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Post by antilles on Oct 19, 2020 2:15:08 GMT 1
I'm possibly being a little cheeky here, but I hope no one minds.
I'm taking part in a novel-slam event this week, on Thursday 22nd October, that's part of the Off The Shelf book festival, based here in Sheffield. With current restrictions, events are mostly being held vitrually, via Zoom.
The novel-slam is a chance for writers to pitch their work in public, with the 4 winners getting useful help and contacts, like an agent read-through, feedback and coaching. I'm not a beginner, I've had novels published before, however they are westerns, which has long been a minor genre in the UK. My publisher has decided not to keep their western line, so I no longer have an outlet there. I'm aiming to switch to crime/mystery novels, and I'll need an agent. With the westerns being so niche, I'm rather out of touch with mainstream publishing, so this event could be very helpful to me.
All writers entering will read the first line of their book, and then give a one minute pitch for their book. The audience will vote for their favourites. The top eight choices will read a three minute extract, and four of them will receive the prizes.
All support would be most welcome. It should be an interesting insight into publication and writing. I'll be pitching Full Steam To Murder - a historical mystery set in 19th century America. The hero, Kes Lawson, is a Scottish-born former cavalryman, with an abiding love of horses and riding.
It starts at 7:30
I have a website about my westerns and can provide a link if anyone's interested. (I don't want to look like I'm spamming the board with my stuff).
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Post by Claire on Oct 25, 2020 20:53:36 GMT 1
No worries Antilles, we are here (both website/FB page and chat forum) to highlight good reads, mostly pony but also any other genre. And Westerns can of course be something of a cross-over genre with horse stories. A few authors have joined the chat forum and I have nothing against anyone wanting to promote their own writing on here.
Anyway it all sounds very exciting! Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.
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Post by antilles on Oct 28, 2020 1:48:40 GMT 1
Hi. The novel slam went pretty well. I was one of those voted through to read an excerpt from my book. I didn't win the agent read-through, which was the prize I really wanted, but my book isn't close to being finished yet anyway. I wasn't intending to be approaching agents for a while yet, though an intro would have been useful. I think what was most encouraging for me was the positive reaction to the idea of a crime novel set in the West. I've worried that people would simply see it as a shoot em up, and be put off, but that didn't seem to happen. I also had a couple of compliments on my big ginger and white fluff, Iella, who was posing patiently on the windowsill behind me as I was reading  (She is a beautiful cat). Here's the pitch I read out first: Full Steam To Murder is an historical crime novel set in America in the 1880's After ten years in the US cavalry, Scots-born Kester Lawson is ready for a change. With three friends, he takes the bold decision to leave the Army and become a sheriff. The mines and boomtowns of Colorado attract criminals of all kinds, as well as honest settlers who need strong lawmen to protect them. Just weeks after winning office, Kes is still finding his feet in his new life, when bandits hold up the train he is travelling on. His efforts to stop the robbery are thwarted by a group of interfering citizens. The outlaws escape with the silver bullion, leaving a guard dead. Kes is faced with the challenge of tracking down the outlaws, who know this mountain country better than he does, while the owners of the silvers mine and of the railroad, demand results. As he investigates, Kes begins to think that it wasn't a random robbery, and wonders if the financial state of the railroad might be a factor. If Kes can't solver the mystery of the train robbery, and bring the criminals to justice, his name as a lawman will be ruined from the very start. |
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(She is a beautiful cat).
