Category: contests

pg70pit writing contest logo

(2015) YA/Teen #pg70pit entry

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THIS IS THE OLD ENTRY FORM FROM 2015. IF YOU ARE VISITING IN A LATER YEAR, CHECK THE MAIN BLOG PAGE FOR THE MOST RECENT ENTRY FORM.

What you need to enter:

  • Your e-mail address (this is private and used only to verify entries)
  • Your code name (This contest is anonymous—choose something unique and difficult to trace back to you.
    This year entrants will chose lines from songs. Up to 7 words)
  • Your novel’s intended audience—Middle Grade, Teen, or Adult (Adult is 20+)
  • Your novel’s word count, rounded to the nearest thousand
  • Your novel’s genre (I have a guide to major genres here and the sub-genres of science fiction and fantasyhere)
  • Seven words describing your MC (DO NOT include character’s name)
  • Your 70th page (choose up to 259 consecutive words from either page or a combination of the two. You may finish sentences that bleed onto the 68th or 71st page, but do not exceed 259 words.)

If the POV character on your 69th-70th page is not your MC, you may include a disclaimer at the beginning of your page.

Example:

*This excerpt is in the POV of my MC’s [insert relationship]*

[begin excerpt]

Checklist before you hit “submit”

  • Are you entering on the correct day? (If not, you’ll be disqualified)
  • Is your code name taken from song lyrics and 7 words or fewer?
  • If you are submitting more than one manuscript (one per day max), are you using the same email but different code names?
  • Have you checked the word count of your excerpt, and is it fewer than 260 words?
  • Have you read all of the rules above?
  • Have you double-checked for spelling errors?
  • If you have any remaining questions, have you read the comments on previous posts or viewed the #pg70pit hashtag on Twitter?

We know that entering a contest is stressful and exciting, and that adrenaline is racing! You will not be disqualified or judged for minor errors. You will be disqualified or you’ll annoy the judges if you disregard the contest rules.

After you submit your entry, your confirmation will appear on the same page, without formatting. DO NOT RESEND if your excerpt has deleted all spaces—that’s normal! And don’t give away your code name publicly online. The point of pg70pit is anonymity, for the voice to speak on its own.

The submission window is now closed for YA entries. Thank you to everyone who entered! Come back 7/7 to see the top 7 YA pages!

pg70pit writing contest logo

(2015) Submit your MG #pg70pit entry

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THIS IS THE OLD ENTRY FORM FROM 2015. IF YOU ARE VISITING IN A LATER YEAR, CHECK THE MAIN BLOG PAGE FOR THE MOST RECENT ENTRY FORM.

What you need to enter:

  • Your e-mail address (this is private and used only to verify entries)
  • Your code name (This contest is anonymous—choose something unique and difficult to trace back to you.
    This year entrants will chose lines from songs. Up to 7 words)
  • Your novel’s intended audience—Middle Grade, Teen, or Adult (Adult is 20+)
  • Your novel’s word count, rounded to the nearest thousand
  • Your novel’s genre (I have a guide to major genres here and the sub-genres of science fiction and fantasyhere)
  • Seven words describing your MC (DO NOT include character’s name)
  • Your 70th page (choose either your 69th or 70th page. You may finish sentences, but do not exceed 259 words.)

If the POV character on your 69th-70th page is not your MC, you may include a disclaimer at the beginning of your page.

Example:

*This excerpt is in the POV of my MC’s [insert relationship]*

[begin excerpt]

Checklist before you hit “submit”

  • Are you entering on the correct day? (If not, you’ll be disqualified)
  • Is your code name taken from song lyrics and 7 words or fewer?
  • If you are submitting more than one manuscript (one per day max), are you using the same email but different code names?
  • Have you checked the word count of your excerpt, and is it fewer than 260 words?
  • Have you read all of the rules above?
  • Have you double-checked for spelling errors?
  • If you have any remaining questions, have you read the comments on previous posts or viewed the #pg70pit hashtag on Twitter?

We know that entering a contest is stressful and exciting, and that adrenaline is racing! You will not be disqualified or judged for minor errors. You will be disqualified or you’ll annoy the judges if you disregard the contest rules.

After you submit your entry, your confirmation will appear on the same page, without formatting. DO NOT RESEND if your excerpt has deleted all spaces—that’s normal! And don’t give away your code name publicly online. The point of pg70pit is anonymity, for the voice to speak on its own.

The submission window is now closed for MG entries. Thank you to everyone who entered! Come back 7/7 to see the top 7 MG pages!

pg70pit writing contest logo

#pg70pit Surprises and Slushies!

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I’m delighted to not only introduce you to the fine people judging the pg70pit contest, but also to announce some exciting developments in the contest!

But first, let’s get us out of the way—

The Band Managers

We’re just your friendly contest coordinators.

laraHost, Lara Willard
Lara is a fiction and visual storytelling editor who graduated summa cum laude from the University of Northwestern—St. Paul with a bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Studies (writing, literature, editing, art, and design) in 2010. Fluent in English grammar and geeky GIFs, she’s also studied Spanish, Italian, Koine Greek, Quenya, and body languages. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in literary mags Inkstone, The Cedarville Review, and Revolver. Lara lives in the Twin Cities with her husband, sons, and dog-show dropout Havanese, Neville Shortquarters.

meg

Assistant, Meghan Barrett
Meghan, from the frozen world of northern Minnesota, is a senior at the University of Northwestern—St. Paul who is spending her summer as Lara Willard’s intern and enjoying it immensely. Meghan loves watching movies, going to the theater, being a savvy Old Navy shopper, and, of course, reading. She has been known to channel Lucille Ball, Monica Geller, and Scarlett O’Hara—sometimes all at once. If she could, she would eat tacos every single day.

The Disc Jockeys

Introducing the pg70pit co-hosts! In addition to the top 7 MG, YA, and Adult entries posted on Lara’s blog, each co-host will select up to seven entries to feature on their own blogs! These will also be available for agents to read. That’s a total of 42 winners!

elizabeth

Co-host for Adult Entries, Elizabeth Buege
Elizabeth graduated from Northwestern College (now the University of Northwestern—St. Paul) with a B.A. in English Writing and internship experience in nonprofit writing and book editing. She now provides critiquing and editing services to authors of fiction and memoir. In addition to editing, Elizabeth teaches secondary writing classes at a homeschool co-op. When she isn’t working, she’s probably reading or writing stories full of longing, struggles, and hope.

ethan

Co-host for YA Entries, Ethan Vaughn

Ethan Vaughan is a freelance editor and former literary agent. He began as an intern with Folio Literary Management  in 2011, then served from 2011–2015 as a reader and agent with Kimberley Cameron & Associates. He is now earning a master’s degree in history and takes on editing clients throughout the year.

carissa

Co-host for MG Entries, Carissa Anna Taylor
Carissa is an author of YA sci-fi/fantasy, graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in Sustainability, drinker of Earl Gray tea, lover of Firefly, and player of nerdy board games. Originally from Washington State, she now lives with her husband and spazzy kidlet in Sydney, Australia. Her novels are represented by Jason Anthony of Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

The Bouncers

Our slushies are an integral part of this contest. They not only vote on the entries, they also nominate their favorites to win giveaways! Make these ladies happy, and they can make your dreams come true. But hey—no cash bribes, K?

yolanda

Slushie, Yolanda Ashton
Yolanda Ashton is the alter ego of a thirty-something mother of three. Her favorite things to do in the world (outside of family) are reading and writing—she fell in love with words at an early age. Yolanda loves creating worlds with them and entering new worlds designed by them. Throughout her life she’s always felt the epitome of a great “me” day is one spent reading a book or creating one.

jo

Slushie, Jo Wu
Jo Wu is a student at UC Berkeley, where she studies Integrative Biology and Creative Writing. She has been published in a few anthologies, and one of her short stories, “Devoured by Envy,” was praised by Publishers Weekly. When she’s not writing, she’s modeling under the alias Carmilla Jo, drawing, painting, or sewing. She’s looking forward to reading your entries and seeking awesome fantasy and sci-fi stories for adults and middle grade!

The Simon Cowells

kaleigh-megan

After the 21 42 top entries are published on the blogs, five editors will peruse the entries and dig back into the slush to pick recipients of free editing services! In addition to Lara, Meghan, and Elizabeth above, two MS Editors will give away the following:

Editor, Kaleigh Walter

  • Five one-page edits
  • Two five-page edits

Editor, Megan Ruesink

  • Three five-page edits

The giveaways will be announced one week from July 7th (7/14/15), right here on my blog, so stay tuned and be sure to subscribe!

pg70pit writing contest logo

#pg70pit—how to submit

74 Comments

Are you here in 2017? Some rules have changed, but the content below has been updated for 2017.

If you have any additional questions, comment below or tweet me!

What you need to enter:

  • Your e-mail address (this is private and used only to verify entries or notify winners)
  • Your code name from poetry—THIS IS NEW FOR 2017; before it was from song lyrics. 5-7 words. (This contest is anonymous—choose something unique and difficult to trace back to you. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” is probably going to be too common—we want to avoid repeats!)
  • Your novel’s intended audience—Middle Grade, Teen, or Adult (Adult is 18+)
  • Your novel’s word count, rounded to the nearest thousand (71,469 becomes 71K)
  • Your novel’s genre (I have a guide to major genres here and the sub-genres of science fiction and fantasy here)
  • Seven words describing your MC—(DO NOT include character’s name. Can be a list of words or a phrase. See tips on your seven-word description below.)
  • Your 70th page with extra spaces between paragraphs (choose up to 257 consecutive words from your 69th or 70th page, or a section spanning both. It will appear single-spaced.)

When and where to enter:

On June 7, 7:00 am Eastern Standard Time, I’ll post the submission form on my blog for all age categories.—THIS IS NEW FOR 2017

I will remove the submission form on June 8th.

Tips for getting your entry ready

The seven words describing your MC should do one of the following:

  • help ground the reader,
  • show that your main character is interesting or sympathetic, or
  • show your ability as a writer who effectively and efficiently crafts words and punctuation.

You can structure it however you like. For example, you might give setting or genre details:

Baffles regency norms, her mother, gentlemen suitors.

You might make it like a pitch:

Witty girl overcomes first impressions, falls hard.

Or you could list adjectives and get creative with punctuation:

Clever, judgmental, poor. Loved anyway (by snob…)

THIS IS NEW FOR 2017: Participating in the Twitter contest is optional, but the seven-word phrase is still a required part of your entry.

Your 69th/70th page is going to be what matters most in the contest.

Choose up to 257 consecutive words from your novel’s 69th-70th page. You may complete cut-off sentences that fall on the 68th or 80th pages, but do not exceed 257 words. We may email finalists and request their full manuscript to verify that their excerpt falls on one of those pages.

For example, if saw that a chapter ended on my 70th page, I’d take from both the 69th and 70th pages.

Editing your Excerpt

You can ask friends to help you edit your excerpt or 7-word pitch, but please do so privately, not using public tweets or including the hashtag in a blog post asking for feedback. Because this is a blind contest, don’t risk a judge seeing your entry—or your code name—before the results are posted, or you’ll be disqualified.

You can edit an excerpt down to make it 257 words or fewer.

See examples of how I’d edit someone’s page in the 7th on 7th series.

In my Revision Checklist for Writing Contests, you’ll see my top-secret tips for hard-core revising.

You can also search winning entries from 2015 and 2016 by searching my blog 🙂

If you have any more questions, comment below. Now an excerpt from one of my trunked novels as an example on how you might edit your entry.

pg70pit-a new kind of writing contest

I had 193 words on page 70 and 221 words on the page before it. If I’d started with “Where did they go?” and stopped at the end of the chapter, I’d have 259 words. But I really like the context of some dialogue before, so to include that, I needed to make some cuts from the middle.

Here’s the original excerpt, showing what I cut to make room for that line of dialogue:

“Where did they go?” asked Gareth.

“To his quarters, I’d imagine. I’m sure she’ll be back tomorrow.”

Warmth radiated on the back of Gareth’s neck. “Where does this guy live?” He hadn’t meant to shout.

Faye put her hand on his arm and spoke to him gingerly. “In the keep. The castle keep.”

Someone waved Mary over, and she left.

“Why would he take her there?”

Faye’s silence, her look of pity, confirmed it.

“Get Robin. We’re gonna get in there, and I’m gonna smash some heads. If he so much as touches my sister I—” He was already out of town and back on the road by the time he’d finished talking. Faye caught up with him about a quarter mile later.

She was riding her pack horse. Gareth stopped, wondering what she did with the cart. What’d she do with the cart? She pushed off the horse, landing in the dirt, reached out to Gareth, but then dropped her hand at her side. “Gareth, if you even got past the front threshold, trying to remove your sister will get you—or the pair of you—killed. If you challenge the king’s man, you challenge the king.”

The sun was throwing threw yellow light on the lime-washed walls of the city on the coast. Gareth didn’t stir.

“Gareth.”

He clasped his hands over the top of his head, and behind his neck, his forehead creased in worry, in hopelessness. “Let’s get Robin. He’ll know what to do.”

They had just turned back, leading the horse behind, with the horse when the ground below them opened up, dropping them into darkness.

Here’s what the new excerpt looks like:

“She is in the company of the king’s steward. He’s harmless enough. If they’d stayed here, she would have only been gone a few minutes. But she left with him.”

“Where did they go?” asked Gareth.

“To his quarters, I’d imagine. I’m sure she’ll be back tomorrow.”

Warmth radiated on the back of Gareth’s neck. “Where does this guy live?” He hadn’t meant to shout.

Faye put her hand on his arm and spoke to him gingerly. “In the keep. The castle keep.”

“Why would he take her there?”

Faye’s silence, her look of pity, confirmed it.

“Get Robin. We’re gonna get in there, and I’m gonna smash some heads. If he so much as touches my sister I—” He was already out of town and back on the road by the time he’d finished talking. Faye caught up with him about a quarter mile later.

She was riding her pack horse. Gareth stopped. *What’d she do with the cart?* She pushed off the horse, landing in the dirt. “Gareth, if you even got past the front threshold, trying to remove your sister will get you—or the pair of you—killed. If you challenge the king’s man, you challenge the king.”

The sun threw yellow light on the lime-washed walls of the city. Gareth didn’t stir.

“Gareth.”

He clasped his hands behind his neck, his forehead creased in worry, in hopelessness. “Let’s get Robin. He’ll know what to do.”

They had just turned back with the horse when the ground below them opened up, dropping them into darkness.

I hope this was helpful!