Friday, September 19, 2014

NIGHTMARE ON QUERY STREET 2014 ANNOUNCEMENT

It's back, and it's badder than ever.

IT'S Nightmare on Query Street!!!!!!!!! Don’t have a scary manuscript, DON'T WORRY. Just read on.


A brand new year, a brand new evil.

This contest, as it runs in the Halloween time, is all about FEAR.


The Details:

The submission window opens at 12 noon (EST) on October 15th. The window will close at 12 noon (EST) October 17th or when we receive 225 entries.

MichelleMike, and SC will make twelve picks each, and those twelve picks will go up on our blogs from the 22nd through the 25th, where (SURPRISE, change from last year!) there will be a mentor round. OooooooOOOoooOOooo. We've already got amazing mentors lined up, so know that your entries will be amazingly polished when agents come in on the 28th through the 30th. Then, CELEBRATE! Halloween is the day after :)

We are accepting all age categories and genres, excluding picture books and erotica. But be sure to check our list of agents when it goes live to see if they represent your book's genre.

If you plan on participating in the contest, you have to be following all our blogs (MichelleMike, and SC).

ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. DO NOT TRY USING MULTIPLE EMAIL ADDRESSES. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ONE PER WRITING PEN NAME. ONE AND ONE ONLY.

It's pretty simple, actually. 

But there's a catch.

Along with your query and 250, you must write a SHORT paragraph (no more than 100 words) about your main character. This is the question you must answer:

What is your main character's most fearsome obstacle? 

The Format:

Send all your submissions to nightmareonquerystreet (at) yahoo (dot) com. Only one submission per email address AND person is allowed.

Here's how it should be formatted (yes, include the bolded and everything!). Please use Times New Roman (or equivalent), 12 pt font, and put spaces between paragraphs. No indents or tabs are needed.

Subject Line: First initial. Last name: TITLE, Age Category + Genre 
(example: M. Anthony: DEADEARTH, NA Apocalyptic Sci-fi )



INSIDE THE EMAIL:


Name: Michael Anthony
Title: DEADEARTH EP. 1: MR. .44 MAGNUM (yes, caps!)
Genre: NA Apocalyptic Sci-fi(Age category and genre. YA/MG is not a genre.)
Word Count: XX,XXX

My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obstacle:

My MC's most fearsome obstacle is potatoes. (Please, spend some time on this! I know that I will be looking at this to make up for gaps in the query and 250. It gives us a chance to know your characters better. It doesn't have to be horror-scary. It can be more subtle.)

Query:

Here is my fantastic query! DO NOT INCLUDE BIO OR COMPS. Try to stay in the 250-300 word range.

First 250 words:

Here are the first 250 words of my manuscript, and I will not end in the middle of a sentence, even if I hit 252 words. Do not abuse and send 260.

And that's it! Send in that email during the submission window and you're ready to go :) There will be a confirmation email!!

This should be FUN. This is a Halloween-themed contest, so please please please, spend time on the MC's Greatest Fear paragraph!!!! It should be a LOT of fun. If you're writing a funny book, make a funny twist on the question, or say your MC is scared of strawberries or something. If it's a serious/sad book, you should have a field day, because the MC's fear might be so heart-wrenching.

This is a new way to pitch, so have fun with it (and don't stress out over it like its a query or something).

So go over and follow our blogs (MichelleMike, and SC) and our Twitters (MichelleMike, and SC) (we're Tweeting under the hashtag #NoQS) to stay in touch with all that we're doing. 

As before, we'll have a twitter party when the time gets closer.


I AM VERY VERY VERY EXCITED. I can't wait to see your answers to the question!!!!

27 comments:

  1. For dual POV manuscripts, should we just pick one MC for the fear paragraph?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's up to you. You could do two sentences for each POV. Or you could focus on one.

      Delete
  2. RE: the QL, do you want just the 'body' or do you want introduction, word-count, bio (etc) also or are we to work to a word-count - say 250 words and whatever fits within that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure on the bio yet. That's something we have to discuss. We advise that you try to stick to 250 - 300 words on the query letter.

      Delete
    2. Yep No problem - 300-words without the bio is more than generous :)

      Delete
  3. In past years you've done the question what is your MC's greatest fear? This year it seems it is :

    What is your main character's most fearsome obstacle?

    For my character these are two very different things so I want to be super clear. My confusion comes from later, where you are showing format you say :

    My Main Character's Greatest Fear:

    Was this just a mistake?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are correct and it was a mistake. We missed editing the line farther down in the post.

      It should be about your main character's most fearsome obstacle.

      Delete
  4. So this is my first time doing NoQS, I'm not sure about the Fearsome Obstacle section. Is this supposed to be actually from the book, or do I just make it up? Can it have snippets from the 2nd book? Because the antagonist in the 2nd book is the one that's been making her life a hell in the 1st book, but you don't realize that right away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We'd prefer it was something from the book you're entering. It doesn't have to be the main plot point of the story.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Yes. We are taking all age categories from middle grade, young adult, new adult, to adult.

      Delete
  6. Does "follow your blogs" mean use Google's "join this site" feature? (Which isn't working for me at the moment on this site.) Or is signing up for the newsletter sufficient?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the 'join this site' button. You don't need to sign up for the newsletter unless you want early notifications and special hints about contests.

      Delete
  7. Should the first 250 words be from the prologue or the first chapter? Can it be either?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It should be from whatever a reader would see first when they open the book. The first page.

      Delete
  8. Is this only for fiction or are you accepting creative non-fiction?

    ReplyDelete
  9. If we're at work when submissions open and want a friend to send the email, should we put our email address in the body? I don't want to risk it getting filled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That shouldn't be a problem. But you have two days to submit. There's no need to rush and have a friend do it for you. I doubt we'll fill up the first day.

      Delete
  10. I've got an appointment at 11:30am until 3:30pm - how fast does the 225 maximum entries happen usually? *feeling anxious*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. good to know, thank you!

      Also, do we need to address the query to anyone in particular or are we just sending you the 'template' of sorts (like the "Dear Agent/Publisher" which we then change when querying)?

      Delete
    2. You can address to anyone, it won't really matter to our decision. You can use Dear Agent or Dear Nightmare Team or Dear Genius. Have fun with it!

      Delete
  11. Is it okay to write the fearsome obstacle part in first person POV? Or does it have to be in third person?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Does the novel have to be complete for us to enter this? I'm not sure since it didn't say anything and I've got a novel I'm working on that I've written a query for and should be done with by the end of the month--with drafting, revising, and polishing--so that's why I'm asking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has to be complete and polished. In other words, ready to send to an agent.

      Delete