Harlequin is launching a new contest entitled “So you think you can write,” which will reward one aspiring writer with the chance to be published with the company.
The contest is open to all 16 various sub-genres the company publishes on a monthly basis. Do you like passionate romances staged in glamorous settings? Take a look at Harlequin Presents. Do you write contemporary romances that feature realistic characters and subplots? You can also write a book based on Superromance, steamy, romantic suspense, heartwarming and faith-based.
There are weekly assignments issued in order to get you on the right track of reading and winners are given access directly to the editors to give you important feedback on your writing. The Week 2 assignment is outlined as thus; You know a memorable scene when you read one. A pivotal event usually occurs in a dynamic scene. In real life, you have many “events” but not all of them are significant: making dinner, brushing teeth, waking up. For a novel, you need to provide scenes that keep the reader obsessively turning pages. The day-to-day scene and events can be a nice slice of life here and there, but for a romance, you need to cut to the chase a bit more: write and show us the most exciting parts of a love story.
So you want to enter the contest and start your long and glorious career of writing trashy romance novels? Make sure your manuscript is double spaced and set to 10 point for your font. The synapsis is very important and should be two to five pages to get the gist of your premise for the editors to read.
Make sure to check out the official FAQ, Writing Guidelines and Contest Rules if you are interested in entering this contest.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
