Calling all romance writers in search of a critique group. I’m hosting a contest so you can show your stuff. Tell your friends!
Contest Details:
• This contest is only for romance writers (all sub-genres including genres with romantic elements) who are seeking a critique group. Sorry. That’s the point of the contest.
• All entrants must be 18 years or older.
• Entries should be one-two pages from an unpublished manuscript, double spaced, 12 pt. font., Times New Roman.
• This is a two part contest. The first part is the sample writing page open to all contestants and the second part is only for the finalists. That’ll be a bio/questionnaire to fill out because our group wants to know we’re compatible both in our writing styles and personalities. Specific questions will be posted or sent to the finalists.
• Entries will be judged on the quality of the writing, but we aren’t expecting perfection. Please send us your best work without external help. We want to see how well YOU write, not your critique partner.
• All entries are due by midnight Wednesday, June 10, 2009
• One entry per person, unpublished work only.
• Send entry in the body of an e-mail (I will NOT open anything with an attachment): lynnette_labelle@hotmail.com
• You should expect an e-mail from me confirming I received your entry. If you haven't gotten one within 24 hours, double check the e-mail address. Note: my name is spelled with two n's. LyNNette. If you don't spell it correctly in my e-mail address, I won't get the message.
• Finalists will be announced and notified by e-mail some time during the week of June 14-20.
The PRIZE:
• Membership for 3 lucky writers to a small (online) critique group for romance writers *
• Note: This new critique group is looking for members who are willing to critique at least ONE chapter a week. (That's one chapter total, not per person.) We want to expand from 3 to 6 people (and possibly 8 at some point).
If you have any questions about the contest or the critique group, ask away.
*We reserve the right to not choose anyone if we don't feel a good fit for our critique group.
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Thanks for the heads up about your contest. I definitely want to participate. The MS I'm working on now is still pretty rough, I'm in the first draft. What kind of writing sample do you want? A scene that is specifically romantic or any sample from the MS whether it's a love scene or not? you can e-mail me at mkdbail@gmail.com, or just answer here and I'll check back.
ReplyDeletethanks!!!
Hi, Embee. I'll answer here so everyone else can see my response and I don't have to repeat myself.
ReplyDeleteNo, it doesn't have to be a romantic scene at all. I just want to know you're a romance writer. Actually, I'd prefer it not be a love scene because to a certain extent, they all "sound" the same. However, the rest of the book would be different and that's how I'd get a better idea of your style, etc...
Thanks for asking. Looking forward to reading your work.
Lynnette Labelle
Smart idea to form a critique group!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to all you romance novelists out there. Unfortunately, while I'm a hopeless romantic in person, it's the one area I rarely can write effectively. Oh well, here's hoping the next one will be something I can jump in on.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to find critique partners!
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting!
ReplyDeleteLynnette: Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm not a romance writer - hopefully literary/women's fiction and essay. I do know many romance and paranormal writers though. Will pass it on to them.
ReplyDeleteI might be interested in submitting - do you have a time/day of the week you all normally "meet" online, or is it less structured? Just curious. :-) I'll see what I can put together from my latest WIP.
ReplyDeleteEric: Sorry. Maybe next time.
ReplyDeleteMidlife Jobhunter: Yes, please pass the word along to other romance and paranormal writers.
Jamie D: We wouldn't "meet" online, unless by chance. It would be in a Yahoo group where you post your chapters and critiques whenever it's convenient to you. The only thing is that there will be a minimum crit of one a week to keep the group going. The last group I was in kind of died and I don't want that to happen.
Lynnette Labelle
I don't write romance, so I'm out--but I think this is a great idea to find crit group members!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling I'll be coming back to visit since I've started writing again and have so much to learn about how the process works. I have nothing for submission but love the idea of the critique group. Good luck to everyone! Thanks for visiting my blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteThe contest and the group sounds great. I have a question and figured I'd ask it here in case anyone else is wondering.
You said 3-6 people and the critiques will be once a week. Are you talking about a chapter once a week from 3-6 people?
Thanks for the questions, Vicki. Right now, there are three people in the group. We would like three more for a total of six. Eventually, we may go as large as eight, but that's my absolute max and there'd really have to be a good reason to go there.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who puts a chapter up for critique has the opportunity of getting their work critiqued each week, but that all depends on how much everyone crits. The stipulation is that everyone has to critique one chapter a week. That doesn't mean one chapter per person per week. Just one. We'll try to come up with a way that's fair, but also allows everyone to get their chapter critiqued by at least one person a week. It's been my experience that even if you have a required one crit a week to do, often people will do more than that, so maybe it'll work itself out that way.
Also, I'm not sure if this is what you meant in your question, but I'll clarify anyway... Just because you'd only have to critique once a week, once that's done, you can still come back and crit more or read what other people have critiqued. It's not like there's going to be some sort of lock down and you can only access the site once a week. It'll be open to members 24-7.
Does that answer your questions? If not, let me know.
Lynnette Labelle
This contest is great, I'll be mentioning it on my blog.
ReplyDelete(Provided that is okay with you!)
Thanks Lynnette, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Since we're all writing, I wasn't sure how the time would work if we needed to crit 3-6 chapters each week of other work and write our own as well. :)
ReplyDeleteThis makes perfect sense and one chapter isn't hard to do at all. And depending on the week any of us might have time to crit more than one chapter.
Of course I have another question. I usually do. ;) Do you have different genre's in the group, such as historical, paranomal, RS, etc...? The only reason I ask is I've found if people don't read certain genre's they sometimes don't like to crit them or perhaps don't understand them.
Rebecca: Yes, please do mention it to as many writers as possible. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteVicki: I find that having romance as the link that ties us all together helps. I write romantic suspense and sometimes light paranormal romance. The other gals write paranormal (time travel) and contemp. We met through another crit group that kind of died (except for the three of us). In that group, there were all kinds of genres, so I know what you mean. However, I didn't find there was all that much of a problem, unless someone wrote sci-fi or children's books. If someone writes historical, I might not know the "rules", but I can tell if a story doesn't work.
I hope that helps.
Lynnette Labelle
I write romantic suspense so I might give it a go. :) Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteCool contest, Lynnette.
ReplyDeleteCan I put this on a side bar of my blog? For those who visit me to know about what's going on here? Would that be alright with you?
Hawk
Hawk: That would be great. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCynthia: Yes, you should enter. I write romantic suspense, too. Could be fun!
ReplyDeleteLynnette Labelle
Cool - it's done! And good luck!
ReplyDeleteHawk
Hi Lynnette,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog. I don't think I'm a fit for your contest, as my current WIP is a contemporary women's fiction/office drama -- that's the best I can explain it so far!
But this sounds like a great contest, what a creative way to get a crit group going. Best of luck to you and everyone who submits. I like the structure you're proposing. I think having clear guidelines and expectations is half the battle of maintaining a successful group.
I'll be emntioning this on my blog over the next week thanks for bringing it up Lynnette. I've also linked your blog on mine so here's to hoping more people will hear about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hawk, Lisa, and Rebecca.
ReplyDeleteLynnette Labelle
Sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful contest! I wish my current suspense was romance. My next ms will be a romantic suspense. I hope everyone has fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog! I write fantasy with romance elements, so I hope I'd qualify for the contest!
ReplyDeleteMy post tomorrow was actually going to be about critique groups - I was going to start one too! However, I'd love to join yours if I can! I'll send you a page of my ms, but I'm worried about it as my ms is in the VERY rough first draft stage!
Thanks for telling me about this contest. I'll see what I can come up with to send in. I wouldn't really say I write romance, specifically, but there are elements in my YA writing. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I already let you know, but I linked to your contest from my blog. Here's the link: http://michellereynoso.blogspot.com/2009/06/contest-alert-for-romance-writers.html
ReplyDelete