I’m
honoured to have won the Freshly Squeezed Reads’ Choice Award in the recent
C1Blitz competition, for the first chapter of my YA manuscript Ghost Curse.
This
unique competition showcases first chapters from unpublished writers. There are peer-voted, professional-voted and
teen-voted categories alongside the FSR Choice category. As a condition of
entry, each participant must give feedback on at least five other entries. All in all I received 4 teen reviews, 2
professional reviews, 5 compulsory reviews from other entrants, and 2 voluntary
reviews from other entrants. That’s 13
different opinions on my first chapter!
After
learning of my win, I wrote the following comment on http://www.freshlysqueezedreads.com/ “This is one of the best writing competitions I
have entered for the quality and variety of valuable feedback given.”
Some
other writing competitions provide score sheets or detailed feedback, but this
is usually only from one or two judges. I
entered one such competition years ago.
One judge gave me an almost perfect score – taking off one point for a
minor punctuation error (that the other judge didn’t even notice). The other judge gave me reasonable score, but
far, far from perfect. So which judge
was correct? The answer, of course, is that
they were both right. Reading is a
highly subjective activity.
Did
I get conflicting comments on my C1Blitz entry?
Absolutely. But several of the
critiques contained similar comments, so I know with certainty what I need to work
on the most. If only one person in 13
criticised something, I will consider their advice, but give it lower priority.
Next
year, Freshly Squeezed Reads will be doing a P1Blitz for first pages of a
manuscript. I highly recommend any
aspiring YA writers to consider entering this competition. It is a fabulous experience.
Best
comment on my story from a teen reviewer:
It is extremely mysterious and it
is agonising to have to wait for it to be published, because it needs to be
NOW.
I
concur – except I’m still editing and rewriting the second half of the ms. Doh!
Back
to work.
