To all my writing friends with WIPs (Works in Progress to my non-writing friends) I’m passing this along,Nathan Bransford – Literary Agent is holding his 2nd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge (SUFPCx2).
Nathan’s “Rules”(he reserves the the right to be capricious, arbitrary, and whatever, he is, after all, a literary agent):
1. Please post the first paragraph of any work-in-progress in the comments section of THIS POST. The deadline for entry is THURSDAY 4pm Pacific time, at which point entries will be closed. Finalists will be announced on Friday, at which time you will exercise your democratic rights to choose a grand prize super awesome winner.
2. You may enter once, once you may enter, and enter once you may.
3. Spreading word about the contest is strongly encouraged.
4. I will be sole judge this time. Bwa ha ha.
5. A word on word count: I am not imposing a word count on the paragraphs. However, a paragraph that is too long may lose points in the judge’s eyes. Use your own discretion.
THE PRIZES:
The grand prize super awesome winner of the SUFPCx2 will win their choice of a partial critique, query critique or 15 minute phone conversation in which we can discuss topics ranging from reality TV shows to, you know, publishing. Your choice. Runners up will receive query critiques and/or other agreed-upon prizes.
I’ve already entered my WIP’s first paragraph. How about you? Are you game?