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All of that is well and good, but what’s the ultimate POINT of entering contests geared toward unpublished authors?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!

The 12 Stages of the Writing Contest Journey

The Winding Road in front of Pam's House

by Pam Hillman

Do you enter a lot of writing contests? Have you ever wondered about some of your weird reactions to contest scores but have been too embarrassed to share them with friends and family because…well, you know, it’s just weird! lol

Having entered hundreds of contests before receiving my first contract, I put together the 12 stages of the Writing Contest Journey. See if you relate to some of these.

Stage 1: You enter your first contest. You’re absolutely terrified, hoping for a kernel of encouragement that you MIGHT have a tiny bit of writing talent.

Stage 2: You survive your first couple of contests and throw your hat in the ring a few more times. Still terrified, but you’ve used every bit of advice from the first few contests and are hoping to up your scores. Here is the time where you have to research POV, GMC, head-hopping, clichés, scene and sequel, sagging middles, black moments. Ack!!!

Stage 3: But you persevere and move forward for another round. The mechanics (punctuation/grammar) are much better, so now you can now concentrate on cliches and craft.

Stage 4: You still don’t know why one judge dings you for a cliché and the other one doesn’t, or why one judge loves your heroine, but the other thinks she’s too stupid to live, but your scores are better (most of the time) and you’ve got a pretty good handle on POV. Now you really have contest fever, and you’re dreaming of a finalist slot, but you’re still not sure if you’re ready yet.

The fenced in "lane" behind Pam's house going toward the hay field.

Stage 5: Finally, you snag a finalist slot!!! But was it a fluke? Can you do it again? With that first finalist slot, you’re just thrilled to final. If there are 4 finalists, you know you’re not ready to win (what would you DO if an editor asked for a complete????), but you’d rather not end up #4 either. 2nd or 3rd place would be perfect.

Stage 6: You are a star! You finalled in a writing contest. You’ve proved to yourself and the publishing world that you can write. It’s just a matter of weeks (or the next contest) where big name agent or editor discovers you. Then one of your manuscripts that has already finalled and/or won in a couple of contests crashes and burns and comes in dead last in a field of 52. You’re a has-been before you had a chance to be. Sigh.

The old Natchez Trace north of Natchez, MS. Wagons and travelers
wore this trail down over hundreds of years.

Stage 7: This is where you get serious. You get a little bit mad at how hard this is, how subjective, and you get a lot hardheaded. This is where you decide to fish or cut bait. All these thoughts run through your mind as you’re shredding your latest masterpiece. Breaking in is too hard! There’s too much to learn! But there’s something there that makes you want to try for one more rung of the publishing ladder. So you do. After all, that manuscript just won 3 contests. By this time, you’ve developed some writing buddies who can help pull you through this stage.

Stage 8: You pull up your big girl panties, grit your teeth and declare you’re going out there again. You’ve realized this is BUSINESS, not just fun-and-games, and that it is subjective, and everyone isn’t going to like what you do, but you’ve got enough feedback under your belt to know that SOME people do like what you do, and that’s enough to keep you going.

Stage 9: Now you get strategic. You develop a plan. You figure out which genre you’re most passionate about, you figure out what houses you’re best suited for, you figure out which of the half-dozen manuscripts you’re working on are the best you’ve got, and you run with that. Here you start finalling and winning more and more contests.

Beautiful shaded lane between Pam's house and her mother's house.

Stage 10: You’ve got a lot of contests under your belt, maybe even signed with an agent. Editors are requesting your stuff. Here, you’re likely to cut down on the number of contests you enter, just entering the big ones, and maybe a couple just because a certain editor or agent is judging. If you have an agent to send your stuff out, entering lots and lots of contests isn’t as critical.

Stage 11: You’re still in contest mode, but you’re very selective, and you only enter your absolute BEST work. It’s not exactly smart to enter a half-baked idea that MIGHT get in front of that editor who’s already got one of your best stories sitting on his or her desk.

Stage 12: Well, since these stages were about entering CONTESTS, I guess this is the last stage. At some point, an editor is going to pick up the phone and call you or your agent and offer a contract, and when you accept, you are ineligible to enter contests for the unpublished. And you enter a whole new set of stages as a published author.

Like the hero’s journey, these stages can be reversed, you can go through the same stage more than once, and you might even skip some of them, but for most of us, they’re probably much the same. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you make it to stage 12, the odds of you crossing the bridge to publication are pretty high.

Pam's mother-in-law's bridge to nowhere. lol Actually, it goes to a
delightful island in the middle of their pond. Great fishing
spot and her yard is filled with gorgeous flowers and photo opps.

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Ten Writing Tips from a Legend to Strengthen your Contest Entry

 

Erica Vetsch here with you today. (No, I'm not the LEGEND mentioned in the title of this blog.)

It's Writing Contest Season, and I am a Writing Contest Judge. Every year, I judge in several writing contests, specializing in the area of pre-published/unpublished fiction. I enjoy this work, helping newer authors strengthen their writing, pointing them to great resources for learning, encouraging them in their journey to publication.

But I do find myself making the same comments on many entries. Pointing out the same writing weaknesses that need some attention. 

An entry without these common mistakes stands out, shines, and is rewarded with HIGH MARKS!

If you would like your entry to be among these rare few, I encourage you to consider Ten Writing Rules of that literary TITAN, Elmore Leonard.

“Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing” With Erica Vetsch’s comments in red. 


1. Never open a book with weather. (Just don’t. It’s the epitome of cliché)

2. Avoid prologues. (Most of the time, using a prologue means you’re starting the story in the wrong place, you fear your opening isn’t compelling enough to stand alone, or you’re trying to dump information on the reader that you think they should know, but you aren’t certain how to trickle in later.)

3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. (It’s too distracting to have people cackling, chortling, growling, squeaking, etc.)

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely. (Let the dialogue and the mood you’ve created indicate the tone and tenor of the words being said. Use visceral and visual reactions rather than adverbs to show rather than tell the reader what’s going on.)

5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. ( SO. MANY. EXCLAMATION. POINTS!!!!! I would venture to say that 95% of the contest entries I judge have a scattering of random exclamation points used with even the mildest dialogue. Fictional dialogue isn’t written like your text messages! Stop! Shouting! At! The! Reader! Because that’s what an exclamation point means in fiction. Someone actually screaming.)

6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose." (Lazy, clichéd writing. If the reader can finish a sentence with a familiar phrase…dead as a __________ or quiet as a ____________ your writing is cliché. Freshen it up with a twist, or take that cliché up a notch. An illustration from author James Scott Bell: Instead of writing “She looked like a million bucks.” Write “She looked like a million bucks, tax-free.”)

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. (Dialects are exhausting to read. Sprinkle in enough for the reader to catch the flavor, but don’t belabor the point by dropping every g in -ing words or dropping all the ‘haitches’ in a British accent.)

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. (Allow the reader to fill in some of the details. It invests the reader in the character as they imagine them. A few key descriptors will do. Don’t make a catalog list of features, mannerisms, dress, etc.)

9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things. (The days of the ten-page description of a sunset died with Nathaniel Hawthorne. Today’s readers won’t sit still for lengthy descriptions like this. Instead, have your character interact with the setting with a few tiny hints. If you say your heroine walked to the window and pulled aside the calico curtain, the reader will fill in the surroundings of what they think a room with calico curtains looks like. Likewise, you could have your heroine walk to the window and pull aside the velvet drape, and an entirely different image of a room appears. Either way, you've allowed the reader to invest in the scene, creating the setting from a few choice words.)

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. (If you’re bored, so will the reader be. Make sure every sentence, every paragraph, every scene is advancing the story and ratcheting up the tension/conflict. Keep the reader turning pages.)



Leonard’s most important rule is one that sums up the 10.



"If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” (Enough said.)

― Elmore Leonard



Are you entering any writing contests this year? Have you been given a pithy piece of advice that has made your writing better? I’d love to hear it!

Jane Austen meets Sherlock Holmes in this new Regency mystery series

Newly returned from finishing school, Lady Juliette Thorndike is ready to debut in London society. Due to her years away, she hasn't spent much time with her parents, and sees them only as the flighty, dilettante couple the other nobles love. But when they disappear, she discovers she never really knew them at all. They've been living double lives as government spies--and they're only the latest in a long history of espionage that is the family's legacy.

Now Lady Juliette is determined to continue their work. Mentored by her uncle, she plunges into the dangerous world of spy craft. From the glittering ballrooms of London to the fox hunts, regattas, and soirees of country high society, she must chase down hidden clues, solve the mysterious code her parents left behind, and stay out of danger. All the while, she has to keep her endeavors a secret from her best friend and her suitors--not to mention nosy, irritatingly handsome Bow Street runner Daniel Swann, who suspects her of a daring theft.

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The Debutante's Code is now out in the world! You can get your copy HERE: https://amzn.to/3GQnoZt Or wherever you buy your fiction! 

Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. She’s a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota, and she is married to her total opposite and soul mate! When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, www.ericavetsch.com where you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at https://www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/ where she spends way too much time!