Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Announcing Sun vs Snow for 2018

It’s that time again for THE BIG BATTLE between the heat and the cold! Yes, it’s time for the fifth year of Sun vs. Snow hosted by me and the fantastic, Amy Trueblood. We had several amazing success stories from last year. This time we have a fun new question and some important details about the entry process. Please read the following THOROUGHLY and then let us know if you have questions.




The submission window for Sun versus Snow will open January 23rd at 4:00 pm EST. 

Act fast. We will only be taking the first 200 entries. Please do not enter early or your entry will be deleted. You can resend at the proper time if this happens accidentally. Confirmation emails will be sent. If you don’t receive one, don’t resend. We don’t want duplicate entries. Please check with us on Twitter first to confirm your entry did or did not arrive, then you may resend. 

There is only ONE, yes that’s right, ONE entry per person allowed. Any attempt to cheat will result in entries being thrown out. This contest is only for finished and polished stories. Do not send us your NaNoWriMo from November 2017. 


Important note: The story can’t have been in the agent round of any other contest in the last three months. This doesn't mean twitter pitch events with hashtags, but multiple agent blog contests. 


Also, Michelle and I have decided not to accept picture books for this contest. Though we love picture books, Michelle holds special contests just for them. We do accept all MG, YA, NA and Adult genres, excluding erotica. To enter you must be followers of our blogs. Click the “follow” button on my blog. You can find Amy's blog here. If following our blogs doesn't work, follow us on twitter or sign up for our newsletters instead. 



The Format:

Send submission to Sunversussnow (at) yahoo (dot) com. Only one submission per person is allowed. It doesn’t matter if you write under different names or are submitting different manuscripts. You are still one person and get one entry.

Here’s how it should be formatted (yes, include the bolded!) Please use Times New Roman (or equivalent), 12 pt font, and put spaces between paragraphs. No indents or tabs are needed. No worries if your gmail doesn’t have Times New Roman. No worries if the email messes up your format. Yes, we will still read it! :-)  

(Here’s a trick to keep your paragraph spacing: copy and paste your entry into your email and then put in the line spaces. They seem to get lost when you copy and paste. It may look right but sending scrambles the spacing.)

Subject Line: SVS: TITLE, Age Category + Genre
(example: SVS: GRUDGING, Adult Epic Fantasy)


In The Email:

Title: MY FANTASTIC BOOK (yes, caps!)
Genre: YA dystopian Ownvoices (Age category and genre. Add "Ownvoices" here if it applies)
Word Count: XX,XXX (round to the nearest thousand)
Twitter Handle: (Optional so we can contact you. Will not be public.)


Is Your Antagonist hot or cold: 

Describe whether your antagonist is hot or cold. Personalities differ. Does your villain snap easily or are they calm and calculating? (Don't have an antagonist who is a person--then describe the weather of your setting.) 

(Can be in your character's POV, but doesn’t have to be. 100 words or less.)


Query:

Query goes here! Include greeting and main paragraphs. Please leave out bio, closing, and word count + genre sentence. You may include comps if you’d like. There is no word count limit on the query but please aim for 250 – 300 words.

You may include if your story is OwnVoices up in the genre line. We really want diverse and talented writers and striping out the bios sometimes leaves us in the dark.

Remember a query has several paragraphs. Don't send us a pitch.  


First 250 words:

Here are the first 250 words of my manuscript, and I will not end in the middle of a sentence. But I will not go over 257 words. Be reasonable and don’t make us count. Don’t forget to space between paragraphs! No indents!



That’s it for now. Get those entries ready for January 23rd and leave any questions in the comments or ask on Twitter.

Mentors and agents will be posted in January. As of now, we have over ten agents signed up. There will be some crazy cool mentors who are itching to work with the selected entries. Keep checking my blog or sign up for my newsletter for advance warning of the FREE PASS to be on Team Snow!

So get those entries ready! We can’t wait to get started!

21 comments:

  1. Hi. I am a disabled writer, but am not writing #ownvoices. There is a minor character with the same disability in my novel. Do you want me to note that I am a diverse writer, or is the bio exception only for #ownvoices authors? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand where you are coming from. I actually believe ownvoices should be just as much about ANYTHING a marginalized writer creates, whether or not the characters share the same experiences, but as of this moment it tends not to apply that way.

      Delete
  2. So we can't submit if we don't fit into the OwnVoices category? I don't see that information anywhere in the description above. It only says to include "ownvoices" if appropriate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you misunderstand. Putting ownvoices in the genre box is only for actual ovwnvoices stories where the MC and the author are from the same diverse/marginalized group. The contest is for any polished and completed manuscript except picture books or erotica.

      Delete
    2. What an awesome opportunity! I'm going to go for it. Can you please post or reply with both your twitter handles or blog addresses so I can follow you? (I couldn't see how to sign up on your blog, Michelle.) Thanks for hosting this contest!

      Delete
    3. OK. Thanks. Yes, I misunderstood.

      Delete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. My novel cycles through multiple POVs. Two of the four are my ethnicity. Does that qualify as ownvoices?

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  5. Are romance novels with explicit sex scenes allowed?

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  6. Do you want the query and first 250 words single or double spaced?

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    Replies
    1. Everything is singled spaced with spaces between paragraphs.

      Delete
  7. No need to add you name to the entry in a closing. It's on your email. Which is one reason to use your name in your email address and not something cutsie.

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  8. Should we be picking team, and addressing team snow or team sun in the greeting?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. The team names are just for fun. Amy and I each read all the entries and don't make our picks based on anything weather related. If you want to use a greeting you can use Dear Agent or Dear Amy and Michelle or Hey Peeps or anything fun.

      Delete
  9. When describing if the antagonist is hot or cold you mention that it can be written from the character's POV. Do you mean from the antagonist's POV or can it be from the main character's POV?

    ReplyDelete