“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 
Chapter one
It starts outside a train station.
Which sounds normal. After all, stations are boring, right? The sound of steps, the people and tourists waiting for the next train, and that random cello player outside the entrance .
Yep, pretty normal.
Now, if you were me you’d notice other things. Weird things. Like the fact that cello guy has a long plumed tail and cat ears, for instance. I toss him some change and he nods his thanks. I nod back, telling him, ”Nice ears.” He’s startled but I leave before he can say anything, having spotted the person I’m looking for across the parking lot.
Grum’s in his usual spot. Glamor in place, he’s waiting for the next wave of tourists to come by, throwing their garbage into what they think is a trash can.
More accurately, a trash goblin. Grum looks a lot like a cross between Yoda and a London gargoyle. Only he’s dark brown, not green.
I lean against the wall beside him, pulling my own glamour in place. ” How’s it going?”
He waggles stubby, claw-tipped fingers in a ‘maybe’ gesture. With the other hand he points a cigarette in the direction of the cello player.
Genre: Fantasy
Tone: edgy, fresh
Plot: MC is a Grimm fairytales sort of creature who seeks out others of his kind and keeps them in check.
GENRE: Modern Fantasy
TONE: light
BASIC PLOT: Our hero moves through the present where creatures of legend abound – but are passe
Genre: Supernatural Contemporary Romance
Tone: light, intriguing
Plot: MC is able to live between the human and supernatural world. MC is an enforcer-keep the humans ignorant of their existence. However, the train station incident changes everything, and the MC must do everything to figure out what went wrong and hope to restore order between the two worlds.
Genre: modern supernatural
Tone: light fantasy
Plot: MC lives in modern world and in world of supernatural, interesting concept.
Genre: YA Fantasy
Tone: Playful and suspenseful
Plot: In an anthropomorphic world, an adventure takes a young adventurer much farther than down the rabbit hole.
Genre: Magical realism
Tone: humorous, suspenseful
Plot: MC has a connection with a magical world and beings which humans do not know about. He is able to see things that we can’t and when, one day, he encounters something he has never seen before, he is taken on an adventure much wilder than even the most exciting of train stations could provide.
Genre: na fantasy
Tone: light/adventure
Plot: MC will face a crisis in which his ability to see into the other world will play a part.
Genre: contemporary fantasy
Tone: light, direct
Plot: Fantasy detective story. Main character is on the case to solve the mystery.
Genre: fantasy/sci-fi
Tone: action
Basic Plot: I have no idea.
G: Fantasy
T: Light
P: Humans are shearing “their” world with other creatures that before had to hide there existence.
G:ya, fantasy
T: contemplative
Plot: There is an alternative world existing on or own that most humans know nothing about.
Crouched down between two thick trees, Alcozio looked on as a deer wandered into the clearing. His breaths and movements were slow and calm. He loaded his bow and aimed. The animal pricked its ears up as Alcozio pulled back the bow string. The arrow found its heart and it crumpled to the ground. Alcozio walked over and looked down at it.
“Sorry,” he said, crouching and patting the dead animal gently.
He never enjoyed killing. Indeed, he preferred to capture and train. However, it was a necessary skill, especially since his father’s death. Mother relied upon Alcozio and his brother, Galton, to keep the family alive—which was no small feat.
They lived in a sturdy cottage; one Alcozio’s father had built just on the inside of the Timor Forest.
He slung the buck over his broad shoulders, bow in hand. Alcozio smiled to himself, feeling the weight of the beast.
This will do nicely for a few meals, he thought.
Alcozio was almost back at the cottage when he stopped. He heard a rustle of leaves. It could be nothing… or it could be a thief. Taking behind a tree, he rested the deer in the grass, took an arrow and silently loaded his bow. He waited.
Genre: ya fantasy
Tone: light
Plot: MC must fight and kill for his family’s survival in the midst of a crisis.
Genre: YA historical fiction
Tone: realistic
Plot: Alcozio is drawn into a battle between his people and an enemy, which eh joins to protect his family and their way of life.
Genre: YA Fantasy
Tone: Calm, matter-of-fact
Plot: Alcozio has become the head of his family and with that comes responsibilities to his mother and brother to survive. He accepts this responsibility without hesitation, but he is soon faced with a challenge. Stay with his family, or venture out into the world.
G: fantasy
T: steady
P: Alcozio is overwhelmed by his new responsibilities and wishes that his life was different. Due to his love for his mother and respect for his father he stayed home to look after his family. He shots the person coming out of his cottage. When he enters his home he discovers that the intruder already killed his mother and brother. After moths of mourning he decides to follow his dream.
I often wish I could forget my mother’s face. Not entirely, but, rather, the way that she looked during a single hour of a single night, which was the last time that I saw her. It seems so distant now, but even after all this time, I can still see it clearly, as if I’m watching it happen for the very first time. I see myself as a boy, only eleven years old, lying motionless in bed as my mother cried at my side. I see the desperation she masked each time that she smiled, and how her left eye looked darker than did her right, since only half of her face caught the light of the lantern. And her lips, I can still see them, too, moving softly as she prayed to her god. “Lord, if you can hear me,” I remember her pleading, “then let the boy live. Just one more month…one more week…even, one more day. Please Father, I beg you…don’t take my child from me.”
Looking back, I now realize that nothing could have soothed her. I was dying. She knew it. I knew it. The rest who were there—my father, my sisters, the old chaplain priest—each of them knew it, too. By the time the storm cleared and the sunrise came, I would be dead; and nothing could be done to stop it, just as nothing can be done now to help me forget it.
Genre: YA Contemporary/coming of age (with a touch of religion)
Tone: Wistful, sad, grave
Plot: MC is a sickly person. His/her mother used to pray that he/she would not be killed by his/her illness, and that he/she would be allowed a long, healthy life. So far, that prayer has been granted. Unfortunately, MC’s mother had a different fate. MC suffers from the guilt of his/her mother’s death and struggles to forget the misery. As time passes, MC is able to come to terms with all that has happened and learns not to let the past stop him/her from living life to the fullest.
Genre: mg paranormal
Tone: dark
Plot: MC watches over family from the other side, learning how to be a ghost and figuring out how to move on while helping his family.
genre: YA fantasy
tone: somber, reflective
plot: Character comes to grips with his role in the afterlife, while working through memories of his previous life
Genre: paranormal/fantasy
Tone: light
Basic plot: A man reflects on his past, his dying, and his mother. He has to learn to continue on in his new world.
YA/Spiritual, sad tone, possibly redemption oriented story of regret.
Shira
James-MEOW Date: 30 June, 12014 H.E.
Young adult, fantasy. sad. The boy doesn’t die but a price was paid.
G: Fantasy
T: Serious
P: Mc is a spirit who watches over his family and helps them with various problems.
Horror/Ghost Story Sad Either the boy died and this is his ghost recounting the story or he was whisked away from his family and this is his recounting of the event from the perspective of his older self.
Genre: Paranormal suspense
Tone: dark/sad
Plot: A ghost must now save the life of her sisters and her father from the other side.
Genre: drama/paranormal
Tone: dramatic/sad
Plot: man lives on as a ghost and watches people, attempts to contact them when a crises strikes
PROLOGUE
POP
HISS
The thirteenth moon
Moon date 1900, ever winter
Antagonist Prison
Beneath the massive sculptures of the ancient antagonists crystal pyramids glistened on a frozen labyrinth terrain. A cloaked figure stood before an open sarcophagus subsisted in a shroud of shadows. His hair and beard were silvery and long. The wintry blue of his eyes were faded and dulled by the vast ages of time. With a blandness sigh he hurled the red flame in his frail hand henceforth.
The candle in the wrapped carcass’s hands ignited with a pop and hiss. Its transparent lids snapped open to reveal drawn, imperishable grey eyes…
1
THE YEARS OF INNOCENCE
Third world planet
Spring of 1900
Outside the ebony framed window of the little tea pot cottage the rain poured and plopped up on the mossy earth. The sun flower clocks ticked and tocked. It was a type of harmonizing fairy tale music of enchantment. Yet the stench of fishing worms in the air crinkled her nose. Those creepy crawlers were not the only vermin that lived beneath the muck and slime. An infestation of monsters dwelled there too. The softening of the earth enabled them to burrow free easily.
Genre: fantasy adventure
Tone: dark
Plot: MC will have an adventure somehow centered around the sarcophagus.
Genre: fantasy/sci-fi/horror
Tone: dark
Basic Plot: The heroine is faced with demons and troubles they cause.
Genre:YA Fantasy
Tone: dark
Plot: Main character involved in a fight between good and evil that lands her in prison
This seems to be a historical fantasy/SF with dark tones, possibly about a war.
Shira
James-MEOW Date: 30 June, 12014 H.E.
Young adult, horror or possibly Dystopian. eerie. Life will change in this little village when evil comes to town.
G: Fantasy/ Adventure
T: steady
P: MC will stand against monsters who are trying to take over third world planet.
Fantasy Dark tone The MC is female and will encounter grave dangers before the story is complete.
Genre: Sci-fi
Tone: Dark
Plot: I don’t know who the protagonist is yet (he she) must go ahead in time and stop the threat of evil. (good vs evil)
Genre: fantasy/dark/suspense
Tone: dark
Plot: a wizard of sorts brings to life a mysterious person who will become the enemy of the protagonist introduced in the first chapter. She’ll have to develop her own magical abilities and use them to fight him.
I MISS HIM MOST BETWEEN dusk and nightfall, whenever the first stars appear in the sky. It’s ridiculous, I know, but sometimes I pretend that it’s his way of sending me a message. The stars come out slowly, one by one, and as I see them I imagine him saying: Here’s where I’ve been; here’s where I am; and here’s where I’m going next. But just as quickly as his message comes, it fades. Nightfall sets in and a sea of stars buries my memory of him once again. My heart breaks one more time; because what once seemed small and intimate, suddenly feels overwhelmingly large. And I realize, again, that he could be anywhere. Anywhere at all… except right here, with me.
“More coffee?” A voice comes just over my left shoulder, and when I turn the weary eyes of my waitress stare back at me.
From the look of her, I can tell that she’s reaching the end of her shift. Her shirt is stained from a long day of work, her shoulders slouch from exhaustion, and her body shifts subtly from side to side, redistributing her weight, back and forth, from one sore foot to another.
I catch her eyes darting down to the untouched cup she poured for me earlier, and with it, I see her frown.
Genre: romance
Tone: serious
Plot: MC will find a way to reconnect with the person she’d missing.
Genre: romance
Tone: steamy
Basic plot: The hero longs for a past love, but suddenly finds him again.
Genre: mystery/romance
Tone: sad, longing
Plot: Girl waits for love to return or for news of some kind. Find new love interest while waiting and has to decide between old and now love once he returns.
Romance, sad tone, two lovers regret the preventable death of one of them.
Shira
James-MEOW Date: 30 June, 12014 H.E.
Romance. sad and lonely. A woman copes with losing her love to an outside force such as a war.
G: Romans/Adventure
T: sad
P: MC decides that it’s time to take maters in her own hands. She is desperate to reconnect with her loved one.
Romance/possibly Science Fiction Somber tone, melancholy. Either he’s an astronaut lost in space or he’s dead or he’s left her behind while he runs off to new adventures. Whatever the circumstance, the story will be about her and how she finds her own purpose–one without him but no less full and rewarding.
Genre: Romance
Tone: sad
Plot: She longs for her lost love who has died but she meets his brother who is less than nice, and they have a lot of conflict. He changes only because he realizes he loves her too.
Oliver Una’s chocolate chip waffles tasted like grape cough-syrup. He doused them in far more palatable maple syrup then looked up hesitantly at his wife Aasha, her dark brown skin somehow pale in the cold Northwestern light. She sat stiffly above the waffle iron, hands propped on the counter, eyes dull, her open mouth drooling lipstick and nyquil into her son’s blueberry waffles. Oliver thought that was odd, that it would even make a decent shot for some film he couldn’t imagine a plot for. He wondered what the really clever protagonist of that story would say.
“Feeling alright?” he finally settled on.
“What?” Aasha said. “Oh, no, not at all. My head is burning like a bomb went off inside of it.”
She walked over to the sink. “Do you think I caught something in India?”
“You’d think I would, if anything. But it’s possible.”
Aasha turned the faucet on and dipped her head lightly in the cool bubbling water. “God, I hope not.”
“Well, these waffles are great,” said Oliver.
She lifted her head from the sink. “Oh, sweetie, you’re so full of it. But I appreciate the sentiment.” She smiled. “You can’t stay home from work today, I suppose? I could use some rest.”
Genre: drama
Tone: light
Plot: MC will be faced with illness and the loss of wife and must find a way to go on.
Thriller. scarey. Aasha has returned from India and brought with her, a disease for which there is no cure.
G: Drama
T: Serious
P: Aasha is sick, very sick. Non of the doctors they visited is able to help her or even diagnose Oliver’s wife. It’s up to him to find out what it is that Aasha is suffering from.
Medical Drama/Romance Foreboding tone. Oliver’s wife is seriously ill and they have to face her death together. After her passing, he has to adjust to life as a single dad to their son. He may experience survivor’s guilt since they both went to India but he didn’t get sick. In the end, he’ll realize living for his son is more important and far more rewarding than he’d ever imagined.
The blending of the strokes of the guitar, the twang of the banjo, the picking and plucking of the bass fiddle, the striking of the keyboards, the accompaniment of the horns and a sprinkling of tambourine sprawled like a blanket on the tall grasses tickling my calves. The faithful pledge of the vocals perched on the roof of the Mumford and Sons’ rapid melody reaching its crescendo, blowing with the wind across the vast plains, its final note and my swirling view of the prairie halting in unison. Between the pressing of the summer heat and the speed with which Captain Lewis spun me around, I completely lost my balance. As he released my one hand, I swung low and tried clumsily to hit the pause button on my tablet before the next song started. I stumbled, winded and delighted and lightheaded and ridiculously happy.
As we both attempted to grab my computer, still propelled by the motion from our impromptu dance, the solar charger detached from the device, remaining in my hand, while the tablet itself tore away in his grasp; and then I recognized the echoing reverberation of a shot replacing the music in the wind, knocking Lewis to his knees.
Genre: na romance
Tone: serious
Plot: MC must find a way to go after the loss of her lover.
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Tone: suspenseful/action
Basic plot: the protagonist seeks vengeance for her lover’s death and the novel is based on finding the killer and her inner pain.
Murder mystery. frightening. The MC has lost her love and will want to find out who murdered him.
G: Crime
T: serious
P: MC’s world is shattered by a single bullet. Her life will never be the same again. She knows that if she wants to find peace once more she has to find out who and why killed her beloved Lewis.
Mystery/Romance The tone is serious. Who was the sniper? Why did he kill her lover–why not her? Was the shooting just a random act or was there a twisted logic to it? She’s compelled to find the answers to these questions but the further she digs the more questions arise. Why aren’t the police interested in finding the answers? Why do they just pass this off as a random act of violence? Why do they threaten her with legal action when she demands answers in the press? By the end of the book all these questions will be answered but before then she must endure harrowing adventures and frightening encounters.
Klaudia was on her way home from her job at “The Lady” sales outlet where she had worked for the last three years. She began working there at the age of 20. While she was walking through John Paul II Alley in Warsaw all she could think of was her relationship. Her thin eyebrows were drawn up and together, creating a vertical wrinkle between her brows. Her small red lips were stretched horizontally, making them look even smaller.
She closed her big blue eyes as they became watery. She stopped suddenly “enough is enough,” she said out loud crossing her arms together. “I just have to stop thinking. It doesn’t do me any good. We’re together, I love him, I NEED HIM and that’s that,” she thought and stamped her foot. “I need a little bit of ME time to clear my head,” Klaudia walked into “Arkadia” one of the biggest shopping centers in Poland, she decided to have a look at the new collection of clothing. While browsing around she thought, “that’s it. You can’t go wrong with a bit of retail therapy.” A gentle smile appeared across her face, which made her grin as the pain on her split lip increased.
Genre: romance
Tone: serious/dark
Plot: MC struggles in an abusive relationship and must find a way out.
Genre: Romantic suspense
Tone: Serious/Dramatic
Basic plot: The protagonist struggles with being in an abusive relationship and it isn’t until another comes along that she finally sees how a good relationship should be.
Drama realistic. A woman lives with a man who beats her and feels she has no way out, but she finds help.
Chic Fiction/Romance Dark, foreboding. Modern woman stuck in the ancient dilemma of an abusive relationship. Could go either way; she struggles with what she wants her life to be vs. what it really is and eventually wises up, leaves him and strikes out on her own; or her patience, loyalty and loving kindness eventually crack his macho façade and he see her for the precious woman she is and they live together in peace, love and joy. Nah, it’s not fantasy. She wises up and ditches him.
Oguina was almost sure he thought he was trying to pick up
a girl in the alley outside the speakeasy. This had worked
numerous times before; her exotic features and tendency to look
slightly dangerous was like a stream to a spawning salmon.
Unfortunately, this buck was a talker. She usually didn’t
bother with the talkers, but the streets were bare on this day
they referred to as “thanksgiving.”
“Maybe you do remember what it’s like,” he said, innocently
looking her in the eyes. “Being alone in this world, I mean.
Completely alone.” She listened to the skinny young male with
the new-smelling jacket, not just to what he was saying but also
the song the blood made as it moved through his veins. His
question had distracted her just as she’d been getting ready to
pounce. He was arrogant, but also somehow bashful at the same
time which made him familiar in a strange way. Something was different this time.
“Knowing everyone you cared about was taken from you,” he
said, “it’s pain that has no value” he was saying, a wry grin on
his thin lips, “that kind of pain gets inflicted on you, and it
uses you.”
Genre: ya fantasy adventure
Tone: dark
Plot: MC will save and turn the boy. They will face a crisis together.
Genre: suspense
Tone: dark, suspenseful
Basic plot: Oguina is a vampire looking for a meal and it follows her life as she tries to hide her identity.
Horror Vampire, possibly. Cold dark. This MC has experienced this situation many times but tonight is different.
G: Fantasy
T: Dark
P: Oguina is a vampire once again looking for pray. She was hungry, thanksgiving and Christmas are the worst days in a year to hunt. But this familiarity about this boy makes her think twice. She’s curious, what is it about him that different from hundreds of others that she tasted. She decides to wait and meet with him few more times. She falls in love and hides who she is, making up excuses every night whens she’s out, hunting.
horror/vampire Dark and foreboding tones He’s her nemesis and the story is how she copes with this new threat.
Genre: romance
Tone: light
Plot: Klaudia is in a bad relationship. Perhaps she finds new love. Love triangle perhaps.