CRAFT First Chapters Contest
Deadline: August 4, 2024
Isn't the start of something new incredibly, deliciously exciting? Here at CRAFT, we want to share in that excitement by reading the first chapter(s) of your novel in progress. We long to immerse ourselves in novels over the summer, and what could be more thrilling than sampling the newest work out there? For the 2024 First Chapters Contest, we're eager to read your first 5,000 words. Guest Judge Kimberly King Parsons is equally keen:
I love it when the beginning of a novel (especially the very first line) contains the stylistic signature and the tonal genetics for the whole book. I'm always looking for attention and care at the sentence level, beautiful acoustics, and a voice that begs me to follow it. Not every novel has to do everything at once, but I value humor, the subversive, complicated characters (especially "unlikeable" or "unreliable" narrators), and plots that aren't afraid to swerve into the very weird or very dark. Most of all, I'm hoping for opening pages that feel as if only you—with your distinct authority, unique perspective, and precise choices—could have written them.
Ms. Parsons will choose three winning excerpts from fifteen anonymized entries.
- Please send excerpts of book-length fiction only—submit the first chapter or chapters of your unpublished novels/novellas (up to 5,000 words in all). Your novel need not be completely written.
- We allow simultaneous submissions.
- $20 entry fee per submission.
- First place will receive $2,000 and a full manuscript critique of the novel or novella, up to 100,000 words, by Artful Editor.
- Second and third place will receive $500 and $300, respectively.
- First, second, and third place will receive an agent query workshop by Annalise Errico of Ladderbird Literary Agency—Annalise will offer feedback on the first 5,000 words of the project, the summary, and a query letter.
- The top three excerpts will be published in CRAFT, each with an introduction by Ms. Parsons.
- Each publication will include an author's note (craft essay) written by each of the three winning writers.
