Skip to main content

ACFW 2007 Genesis contest

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned anything about the Genesis contest yet.

Well, it’s finally here! The 2007 Genesis contest for unpublished writers, put on by American Christian Fiction Writers.

The Genesis contest, formerly known as the Noble Theme contest, is becoming one of the largest Christian Fiction writing contests in the world.

Yours truly is the contest coordinator (again) this year. Head on over to the Genesis page on the ACFW website for more information.

Some highlights of the contest:

--We have TEN CATEGORIES of Christian Fiction

--You can enter as many entries as you like, in as many categories as you like (although you need to pay a separate entry fee for each entry)

--It is all electronic this year, which means no postage, no printing, no copying, no self-addressed stamped envelope, no entries or scoresheets lost in the mail.

All entries will be judged using Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature. And if you don’t have Microsoft Word, no problem! We can return your judged entries in .pdf file format so you can still see the comments.

--Each entry gets THREE judges in the first round. (That’s three critiques of your manuscript’s first 25 pages! It’s a great price for objective feedback.)

The top five scoring entries in each category are Category Finalists who go on to the second round.

--We have a great lineup of editors and agents as second round judges in each of our categories.

• Contemporary Romance: JoAnne Simmons, Barbour Publishing, and Stephanie Broene, Tyndale

• Historical Romance: Melissa Endlich, Steeple Hill, and Tamela Hancock Murray, Hartline Literary Agency

• Romantic Suspense: Sue Brower, Zondervan, and Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary Agency

• Women’s Fiction: Beth Jusino, Alive Communications, and Steve Laube, the Steve Laube Agency

• Chick/Mom/Hen/Lady Lit: Ahna Phillips, Eames Literary and Krista Stroever, Steeple Hill

• Suspense/Thriller/Mystery: Susan Downs, Barbour Publishing, and Kelly Mortimer, Mortimer Literary Agency

• Contemporary Fiction: Janet Grant, Books and Such Literary Agency, and Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary

• Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory: Andy Meisenheimer, Zondervan, and Reagan Reed, NavPress

• Historical Fiction: Rebecca Germany, Barbour Publishing and Charlene Patterson, Bethany House Publishers

• Young Adult: Barbara Scott, Zondervan, and Annie Tipton, Barbour Publishing

--This year, we have a terrific FAQ page that will answer all your questions. On the Genesis webpage, we also have a Manuscript Formatting Article, the Genesis scoresheet, a Sample Manuscript, and a Sample Track Changes .pdf file.

--The deadline for submissions is APRIL 15TH, 2007, but we're strongly suggesting you get your entries in by April 1st so that if there's any problem with your file, there's plenty of time to fix it!

I hope you all enter the Genesis contest this year! It’s going to be great!

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Fight Scenes

I love martial arts movies and action flicks. So naturally I'd write action scenes. I discovered that it takes a slightly different writing style. These are some of the things I learned, although this list isn't exhaustive by any means. Action-Reaction A fight scene is always Action-Reaction. He punches, she staggers back. She kicks, he blocks and swings a fist at her. Watch out for putting your reaction before your action: She staggered back when he slammed his fist into her shoulder. The rule of thumb is to have each action-reaction have its own paragraph, although that’s not always possible. Sometimes the sentences are too short for their own paragraphs and can be combined. It’s up to the writer how to format it: He swung a roundhouse punch. She bent backward and felt his knuckles swish past her nose. versus: He swung a roundhouse punch. She bent backward and felt his knuckles swish past her nose. Short sentences = fast reading flow Use short sentences and phrases to make re...
5 comments
Read more

How to write a kiss

There was a question on the writer’s Discord server that I’m on where someone asked how to write a kiss. They weren’t specifically asking me, but I was able to give a short answer for how I write kisses. I write and read traditional romances, so my kiss scenes tend to be heavily influenced by the genre and by how my editors critiqued my manuscripts. You basically want to focus on the emotion of the kiss and how the kiss makes the point of view character feel, as opposed to going deep into physical detail. Ideally, the description will show that the kiss is something special and not just them macking. For example the kiss made her feel ___. Or the kiss was ___ which made it seem that he felt ___ for her. “The kiss made her feel as if she were incredibly precious to him.” “His lips were gentle and almost tentative, as if he were afraid of frightening her.” “The kiss surprised her and yet felt as familiar as if they’d kissed a thousand times before. The kiss felt like home.” I...
2 comments
Read more

The 50-word elevator pitch

The 50-word elevator pitch: Basic story elements and a two-sentence novel summary Writing a 50-word summary is good to help you condense your thoughts and themes for your novel. This summary can be used when you pitch to editors or agents, and it can also be used in a query letter to an editor or agent. Swain gives this excellent method to come up with a 2-sentence (or 50-word) summary of your novel. This can be done before you write it or afterward, whichever works best for your writing style. This is similar to steps 1 and 2 of Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake method : https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/ Each novel typically has five basic story elements: Character --Your protagonist or focal character. You can sometimes have two protagonists, but even then, often the story of one character is slightly more dominant than the other. Situation --The troubling situation your character is stuck in that forces him to act. Objective --What y...
7 comments
Read more