ABNA_HOW TO WIN THE 1ST TWO ROUNDS_REALLY

HOW TO WIN THE FIRST 2 ROUNDS OF ABNA

I. BE LUCKY

     There.  I've said what we all know:

     even with an entry written by Ray Bradbury's ghost, 

     you have to hit the right reader at the right time in the right mood with the right genre.

     Now, onto the things we can actually do something about.

II. FIRST THINGS:

     A. How do you examine a hot coal?  Damn fast. 

          That is how fast the reader will look at

          your PITCH and EXCERPT.

    

     B. You must hook the reader with the first sentence or at least the first paragraph,

          FOR SHE IS LOOKING FOR A REASON TO REJECT

          AND GET ONTO THE NEXT ENTRY.

     C. We're talking 10,000 PITCHES here.  Yours will get 3 minutes if it's great.  Guess how

          long you'll get if your pitch is obvious, cliched, or boring?

     D. What the reader wants to see:

             1.) She looks for something new -- something she haven't seen before -- in the first

                   PARAGRAPH.

             2.) Something unique about the character or situation that makes her want to

                  continue reading.

     E.) What the reader DOES NOT WANT TO SEE:

             1.) Wordiness - 

                      When the "silver coin of the moon rolls slowly up the black velvet purse of

                       the newly minted night," 

the reader wonders why the moon didn't simply rise

                       and save everyone a good deal of trouble.

             2.) Pompous words -

                  Does 'ascended' sound appropriate to describe a man walking up a few steps?

                  I don't think Jesus even ever thought of himself "ascending" when walking up steps.

             3.) Characters that do not engage the heart.

                  Wounded heroes who struggle on because innocents depend on them or the nagging

                   ghosts of their past will not leave them alone engage us ... from Frodo to Maximus

                   of GLADIATOR.

             4.) STEREOTYPES -

                  Why are all politicians crooked? (Ah, all right, most of them are)  But the exception

                  would make for a unique dynamic.  

                   Why are ALL vampires sexy predators who lounge about all night?  C'mon.  

                   They have centuries on their pale hands.  You mean, none of them thought to

                   LEARN something along the way? 

                   Basket weaving. Accounting. Martial Arts.  Can you imagine how deadly in martial

                   arts or sorcery a vampire could get in 300 years?


 How about a vampire U.S.

                   President?

             5.) TRITE PLOT OR NO PLOT -

                  Instead of another divorce story narrated by a despondent spouse, 

                  how about one narrated
by the couple's beloved cat?

                  Readers don't want last week's HELIX plot.

                  That said: If the characters are real enough then a recycled plot can work,

                  because if the character is new, the story is too.

                  Take that vampire U.S. President:

 he has changed over the centuries:

                           he wants to make amends for the murders he committed when another man.

                  He sees that while humans die so quickly, America can grow into something

                           better as he has.

             6.) NO POINT -

                  My single personal demand from a story:

                  That it add up to something. 

                          That it shock me, scare me, unnerve me, make me think,

                          or cry, or vomit. (No, wait. Some bad stories have made me do that.)

                          Something.

                  But avoid preachiness.  Write so as to let the reader come to her own conclusions.

                  Avoid personal baggage: no one wants to see your dirty laundry in their inbox.

             7.) Remember:

                  Introducing a story to a reader is a lot like delivering a pickup line to someone: 

                  do it the wrong way,

                  and they’ll wind up under the covers with a different…
book.