It Was a Dark and Stormy Blogfest Contest – WE HAVE WINNERS!

We have winners!

(actually you all are winners – read on to see why)

Wow, just wow! You all amaze me with your kind words and generous hearts toward your fellow writers. Though I may not have gotten to comment on all your blogs, I did hop around and read lines and comments. We had a few glitches that I feel were straightened out quickly, and regardless of which post you posted your entry on it was read by our fabulous agent judge Weronika Janczuk with D4EO Literary Agency. Go follow her here and here and here and if you want to learn more about D4EO Literary Agency go here.

A few things before I turn it over to Weronika, go to the DNA Writers’ blog here to see who won the followers’ prize and don’t forget to follow me. I will be giving away gifts on the days that are special to me during my birthday month of March. The first prize will be on my son’s birthday, March 1st. And you don’t have to do anything other than follow me to be entered.

With that said, I turn the blog over to Weronkia *the crowd erupts with applause and cheers.*

Weronika Janczuk

MESSAGE FROM THE JUDGE

One thing that everyone should keep in mind is that first lines are terribly difficult to judge—there are too many factors at work for me to consider every one of them. In many instances, the first line isn’t spectacular, but it fits perfectly into a spectacular first paragraph, etc.

I judged these first lines objectively, in a vacuum, you could say—what first lines left me breathless or particularly curious or were superbly impressive in comparison to the others? I’m sure that many of you have wonderful manuscripts, and this isn’t a judgment about the quality of your writing or your manuscript.

Some suggestions: Don’t force multiple phrases in one sentence if they don’t work together. Watch out for too many adverbs and/or adjectives. Read your sentences out loud; check for rhythm and flow. Be wary of clichés. Be wary of trying to force tension by telling the reader something without showing it—it’s not as effective. Most importantly, trust your gut.

Below are winners. I ask that they email me at weronika(at)d4eo(dot)com with CRITIQUE – DARK AND STORMY BLOGFEST in the subject line, pages and queries attached as Word documents (and if you won a critique of both, please send them in separate documents).

Everyone else, feel free to query me! (I am closed temporarily to queries in general, but contest participants are an exception.) Send your query and the first ten pages in the body of an email to the address above, with QUERY – DARK AND STORMY BLOGFEST in the subject line.

If there are any questions, please ask them in the comments. I’ll check in for the next day or two.

Here goes!

FIRST PLACE—critique of first 50 + query

Name: Tabitha Bird
Title: The exquisiteness of broken glass
Genre: Women’s fiction

One thousand black birds dropped from the sky the night I was born.

SECOND PLACE—critique of first 25 + query

Name: Sam Witt
Title: The Bleeding Cure
Genre: Horror

Real friends are up for a kidnapping and won’t complain too much when you get down to the bloodletting.

THIRD PLACE—critique of first 10 + query

Name: Taryn
Title: Splashback
Genre: YA Contemp

The Sour Patch Kids in the bottom of Heidi Maverick’s sparkly clutch probably bothered him the most.

HONORABLE MENTIONS—critique of query

Name: Christi Corbett
Title: Along the Way Home
Genre: Historical Fiction

Every Wednesday Kate stood on the same front porch, her knuckles poised inches from the door, willing herself to finally do the unthinkable–walk away without knocking.

Name: Kathryn Jankowski
Title: WORSE THAN WICKED
Genre: MG fantasy adventure

Any other morning, one of the scavengers sifting through the white sands of Palanga would have found the jewel first, but today Roze arrived at the beach before dawn.

Name: Heather McCorkle
Title: The First Dragonwatcher
Genre YA Fantasy

Chemier loved it when people ran; it made the hunt that much sweeter.

Name: Stephanie Thornton
Title: Mistress of Byzantium
Genre: Historical Fiction

My life began the night my father died.

Name: Vicki Tremper
Title: Kwizera Means Hope
Genre: YA

I did not want to pick tea for a living.

Name: A.L. Sonnichsen
Title: Seagull Rising
Genre: Contemporary YA

Give me a well-sharpened knife.

Name: RJ Dreyer
Title: Thorn
Genre: YA Fantasy

If you saw her, you would think there was no greater joy than to stand on a roof during a storm.

Name: Nicole Wolverton
Title: Between Seasons
Genre: Commercial Fiction

Anyone who thought dying comes easy had shit for brains.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Categories: Misc

43 Comments

J. L. Jackson · February 14, 2011 at 5:00 am

Brenda, thanks for hosting such a wonderful contest! Congrats to all the winners!

Tabitha Bird · February 14, 2011 at 5:08 am

Wow! FIRST PLACE? REALLY!!!! (okay. I’ll stop shouting now)

Thank you, Weronika. I’m wearing a HUGE HUGE smile 🙂

And thank you very much Brenda for such a great comp. This comes at a really good time for me because I put my first book to bed with a really heavy heart and threw myself into a second book. So glad I did. :))

A. Grey · February 14, 2011 at 5:56 am

Super huge congrats to everyone! And a very big THANK YOU to Brenda and Weronika for hosting/judging the contest! 🙂

Morgan Lee · February 14, 2011 at 6:29 am

Congratulations to all the winners! Well done! Thanks to both Brenda and Weronika. It was lots of fun!:)

hopejunkie · February 14, 2011 at 6:31 am

Ahhhh, that’s me! Yay! Thanks for this great opportunity 🙂 It was lots of fun.

Kerri C at CK Farm · February 14, 2011 at 6:43 am

Yay Winners! Thanks ladies for hosting such a wonderful contest!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Lindz · February 14, 2011 at 6:52 am

Congrats guys! Well done!

RaShelle · February 14, 2011 at 7:24 am

Congrats to the winners. Thanks again for the contest, Brenda and Weronika. =D

Margo Kelly · February 14, 2011 at 7:26 am

Congrats to all of the winners! YAY! And thanks to Brenda and Weronika for a fun contest. 🙂

Brenda Drake · February 14, 2011 at 7:27 am

Thank you! I’m so glad you all had a good time. If you didn’t read above, even though Weronika is closed to submissions, she’ll be accepting queries from all the participants. Don’t forget to check above to see what to put in the subject line. 😀

Brenda Drake · February 14, 2011 at 7:29 am

Weronika,

On those queries are you accepting all genres?

gideon 86 · February 14, 2011 at 7:55 am

Congrats to the winners and thank you Brenda and Weronika for hosting and judging the contest.

Michael

erica m. chapman · February 14, 2011 at 8:16 am

Thanks so much for having this contest, Brenda ;o) And huge thank you to Weronika for being such a great judge ;o)

Congrats to all the winners!!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all ;o) <3

christicorbett · February 14, 2011 at 8:19 am

Thanks so much to Weronika and Brenda for hosting such a fantastic contest!

Christi Corbett

Stephanie Thornton · February 14, 2011 at 8:40 am

Thank you Brenda and Weronika for a wonderful contest! I loved reading all the lines!

Congrats to all the winners!

Brenda Drake · February 14, 2011 at 8:40 am

Questions from twitter – all participants – not just the winners – get to send in a query to Weronika for all genres (I just checked my email form her).

Heather · February 14, 2011 at 8:55 am

Weronika’s job could not have been easy. There are some fabulous first sentences here. And oh my gosh, I won an honorable mention and a query critique!!! Thank you so much ladies. *faints*

Brenda Drake · February 14, 2011 at 9:00 am

Heather, she did mention that it was very hard and I bet it was. I read all the entries and I had a hard time picking my favorites.

Mary Mary · February 14, 2011 at 9:38 am

I must say those are some interesting opening lines. Congrats to the winners. What a great contest!

Tina Lynn · February 14, 2011 at 9:41 am

Woo hoo! Yay winners! I have to agree. Every single one of those first lines rocked 🙂

Shannon O'Donnell · February 14, 2011 at 11:02 am

Several of my favorites are on that list. Congrats to the lucky winners, and thank you Weronika and Brenda for such a great contest!! 🙂

Melissa · February 14, 2011 at 11:27 am

Congrats to the winners. There are some excellent first lines here!

Nicole · February 14, 2011 at 11:31 am

Thanks to Brenda for hosting, Weronika for judging, and also to all the participants who offered criticism and advice — it was quite helpful! I’m so pleased to even have landed as an honorable mention.

Amanda Hoving · February 14, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you Brenda and Weronika! This list displayed such a great variety of voice and structure.I’m happy to have found some new writers to watch.

Weronika Janczuk · February 14, 2011 at 1:06 pm

Yes, queries from everyone, regardless of genre. 🙂

kathrynjankowski · February 14, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Wow, I’m thrilled Weronika will be critiquing my query!

Congrats to the winners, and thanks so much, Brenda, for hosting the contest.

Nathalie · February 14, 2011 at 2:59 pm

Congrats to the winners and congrats to a fantastic and fun blogfest Brenda!

Nata · February 14, 2011 at 3:11 pm

Congrats to the winners, some of them made my heart drop to my shoes – which is a good thing. They sound so good! Good job and keep writing!

A.L. Sonnichsen · February 14, 2011 at 3:52 pm

Thank you, Weronika! This was so generous of you. Congratulations to all the winners.

Amy

RJ · February 14, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Thank you so much for the honorable mention!!!

lbdiamond · February 14, 2011 at 7:46 pm

Congrats to the winners!!!

Brenda Drake · February 14, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Awwww, shucks guys, you’re the ones who made it fun! I’m so excited that everyone goes away with something. And yes, Weronika is soooo generous! 😀

C.A. Marshall · February 14, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Yay! HUGE congrats to all the winners!

Thank yous to Brenda and Weronika too! <3

Bekah · February 15, 2011 at 11:56 am

Congratulations to the winners!! This was a great contest and I’m glad I entered. Thanks Brenda and Weronicka

Sam Witt · February 15, 2011 at 2:49 pm

Thank you Brenda for hosting the contest, and Weronika for so graciously taking the time to judge and provide the prize. I’m honored to have come in second, and I look forward to your critique of my query and first 25 pages. Thanks again!

Jonathon Arntson · February 15, 2011 at 7:35 pm

What a fun post to read. Congrats to the winners and thanks for the entertainment!

Catherine A. Winn · February 16, 2011 at 5:25 am

Congratulations to the winners and the ones who won honorable mention! Brenda, this was a fun contest and I enjoyed it as well as learning a lot about first lines from all the entries. Weronika, thanks for going the extra mile allowing queries from the contestants. How fabulous of you!

Donna Earnhardt · February 16, 2011 at 9:51 pm

Oooh! Congratulations! I’m guessing I was the only PB author who subbed to the contest. I suppose I should have entered the first line of my mg or chapter book. Next time!

Beth · February 17, 2011 at 8:13 am

I gave you the irresistibly sweet blog award today.
bethfred.com

Karlene Petitt · February 18, 2011 at 11:05 am

“We have Winners” Oh my gosh… Yes you do! You are a winner yourself. In so many ways. You’ve been Awarded the Stylish Blog Award! http://tinyurl.com/4zxo39u Thanks for being great! Congratulations!!! XOX Karlene

Trisha · February 18, 2011 at 11:47 pm

Congrats to all the winners! 😀

Corinne O'Flynn · February 21, 2011 at 10:55 am

Congrats to all the winners! Such a fabulous contest, I have been opening books and reading first lines with new eyes since. 🙂

Is there a deadline for participants to query Weronika?

Thank you Brenda and Weronika!

Lola Sharp · February 21, 2011 at 6:05 pm

CONGRATS to the winners!! Woohoo! 🙂
The first lines are fabulous. Weronika is a dear for doing this.

Damn, I wish I’d known about this…I’ve been too hunkered down in revisions and unaware of what is going on in the world.

Wonderful contest and entries!
Have a lovely week, Brenda.
Hugs,
Lola