So this round, instead of our usual writing prompt and 100 words, we're celebrating with a 150 word free write. The idea behind it is that you can submit the first 150 words of your novel and receive feedback from published authors. If you're not writing a novel, no biggie! You can still play. Just keep in mind when you're submitting your 150 words, they should read like the beginning of a story.
Email me your entry by Monday, May 30th at 11:59pm Kansas City time. (Also known as central time.) You can email me at Stephanie(at)GoTeenWriters.com or by clicking here. No attachments please!
You must be 25 or under to participate, and just one entry per person, please. For more rules and a list of FAQs, click here.
Our judge's this round are:
A true Southern woman who knows that any cook worth her gumbo always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, Christa is a writer of not your usual Christian Fiction. She weaves stories of unscripted grace and redemption with threads of hope, humor, and heart.
Walking on Broken Glass is her debut novel. Her next novel, Edge of Grace will be released by Abingdon Press in August of 2011. Her essays have been published in The Ultimate Teacher, Cup of Comfort,Chicken Soup for the Coffee Lover’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Divorced Soul.
Christa is the mother of five adult children, a grandmother of three, and a teacher of high school English. She and her husband Ken live in Abita Springs, Louisiana, where they and their three cats enjoy their time playing golf, dreaming about retirement and dodging hurricanes.
Fred Warren writes science fiction and fantasy. His short stories have appeared in a variety of print and online magazines, including Kaleidotrope, Every Day Fiction, Bards & Sages Quarterly, and Allegory. His first novel, The Muse, debuted in November 2009 from Splashdown Books, and was a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award for book of the year in the speculative genre. Fred works as a government contractor in eastern Kansas, where he lives with his wife and three children. You can find him online at http://frederation.wordpress.com/
Julie Garmon is a Southern author who's not afraid to write real-life dirt, always with a nugget of redemption tucked in the corner. She's been a regular contributor to Daily Guideposts since 2003, and writes on assignment for Guideposts magazine. She's published with Sweet 16, PLUS, Angels on Earth, Homelife, Today's Christian, Today's Christian Woman, www.sober24.com, www.crosswalk.com, and www.urbanministries.com. Julie won a coveted spot to the Guideposts' writers contest in 2004, and was chosen to attend subsequent Guideposts' workshops based on winning entries. She blogs weekly along with her mother for Guideposts at Woman-to-Woman here and for Girls, God, and the Good Life here.
Just want to get something straight here. I can choose any starter sentence that I want?
ReplyDeleteYes, book blogger. 150 words of your choosing :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I can't wait to get started!
ReplyDeleteYeepee!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHip-hip-hooray!
ReplyDeleteSomeone emailed and asked, "When we enter something in a contest, do we still have the right to use it?" ABSOLUTELY. Your material is always 100% yours.
ReplyDeleteCool! King Valun's scribe is entering! I'm desperate to know if I'm any good!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME!!! This sounds like a lot of fun. And we are allowed 50 more words?? Double awesome! Can't wait to dive into this prompt.
ReplyDelete~ Katy
Wooooooooo!!! And now it's at 164! :D Congrats, Steph! Everyone should know about Go Teen Writers. :)
ReplyDeleteSWEET! I can't wait to get started on this one! =D
ReplyDeleteQuick question, this is a one time thing right? Or are you keeping it at 150 words from now on?
Just wondering. =)
-Jazmine
Also, when will we see the results of the first... second... third place winners of the last contest?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the enthusiasm, guys. I'm SO excited to see your entries.
ReplyDeleteJazmine, yes, this will be a one time thing. And the results will be posted tomorrow. I think I failed to mention in my email to you that you were an honorable mention. Sorry I forgot. My kid was waking up from his nap, so I was trying to get all the emails out.
Coolio =) I'll make sure to pick the right one... that is if I can cram good stuff into 150 words. I've come to a problem that I all I'm painting is a picture of what it looks like around her, when the good stuff is maybe like less than 100 words AFTER the beginning lol.
ReplyDeleteIs this all right if it doesn't have a suspenseful hook thing? Because it's gonna be really hard to find one of my books with a good suspenseful hook that I can squeeze into 150 words. =( The one that I picked is probably the best, I took I think it was one of your posts; don't make a normal day beginning, so I didn't.
Anyway, yes I saw that I was in the honorable mentions. I feel honored =D (haha no pun intended :P )
But I really do feel honored. =]
Jazmine, they'll be looking at the overall hook rather than a clincher of a last line. Do they want to read more? Do questions arise that they want answered? Is there a character they're interested in?
ReplyDeleteOkay, thank you. :) That helps, now I know that I don't have to edit it just to make a hook-line-and-sinker, ha-ha. =D
ReplyDeleteAnd it doesn't have to be all 150 words right? Just wondering. =) I'm full of questions, sorry haha.
I want to enter so bad but I'm on vacation and have limited internet access :(
ReplyDeleteOh, and congrats!
ReplyDelete