First Chapters Writing Competition Round 2 Has Ended

Tuesday!

Good luck.

Cool. I am looking forward to see who gets to move to round three! Good luck everyone.

Give them a chance, Melissa.....maybe with this much time they can figure out how to do the right thing for this round. Or not. There's always hope though, eh? :-)

Guess I'm stupid that way....

Here is a vote of confidence!

May the best ten manuscripts advance!

I hope at least some of my "favorites" make it to the next round, since I plan to read them all. This should be easier because it will only be ten chapters versus forty.

Reading all of the top twenty first and second chapters (and rating and commenting on them all - whew!) made me sympathize with editors a great deal more. It also helped me (I hope) to have a better idea of what makes a manuscript stand out.

Good luck to all of the authors. I hope my critiques were taken in the way they were intended. I'm not gifted in "insightful" commentary. I'm much better at catching punctuation, spelling, etc., nits.

Finally, I learned a lot from reading the comments of others. Thanks for that.

Cathy

Cathy, your review was very helpful. I printed it immediately and changed everything I hadn't already. Can't tell you enough how much I appreciate the time and effort your review, and all others, took.

All the best.

Thanks! I can't wait to see who is advancing.

Piggy-backing on Geoffrey's comment, I, too, want to thank everyone for their constructive feedback. It's always good to get fresh perspectives on one's writing.

Sumner,
In a way we all HAVE won! The feedback that I got on DREAM WAR was incredible. I've been through two writer's groups, a line-editor, and several beta readers. Still, there were some excellent points made in the reviews. I've shifted the lengths and cutoff points of my chapters based on some of the comments. People like Catherine have helped clean up many "minor" errors that might trip up my MS from attracting the attention of the right agent or editor.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all who provided thoughtful and considered feedback on my chapters. The encouragement and support has been tremendous, but I'm just as excited to know that DREAM WAR is even better than it was just a few weeks ago based on the advice and suggestions of the reviewers.

Again, thank you all so much and hopefully I'll see you in Round Three!!!

Tuesday!


No I'm really not being redundant.
I'm merely reminding then Patrick! LOL

I hope the 20 semi-finalists can relax for a few days. What a stressful few weeks you've been through.

Another week of anxious wait for the semi-finalists. Good luck everyone!

I haven't read as many of the 20 submissions as I wanted to, but what I read was quite good.

I learned a lot about editing; there were some great and insightful reviews pointing out things that never caught my eyes when I read the original texts. (And there were some lousy reviews like mine who could essentially say noting more than if they liked the story).

I envy those of you who received tons of comments - good ones and not-so-good. Even those who only made the first round had their fair share. Too bad I couldn't enter my piece. I hope there will be another contest soon, including non-US-residents like me.

Good luck to all the contestants. With all that attention, I guess that even those who don't make the next round have a great start to get their stories turned into a great book on the bookshelves.

I'd just like to echo the sentiments to everyone thanking them for the constructive comments. It's been both a wonderful and nerve-wracking experience all at the same time. I've been writing for a long time. I've survived the workshop experiences earning my MFA in creative writing, and I've had my share of rejections. But I have to admit, this was tough. I just hope it will be worth it in the long run. If you'd like to read a little about my experience, feel free to go to my article at http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976968584
Thanks again to all who took the time to read my chapters.

Looking forward to reading the third chapters. Good luck everyone.

The suspence and excitement builds!

Can't wait to see who the 10 are......

First Chapters Lounge has something of the results, but I'm not sure how accurate it is.

Congratulations to everyone who finished a novel, and entered in round one. Even more congratulations to the 20 who moved into the second round. I can't wait to see the finalists in round 3. I've picked a couple of favorites, and am keeping my fingers crossed.

I do hope that every single reviewer in this next round acts with grace, intelligence, and in a positive, helpful spirit. Fair play is one of the rules of the contest. I want to see not only a winning novel, but a winning author who will represent the Gather community well.

To all the authors, best wishes and good luck.

Good luck, everyone!

This time, let's not encounter sour grapes and negativity from those that do not make it into round 3.

The mere fact that so many people took the time to produce m/s's to begin with is admirable. However, not everyone can "win" or advance.

In echoing Stephen P's comments, regardless of whether or not you advance to the next round, you are all winners.

Good luck for now and for your futures.

These guys are good, making everyone wait. I thought the winner(s) had been decided before the end of round one!

There will be 3 contenders, the editor picks.

Patrick,

If I pasted correctly, the article with the winners names is
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976950289

Good luck to all!