Welcome to the fourth annual Novel Boot Camp! I’m so excited to be back for another year of writing tips and workshops!
If you participated last year, welcome back to another year of Boot Camp! If this is your first time participating, thanks for joining us! Novel Boot Camp is a ton of fun and a great opportunity to get free feedback on your novel.
If you don’t know what Novel Boot Camp is, check out the full schedule.
Today I’m opening up the submission form for the first workshop. I will be posting my feedback in two parts: this Friday (August 4) and next Friday (August 11).
Workshop #1: “I stopped reading when…”
Agents, editors, and readers make lightning fast decisions about what they want to read. This workshop is intended to simulate the querying experience for writers who are hoping to traditionally publish. For those planning to self-publish, this workshop helps demonstrate what readers might think of your novel excerpt when deciding if they want to buy your book.
My hope is that the critiques will help you to avoid mistakes that get submissions deleted by agents and that cause readers to put the book down (or click away from the webpage) without buying.
Want to know what to expect from the critiques? Check out last year’s workshop.
The Critiques
Your name and the title of the novel will not be included in your critique. Novels will be identified by genre only.
My feedback will include the text up to the point that I stopped reading along with a few brief comments about why I didn’t continue.
Because this is a free workshop, I cannot predict how many writers will participate. This means that unfortunately I cannot guarantee everyone will have a chance to participate in every workshop. I will critique your submissions until time prohibits me from continuing. Thanks for understanding!
***Please include spaces between paragraphs as no other formatting will be preserved after you submit the form. Thanks!***
Comment Question: What was the hardest part of writing your first page?
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Ellen Brock 
One of the hardest parts for me is having my protagonist get over shadowed by another character. I think it’s because that character is more alive in my head for some reason. And second to move the story forward, I meander and then have to cut it out.
You are so helpful and informed Ellen!