As we posted last week, we were inspired by the blog post from one of the writers who didn’t make it through to Round Two in our Line-by-line Novel Opening Contest. So much so that we decided to see if we could get the participating authors to offer critiques not just to the top 25 finalists, but also to the people who might be feeling more overwhelmed. We had a couple of schedule conflicts, but we’ve supplemented those with new recruits. Long story short, we have an amazing team of talented authors poised to review the first five sentences for the writers whose first sentences didn’t compell our contest judge, Natalie Fischer, to read on.

There are no rules here. Over the next week, the authors will comment on the entries for which they have suggestions, and we invite you to kindly and respectfully do the same. Feel free to include lots of praise.

The entries will appear below this post. Please participate. This is an amazing learning opportunity for us all!

Please Give a Warm Welcome to Our Participating Authors:

• Barrie Summy writes a humorous tween/teen mystery series for Random House. Her books include I SO DON’T DO MYSTERIES, I SO DON’T DO SPOOKY, the just-released I SO DON’T DO MAKEUP and the upcoming I SO DON’T DO FAMOUS. She lives in San Diego with her husband, four chatty children, a dog named Dorothy, two veiled chameleons and 83 chameleon eggs. She is addicted to the internet and licorice.
• Riley Carney is seventeen years old and has written seven MG/YA novels. The first book of the five-book Reign of the Elements Series,The Fire Stone, was released January 2010, and the second book, The Water Stone, will be released August 2010. Riley is passionate about promoting global literacy through the nonprofit corporation that she founded because she believes that the way to help children break the cycle of poverty and exploitation is through literacy. 
• Tracy Clark has completed two YA novels and is currently working on her third. She is represented by Michael Bourret of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. She’s a wife, mother, lover of words, private pilot and irredeemable dreamer. Tracy was mentored by bestselling author, Ellen Hopkins, in the NV SCBWI Mentor Program.
• When Cole Gibsen isn’t writing she can be found shaking her booty in a zumba class, picking off her nail polish, or drinking straight from the jug (when no one is looking). Cole’s debut YA paranormal, Katana, is due out from Flux in spring, 2012.
• Tahereh a.k.a. T.H. Mafi works as a graphic designer. Her blog Grab a Pen consistently entertains the masses. She writes YA novels and is represented by the ever-fabulous Amy Tipton of Signature Literary Agency.
• Lisa Green is not a demon, ghost, vampire, fairy or shape-shifter*. She has, however, enjoyed reading and writing about them since the age of seven. Her short stories and poems have been featured in several online magazines and her manuscripts are represented by the amazing Rubin Pfeffer of East-West Literary.
• Maurissa Guibord is a YA author whose debut novel, Warped will be published in January, 2011 from Delacorte. Warped is a romantic fantasy about a girl, an ancient unicorn tapestry and the threads of fate that bind them together.
• Suzanne Young currently lives in Portland, Oregon where she uses the rainy weather as an excuse to stay inside and write obsessively. She is the author of THE NAUGHTY LIST series (Razorbill/Penguin) and the upcoming A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL (Balzer & Bray, Summer 2011), its sequel (Summer 2012) and DELINQUENTS (Razorbill/Penguin, Fall 2011)
• Leah Crichton resides near the majestic Canadian Rockies with her husband, three children and two pets. With a teacher for a mother and a writer for a father, she had two choices: succeed or die trying. By day she manipulates geophysical data, but at night she dives head first into the different places created inside her mind because a lot of interesting people live there. Her YA debut novel “Amaranthine” will be released in November of 2010 by Canonbridge LLC

Happy critiquing,

Martina & Marissa