Brenda Drake is hosting a Blogfest Contest with agent Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.A busy agent and author, Ammi-Joan Paquette only accepts queries via referral or from people she has met at conferences so this is a great opportunity.
The competition is happen’ ;)
If you want to join in head over to the Brenda Drake WritesBlog.
Here's how it's going down ...
Post the first 250 words of your finished, or not quite finished, manuscript (any genre) to your blogs. This contest is about voice--whether or not your character's voice matches his or her’s age. So if you mention the age or school grade in the first 250 words, please edit it out or block it out for this contest. Don't list the genre or title on your posts. If your 250 words falls in the middle of a sentence, continue to the end of the sentence.
From December 8th-9th hop around to other blogs and try to guess the age of the character, give critiques, or praise. Revise your entries, if you want, and email them to me by 11:59PM (EST) December 10th. (If you want, you may skip the blogfest/critique portion of this contest and just enter the contest.)
A panel of judges will choose the top twenty entries for the semi-finalist round, which will be posted on Brenda’s blog site
If you don't want your entry posted, don't enter the contest.
THIS IS MY ENTRY. I’D BE HAPPY TO HEAR ANY ADDITIONAL IDEAS OR THOUGHTS ON THIS PIECE:
The only times Mortimer felt close to his parent came with chest pains and a stitch in his side. She only allocated him the minutes between meetings, nutrition breaks and training, and she walked fast. Their time together ran out when he failed to keep up with her in the corridor. It wasn't that he didn't try it was just that her legs were longer. Mortimer could recognise her spun-around and pinned down ponytail anywhere, it was the view he saw most of the time. One day, things went differently: Mortimer could keep up and his parent stopped when she reached the gym door.
Fast, like she couldn't catch her breath, she said, “Mortimer, get your things together.”
“What?" Mortimer asked. His heart slipshifted like the ship did when they dropped into standard orbit. "Me? Wha-”
“You played The Challenge.”
As if he could hide the rough pads, Mortimer tucked his thumbs inside his fists. He didn't get it, he’d been careful. Never played under his own I-dent. His plan to beat the Challenger, System-c, was a fail.
“I told you it wasn’t a game,” she stared at the ceiling. “Mortimer, there are reasons… consequences, for our actions.”
Mortimer’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. “Wh-where are you sending me?”
“To The Collective. Perhaps there you can learn some discipline. I should be able to visit. Maybe. Mortimer, I am expecting you to get things under control.” She spun around. The identpad reverberated when she hit lock and hurried into the gym.
The cut off time is December 10th at 11:59PM (EST).
Entries should be emailed to:
Remember to exclude any information from your entry that reveals the age (like, actual age or school grade - hints are good).
When you are ready to email, include the age of your character at the end of your entry.
Brenda will be the only one who sees the age. Our three judges, a university press editor, writer, and college student, will not have the age.
If two out of three judges guess your character's age, your entry will move to the consideration round.
From the consideration round, the top twenty will be chosen and posted on Brenda’s Blog by December 12th.
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL ENTER THE COMPETITION?
