Thursday, September 22, 2022

First Chapter Dropout


Once long ago I jokingly said to a friend who finaled in RWA’s Golden Heart, like, 10 times and won 3 or 4 times, that I aspired to be her when I grew up. She replied, very sadly, that no, I did NOT want to be her. Yeah, put that way, I could see her point.


Here in Seekerville we’ve talked about getting up the nerve just to ENTER a contest, entering simply for feedback, then getting to the stage of entering because we’ve been consistently finaling and we’re pretty sure our current WIP can make the cut and land in front of an agent or editor.


All of that is well and good, but what’s the ultimate POINT of entering contests geared toward unpublished authors? I mean, past the point of getting your work in front of an editor or an agent? The point is to become ineligible to enter those contests. Right? Right!


And, we don’t get to that point by working and reworking chapter one of a manuscript (or even multiple manuscripts) just for the sake of entering contests. I could have easily become a first chapter dropout because I was a contest junk … uh … queen, as many of the Seekers were. They were more like princesses; I was fanatical!


I know of more than one aspiring author who fell by the wayside because they could never stop tweaking that first chapter and entering it in the next contest to see if it would final. I distinctly remember the first aspiring author I ever met. It was so much fun to have a like-minded person to brainstorm with, to ride to chapter meetings together and talk writing nonstop.  And the fact that she lived fairly close to me at the time made it all the more sweeter!


After two or three years of rewriting the first chapter of her story and getting more and varied feedback from contests, she lost her zeal and couldn’t even remember where she was headed with it in the first place. It was a hodgepodge of contest feedback and she completely gave up writing. And here’s the kicker: She was a good writer and had great ideas!


I’ve had my share of doing the same thing, so I know what I’m talking about! But I saw what happened to a few of my friends, and I didn’t want to be a first chapter dropout. I made myself finish a manuscript, then another, and another.



Don’t be a first chapter dropout: Finish the manuscript.



And you know what? If you’ve never actually finished a manuscript, you’ll be surprised at all the things that will happen during the course of writing the story that will change the opening scene or make the goals and motivations of your characters that much clearer as you write the closing scenes. It can be a real eye-opener, even if you had a detailed synopsis to go by.


At some point you’ll know you need to “retire” your current award winning manuscript from the contest circuit. Only you can decide when to do this, but I would say that if it’s been in front of most of the editors and agents who are judging, and if it’s won every major contest running, then it’s probably time to retire it. If you spot an editor or agent who’s judging that has never seen the manuscript, by all means enter it in that particular contest, but don’t just keep sending the first same chapter to the same final round judges over and over and over. After an editor has seen it in contests 2 or 3 times, unless there’s a major overhaul, that’s probably enough. That’s not to say that they won’t buy it later on. Far from it. They just might. And… for the record, that manuscript might not be your first sale. But with work, it might become a sale.


I imagine at that point they’re ready to see something else from you, so write something else. Write the first chapter and a clear synopsis of the sequel to your first book or something totally new and enter that in a contest and get back to FINISHING your first award winning manuscript.


So, the goal is to start your manuscript, enter a few contests, FINISH the manuscript, and start something new. All this time keep entering contests, making connections, submitting to agents and editors, and somewhere down the road, something will click, and you’ll move one more step up the publishing ladder.


Keep working, keep moving forward to the goal, and publishing will happen.


Now, having said ALL that, I’m a BIG believer in writing contests. I love them all, from the first line ones, to the synopsis ones, to the first chapter ones, and the ones that require a full manuscript. As a published author, I sort of MISS being able to enter those contests anonymously. So, don’t take today’s post as reason NOT to enter contests. Take it as a reason to enter them all (like someone who shall remain nameless… ahem), but always remember the goal….



Don’t be a first chapter dropout. Finish the manuscript!



But while you're writing toward the finish line, check out ACFW's First Impressions Contest. It's for unpublished authors, and all you need to enter is the first 5 pages of your manuscript and a 200 word blurb. Deadline to enter is October 15th!







20 comments:

  1. As someone working on my First Impressions entry as we speak, these are really good reminders. I know I need to actually finish a project because if I can't do that, there really is no point. You've given me a lot to think about. Thank you!

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    1. Glynis, pray for the one God wants you to complete. I'm doing that now as I contemplate the end of Western Dreams and my NEXT project.

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    2. Good luck on your FI entry, and we're cheering you on to finish a project. As Kaybee said, God will show you which project you're the most passionate about, and work on that one.

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    3. You are, right, ladies. God knows which stories are for His glory. Thanks for the encouragement.

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  2. I needed this kick in the pants, Pam. This is where I'm at. I've started a dozen projects, but haven't finished even one. Once I enter it into a contest and it doesn't win, I move on to something else. I am asking all the Seekers to pray for me to actually finish SOMETHING. I'm pretty sure I'm a good writer, but that doesn't matter if I'm not a good finisher. Thank you for speaking this word of truth into our lives today.

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    1. Terri, pray for the one God wants you to finish and keep praying till you know.

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    2. Terri, I will pray for you! You are at that pinnacle of continuing to start new projects or choosing to finish something. Here's a piece of advice. First drafts are MESSY!!!. Write through to the end. There might be (probably WILL be) places where you have to type stuff happens here, so just type it, and keep going. Your first draft might be 50k words in a manuscript that will ultimately be 90K. Yes, my first published novel, Stealing Jake, was such a project. Most of my earlier manuscripts were much shorter than the finished project, but that's the way I write. We've got your back.

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    3. I'm right with you, Terry! Prayers for us both to power through and finish the projects that God has for us!

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  3. Excellent advice, Pam! It's so easy to keep fixing that first chapter, but at some point, you gotta move on. If for no other reason than to have other stories waiting in the wings.

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    1. Another good reason to write through to the end. I still have a few manuscripts that might see the light of day some day. Who knows? :)

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  4. This is a great post, Pam. And timely, too, as we're in the middle of the First Impressions Contest!

    I didn't get the opportunity to make the rounds of the unpubbed contest circuit. My first Genesis entry didn't final. Didn't even score very well. BUT - I learned so much, and that manuscript sold before the next Genesis contest rolled around.
    The takeaway from my experience is that it isn't the Win or the Final that's the most important part of contests, it's getting your manuscript in front of the judges and learning from their comments.

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  5. Pam, isn't it the same as everything in our adult lives? It's about balance. About knowing ourselves and the market and knowing which piece will Go The Distance and which ones should be put aside, at least for now. And it's not always going to make sense. I won the Genesis in my category in 2019, and still haven't been able to place that manuscript, for a variety of reasons. We need to seek God's will for EVERY WORD we put down on a keyboard and trust Him for the results.
    Contests have been good to me. I appreciated the "feedback" stage. And I wouldn't be a visitor to Seekerville, for better or worse, if Mary Connealy hadn't reached out to me from behind a judge's mask years ago. So there's that.
    Not feeling well today so going to wrap it up.
    Kathy Bailey
    Your Kaybee
    Taking the rest of the day off in New Hampshire

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  6. Love this post, Pam! I remember one particular MS I entered and re-entered in contests, and in one bootcamp where an agent looked over my first chapter. Man - did that chapter change and some changes didn't make it better. :( I had to learn how to consider the critique and use what would make the MS stronger. Some critiques give amazing feedback and others aren't so helpful. lol

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    1. It's a juggling act for sure... figuring out what advice works for a story and what doesn't. Sometimes a change might be needed, but maybe it isn't exactly what the judge suggests. I had one judge say that no one would ever buy my manuscript because the hero wasn't being very heroic. She suggested that I completely toss the whole idea.

      But the problem wasn't that he was being un-heroic, but that I hadn't given him enough reason and backstory to make him sympathetic to the reader. Once I figured that out, the story worked.

      If I'd take her advice, the story wouldn't have even been that story. It would have been something totally different.

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  7. Great post, Pam. I have written that entire manuscript, but trying to figure out how to move forward with it now. I am back to working on the opening because I would like to see if I can enter it in the First Impressions. Thanks for the encouragement.

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    1. Good for you, Sandy!!! Keep tweaking it until you're pleased with it, enter it in the FI contest and the Genesis (the next round opens in January) and get another story in the works. You're doing great!

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  8. This is a great post, Pam! I have several of those first chapters that were sent to various contests, one of which did well in contests, but I could never sell the book. It may get published one day, or it may not. Eventually, I had to get out of the rut and move on.

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    1. A rut... yes, that's a good way to put it. There are all kinds of ruts and potholes and "hamster wheels" on this journey and getting stuck in Firstchapteritis land is probably the first big hurdle authors face. And it's a doozy.

      Wow, how's that for a bucketful of mixed metaphors? lol

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