Thursday, December 02, 2004
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I HAVE ALWAYS DEPENDED ON THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
Though I consider fellow bloggers more friends than strangers. And in reference to the kind and helpful comments of Wes, Amanda, Cheryl and Deb on the previous post, I'll offer some general responses.
It's evident that I did not have a grasp on what defines "Chick Lit" so it's back to square one on learning what that is. My naive assumption that a story about a 20-something's trials and tribulations with men qualifies as chick lit was clearly wrong. Yet as Wes and Amanda point out, one should write what he/she enjoys writing, and not try to fit a particular mold.
My local friend Joan asked how the judges could get a full picture from just three chapters and a synopsis but I have no problem with that. As any wannabe author knows, the beginning must be interesting and entertaining enough to get the reader to want to read more - which I obviously failed to do.
As for the judging, as far as I'm concerned, the $35 entry fee was a real bargain. I didn't want to make my post any longer than it was but in addition to the score sheets that I summarized, each of the two judges interspersed comments throughout the course of the manuscript chapters. This was the first contest I've entered and I don't doubt that there are scams out there but as I intended to suggest by quoting
heavily from the critiques, in this particular contest the judges more than gave me my money's worth with their time, thoughtfulness, and advice.
I did find some irony in this: criticism that what I wrote has been done to death and in the next breath being told I should read and read and read the genre.
In a day or two, I'll put up the advice I got on the second entry. As previously noted, it was for the contest's mystery category and much more autobiographical in setting and characters.
Though I consider fellow bloggers more friends than strangers. And in reference to the kind and helpful comments of Wes, Amanda, Cheryl and Deb on the previous post, I'll offer some general responses.
It's evident that I did not have a grasp on what defines "Chick Lit" so it's back to square one on learning what that is. My naive assumption that a story about a 20-something's trials and tribulations with men qualifies as chick lit was clearly wrong. Yet as Wes and Amanda point out, one should write what he/she enjoys writing, and not try to fit a particular mold.
My local friend Joan asked how the judges could get a full picture from just three chapters and a synopsis but I have no problem with that. As any wannabe author knows, the beginning must be interesting and entertaining enough to get the reader to want to read more - which I obviously failed to do.
As for the judging, as far as I'm concerned, the $35 entry fee was a real bargain. I didn't want to make my post any longer than it was but in addition to the score sheets that I summarized, each of the two judges interspersed comments throughout the course of the manuscript chapters. This was the first contest I've entered and I don't doubt that there are scams out there but as I intended to suggest by quoting
heavily from the critiques, in this particular contest the judges more than gave me my money's worth with their time, thoughtfulness, and advice.
I did find some irony in this: criticism that what I wrote has been done to death and in the next breath being told I should read and read and read the genre.
In a day or two, I'll put up the advice I got on the second entry. As previously noted, it was for the contest's mystery category and much more autobiographical in setting and characters.
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