Spooky-Good Writing Contest & Giveaway! Calling all Writers!
Spooky-good writing + spooky-good fun = spooky-good writing prizes!
I've held a bunch of signed book giveaways for readers on my blog, but I think it's about time to hold a contest/giveaway for fellow writers. October is the perfect month to hold such a writing contest; not only is it a spookerific time for fun contests, it's also right before NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts, which I know a lot of writers in the blogosphere participate in. I will be giving away two prize packs that are sure to help your writing!
*Please read entire post & entry instructions before entering!*
So here are the Spooky-Good Writing Contest details:
To enter, you must create a fantastic first line of a potential book using at least FOUR out of these 30+ frightfully fabulous words:
*All words can be modified to plural, past tense, adjective, adverb, verb or noun forms when appropriate*
Blood
Bite
Cold
Terrifying (can be modified to terror or terrorize)
Witch
Pumpkin (can be modified to jack-o'-lantern)
Ghost
Skeleton (can be modified to bones)
October
Trick
Treat (can be modified to candy)
Midnight
Moon
Monster
Mask
Ghoul
Dead (can be modified to corpse)
Dark
Grave (can be modified to graveyard or gravestone)
Evil
Boo
Haunt
Demon (can be modified to devil)
Murder
Panic
Shiver
Scream
Victim
Nightmare
Knife
Even though this is a Halloween contest, your first line entry DOES NOT have to be scary and/or intended for a horror novel; in fact, the more creative and surprising you are with the words, the better. Your first line could be funny, mysterious, intriguing, creepy, adventurous, informative, romantic, fun, etc. It can be the first line for any age group and book genre, just remember to make it PG (or PG-13). Also, make sure to create a line that will leave me dying to read the rest of the story... and even better, will make you want to WRITE the rest of the story!
And now for the prize details:
I have purchased four reference/writing books that have helped me a lot with my own writing and publication process to give away as prizes (all books are brand new!). These prizes will be broken up into two prize packs (2 books each); one is a writing prize pack, and the other is a publishing prize pack. The two best first line entries will win ONE of the following packages:
Writing Prize Pack
Wild Ink: How to Write Fiction for Young Adults by Victoria Henley - Filled with great writing tips, info & helpful interviews from successful editors, agents & authors! It's a wonderful reference!
And
Revision & Self Editing by James Scott Bell - THE BEST BOOK on revision that I've read!!! This book is a self-editing lifesaver!
Publishing Prize Pack
Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino - Provides detailed information and visual examples for submitting your manuscripts(s) correctly and professionally in various genres and types of writing (including but not limited to: children's, nonfiction, magazine articles, scripts, poetry, etc).
AND
Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Richard Curtis - Will teach you the ins and outs of the publishing world & book contracts!!! This book is a must-read for anyone who hopes to be published, whether you plan on having an agent or not.
*IMPORTANT*Please indicate which ONE prize pack you'd like your first line(s) entered for in your comment!!! Each participant can only be entered to win ONE of the two prize packs.*
Special Spooky Surprise
Each prize pack will also include one of my GOOD GOURD Halloween cards being sold by Hallmark now!
***************************************************************
Complete Contest Entry Details Breakdown
- You must follow my blog to enter.
- Enter once by creating a first line for a potential book using four out of the long list of words listed above.
- Indicate which ONE prize pack you'd like to win in your contest entry (writing package or publishing package).
- You can create and enter more than one first line to increase your chances of winning your chosen prize pack by doing any or all of the following:
*Tweet about this contest - +1 extra first line entry
*Blog about this contest - +1 extra first line entry
*Vote for The Lipstick Laws on any goodreads list that you have NOT already voted on found HERE. - +1 extra first line entry for each vote (up to +3).
- Please leave links to your online shout-outs/votes in your comment
If you do all of the above, you can enter up to SIX creative first lines to be considered for the prize pack you want to win.
***************************************************************
This contest is open to international participants. The two winners will be chosen and announced on Tuesday, October 26. Good luck and happy writing!
I've held a bunch of signed book giveaways for readers on my blog, but I think it's about time to hold a contest/giveaway for fellow writers. October is the perfect month to hold such a writing contest; not only is it a spookerific time for fun contests, it's also right before NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts, which I know a lot of writers in the blogosphere participate in. I will be giving away two prize packs that are sure to help your writing!
So here are the Spooky-Good Writing Contest details:
To enter, you must create a fantastic first line of a potential book using at least FOUR out of these 30+ frightfully fabulous words:
*All words can be modified to plural, past tense, adjective, adverb, verb or noun forms when appropriate*
Blood
Bite
Cold
Terrifying (can be modified to terror or terrorize)
Witch
Pumpkin (can be modified to jack-o'-lantern)
Ghost
Skeleton (can be modified to bones)
October
Trick
Treat (can be modified to candy)
Midnight
Moon
Monster
Mask
Ghoul
Dead (can be modified to corpse)
Dark
Grave (can be modified to graveyard or gravestone)
Evil
Boo
Haunt
Demon (can be modified to devil)
Murder
Panic
Shiver
Scream
Victim
Nightmare
Knife
Even though this is a Halloween contest, your first line entry DOES NOT have to be scary and/or intended for a horror novel; in fact, the more creative and surprising you are with the words, the better. Your first line could be funny, mysterious, intriguing, creepy, adventurous, informative, romantic, fun, etc. It can be the first line for any age group and book genre, just remember to make it PG (or PG-13). Also, make sure to create a line that will leave me dying to read the rest of the story... and even better, will make you want to WRITE the rest of the story!
And now for the prize details:
I have purchased four reference/writing books that have helped me a lot with my own writing and publication process to give away as prizes (all books are brand new!). These prizes will be broken up into two prize packs (2 books each); one is a writing prize pack, and the other is a publishing prize pack. The two best first line entries will win ONE of the following packages:
Wild Ink: How to Write Fiction for Young Adults by Victoria Henley - Filled with great writing tips, info & helpful interviews from successful editors, agents & authors! It's a wonderful reference!
And
Revision & Self Editing by James Scott Bell - THE BEST BOOK on revision that I've read!!! This book is a self-editing lifesaver!
Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino - Provides detailed information and visual examples for submitting your manuscripts(s) correctly and professionally in various genres and types of writing (including but not limited to: children's, nonfiction, magazine articles, scripts, poetry, etc).
AND
Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Richard Curtis - Will teach you the ins and outs of the publishing world & book contracts!!! This book is a must-read for anyone who hopes to be published, whether you plan on having an agent or not.
*IMPORTANT*Please indicate which ONE prize pack you'd like your first line(s) entered for in your comment!!! Each participant can only be entered to win ONE of the two prize packs.*
Each prize pack will also include one of my GOOD GOURD Halloween cards being sold by Hallmark now!
***************************************************************
Complete Contest Entry Details Breakdown
- You must follow my blog to enter.
- Enter once by creating a first line for a potential book using four out of the long list of words listed above.
- Indicate which ONE prize pack you'd like to win in your contest entry (writing package or publishing package).
- You can create and enter more than one first line to increase your chances of winning your chosen prize pack by doing any or all of the following:
*Tweet about this contest - +1 extra first line entry
*Blog about this contest - +1 extra first line entry
*Vote for The Lipstick Laws on any goodreads list that you have NOT already voted on found HERE. - +1 extra first line entry for each vote (up to +3).
- Please leave links to your online shout-outs/votes in your comment
If you do all of the above, you can enter up to SIX creative first lines to be considered for the prize pack you want to win.
***************************************************************
Labels: books, Contests, Fun, Giveaways, halloween, Holidays, prizes, writers, writing
posted by Amy Holder at
9:00 PM
12 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
This sounds like a lot of fun! October is such an inspiring month! My WiP is just suited for these words.
"Panic set in as I stumbled through the dark, following the eerie beam of moonlight guiding me through the graveyard; I hadn't expected to be haunted by some dead teenaged girl who just so happened to be the Grim Reaper."
*I believe I would like the writing prize pack. And +1 for blogging over at perchesinthesoulandsings.blogspot. com and +3 for voting a goodreads!
Great idea! I'm a blog follower.
Enter me for the writing pack.
Here's my entry. Hope you like it:
In the dark, with his face pressed to my breast, it was harder to imagine the evil I knew filled him but I could feel it pulling at me, drawing blood as well as milk from his midnight feedings.
So creative!!! I love it Amy! I love fun contests! I'm in need of some help with revisions so the Writing prize pack is what this is for!!!
My entry:
Midnight neared and the cool October air swept a chill down my spine, a shadow from the moonlight sneaks past me, again I see the ghostly figure rush by me, it’s then I realize my dead boyfriend standing still. (END)
You'll of course have a place on my sidebar and a very special blog post, along with some tweeting! I'll let you know when everythig is up :)
I ordered Wild Ink last week, so I guess I'll be going for the Publishing Pack :)
"If there's anything more scream-inducing than monsters in the moonlight, it's Aunt Laurel's Tricolor Pumpkin Pie."
I'll go for the writing pack.
"My brother and I braved the cold Octber air that morning to pick up the corpse of our Brutus, our Jack-o-lantern, a victim of our neighborhood's Halloween night lawlessness."
Side note: the word verification is: batyists. I'm not sure if it is a real word or if it means those who follow the ways of bats, but either way it is fitting.
I so cannot wait for Nanowrimo! Although I really need to decide on a story idea...yikes!
I'm already a follower =)
"I almost shake my head at the ridiculousness of the situation, because if Becky Hollings – with her bloody pompoms, dark eyeliner, ghostly skin, and bratty cheerleader attitude – was the best assassin that ghoulish demon could send to murder me for accidentally setting his crypt on fire, then the evil demons I grew up hearing so much about were really a bunch of sissy’s.”
I think I'll try for the Publishing Prize pack!
Thanks for the fun contest, Amy! =)
Jen Daiker pointed me in your direction! Here's my entry:
"Alex's worst nightmare comes true when she reunites with twin sister Sarah, an evil witch back from the dead, and Alex is tasked to murder her again."
*I'd be interested in the publishing prize pack, please! Thanks!
Hello, Jens blog also pointed me in your direction. Thought I would give this wonderful contest a go. My entry is for the publishing prize pack, here goes...
"True evil rose above the victim on a dark cold October night, the terror it had caused in the now lifeless corpse was just the beginning of what was to come."
Looking forward to checking out the rest of your blog. ;)
How cool! My announcement actually worked?!
Fantastic entries so far!!! I'm not sure how I'm going to choose just two winners.
And Jen, thanks so much for the announcement on your blog! Your awesomeness never ceases to amaze me. :)
oh, great contest, but think I missed it. Fun idea!
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