I spent a lot of time considering what to do for the final workshop this week. I wanted to make sure that it is as beneficial as possible for the most amount of Boot Campers.
So this week we will have another peer critique session. You guys really rocked the critiques last week! There was a ton of great feedback, and I got emails and messages from a lot of really happy participants. So a big pat on the back to all of you!
I have also been getting a lot of questions from participants about things not covered (or not deeply covered) in Novel Boot Camp. So I want to give those writers the chance to ask their questions.
Depending on the type and number of questions I receive, I might replace the lectures this week with Q&A sessions. I have to play it by ear depending on the participation level.
You are free to submit to both workshops (you don’t have to pick just one). The submission forms are below. Thanks!
Peer Critique Workshop
This week I would like us to focus on scenes a little deeper into the novels. It is your choice where the scene takes places, but please do not submit your first page again.
I suggest choosing a scene that is emotionally charged, a scene that demonstrates your voice, or a scene that you know is not working but you aren’t sure why.
You may provide context for the scene by briefly outlining who the characters are and what led up to the scene, but there is a combined cap of 1,250 words for the explanation/context and the scene itself.
I will post submissions twice this week: tomorrow (August 25th) and Wednesday (August 26th). If I do not have your submission in by 8am EST on August 26th you will not be able to participate.
The Golden Rule: Do not submit your novel opening if you do not intend to critique the openings of others. This is not fair to the other participants.
***Important: Please leave a blank line between paragraphs by entering after each paragraph after you’ve pasted into the submission box. This spacing will not show up for you, but it will show up on my end. If you do not leave a blank line between paragraphs, I will not add them for you and it will make the submission difficult to read. Thank you!***
Q&A Session
For the Q&A session, you are free to ask any questions you like about writing, editing, or publishing. I ask that you please only submit your two best questions and that you keep them as brief as possible.
I cannot put two submission forms on one page, so to submit a question, please click here:
Q&A Session Submission Form
Thanks to everyone for making Novel Boot Camp such a great success this year!
Ellen Brock 
These are great workshop ideas! Can we get a clarification on the deadline for submitting since the 25th is actually Tuesday?
Sorry, the 26th. I didn’t have my morning coffee yet when I wrote this. 😉
I can relate to that. I have a shirt that says, “But first, coffee.”
Ellen, I just submitted my excerpt, having dutifully double spaced between paragraphs, but it still came out with no breaks showing. Is there another way for me to submit it so it’ll be properly presented?
Thanks,
jim
It always shows up this way to the submitter but the spaces are visible on my end. Thanks!
I am new to your site and and at these peer critiques. Do you send me 5 to read or where do I find them? It is such a good idea. Thanks.
They will be posted on the blog as a post. Stay tuned!
Hello and greetings from Sweden!
I thought i would lead with that so you would get why my english is so bad. 😉
I just wanted to say thank you! 🙂 So nice of you to do all this great and time consuming work and sharing it for free! I found all your videos and Boot camp amazingly helpful. Some things I hadn´t thought of and some things I had thought of. In regards to the later it is really great getting confirmation that I thought right. I written one novel with all the beginners faults and it became to big a task rewriting it. Now I have more structure in my writing. I am on my second novel about 200 pages in so this came at a great time.
All the best to you
Malin
Love the accent Malin 😉