Results of our First Page Challenge are in!
Our team of editors randomly selected five of your first pages. Here are their critiques! We enjoyed reading these openings and hope you’ll keep going on your writing journeys.
Thank you for submitting all your fabulous first pages!
On Bended Knee by Lizzie Brooks
Undercover With Her Boss by Tilly Easton
Finding Happiness by Trush Gwaltney
And two bonus critiques!
In Love with the Enemy by Camille Bernard
If you entry wasn’t critiqued here (we are only so many editors), you still have time to enter our other challenges:
Challenge Two: The First Meeting
Show us the first time your romantic leads meet. You can include up to three sentences giving us a quick summary of what’s happened so far, and up two pages from your manuscript showing your first meeting.
Send your first meeting entry in by 10 am EST Wednesday, September 16 and you may be one of 5 entries randomly chosen to receive personalized feedback at 3 pm EST from our editors!
Email: ucanwrite@harlequin.ca subject line “MEETING Challenge.” Entry can be no more than 2 pages, double-spaced, size 12 font, plus your 1-3 sentence summary giving context for the scene.
Challenge Three: The 100-Word Pitch
Send in a 100-word pitch for your story by 10 am EST Friday, September 18 and you may be one of 5 entries randomly chosen to receive personalized feedback at 2 pm EST from our editors!
Email: ucanwrite@harlequin.ca, subject line “PITCH Challenge.” Entry can be no more than 100 words. (Your pitch is your story in a nutshell, showing off your romantic leads, plot, and hooks in order to pique the editors’ and voters’ interest!)
Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #SYTYCW15, and follow @HarlequinSYTYCW.
6 replies on “Today’s Challenge Results: First Page feedback”
Thank you so much for your encouraging comments on my critique! I’m very excited to be getting the rest of my story up for this contest, and I am entering it for Carina Press. Have a great day!
Congrats to all the winners of the First-Page Challenge! Great reads and fabulous critiques — a learning experience for all of us! 🙂
Thanks so much for reviewing my first page! It’s nice to hear that I’m on the right track so far, and I really appreciate the advice!
Thank you for the first page critique. It’s not the first time I’ve been accused of being melodramatic! I’m entering for Carina Press, which I understand is open to the oddities…
Thank you so very much for the first page critique! Your feedback is greatly appreciated and it’s so kind of you to take time out of your busy schedules to encourage us!
Thanks for your feedback which is greatly appreciated. Heading off to my SYTYCW entry to make some changes. Thank you again.
Comments ( 7 )
I spent the entire shutdown working. Had no time to wind down. I didn’t see my son much when school shutdown. My one co worker was told to stay home for 3 weeks so I picked up her hours. This year has been really crappy.
Ugh, Janell. Here’s hoping the rest of your summer is better.
Thanks for the info, Carol! Everyone is different in how they deal with the shutdown! I stay at home all the time since I don’t work so I haven’t been too effected but my shopping and errands sure have been effected!
Valri, I’ve been doing most of my shopping online. My local Target is still low on some items – mostly cleaning supplies. Grocery store is pretty much back to normal. Most of the dining in our town is outdoor. I can’t imagine have school-age kids!
Wow–getting your creative process on track must have been daunting–especially with “extra-large dog” glad to have you home. You don’t like coffee–I love coffee and have enjoyed my fortifying 2 cups in the morning even more than usual! How as COVID affected your story lines and characterizations? Best Wishes for all releases!
Interesting question, Virginia. You’ll have to tell me if the tone of my “COVID” books changed any! LOL
Life has changed so much! My dad passed Feb 2. The assisted living facility my folks were at went into hardcore lockdown the beginning of March. Mom couldn’t leave her apartment for 4 months! She was on the third floor, Will be 89 in two months & doesn’t use the phone. My husband and I remodeled the lower level completely and moved her in with us July 1. What a life change and difficult transition for the 3 of us! But we’re working thru it!