Y'All Ready for This?

Here we go…

The Yo-Dawg-Show-Me-What-You-Got
Double Decker CHALLENGE

~ R&R’s Inaugural Writing Contest ~

Why a Double Decker, you ask? Well, because this is a TWO PART contest. And why Yo-Dawg? Because I think Randy Jackson is the coolest, naturally, and because American Idol is on tonight.

Ahem.

THE CHALLENGE: I will give you the first line for a novel. You will write the first page of the novel, 300 words max.

BUT, here’s the kicker. That’s the SECOND part of the contest. The first part is:

YOU will send me the first line of the novel. Woo hoo, isn’t this fun???

WE HAVE PRIZES, TOO. I will award a prize to one winner in each part of the Challenge. What’s the prize? I’ll give an evaluation of the WIP of your choice (WIP=work in progress) , either a query, a book proposal, or the first ten pages of a novel. If I am feeling really generous, this might even include a phone call, we'll see. Yes, there will be TWO winners. Unless the same person wins both parts of the Challenge…we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.

The Challenge Specifics

First part:

Compose the first sentence of a novel. It shouldn’t be too genre-specific, i.e. don’t make it obviously fantasy or sci-fi or something. It should be intriguing, immediately draw the reader into the story (what story? no one knows) and make me want to read more.

UPDATED Deadline: Saturday, March 22 at midnight Mountain Time.

Send to: rg9663-yodawg AT yahoo.com. Yes, you will be sending your entries via email. As part of announcing the contest results, all my favorite “first lines” will appear on the blog. Possibly with my thoughts on each one. That is, if I can come up with an opinion about them. Not sure; you know sometimes I have a hard time expressing myself.

Results: I am tentatively planning to post the results around Wednesday the 26th. That’s when you’ll know the first line you have to work with on the SECOND PART of the contest.

Second part:

Write the first 300 words of a novel using the first line I give you. This needs to be submitted directly in email, NO ATTACHMENTS.

Deadline: You will be working on this while I am on vacation skiing Vail and Beaver Creek. (I will be sure to think of you while I’m swishing down the slopes trying to keep up with my kids.) The deadline for the first page is Wednesday, April 2nd, midnight.

Send to: rg9663-yodawg AT yahoo.com. Again, no attachments.

Results: Not sure how long it will take me to get through these. I’m going to be at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference for a couple days (April 4-5) so I might not get on to the judging right away. However, I’ll keep you updated and attempt to come up with a winner two weeks after the deadline… making that… let me look at my calendar again… Wednesday, April 16th.

And because I KNOW how much writers enjoy abiding by THE RULES (ha ha I crack myself up)… here they are:

1. On the first-page portion, you can be under 300 words but NOT over. This is kinda like The Price is Right. Remember that? I will choose the best entry that doesn’t exceed 300 words. (The first sentence portion of the Challenge has no word count guideline.)

2. I will only accept entries sent via the given email address. No attachments, no entries in the blog comments.

3. If you have a question, put it in the comments, DO NOT send it to the special YoDawg email address.

4. This is not a contest about genre, it is about writing an intriguing first page regardless of which genre you choose. I will do my level best NOT to be biased against certain genres or toward others. (It won't be hard because I love good writing, regardless of genre.)

5. In the First-Line portion of the Challenge, you may submit up to FIVE ENTRIES. In the second part (the first page) ONLY ONE ENTRY per person.

6. Once you submit, that’s it, that’s your submission, no revisions allowed.

7. This goes without saying, because I know y'all are totally upstanding individuals bursting with character and integrity... but only ORIGINAL works are allowed. Don't rip the first line from your favorite novel and try to put one over on me!!!

8. Remember this Challenge is just for FUN! Well, it's also a good writing exercise, and we all need those, right? But look, it's not like it's important or anything. So don't treat it as such. I just really want you to have fun, stretch yourself, and maybe learn a little something in the process.

9. I reserve the right to change any rule or deadline at any time. That’s what you get when you read the blog of a flighty woman an overbooked agent.

I will probably choose runners-up and honorable mentions, and post them on the blog with my thoughts. The prize for those will be that your constantly-crushed writer’s ego will be inflated for a day or so until it wears off.

Future blog posts may include critiques of the contest entries, so consider yourself warned.

Later this week, I am going to do a couple of posts about writing an effective first line, and a captivating first page.

So, that's it. Spread the news!!! And... have fun!!!