Do you want to find out what a teen thinks about the opening pages of your young adult (all genres)? Sign up for The Teenaged Nitpick‘s critiques. Not only is The Teenaged Nitpick a teen, he’s a writer and an intern with Pam van Hylckama of Larsen Pomada. To Learn more about John Hansen go to his blog here.

On Thursday, September 20, I’ll choose 10 lucky winners from the Rafflecopter below. The Teenaged Nitpick will critique two a day starting September 24 and I’ll put them up on the blog. If you don’t make the cut, this is a fabulous opportunity to see what John has to say in his critiques. Also, since getting multiple opinions helps a writer polish his or her work, I’ll be offering up critiques to a few commenters. 

After the names are posted on September 20, the winners will have 24 hours to email their first page before I pick a new name for the workshop. Details on where to send your entries and formatting will be on the winners’ post.

So sign up now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Coming up on the blog…

Win a copy of TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes coming from Month9Books this October. Go here for details.

Pitch your novella to Month9Books October 1. For details, go here.

A Super Secret PItch Contest!

A super secret pitch contest October 15-19. Details posted September 20. Hint: You’ll need time to get this pitch together!

Trick or Treat with and Agent 
Details coming September 29!
Categories: Misc

21 Comments

Nicole Zoltack · September 17, 2012 at 5:51 am

I adore all of the contest you have! As for workshops – queries are always good. Loglines. That’s really all that comes to mind off the top of my head.

Rebecca T. · September 17, 2012 at 6:57 am

This looks super exciting! How have I never found my way here before?

Sarah Negovetich · September 17, 2012 at 7:18 am

Thanks for another great contest, Brenda. For workshops, there are so many chances to have people look at the start of your work, but I’d love to see workshops targeted toward different kinds of scenes from the middle of our work.

For example, critiquing a first kiss, or a battle scene, or an argument/fight. These usually don’t show up until the middle of a MS and are sometimes just as hard to write.

Janet Johnson · September 17, 2012 at 7:37 am

I am in awe of all your contests! So many great opportunities!

And as for workshops, I’m with Sarah. Sometimes the beginning gets workshopped to death and the middle/end suffers.

Nazarea Andrews · September 17, 2012 at 7:52 am

Dude. So many contests.
I agree with Janet and Sara–I’d love to see a middle/end workshop. My endings suck. :/

Eric Steinberg · September 17, 2012 at 10:20 am

I keep revising and looking for feedback. Thanks for another great opportunity to get it.

Aldrea Alien · September 17, 2012 at 1:31 pm

Kind of makes me wish I HAD a ya to have critiqued. I love critiques.

Good luck all! ^_^

Jamie McHenry · September 17, 2012 at 2:36 pm

Thanks, Brenda. I’m jumpin’ in on this one.

Jamie McHenry · September 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm

Silly me. I forgot to mention the workshop I’d like to see. How about a “ratchet up the tension” workshop? Your contests are great, by the way. Keep it up.

Gwen Cole · September 17, 2012 at 8:05 pm

This is a very unique but awesome giveaway. I love it!

Angela Brown · September 17, 2012 at 8:38 pm

So much fun to be had. I’ve been meaning to reach out to John regarding his Teenaged Nitpicks ever since he announced it at his blog 🙂

Veronica Bartles · September 18, 2012 at 6:12 am

I’d love to see more first pages workshops (for the first 5-10 pages, rather than just the first 150-250 words), but the middle/end workshops sound like lots of fun too 🙂

Jamie Krakover · September 18, 2012 at 9:08 am

awesome contest! Looking forward to seeing the critiques!

    Jamie Krakover · September 18, 2012 at 9:10 am

    And I agree with the above comment, I’d love to see more than just the first page or first line grabbers. Sometimes people have the hook but it’s not in the first page, or maybe something on how to move the hook right up front.

Nikki Diehm · September 18, 2012 at 4:02 pm

Definitely jumping in on this one–John’s tweets are always entertaining! Thanks for hosting this great contest!

Lisa · September 18, 2012 at 5:56 pm

How about a workshop on antagonists?

RAD - Dot Painter · September 19, 2012 at 7:27 am

This is a wonderful opportunity. Thanks!!!

Kelly Metz · September 19, 2012 at 9:53 am

This comment has been removed by the author.

Kelly Metz · September 19, 2012 at 9:55 am

Fantastic opportunities!

Love to see some opening line workshops. That seems to be pretty popular.

Jess H //Mirage24 · September 19, 2012 at 1:56 pm

What a great opportunity! I’m definitely in. Even if I don’t make the cut, it’s still great to see what others get for feedback.

J. Kaitlin Adams · September 19, 2012 at 6:55 pm

Wahoo!! This sounds awesome! Thanks, Brenda and John!

Comments are closed.