The Harlequin Presents Writing Competition 2009

Ah, DJ, you posted while I was logging in!

I haven't been on eHarl for a while as I'm trying to support the new Mills & Boon Community Forum, but I saw this thread announced on I Heart Presents and thought I'd come visit again!

I've been busy finishing the first draft and editing my last story, which was aimed at Modern Heat, though I'm now getting the feeling it may just be more Presents. I want to finish that, and send it off for a critique as my UK Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme entry. Hopefully I'll get the feedback in time to apply it to my next story!

I have a brand new story idea I'm excited about, for Modern Heat, and I'm going to enter that in the new competition. Need to write it first, but I love my premise!

Good luck and happy writing to everyone planning to enter!

I love your advice.  I'm JuNoWriMoing this one for Presents and I want it to be eligable for the Present Line. I think it's great that you still got such great info even when you didn't win. Very cool!!!

Thanks again.

Good Luck to all!

Count me in! I currently intend to submit a MS to the Presents 2009 Competition.

Jax, thanks for the comments/advice. Can I ask for more? The competition asks for the first chapter and a synopsis - should we have the full MS at the "final" edit stage before submitting anything?

Good luck to everyone who is planning to enter - it sounds like a positive experience!!

Well, Crystal, it's up to you. When I entered, I hadn't actually finished the manuscript. But I have to say that having learned a great deal since the last comp, I would do it differently this time. Sometimes your story changes so much that what you started out with isn't what you end up with. And then you have to go back and change the beginning and also your synopsis. I would recommend that you try and get at least the first draft of the whole thing done so at least you know where your story is going and how the conflict plays out and is resolved. Your characters' conflict and its resolution are vital to a good synopsis. That's my opinion anyway.

 You know, I hadn't even looked closely at the official rules and I see where it states it should be aimed at the MH line. But the original announcement on IHeartPresents clearly stated it was for both (check the June postings). That was the one written and posted by the editor Joanne Grant. I think they may have just posted the rules from the Feel The Heat competition without adding in the Presents part. I THINK that was a mistake. I'm sure you could ask in a comment on any of the I heart Presents blogs - I'd do it myself but for the last two days I can't seem to log onto their site. *&#@ computers!

Amy 

Having the first draft done isn't a bad idea -- but it's also not critical.  When I entered Instant Seduction, they were taking more than one entry per person.  I entered two that I wrote specifically for the contest.  Once I finished the entries and sent them off, I went back to work on something entirely different.  When I got the call that I'd won, my editor was not in the least upset I didn't have the whole book done.  She guided me through completing it.  I went through two rounds of revisions before she bought the book. 

My second book, CAVELLI'S LOST HEIR, which is out in Jan in the US (must update my signature block!) was my other entry into the contest.  I had no feedback on it whatsoever because it wasn't the winner and I didn't ask, but once I'd gone through writing and rewriting SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE, I knew what was wrong with that chapter and what I needed to do.  The only thing I kept was the hero's name and the Mediterranean kingdom I made up.

You can read SMRHR starting now (if you order from eHarlequin) or next month if you want to buy it in the bookstores.  Compare the book to the synopsis and chapter on I Heart Presents.  You'll see it ended up quite different. :)

Jackie is right that conflict is key.  But if you have a really strong emotional conflict in the first chapter, you should be able to carry it through the book.  One of the things my editor told me about why they'd selected me: my chapter was like a mini-story in itself.  It had everything and it made the reader want more.  

 Good luck, everyone!  I can certainly attest that this competition can be life-changing.  And you don't have to win, as Jackie said, to be noticed and asked for more.

Lynn

Hi, Janet!  So glad you're enjoying the book. :)  Yes, the chapter is a bit different.  And though it was completely up to me how to make the changes, my editor did suggest that I deepen the emotion and make the conflict more clear.  Basically, reading the chapter that won and the chapter that got published is like taking a class in revision from an editor.  Hopefully you can see how the emotion deepened from one to the next.

It's also proof that your work doesn't have to be perfect to get an editor's attention.  My chapter was emotional and had a mini-story with plenty of conflict, but my editor could see how to make it even better and deeper. She didn't tell me what to do, but she told me what needed to be done.  Does that make sense?

Good luck!

Hi, Mulberry.  I have to say that Modern Heat is a horse of a different color than classic Presents/Modern, so anything I say please take with a grain of salt. :)  I like the idea of your characters being serious business rivals but not knowing it.  Though of course the reader must, which sets up the tension of wondering what will happen when the characters learn it.

I think a good conflict must have serious repercussions or seem absolutely insurmountable.  In my chapter, Rebecca loses her business to Alejandro.  Insurmountable, right?  How can she get it back?  Will she get it back?  He summons her to Madrid as his employee, not the corporate CEO she was before he called her.  Add in a history together, and there's conflict, right?

I had been told it was both.  There was a technical issue with the links a few days ago, but it was corrected.  Try clicking the links again and see if you get both.  Both links were leading to MH, but that shouldn't be the case now. :)

Mulberry, can I just add re the conflict, that it should be strongly internal for MH. Competing business partners is great but if you took that aspect of it away, what else would keep the two apart?  That something else needs to come from the two characters themselves and not from the external set up.

Thanks DJ. Yes, the difference between them used to bug me hugely and then, when it was explained to me like that it was like "of course, why didn't I see that before??". Another way of putting it is, put your characters in a room by themselves, with no secondary characters and nothing else, and ask yourself why those two can't be together right then and there. If there isn't any reason they can't be, then you don't have any internal conflict.

Actually, Mulberry, you probably know that already so apologies if so!

Thanks Lynn! I thought it was similiar for Presents/Modern but didn't want to comment just in case it wasn't. BTW, I was going to say that your book was a great example of the factors that brought the h&h together (the takeover = the external conflict) and of the factors that kept them apart (their shared past = the internal conflict). And actually, if anyone wants an example of strong internal conflict, read Lynn's book!  It's fab! 

LOL Jackie, are you a mind reader? The business rival thing is just the beginning! Finding what the internal issues are that really keep these two apart has been my focus for the past day.

I know it intellectually, but still haven't quite "got it" when it comes down to the nitty gritty of writing the story!

Right now I have two new story ideas- one with fab characters and a starting scene I love but not quite enough internal conflict to sustain it, or a different idea with truckloads of good believable conflict but no characters to give it to yet.

And no, the two won't work together! I've tried, but they are very definitely two separate stories.

Edited to add- but maybe if I give the conflict I thought was the heroine's to the hero and....

I'm probably still lounging comfortably in the box because I am  having trouble devolpping my internal conflict. This is an arranged marriage/marriage of convenience plot, so I guess the question isn't 'what's keeping them apart?' right? Maybe why can't they have an HEA in chapter one, maybe?

Any takes on the question(s) I should be asking? In the meantime I am going to put them in one room like Jackie suggested in an earlier post ... see what happens...

Empi 

Just dropping in to wish everyone luck in the competition!  It really is such a fab opportunity.  The other great thing about it is that it's a fast track to the editor's desk - all the entries are read in a really short space of time and then you get a response much more quickly than sending in an ordinary submission.

That's a really great conflict tip about imagining the h& h in a room and thinking about what's keeping them apart Jackie!  I've just applied that to my current Presents-in-progress and luckily they do still have their reasons - sufficient I hope!  Anyway...back to my final edit on my fourth book as deadline is Monday!

You really think about my characters, Mulberry?? I'm very flattered! Well, my hero remains as is (with added conflict naturally) but my heroine is now somewhat different. She's toned down a bit (but still stubborn I hope). With any luck it'll get accepted - eventually!

Good luck with yours too. 

Crystal, no, we're not CPs. Mulberry read my Feel the Heat entry though which was on the I Heart Presents site. You could try going to the CP thread here if you're after a CP. I don't mind looking over a synopsis or an idea, if you like. Got a bit much on my plate to do too much more than that though.  

Thanks Jackie and Mulberry!

I will give the forums a try and see what luck I have. There are several people whose writing I admire on a couple of the challenge boards I am on so I may ask those folks if any of them have the time/interest to become my CP. As to it being a 2 way street, I sometimes think I should be an editor/EA as I am constantly reading the romance books and thinking in the background about grammar/spelling errors, tone changes I would make, etc. So I would be comfortable offering my comments FWTW.

Again thanks!!

There isn't, Mavis. But if you look on the UK site under the Cafe Social forum, there is a special thread dedicated to Modern/Modern Heat. People have been posting there.

Glad you found it useful, Mavis. I'm sure they'll also be posting lots of advice about how to write a fabulous entry too so I would keep checking it.

I'm curious about the format. On the write stuff page it shows an example for submission. It shows to indent the paragraphs. Many of the lines do this, but Presents does not. My ms is indented on each new paragraph, does this matter? Or when I submit the first chapter should I not indent?

Somewhat confused, but not totally clueless...lol.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Suzy-B

I know they're looking for first chapter and synopsis..........but you don't have to have the whole book written at this stage........right or wrong?????

 Mavis

Well, like I said in my earlier post here, when I entered the FTH comp last year I didn't have a finished ms either. Thing is it has been brought home to me time and time again how much a story can change by the time you write 'the end'. And that includes the beginning.

Whether you finish it or not before the contest closes depends on you and how much time you have to write. But like Mulberry says, be prepared to be asked for a full. Have it ready and that way you won't get last minute submission nerves.

And keep an eye on your conflict and its resolution because that is really the key.  

I'll keep writing.......in no hurry to submit that first chapter and synopsis yet anyhow........just in case there are subtle changes to be made.      Makes perfect sense now, as it always does when you ask the question!

Mavis