Writing Challenge winner!
A big thank you to the authors who participated in our writing challenge! We were looking for something that grabbed our attention in the first paragraph and made us want to read more. A pretty tall order, I know!
While our judges were pretty split on the winner, the unique and fresh opening written by Ed Horton about a black clad Pillsbury dough boy gets the prize. Congratulations, Ed! You've won a copy of Recipe for Murder by Lisa Harris.
Here are some final questions to ask yourself when you look at the opening of your own work in progress.
1. Is your opening tight and to the point?
2. Do you use any clichés?
3. Have you given a clear sense of location?
4. Have you started your story in the best place?
5. Is your wording clear?
6. Does your opening portray the correct tone?
7. Do your sentences contain a variety of grammatical structures?
8. Have you included any back story? (Don’t!)
9. Does it sound like the opening of other novels you’ve read? (In other words, is it fresh? Or too ordinary?)
I know at least one person (sorry Renee) missed the cut of for the voting, so let us know by leaving a comment if you'd like to see more writing challenges!
The KMIS team
While our judges were pretty split on the winner, the unique and fresh opening written by Ed Horton about a black clad Pillsbury dough boy gets the prize. Congratulations, Ed! You've won a copy of Recipe for Murder by Lisa Harris.
Here are some final questions to ask yourself when you look at the opening of your own work in progress.
1. Is your opening tight and to the point?
2. Do you use any clichés?
3. Have you given a clear sense of location?
4. Have you started your story in the best place?
5. Is your wording clear?
6. Does your opening portray the correct tone?
7. Do your sentences contain a variety of grammatical structures?
8. Have you included any back story? (Don’t!)
9. Does it sound like the opening of other novels you’ve read? (In other words, is it fresh? Or too ordinary?)
I know at least one person (sorry Renee) missed the cut of for the voting, so let us know by leaving a comment if you'd like to see more writing challenges!
The KMIS team
posted by Lisa Harris at 7:08 AM
4 Comments:
Yes, I would! And I would like your panel of experts to make suggestions on how we could improve upon the hooks that were entered in the contest!
Thank you. I look forward to reading Recipe for Murder.
Personally, I enjoy contests like this one--not because you selected my entry, although, I admit, that felt good--but because I learn from the effort I put into entering and from exposure to the creativity and styles of other contestants. For example, Renee's opener immediately sucked me, leaving my mind screaming, "What happens next?"
I'm glad you all enjoyed this! I know I enjoyed having to stop and think what elements did catch my eye. These are things I want to incorporate into my own stories.
If you participated in this challenge and would like to know what our judges said, please leave a comment and later in the week I'll share those who gave permission. (I promise I'll be kind!) This is definitely a good learning exercise for all of us!
Lisa
Sure, you can use mine. It's actually a prologue hook. I have another one in chapter one.
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