18 Announcing a Monthly First Five Pages Workshop

Starting today, we're going to invite you to submit the first five pages of your manuscript--finished or unfinished--for critique. We'll take the first five entries in the comments below this post, and over the course of the next month, Lisa Gail Green and I will work with you to discover what's in those five pages, what they say about your character, your plot, your setting, your theme, and your writing. We'll try to coax out and encourage your voice and your strengths, and help you make sure you're starting in the right place. Of course, we'll also point out the places where you trip over things that shouldn't happen in the first five pages.

This won't be a line-edit. We're looking at macro issues, and once we've put up our comments, we'll invite you to answer our questions and ask others to chime in so that it's a real workshop. Other writers may disagree with us, find different ways to address the same problem. Hopefully, we'll all be able to work together to help you find your place on the bookshelves.

So are you ready? Here are the rules.

1) Submit your first five pages in the comments below this post. We'll accept the first five entries that meet all the other rules. We'll respond as soon as possible, but give us some time.

2) Normal pages are approximately 250 words, so the entry should be approximately 1250 words total. Doesn't have to be exact.

3) The entry must be middle grade or young adult. Please specify.

4) The entry must be your own, original work.

5) You must be ready to accept constructive critique. We aren't going to just say it's great.

6) If you post, be prepared to comment contructively, kindly, and respectfully on the other posts.

That's it. Submit your entries!

Martina and Lisa