NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

Lately, I've been obsessed with Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, a book about a bunch of teenagers who are stuck in an arena and have to fight to the death, kinda like gladiators, or maybe high school.

Either way, it seems like YA fiction just keeps getting better and better! So if you love YA as much as I do, listen up, 'cause there's something pretty awesome in the works... namely the first ever 250 Word YA Pitch Competition! In honor of NaNoWriMo, the folks at Serendipity Literary Agency, Sourcebooks, and Gotham Writers' Workshop are coming together to host this contest, which will last from 12:01 AM EST on November 1, 2009-11:59 PM EST on November 30, 2009!

So what's this contest about, exactly? Well, all you have to do is send in a title and 250 words from the opening of your YA novel. As you'll probably be writing these 250 words (and many, many more) during NaNoWriMo, it's pretty much a cut-and-paste contest! (Okay, so not really.) That's it! No other material will be accepted for judging, and you can only enter the contest one time, so make every word count!

The top 20 submissions will be read by editors at HarperCollins, Penguin, Harlequin, Random House, and Sourcebooks. Those judges will then pick the top five winners out of that twenty, and the top five winners will receive commentary on their submissions as well as a 15-minute, one-on-one pitch session with YA literary agent Regina Brooks! During that one-on-one pitch session, winners can pitch a project they have in the works and receive feedback, or they can ask those burning questions we all have about the publication process.

What else? Oh, right - like all the best things in life (re: sunshine, some really cute puppies, and NaNoWriMo), it's free. All you have to do is fill out that form with your mind-blowing 250-word excerpt, and sit back and wait for the accolades and literary fame. Even J.K. Rowling never had it quite so easy. Unfortunately, you do have to be 13 years old or older to enter the contest. I have to admit, I didn't really want to write this blog post because I didn't want to tell anyone else about this amazing opportunity, but Chris made me. Follow the link for more info (or don't... your loss is my gain! Mwahaha.) :)

http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/YAPitch.php

And start polishing those 250 words (and title!) now because I'm already halfway there!

Grace