers

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

I swallowed my breath mint the moment some hot guy across the reading room busted me staring at him. I completely froze, blinking, unable to pull my eyes away from him. He totally stood out in the conservative atmosphere of the library with his messy brown hair and tight leather gear. His intense gaze held me for several seconds before I shot my eyes at Afton. Submerged in a book on the Salem witch trials--a strand of her dark hair-weave all twisted around her finger--she hadn't even noticed him. A gust of air came from his direction and rustled the pages of her book. I swung my eyes back to him. He was gone.

"What the . . .?" I blurted and stood to get a better view of the large reading room. The biography on Samuel Adams slipped from my hand and clunked onto the table.

"Shhh, Gia." Afton glared over her book at me. "Hello? We're in a library."

We weren't in just any library. We were in the Boston Athenaeum, an exclusive library with a pricey annual fee. Afton's father got her a membership at the start of summer. It's a good thing her ticket in allows tag-alongs, since my pop would never splurge like that, not when the public library is free.

"What's wrong?" Afton asked.

My eyes flicked around the reading room searching for the guy. In the core of the room, a collection of antique furniture and sculptures surrounded large walnut tables with leather chairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My example is 253 words because I didn't want to cut it off in the middle of a sentence. So if your 250 words ends in the middle of one, please go to the end of the sentence.

All entries submitted before the cut off time will be considered. The first round will be judged by a chosen panel of your peers (agented and unagented). We'll pick the best 20 entries and post them on my blog by March 24. The 20 entries we pick will be judged by Natalie. The winners will be announced on or before Monday, March 28.

And a big thank you for our judge and prize giver, agent Natalie Fischer with the Bradford Literary Agency!


Natalie Fischer's blog, Adventures in Agentland

Check out her great posts on voice HERE and HERE!

Bet you're wondering what prizes Natalie is offering, right? Well, here they are:

1st place - a critique of the first 20 pages
2nd place - a critique of the first 10 pages
3rd place - a query critique

Don't forget to SHOW ME THE VOICE!

What are you waiting for? Sign up now for the SHOW ME THE VOICE BLOGFEST CONTEST!

31 comments:

Stephanie Thornton said...: Woohoo! Mine is up and ready for critique.

Thanks to Brenda and Natalie for such a fantabulous contest!; March 19, 2011 10:40 PM
A. Grey said...: Thank you Brenda and Natalie for taking out time from your busy lives to host/judge the contest! Good luck everyone! And have fun!; March 20, 2011 6:34 AM
Nicole Zoltack said...: Good luck everyone! Mine is up and ready for critique. :)

Thank you, Brenda and Natalie!; March 20, 2011 8:10 AM
christicorbett said...: Thanks again to Brenda and Natalie for such a great contest.

My first 250 is up and ready :)

Christi Corbett; March 20, 2011 10:42 AM
Anita Saxena said...: This is going to be so much fun! Thank you Brenda and Natalie for hosting this awesome contest/fest.; March 20, 2011 10:46 AM
Kayeleen Hamblin said...: I've posted mine. Thanks for the contest!; March 20, 2011 10:52 AM
Sharon K. Mayhew said...: Wow, Brenda! I loved your piece! I love the idea of something magical happening in an old library...Very cool opening!; March 20, 2011 11:52 AM
Roland D. Yeomans said...: Happy Birthday, Brenda! Of course, I'm in. I will send you my first 250 words on your birthday. You are a special lady to do this. Roland; March 20, 2011 1:25 PM
clairegillian.com said...: Thanks for the contest and Happy Birthday!; March 20, 2011 4:28 PM
Stina Lindenblatt said...: Thanks for the great contest, Brenda. I've already made some changes due to the awesome feedback. Now to check out the rest of entries. :D; March 20, 2011 5:35 PM
Margo Berendsen said...: Thank you and a early happy birthday! I wasn't sure if you wanted us to comment on your example or not, but I just wanted to say that this part really intrigued me: "A gust of air came from his direction and rustled the pages of her book." And it's a great example of voice.; March 20, 2011 5:41 PM
Emi Gayle said...: What a neat contest! I had that EXACT dessert for my birthday, by the way (just last week)! Go MARCH birthdays! Celebrate well at Chili's. Yum!! :) Heavenly! Happy, Happy, Birthday!; March 20, 2011 8:01 PM
Erin Kane Spock said...: The character's voice is very clear. You establish your setting, age group, and character dynamic very well.
Good job.; March 20, 2011 8:23 PM
Jamie Heppner said...: Mine is up for review. This is an awesome contest and thank you for the opportunity. Thank you very much!; March 20, 2011 8:47 PM
erica m. chapman said...: Thanks so much for this, Brenda and Natalie! There are some really great ones. Hard decision!! Good luck everyone ;o); March 20, 2011 10:31 PM
Brenda Drake said...: Thanks guys for the birthday wishes and for the feedback on my excerpt. I'm humbled by all the wonderful writers with such big kind hearts that I meet during these contest. There will be more. Now off to stalk some agents to participate in my next big one. :D; March 20, 2011 11:10 PM
eeleenlee said...: Its an intriguing extract, and btw Happy Birthday! My entry will be on my blog shortly...; March 21, 2011 2:27 AM
Jared Larson said...: Looks like a great contest. Thanks Brenda!; March 21, 2011 8:17 AM
Florence said...: Happy Birthday, Brenda and many thanks to you and Natalie. I am enjoying all the entries and have taken much from other's generous comments :); March 21, 2011 9:01 AM
jennykellerford said...: Thank you, Brenda and Natalie! I'm putting my 220 words up on my blog right now!

You guys rock!; March 21, 2011 9:02 AM
A. Grey said...: Yay! I'm officially entered :) Good luck everyone!

Brenda your excerpt is one I've read before I think in another contest some time ago. It's changed quite a bit since then (if my memory serves...) and I really like it a lot! The only nit-pick I have is the 'I froze, blinking' which seems a bit contradictory in my head.

Otherwise, I think it's a great show of voice. And I LOVE the breath mint swallow! I'm a chronic 'you-startled-me-so-I-swallowed-whatever-was-in-my-mouther' If my tongue wasn't attached it'd have been gone a long time ago :D; March 21, 2011 9:11 AM
Iris St. Clair said...: Sorry to be a dummy but when are we to email our 250 words? BY 11:59:59 on 3/21 or anytime BETWEEN 3/22 at 12 AM AND 3/22 11:59:59 PM. What time zone is this?; March 21, 2011 9:50 AM
Brenda Drake said...: You have all day 3/22 until the clock turns 12:00 3/23. Good luck!; March 21, 2011 10:27 AM
Christie Koester said...: Awesome contest! Can't wait to play. Happy Birthday!; March 21, 2011 11:37 AM
Carol J. Garvin said...: Many thanks for doing this, Brenda and Natalie. I'm in, excerpt is posted, and I'll be sending along the revised version later today.

I love the opening sentence of your scene! Swallowing that breath mint is a definite "show, don't tell". LOL! My only (trivial) suggestion might be to change "some hot guy" to "the hot guy". The "some" tripped me up, because he's a very stand-out figure and "some" seems too vague. You quickly established a distinctive voice. I want to read on and find out who that hot guy is and how he disappeared so suddenly. :); March 21, 2011 12:02 PM
Jamie said...: Awesome contest! I'm really excited to be apart of it & a great big thank you for doing it! Also, I love your scene. It makes me want to read more! Have a very happy birthday!! :); March 21, 2011 12:20 PM
Scheherazade said...: I've entered. Looking forward to seeing these entries. Should be very interesting.; March 21, 2011 12:33 PM
Christina Mercer said...: Thank You for hosting this contest! I think blog contests are such an excellent way for writers to gain exposure, helpful advice, and with a little luck, a bite from an agent ;-)); March 21, 2011 3:22 PM
A. N. Rosen said...: Thanks mates, this is fabulous!; March 21, 2011 8:47 PM
HollyAnn said...: Thanks for the contest...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yay! : ); March 22, 2011 7:17 AM
RaShelle said...: Hey Brenda - Thanks! So exciting!!!; March 22, 2011 6:27 PM