Getting the 1st Chapter Right
The Chapter One contest I'm one of the judges for is finally wrapping up. 125 manuscripts, the majority of which, like a poetry slam, went the maximum 20 pages! The panel wasn't able to meet in person so the contest coordinator is...um, coordinating our top six choices, trying to come up with a representative final four. The other two judges had two finalists in common, while neither had any crossover with my list. Should be interesting. With so many manuscripts to read, I developed a three-stage weeding process that netted about 15 solid "yes" entries, from which I had to…