UPDATE:
Round 5 Results are in progress.
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU SEND RLGL ENTRIES TO THE SUB ADDRESS. Woof! Cynthea’s personal email box is for addressing issues only. Put it this way: To get in line, you need to stand in the right line. Nothing worse than getting to the front of the line after waiting for days, only to realize you were in the wrong line the whole time.
Also make sure you submit the correct # of words. If you are on the first page, 125 words. If you are on any page after that, 250 words.
First page entries do not have entry #s. You will get one when it is assigned to you. DO NOT use old entry numbers on new entries.
If you do not see a response next to your number, please verify that your entry was sent to the correct address in the proper format, etc. before the Round 4 deadline on March 12, 8PM CST. If it was, and you titled your email correctly, etc., then forward your old email to the cynthea address and tell us what’s wrong. If you did not send in your entry in time and everything else was correct, your results will appear in Round 4 or Round 5, depending upon when you sent it. DO NOT REPLY TO OLD ENTRY emails. This really screws up the order of Kissy’s emails. If you plain messed it all up, send in your entry with everything corrected to the sub address and it will be reviewed in the round it was received in.
Round 4 Entrants who were waiting for results in order to proceed to Round 5 (#1-#275): If you passed, your entry will be part of Round 5 if you submit your page by March 23, 11:59PM CST. If we don’t get it by then, your entry will be part of Round 6.
NEW ENTRANTS: Any *new* entries received until the next deadline is set will be part of Round 6. We are trying to get everyone back in sync again. Please make sure you only have ONE entry at a time in the entire contest. Multiple entries will result in disqualification of all of your entries.
Please do your very best not to send emails until AFTER your round is COMPLETE.
Also, new and existing clients: the paid critique deadline is coming up on April 5, please make sure that if you plan to receive a paid critique from Cynthea, please sign up for the paid critique list if you have not already for the rates, etc. and make the April 5 deadline for written critiques. We know RLGL has been great fun, but don’t miss the deadline if you wanted to get a full written critique. Cynthea’s critiques are very similar to Kissy’s, except there’s less bacon talk and barking involved. Phone consults may be booked at anytime, as usual.
Woof!
# Format Back to Start Send Nxt Pg: 250 wrds Notes
| 287 | PB | X | This one falls in the category of many other PB entries that have gotten the paw from Kissy. Everydayish opening, short-story style. Parental figures showing up in early lines, saying typical parental figure stuff. To make this standout as a commercial major trade picture book, the story should feel larger than life and give maximum opp for eye-catching illustration. Typical scenes just don’t do that as well as competing manuscripts. Visit the PB wall at B&N (where all the books face out) and count how many books feature an everyday scene with human characters, speaking regular dialogue in a typical everday setting. Not many, if any, and there’s a good reason for that. | |
| 288 | PB | X | See 287, except here the main character is not a child, but an adult which make this less universally connectable. Consider making a child the star versus an adult. | |
| 289 | YA | X* | Set the scene a bit more visually. Hard to picture the characters or setting in any memorable way. | |
| 290 | PB | X | See 287 | |
| 291 | PB | X | See 287. Also, unless this is a speech balloon kind of picture book with very strong dialogue, detailed minor conversations don’t usually make for great PB text because illustrating minor dialogue is not the point. It’s an eye catching visual scene that matters. PB style is usually less dialogue-filled. It is worth studying in contemporary PB stories. The balance of dialgue vs narration. | |
| 292 | PB | X | Have to be careful of using content that might be replicated by a child when using human characters. Also, once again, if this weren’t possibly dangerous, it still features a pretty typical scenario found in everyday life. Contemporary PB fiction usually takes an everyday concept and makes it much larger than life. | |
| 293 | PB | X | See 287. Also see 291. | |
| 294 | PB | X | This is an interesting concept, but the execution feels too commonplace. Maybe there is a version of this in the manner of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. See if you can approach it from that angle? Remember, larger than life. Not like real life. | |
| 295 | YA | X | ||
| 296 | MG | X | ||
| 297 | MG | X* | Detail the visuals a bit better so it’s more distinctive. Hard to picture. | |
| 298 | PB | X* | This is a good topic, may be of interest to some publishers. Let’s see where this goes. | |
| 299 | PB | X | It was hard to follow which animal was which and what this picture book may be about. Kissy scratched his head and then just gave it the paw. | |
| 300 | PB | X | Punctuation and capitalization in opening lines made Kissy give this one the paw. | |
| 301 | PB | X* | This one’s odd. Kissy will see where this goes. Hopefully it’s point will be come clear. | |
| 302 | PB | X* | A popular TV show makes this one seem less original, but we will see where this goes… | |
| 303 | PB | X* | Can’t tell what is happening with the sounds. Not clear, where is this premise headed exactly but we will give it another page because of charm | |
| 304 | PB | X* | Title is too close to a food product brand. The premise isnt super attractive to this pooch, but we will see where it goes… | |
| 305 | PB | X* | Interesting idea here, have to be careful not to sound presumptive about race and language. Easy fix though. |
