a wannabe writer's blog » contests

and the winner is…

Amanda Plavich — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:30:56 +0000

Over the last week, I held my first ever contest. Can I say just how much I enjoyed doing this? First of all, every entry was so great and I just had fun reading them. Secondly, I just liked doing it. :D

I know that I am so glad I didn’t have to judge these because I still haven’t picked a favorite. Good thing I picked a judge that developed a system!

First, the poll winner. I asked for public votes over the weekend and this person wins a $15 gift certificate to Amazon. With 33% of the vote, the winner is:

CLAIRE GILLIAN!

Congrats!

And for the judged portion, I was given an overall winner, plus two honorable mentions. The overall winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.

First, the HONORABLE MENTIONS, with comments:

Madeleine

“You’ve got to pee before you can zip up your pants.”
Great opening line.

Krista

“My mother’s mouth turned down everytime she saw a cigarette dangling out of Jules heavily painted lips or my stringly hair stuffed into a dirty ball cap.”
This is the image that caught my attention. I’d enjoy reading closer to the opener.

And apparently, the public liked the same entry as my judge. The OVERALL WINNER is:

CLAIRE GILLIAN!

Here is what led to her selection (in the judge’s words):

“I judged the entries on a 5 point system using four categories. I was judging on unique premise, writing voice, the hook, and a desire to keep reading.

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Claire: It lost a little in the points for premise because of the vampire theme, but it did very well in all the other categories. Her writing voice is clear and easy to follow. The main character’s attitude and presence was immediate and I very much appreciated that. It sucked me into the story quickly. – No pun intended. :) – I was interested to see where this story was going.

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Notes on the excerpt: I would suggest the author use this sentence for the opener… “I really don’t know why he bothered, why he hadn’t just killed me instead of leaving me this way.”

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I enjoyed the part about the shoes and think that might could happen sooner in the opener.

Her premise is good, but the vampire thing would make me groan a bit if I were picking this off the shelf. However, Claire’s description of where the book is going sounds interesting. So if she can get to those plot points fast, I think it would be very helpful.”

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I want to thank everyone who took the time to enter! This was fun! So much fun, I might just have to do it again.

Claire, I will send your gift certificates to the e-mail you entered, unless you tell me another one you’d like it sent to. :-)

cast your vote

Amanda Plavich — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:00:58 +0000

There were some awesome entries into my contest! Thanks guys!

I love beginnings, so it was fun to see all of the different approaches.

Encourage your friends and whoever to come read the entries and vote!

Come back on Tuesday evening to see the two prize winners (judges pick and poll winner). The poll will be closed on Tuesday at noon. You can only vote once per day (per computer)!

CLICK TO READ ALL ENTRIES!

Good luck!!

my first contest

Amanda Plavich — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:12:57 +0000

I’m feeling happy and giving tonight, so I thought I’d host a contest! My real-life buddy just ran an AWESOME one on finding inspiration and I would have entered if I hadn’t already owned the prize. ;-) BTW, if you don’t have The 3 A.M. Epiphany, check it out. Regan (the aforementioned friend) bought it for me when she first heard I was starting to write and it has awesome exercises in it. Yes, she’s an awesome friend, in case you were wondering.

Now, the contest.

I am sucker for novel beginnings, so I thought I’d cater to that since…well…it’s my contest and I’ll do what I want to.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

First: Follow me on twitter because I want followers, what can I say? Like I said…my contest…my rules! :D I say SUPER insightful stuff every day. Okay, not really, but I’m a nice girl! If you don’t have Twitter, don’t worry about it (or if you are super picky about who you follow, that’s fine, too – I won’t tar and feather your entry).

Second: Enter the title and up to the first 250 words of a WIP into the comments section of this post. Please only enter once! You are welcome to give a small blurb about the plot after your entry if you want. It might help to mention the genre, too. Make sure you include a real e-mail address because that is how you will receive your prize!

You have until Saturday night (March 13, 2010) at 11:59 EST to enter. Entries after that not be entered.

WHAT DO YOU WIN?

I’ll have two winners.

The first winner will be selected by some unbiased writerly friends whom I’ve asked to judge. That person will win a $25 gift card to Amazon*. This way it’s not just my opinion that counts.

The second winner will come from a public poll. It will begin Sunday, March 14, 2010 at noon. It will close Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at noon. The winner of the public poll will win a $15 gift card to Amazon*.

Both winners will be announced Tuesday, March 16th. It will probably be in the evening.

Spread the word!

*If you are morally opposed to Amazon or something, I can do one to an online book store of your choice, just let me know.

This contest is approved by my cutie-patootie son in his Easter outfit: