What's In Store For The GH Noodler Blog This Week
We have a great line up this week of topics. Yesterday was wonderful with Theresa Ragan's CHOOSING THE RIGHT ENTRY FOR THE GOLDEN HEART.
Delle Jacobs should be on later today to discuss HOW TO REALLY IRRITATE YOUR JUDGE.
Here's the rest of the line-up:
October 10 - Jill Monroe - HOW TO CUT PAGES FROM YOUR ENTRY
October 11 - Anne Mallory - USING THE GH TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
October 12 - Priscilla Kissinger - LEAVING THE READER WANTING MORE - CHAPTER ENDING/ENTRY ENDING HOOK
Don't forget to comments on the posts for your chance to win a critique.
Good luck!
Labels: Critique Giveaways, Golden Heart
Dealing with Mr. In Between
What if one or two aspects of your writing are merely okay? Your pacing for example isn’t bad; you’re just not getting high praise for it. Or maybe judges like your heroine, but she doesn’t excite you. You created her, shouldn’t you of all people think she’s fabulous? For the short term, with the Golden Heart as your goal, I’d say don’t mess with Mr. In Between. Yup, I said don’t. You’ve already got your revision pencil worn to a nub with accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative. Figuring out why something is so-so is much harder and can take up a lot of time.
Once you turn in your entry, however, I give you full permission to mess with Mr. In Between, because, as I mentioned yesterday, your ultimate goal is selling.
So how do you start with Mr. In Between? First, put away all the returned contest entries you’ve been using to help you analyze the positive and negative aspects of your writing and pick one thing that you would most like to improve. It doesn’t have to be something a judge mentioned. Maybe your dialogue works, but it doesn’t leap off the page, which was a goal of yours when you started your first novel. Deep down, you’ve always wanted to write witty repartee. So make a goal. By the time next year’s GH rolls around, know which writers in your subgenre create the best banter, analyze how these writers do it, listen to the people around you who engage in playful banter, like the couple across the street who invited you over for lasagna. Spend many hours watching television shows that showcase lively banter (Moonlighting and Gilmore Girls come to mind). Apply what you’ve learned to your own writing, and write and rewrite until it sings.
The best way of dealing with Mr. In Between is to remind yourself of the dreams you had for this particular book. That little reminder can re-ignite the spark and move your writing from a perfectly respectable C to that elusive A. With time and dedication, you can do it.
Labels: Critique Giveaways, Golden Heart, revision
Noodler Critique Giveaways for Golden Heart Month
Each week, three winners will be selected at random from the people who comment on that week’s blogs postings, starting midnight Sunday and ending midnight the following Sunday. Winners will be announced on Sundays.
There is a bonus, as well. If the commenting winner mentions being referred to the blog by somebody else, that person also wins. We could have as many as six winners each week!
Each winner will receive a critique of the first 5 pages of their Golden Heart entry from a member of the Wet Noodle Posse (aka a “Noodler”). Critiques will focus on how to make this particular entry the best it can be for the Golden Heart.
Comment once and you are entered that week, but you have to really say something, not just "nice blog" or "this is interesting," and you can comment as often as you like. Winners will be randomly selected. A winner may not win more than one critique per week, but a winner will be eligible to win again subsequent weeks. Each week brings a new chance to win.
All entries and critiques will be by email.
Winners must submit their entry by Nov 1 at the latest, but are encouraged to submit as soon as possible. Critiquers will return the entry within 7 days.
One Grand Prize winner will be selected on Nov 1 from all the people who comment on all the blogs for the entire month of October (ending 12:00 am Oct 31). The Grand Prize winner will receive a critique of the partial and synopsis to be entered in the Golden Heart (the 55 pages the GH allows). The entry must be sent by Nov 7 and the critique will be returned by Dec 1. Winner may select their critiquer from a list of Wet Noodle Posse volunteers to be posted.
A caution. Critiques will merely be the opinion of the critiquer and give no guarantee that making any of their suggested changes will ensure success in the Golden Heart (although we hope they will!). When winners provide their entry pages, they are also indicating agreement to hold the critiquer and the Wet Noodle Posse blameless for any results or effects of the critique.
The content of entries will be held in the strictest confidence and will be seen only by the contest coordinators and the critiquer. All entries will be deleted when the contest is done.
No one can guarantee success in the Golden Heart, because judging is so subjective, but by offering critiques, we are hoping our expertise will help. Becoming a Golden Heart finalist is a thrill, one we wish everyone could experience. That is why we are offering our month of Golden Heart tips and our critiques.
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The Wet Noodle Posse
Labels: Critique Giveaways, Golden Heart
