Friday, September 29, 2017

Nightmare on Query Street Free Pass 2017




Contests are subjective. I like to take some of that out of the equation with an equalizer like a free pass! It lets someone who might not make the finals go before agents and get help from mentors. This is one of my favorite parts about any contest I help host. 


So let's talk about this opportunity.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and use the rafflecopter to be entered. Everyone gets a free entry. There will be other extra entry options that you can skip or use for bonus chances.

Your comment should be to tell us your scariest writing weakness that comes up in editing. For example, I have trouble with transition thoughts between paragraphs and inside paragraphs. I guess my own thoughts tend to jump around and that gets translated to my writing. Sometimes the writing isn't quite smooth enough. Maybe for you it's dialogue or plot holes, or filtering. Maybe you don't like cutting wordage or have trouble with kissing scenes. 

It's always good to know your own weaknesses. This will help with your actual editing. So take a moment to think about the subject and get it off your chest by commenting. I look forward to seeing a wide variety of trouble spots. 

This free pass will run from today until October 9th when the rafflecopter will pick one winner. The Free Pass winner will bypass the slush and become one of Michelle's Minions for Nightmare on Query Street. They will work with a mentor to polish and then be entered in the agent round, where 20+ agents will read their work.

Don't forget to use the rafflecopter after you comment or your entry will not be processed.

And that's it!




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, September 22, 2017

Announcing Nightmare on Query Street 2017







We're back with twenty agents and even more mentors!






It's Nightmare Time!




Don’t have a scary manuscript, DON'T WORRY. Just read on.

A brand new year, and unimaginable horrors to come.

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


The Details:


The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on Friday, October 13th. Don't send too soon or your entry will be deleted. There will be email confirmation. Please don't resend an entry unless you check with us. Sometimes the confirmation process gets overwhelmed. The window will close when we receive 250 entries or in two hours, whichever is first.

Michelle and Mike and Laura will make thirteen picks each, and those picks will go up on our blogs from October 30th through the 31st. Before the agent round, there will be a mentor round to whip your entries into shape. We've already got amazing mentors lined up, so know that your entries will be polished for the agents.

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, or if you've queried them already. We ask that if you find that you've already queried a majority of participating agents for your potential submission, please refrain from participating in the contest.

If you plan on participating in the contest, you have to be following all our blogs (Michelle, Mike, Laura). If you can't get the blog follow to work, just follow on twitter. You'll want to be on twitter for the party anyway.


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:

Your protagonist and antagonist bump into each other at a Halloween Party, only to discover their costumes are similarly themed. What/who are they dressed as?

The Format:


Send all your submission 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: NoQS: TITLE, Age Category + Genre
(example: NoQS: GRUDGING, Adult Epic Fantasy)

INSIDE THE EMAIL:


Name: Michelle Hauck
Twitter Handle: @Michelle4Laughs (optional)
Title: GRUDGING (yes, caps!)
Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy (Age category and genre. You may list ownvoices here.)
Word Count: XX,XXX

My MC and MA (main antagonist) are dressed as:

Remember, keep this around 100 words.



Query:

Here is my fantastic query! DO NOT INCLUDE BIO OR COMPS PARAGRAPH. Try to stay in the 250-300 word range. Please put spaces between paragraphs and don't indent.

This is not a pitch! THIS IS YOUR FULL QUERY. You may include greeting and closing but you don't have to.  

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 255 words. Do not abuse and send 256. Keep it fair for all. Use Open Office/Word to determine your official word count.

Entries will be disqualified at our discretion for rule violation.

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


We're Tweeting under the hashtag #NoQS. As before, we'll have a twitter party once submission starts. Mentor and agent posts will follow before October 13th.

Good luck! And sweet nightmares!

Friday, September 15, 2017

Nightmare on Query Street








One...Two...We are coming for you.
Three...Four...There will be a slush war.
Five...Six...Get your query fixed.
Seven...Eight...Make your first page great.
Nine...Ten...Yes, we're at it again.



Nightmare on Query Street

The agents are ready.... Are you?

Face your Fear October, Friday the 13, 2017




And forgive this self-promotion, but FAITHFUL is on sale for a limited time at $.99. If you can help out and pick up a copy I'd appreciate it. ;-)