Comments on: Confessions of a Contest Judge, Part 3: Thinking Like a Point of View Character

By: Lori Roche

Lori Roche — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:43:50 +0000

Hi Toni- Your many suggestions are greatly appreciated. My daughter is an aspiring writer and your points will assist her greatly. On a side note, I found this site from a blog link about e-piracy. How terrible! I will always buy, beg or borrow. I won’t even read sample chapters online. I just gotta have that book in my hand! I’ve got about 1200 paranormal books in my “library” and can’t wait to add Cry Mercy to it. Can you PLEASE write faster!!!!!

By: Mia Powers

Mia Powers — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:20:22 +0000

I swear that I am now going to make the next hero basically unremarkable – almost Clark Kent – hmmm!

By: Silver James

Silver James — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:04:10 +0000

Dame Toni, where were you a couple of months ago? I just finished a big set of revisions fixing all those pesky POV slips. I’m looking forward to the next installment because I do like me some of that there head-hoppin’!

Oh, and my bad. The hero in this one has jet black hair with “stormy” blue eyes and she’s blonde. LOL At least in the next one, he has dark brown hair and brown eyes.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:29:45 +0000

Love your posts, Toni. It’s great getting a peek inside the head of a contest judge.

Sandy

By: Gillian

Gillian — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:27:37 +0000

Thanks for the fabulous series. It’s great to get advice like this from people who’ve been there and done it all. I’m keen for the next installment.

Info dump was something I found myself doing with Dame Rinda’s contest: I think I re-wrote the opening two paragraphs three times before I submitted!

(Mind you, I look at some of the story, especially the final line, and I cringe. I learned English good, I did…)

By: Delia

Delia — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:24:35 +0000

This is all really sound advice that most people don’t think twice about when writing. It did get me thinking, since you judge writing contests, what entries would be like if the challenges incorporated specific details to be included in the story, like the yellow house or blond guy. If most people would just go ahead and purple-prose it or if they’d use the details to develop their character this way or that way.

Tuesday: If you use Google Reader, there are bookmarklets you can drag into your favorites bar that can send the RSS of a blog to your reader. I’ve found it very handy.

By: Pamela L.

Pamela L. — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:58:10 +0000

Great advice and something I need to be more aware of. *Sigh* Still, I’m glad somebody mentioned it before I submitted my ms. to an agent or editor. Not one of my critique partners has ever mentioned this situation. (Goes off to find said critique partners and bop them on the heads with the Oxford English Dictionary.)

By: Tuesday

Tuesday — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:39:22 +0000

You’ve given us some really great information in a really easy to understand way. Thank you for that.

Is there a way to subscribe to this blog so I can know when there are new posts?

Tuesday

By: Caren Salas

Caren Salas — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:45:42 +0000

That was great info. I’m going to look over a manuscript I’m working on now to make sure I have no dumpings of my own. Thanks!

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:49:49 +0000

I’m new here (and will work my way backward), but I wanted to thank you for the useful information here.