Rachel Hauck is an award-winning, best-selling author, and a client of MacGregor Literary. She’s an Ohio State grad and a Buckeye football fan. Her next release, The Wedding Dress, is a Romantic Times Top Pick. For more information about a private session of book therapy, go to http://www.mybooktherapy.com/.
Hey everyone, Rachel Hauck here. It’s an honor to be guest posting on the MacGregor Literary blog.
A few weeks ago I asked Chip if I could post a live book therapy on his blog as a teaching tool. After sending him numerous threatening emails, and vowing to expose his affection for a stuffed Oregon Duck pillow, he caved. (Oops, sorry Chip, the secret is out.)
So, what’s this about therapy? Glad you asked. My Book Therapy is a craft service founded by the lovely and gracious Susan May Warren designed to train writers on story crafting, world building, and word painting, as well as develop an online community.
As the resident therapist, I’ve done dozens upon dozens of critiques and reviews of beginning and even published novelists. And I found there are some very common struggles with those first five pages.
For example, I might read for pages without so much of a hint at what the protagonist wants or what the story is going to be about. Often, the first glimpse of the starring character is negative and off-putting.
Since MacGregor Literary does so much to help writers, a critique of a piece can be informative and helpful, especially for those of us who are visual.
What does it mean to “have a hint of the lie?” Or “hint at the story question?” A live therapy will help us all understand better.
Sound interesting? Yes? No? Maybe? Who’s got courage? Here’s your chance to appear on THE MacGregor Literary blog with your fine work of fiction!
Contest Details
Simply leave a comment stating why you deserve—or need!—therapy for your manuscript.
Since most of you are regular readers of this blog, you know how snippy, snarky, and funny win the day. Here’s your chance to shine. Leave a funny, bizarre, hilarious, or ridiculous comment before midnight on February 29th. Be sure to leave your contact info.
The winner, to be picked by Chip, will have one week to submit a scene of no more than 1,000 words, plus a log line, or a hook, to yours truly.
I’ll do my therapy magic on it. The winner can choose to have his or her name included or to remain anonymous. The resulting critique will then be posted on the MacGregor Literary blog.
The idea is that we can all learn from a live critique. I learn with every book therapy. One of the main things I’ve learned is the very common struggles of new writers to make those first five pages pop.
Come on, join the fun!
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