Writing contest mania continues

By Lucianne Poole

Have your say in the novel-writing contest I entered!

With your help, I may inch closer to landing an agent for my novel.

Miss Snark's First Victim's Baker's Dozen novel writing contest is now open to critiques. This means you can have your say in the contest I mentioned in an earlier post, and in which I was chosen as a finalist. Yay!

Past winners have gone on to successful careers as novelists (hopefully, I'll be among the ranks).

How does this writing contest work? On Dec. 4, 2012, 15 agents will place bids on the finalists' entries (short description and first 250 words), with requested material going to the highest bidder.

Critiquing opened Nov. 30, 2012 and continues til Dec. 5, 2012. If you're interested, please provide feedback on any of the 60 entries (two categories).

These contests help "new" writers like me to find out if they are on the right track (whether we "win" an agent or not) and what you, the reader, are looking for. The genres range from young adult (YA) to women's fiction, romance and thrillers.

At 250 words, they are quick reads and, as finalists, these entries have all been pre-screened. So they are good to amazing. The entries are also anonymous, so I won't tell you which is mine, except to give you two hints: all entries are numbered and mine is between 1 and 12. and it is not paranormal romance!

If you would like to provide critique, here are some guidelines from Miss Snark's First Victim:

• Please use a screen name instead of "Anonymous". Using a screen name does not require that you have a Blogger account, or any other account. Simply choose the "Name/URL" option for signing in, and type whatever screen name you'd like to use. The URL part isn't necessary.
• Your critique should focus on the actual writing. 
• As always, a mixture of tact and honesty is the best approach.
• Please DO NOT CRITIQUE during the auction (Tuesday, Dec. 4, 11 a.m. EST to Wednesday, Dec. 5, 11 a.m. EST).

schedule:

Nov. 30: 60 winning entries posted on Miss Snark's First Victim

Dec. 4: auction is LIVE at 11 a.m. EDT (agents will place bids)

Dec. 5: auction closes at 11 a.m. EDT and critiquing continues

Dec. 6: winners announced

Ready to critique? Go to the excellent blog of Miss Snark's First Victim.

How do you feel about critiquing? Ever done it before? Tell me about yourself. Please comment below.

Since I've blogged twice this week (phew!), there will be no blog for Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012.