“It’s finally here! It’s finally here!” – Me, running around my house this morning.
It seems like forever ago that I first announced Novel Boot Camp. I asked for topic ideas, your most common editing problems, and I spent hours upon hours (upon hours) writing and perfecting the course. Whew! It almost felt like Boot Camp was never going to arrive!
But here we are at the kickoff party – you with your manuscripts in hand and me ready to do nothing but eat, breathe, and sleep (or not sleep) Novel Boot Camp for the next month. It’s going to be a wild ride!
Before things get too crazy and some of you are inevitably reduced to tears with a bloody manuscript in your hands, let me say that the excitement and enthusiasm for Novel Boot Camp has reminded me of why I do what I do. It is the passion and dedication of writers like you that keeps me blogging, editing, and mentoring. You guys are the greatest!
To celebrate the kickoff party, keep meeting up with writing friends and critique partners (though I know some of you are at more than capacity in that department!) and let your friends and family know that you’ll be putting your pen where your passion is and might be a bit busier (and crazier) than usual. In order to keep the blog comments focused on the workshop, post your kickoff party excitement on Twitter and the FB group.
And now on to our first workshop!
Workshop #1: Genre Guessing Game
June 30 – July 6
For our first workshop, I want to focus on the most important aspect of editing – seeing your novel from the outside.
This is no easy task! You’ve toiled and slaved over your novel. You know it inside and out. If you’ve been editing it long enough, you can probably recite passages from heart. All of that is lovely and wonderful and passionate, but terrible for editing.
So for this first workshop, I want you to send your book out into the world – just a tiny piece of it – to see how it’s perceived by those outside yourself, by the people who know nothing about it.
Participants will submit the first 200 words of their manuscript. Guessers will attempt to identify the genre, tone, and basic plot of the novel. The objective is to have a bit of fun while exploring how your manuscript looks from the outside. Do people think your romantic comedy is a horror/thriller? Do readers expect your story of redemption to be a story of revenge?
Remember that how the Boot Campers perceive your novel is likely how agents and editors will perceive it too. We’ll be talking about why the reader’s perception of the first page is important in our first lecture tomorrow.
Warning: This is a new and totally untested workshop process. Please bare with me if there are any technical kinks or if things seem awkward. I wanted to do something unique so I hope it works!
How to Play the Genre Guessing Game
***Read the FULL directions and follow them or you will not be eligible to participate!***
Firstly, I understand that not all readers are comfortable sharing their work online. If you do not want to submit, you may still participate in the guessing.
How to Submit Your Opening
To streamline the process, decrease cheating, and increase participation, I will be posting all of the first pages anonymously (meaning that no one other than me will know whose first page is whose). If you attempt to submit your own first page, it will be deleted!
The submitted novel openings will be posted as quickly as possible, but since it must be done manually, there will likely be some delay.
Submit your novel’s opening in the form below. It will go to my email and I will manually post the first 200 words only (not your name, genre, tone, etc.) into the comments section.
Note that your novel’s opening is the very first 200 words. If you open with a prologue, use that rather than your first chapter.
How to Guess the Genre
In the comments section below this post, leave a reply to the novel openings submitted and post some or all of the following:
- Guess the Genre – Is it a contemporary romance? A YA paranormal? A horror/science fiction hybrid? Post your best guess. If you think it’s middle grade or young adult, please also include a genre (adventure, comedy, romance, etc.).
- Guess the Tone – What do you think the overall tone of this novel is? Is it creepy? Heartwarming? Spiritual? Disturbing? In other words, what adjective would you use to describe the book?
- Guess the Basic Plot – What do you think this novel is going to be about? What do you expect to happen?
- Do NOT post a critique of the opening or any comments about the writing quality or style. We will have a novel opening critique later in the month.
Please do not post your guesses anonymously unless you do not want to be eligible to win the prize for best guesser!
Sample comment/guess: I think this is a middle grade adventure story with a dark tone. I expect it to be about how the main character learns to overcome his fear of the water to defeat a sea monster.
What Should Writers Take Away?
The reader’s perception of your novel is more important than your own. Keep an eye on your novel’s opening this week to see how Boot Campers perceive your work. Is it right in line with your vision or way off?
Is the novel going to deliver what readers seem to expect? We’ll be talking about the importance of the first page’s promise in our first lecture tomorrow.
Prize – Free Edit of Your First 1,000 Words!
This workshop will have two winners! Due to the labor involved in posting, moderating, and then judging the posts, it may take me until after Novel Boot Camp to choose and notify the winners. How long it takes depends on the level of participation.
Award for the Best Guesser: This prize will go to the Novel Boot Camper with guessing power from the gods. In other words: the camper with the most correct guesses.
Award for the Best Opening: This prize will go to the opening that had its novel, genre, and basic plot guessed correctly the most often.
Both winners will receive a free edit of their first 1,000 words.
Connect with Other Novel Boot Camp Participants
Need a writing friend? Got a question? Need a shoulder to cry on? We’re there for you!
I will be answering writing and editing questions on our Twitter hashtag as time allows. Due to the insane volume of emails I’m receiving, I cannot provide free advice or assistance via email. Thank you!
What is Novel Boot Camp?
Novel Boot Camp is a free online novel writing course focused on identifying and correcting problems in your novel. Learn more about Novel Boot Camp and find past (and future) posts here.
Ellen Brock 
I am meeting Toni for coffee in a few minutes. We agreed to meet at the local supermarket even though I don’t like the place. Neither of us do, but it’s handy and serves reasonably decent coffee.
She is late, but then, with three kids and another on the way that’s hardly a surprise.
As I wait, I people watch which, in itself. is surreal. I want to see if I can spot who is watching me, assuming they are actually here.
John says I’m imagining it. Who has the time, these days? he asked.
Is it a husband ‘thing’ to dismiss such a concern?
I told him that it could be someone who doesn’t have a job. A former student who didn’t achieve the grades from me that they needed; anyone, really.
He’s not convinced and asked me to prove it.
I can’t. Not yet. For now, it’s still just a feeling and, although I can’t say it out loud, it’s driving me mad. I only feel safe at work in the University and at home. Anywhere else and I’m as vulnerable as a baby.
It’s the strangest of feelings not knowing who is watching you.
It could be anyone here and I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman.
G – Adult thriller
T – Dark, scary
P – MC is abducted and her husband spends years trying to find her, only to discover she’s been held in a house in their neighborhood
Genre: Mystery/Suspence
Tone: conversational, growing darker as the story progresses
Plot: a teacher is being stalked, but no one believes her. The reader doesn’t know until the end whether she is right or crazy.
G: thriller
T: serious
P: MC is being watched constantly, everywhere she goes the unseeing eyes are following her. She can’t be safe anywhere. The feeling of being stalked grows within her, every day is more intense than the previous one. Eventually she comes face to face with the person who’s fallowing her and it’s not a good meeting. She’s being attacked and all alone. There’s no one to help her, no one can hear her scream.
G: Thriller/Mystery
T: foreboding
Plot: A former student stalks his teacher to kill her because he didn’t pass.
Ben sat behind the cramped, too small school desk at Richardson High School. He was bored to death. “I should kill myself” he thought. Then he shrugged off the notion, because Amy Gillis, the girl sitting in the desk in front of him, had dropped her pencil, and he was primed to stare at her ass as she bent over to pick it up. As she did, he scanned her rear and placed the image in his mental catalogue of things he had seen and wanted, but had no hope of ever coming into contact with. Like a Lamborghini, or a million dollars, or a member of the opposite sex. And oh my god was it nice. Was she wearing underwear? He could make out no panty lines
As she sat back down, he felt a slap on the back of his head. It was Eric Smith. Football hero and general asshole. Not general as in regular, he thought, but general as in military rank. Schools have unwritten military rank, he knew. “Eric Smith, General Asshole.” What a title. The apt and oft earned moniker Ben had given him, though he kept it to himself.
Genre: YA Coming Of Age
Tone: conversational, poignant at times
Plot: Ben learns where he fits in and where he doesn’t. He dreams of being one of the “popular” kids. Then one day his rank changes and he is at a different level in the pecking order.
G: YA
T: Light
P: Ben is an average kid, he’s ether ignored by his colleagues or is being bullied. He wants to be one of the popular kids but wants nothing to do with “Genera” who is on Ben’s “mortal enemies” list.
G: YA fiction
T: humorous to dark
Plot: Ben is trying to discover himself and to find out how to be popular to get the things he wants.
Genre: YA
Tone: Satirical
Basic plot: Protagonist sees himself as a loner/loser who slowly learns how to come into his own.
I told him my name is Kim. And that I am a former bikini model doing a stint as a hairstylist while I work on debuting my acting career.
That was about an hour ago.
I’m naked on plain white sheets except for my Brigitte Bardot-blonde bob and smudged red lipstick, the way he left me before he rolled off the curve of my sweat-shined backside.
We pulled back the goose duvet as soon as we keyed inside, didn’t bother with the exotic high-count sheets. This isn’t an overnight kind of thing.
Before I decide whether my exhausted target’s name is Derek or David he slaps my ass hard enough to leave a print the size of a catcher’s mitt. “Wow.”
I laugh the way I think a Kim would laugh, high-pitched with my tongue showing. “Guess what they say is right…”
I pause, bite my lip as I drop my eyes to his penis. It’s still serviceable against his strong stomach.
“Forties are the new twenties,” I whisper with a glance into his hazel eyes.
“I’m fifty-one, sweetheart.”
“Guess that makes me…” I move to my side so he can see me better. “Impressed.”
Genre: Erotica
Tone: sexual
Plot: Woman pretending to be a prostitute. Mid life crisis maybe? Sexual exploits and drama help her realize she can have everything she wants at her own stage of life.
Genre: Spy novel
Tone: sexual
Plot: A woman that is a spy or contract killer, telling her story.
Genre: Romance Suspense
Tone: daring, sexy
Plot: “Kim” is an assassin for hire. She is the best in the business because she gets the job done no matter what it takes. But her next target has her reconsidering all that she’s ever believed.
G: Erotica/Romance
T: Light
P: MC doesn’t take life to seriously, she wants to enjoy every minute of it. She loves her job but loves sex even more. She’s jumping from a man to a man to satisfy her needs. When she gets the role she was dreaming of she can’t get away from paparazzi who are absolutely everywhere. She has to be more careful when meting a new man, she’s in public eye now. Her image has to be pure just like the character’s she’s playing.
G: Erotica
T: playful
Plot: A woman poses as a call girl because she’s bored of her husband/life.
Genre: Romantic suspense
Tone: sexual
Plot: MC is a PI hired to get info for a client; falls in love with target.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tone: Light, humorous
Basic plot: A one-night (or one-hour) stand brings an older woman and younger man together.
Genre: Erotica
Tone: Saucy
Plot: Her heart is cold, everything is a game and not to be taken too seriously. She seeks affection in all the wrong places, which for her, keeps things nicely casual. Previous pains, disapointments taught her to be cautious. Soon, she’ll encounter someone different, but will they be enough for her open her heart and push aside the rule of not to get emotionally involved?
YA
Plot coming of age, emerging sexuality
tone reflective
chic-lit
romance
dirty and fun
Three hundred years compressed into thirteen seconds. The slender gray skinned pilot, slides forward, examines his display, its rainbow lights highlighting the smooth planes of his flat blank face. Large coal black almond shaped eyes, easily the size of a man’s fist, perfectly reflect the images that danced in the air before him. Ovoid shaped head, mouth-less and covered with smooth hairless skin. Long arms and legs, dwarfed his slight child sized torso.
He made a few minor adjustments with his long four fingered hands, as the ship reverted to sub light. The saucer shaped craft bucked and bounced across the invisible but very real imperfections in space time as it slowed. As his speed dropped Lero-niat, named as all Grey were by birth sequence and brood center, began his post jump diagnostics.
He maneuvered his saucer shaped craft, with sure, if delicate hands, zipping nimbly through the debris field that surrounded Spherion and the core worlds. Asteroids and large hunks of space trash constantly shifted to make precise course plots practically impossible. Most Gray disliked change it caused them mental distress. He reveled in it.
Lero-niat grew worried as he listened for carefully prepared code phrases, interlaced amongst the
G – Sci-fi
T – Dark
P – Lero-niat is on a venture to find a mate–whatever THAT would look like, but since it involves travel, the mate may not be a Gray.
Genre: Sci-Fi
Tone: light curiosity
Plot: Lero-niat has always been different from the other Grays. Curious and open to change, Lero-niat was your typical Gray. Born into a life of servitude, Lero-niat will be faced with choices that will change his life forever.
G: Sci fi adventure
T: Light
P: Lero-niat loves to travel. he feels at home every time he’s on his ship. He loves to explore and learn more about the universe. When on one of his routine flights he fails to avoid one of the asteroids. He’s forced to land on an unknowing to him planet.
G: Science Fiction
T: Adventurous
P: Lero sets out on a routine mission and finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime.
G: Sci-Fi
T: brooding
Plot: Alien race looks for life on other planets and wars with them.
Genre: science fiction – aliens
Tone: Adventurous
Plot: I’m guessing his kind are usually very strict on protocol and like to do things the way they’ve always been done. It seems he’ll rebel and find his own way of doing things, maybe come across another planet and put himself at risk to get to know them.
Genre – Sci-Fi
Tone – adventure, technical
Plot – Lero will be forced to make a decision that goes against the nature of his people in order to save them.
Genre: Sci-Fi
Tone: Military-like saga
Basic plot: Lero-niat is an alien traveling back to his home world to report on the status of other nearby worlds.
Genre: Sci-fi
Tone: serious with some fun
Plot: Lero-niat finds out that he is half-human, hence being so different. Without knowing, he’s actually needing to connect with the race that sets him apart. This is a story of his adventure to/on Earth. Possibly a love interest, but he has to fight to stay when the greys come for him.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been followed by this strange, cute guy. I don’t really mind but it’s still strange. Yet that’s not the weirdest thing about it. When I try to show someone, he disappears. I see him once everyday.
I remember the first time I saw him. It was at school during lunch. I just finished my lunch and the rest of my friends were already gone or still talking to their other friends. Bored out of my mind, I decided to go walking around. The hallways were crowded with students. I head to the library for the book I want which was finally there.
I soon find myself outside. I’ve never been outside during school hours without adult supervision. It felt good to be outside, like I was free. I head to the greenhouse. I heard there was pretty flowers that you never seen before. That’s when I first saw him.
He was leaning against the railing on the hill where the students park their cars, which was right next to the greenhouse, his tan arms folded over his chest. He wore all black but his jacket, which was light grey. His golden-blond hair, which fell over the most beautiful mid-blue eyes, shined in the sun.
G – Young adult / Romance
T – Mystery / Fantasy
P – MC is enamored with an older guy, but learns he’s also dangerous. MC spends the rest of the book escaping from him.
Middle grade or YA realistic fiction — or perhaps even sci-fi fiction? I’m guessing either the tale of girl-meets-boy, or perhaps girl meets boy and discovers he’s a ghost? Or a supernatural phenomenon of some sort? I’m thinking mysterious is an underyling tone.
Genre: YA Supernatural
Tone: curious, mysterious
Plot: Strange things start to happen to the MC. She doesn’t think much about these little occurances until she notices the strange, cute guy who seems to be everywhere she is. It gives her a secret thrill to see him, but when she realizes that she’s the only one who can see him, the MC wants to know why her? And what does he want from her?
G: YA paranormal
T: Light
P: MC is a typical teenager who’s bored at school. She wants a bit of excitement in her life. That’s why she’s not disturbed by this strange man fallowing her, in fact she likes it but wouldn’t admit it to anyone even herself. She’ a psychic but not aware of her gift. Now as she enters adulthood her power becomes stronger. The man is not flesh and blood, he’s a ghost/angel/demon.
G: YA Romance
T: Romantic
P: Girl falls in love with guy.
G: YA Paranormal
T: exciting/romantic
Plot: The man who is following her is really an other-world being whom she finally meets and falls in love with but no one else can see him.
genre: YA romance/horror
tone: Dark suspense
plot: A girl meets a vampire and has an adventure because of it.
Genre: MG/YA
Tone: light, mysterious
Plot: MC sees the guy, who turns out to be a ghost, and ends up trying to solve his murder.
Genre: romance, YA
Tone: fun and romantic, mysterious
Plot:I’m betting he’s a ghost or a figment of her imagination and she’s eventually going to fall in love with him. They’ll go through something really hard together, where he’ll be the only one that can help her, but nobody else knows he’s there.
Middle grade/YA
light, casual, possibly funny
MC forms a bond with a teenage ghost who helps her deal with her challenges.
Genre: YA
Tone: Angst-filled
Basic plot: Geeky girl falls for hot but unavailable guy.
Genre: MG Paranormal
Tone: sweet
Plot: Discovers a supernatural friend. Sweet crush, coming of age story with paranormal elements.
It started out as just another day in Japan. Ever since I was born here it seemed to be the same. I was just waking up in my small room, admiring the cherry blossom tree outside my window when I heard a voice. A very quiet, silky smooth, inviting voice.
“Help,” it called in a language I didn’t know. I couldn’t understand.
“I don’t understand you,” I replied in a soft voice that was barely audible.
“Help,” it called once again. I loved the sound of the mysterious voice. If only I could understand it! I wanted to understand. I needed to understand. I willed myself to understand. The voice was so beautiful, I just had to know what it was trying to communicate. I replayed what he had spoken in my head; and received a revelation of what he meant.
“Help with what?” I replied in my own language. I had understood him! How amazing.
“Help,” he repeated himself. What? He couldn’t understand me, either? Well, to an extent, I supposed it made perfect sense.
“If you understand me, hear this: If you would just think of what you wanted to say, I can read and understand your thoughts, but the words that come out of your mouth confuse me and block the sound of your mind,” he told me. Well, might as well give it a shot.
G: paranormal/adventure
T: Light
P: MC can hear ghosts as well as communicate with them just by thought. He/She undertakes the task of helping his visitor. Adventure begins as soon as MC agrees helping him.
G: Paranormal romance
T: Flirty/Mysterious
P: Girl meets guy of other world, they fall in love when she helps him.
G: YA romance
T: exciting
Plot: She meets a stranger whom helps her to learn about his culture.
Genre: Could be YA Paranormal, but I think it might be Fiction Paranormal.
Tone: frustrated
Plot: The MC has psychic abilities and can speak to the dead. The MC uses his/her abilities to help them sort out problems they had so that they can move on.
Genre: MG Fantasy
Tone: Mysterious
Plot: MC and “the voice” can communicate through telepathy. They work together to find each other in the real world.
G: fantasy/adventure
T: light humour
P: the narrator is in trouble, anyone or thing that can read your thoughts and speak through thought straight into your head….good may come but the road is full of pot holes.
Genre: Paranormal YA Romance
Tone: Light
Basic plot: Girl falls for guy with telepathic and deciphering powers.
Genre: YA Paranormal
Tone: light
Plot: Young woman meets supernatural and learns that she too is different. Falls in love.
Wendy tossed the last of a dozen magazines back onto the coffee table, the collection was unusual, one of the magazines was amazing, not because of its content, which seemed to be about repairing the damage open cut mining does, plenty of before and after shots, the magazine was amazing because it had survived four decades looking as new as the two week old What’s Making news. There were two What’s Making News, separated by a week, but both issues were covering the aftermath of a series of bad storms that tore through two hundred kilometres of the east coast and what high profile politicians were doing or not doing.
Most of the magazines were about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, where they had spent their holidays or what film premier they had attended, and what they wore. The magazines had done their job, they had filled in some time while she waited.
Wendy looked at her watch, she had spent half an hour reading the magazines, and she had tried to read them slow. It was not the first time that she managed to read everything a waiting room had to offer. It was times like this…
G: Romance
T: Light
P: Wendy finished reading the magazines and looked around, trying to kill time. She looks across waiting room and their eyes meet. There’s an instant connection. Both of them felt the spark that was created by their intense look. They start to talk and enjoyed each others company. Time just flew by, it was time for Wendy to attend her meeting. They quickly exchanged phone numbers. Next day he called, she wanted to see him. She was drawn to him like she was never drawn to another man before. Not even to her husband whom she hasn’t seen in the past two years after he left without saying as much as “goodbye”. After few dates she was falling for him and saw a light at the end of the tunnel. She thought that she’ll never find love again and now she was overwhelmed by the intensity of emotions. When she thinks she can be happy again her husband comes back unannounced.
G: Contemporary Women’s Lit.
T: Patient
P: Young women waits at fertility clinic to see another doctor.
Genre: Fiction, maybe romance or women’s lit?
Tone: waiting
Plot: Wendy goes to a routine check up and learns of devestating news.
Genre: Women’s Lit/Romance
Tone: cynical, brooding
Plot: Wendy has a serious illness. She spends much of her life in dr’s offices where she meets a handsome stranger.
Genre: Drama
Tone: Serious
Basic plot: Wendy’s waiting at a doctor’s office to be given a diagnosis which will change her life: cancer. After discovering this, she’ll spend the book deciding the value of what it is to truly be alive.
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Tone: Light turning to serious
Plot: Attending a job interview, but the magazines being in such good condition were the first hint at what really lurks behind closed doors. From today nothing will be the same as she stumbles on the secret.
The night before a girl’s 16th birthday is an exciting one. They sit up wondering what presents they will receive, anticipating the delicious cake they picked out and wondering if their crush will show up to their birthday party on the weekend.
Or so I gathered from the numerous hours spent in front of the TV. I however found myself slumped in a wooden chair, my head in my hand, studying the tied up man in front of me whose name I never cared enough to discover. I tapped my blade on my thigh, thinking of all the things I could be doing instead. I had envisioned a lazy night, perhaps curled up in my room with a movie while painting my nails. I hadn’t been down here long, if I killed him now I would still have time for a movie. I could blame his death on a vampire who got too close and was taken over by blood lust. As the thought crossed my mind I could see my father’s disapproving stare looming down. He would never believe my story. I would have to be a diligent daughter and get answers out of the prisoner before I killed him.
G: Paranormal
T: Gritty
P: A young girl born to be a vampire slayer wishes she could have a more normal life.
G: YA fantasy supernatural
T: serious
P: Teenage girl is born to a family sworn to secrecy just like her father and his father. They coexist with vampires and other deadly creatures. Her family leads a normal life, or so it seems to her neighbors. By day she goes to school but by night she’s a demon hunter.
Genre: YA Supernatural
Tone: contemplative
Plot: MC is not like other 16 year olds. While other girls worry about typical teenage issues, the MC is fighting vampires, protecting other people. She works with her dad and realizes maybe she doesn’t want to follow in the family business.
Genre: YA/Paranormal
Tone: Dark, witty
Plot: Daughter of a vampire hunter makes a name for herself in the profession.
Genre: YA Paranormal
Tone: Sardonic
Basic plot: Girl has grown up in a world of vampires as an assassin. She resents the life that’s been forced on her and plans to strike out on her own to live life as she pleases.
Genre: YA Paranormal
Tone: dark
Plot: Her best friend was murdered by a vampire and she’d finally caught the person who can help her get revenge.