Red Light/Green Light Contest Entry Guidelines

by Adventures in YA Publishing

It’s hard to believe, but only one week from today, we’ll be opening this year’s first round of Red Light/Green Light! RL/GL is a fantastic opportunity to test the waters with your opening lines, and affords entrants a chance to win a full request from our judging agent. This round, Alyssa Jennette from Stonesong Literary is judging, and if you’d like to know a little more about Alyssa, she joined us for an interview a few weeks ago which you can find here.

The schedule for Red Light/Green Light is as follows:

March 9th

Entry Day

Get those submissions in by email to ayap(at)gmail(dot)com. Submission
formatting details will be posted on Thursday, March 2nd, so keep an eye
on this space.

March 16th

Round One: First Lines

The first lines of a maximum of 50 entries will be posted here to wow our readers, and for Alyssa to judge.

March 23rd

Round Two: First Paragraphs

Our judge’s top 25 entries move on to round two, and are expanded to first paragraphs.

March 30th

Round Three: Pitches

The top 10 entries move on, this time showcasing 3 paragraph pitches, as would be sent out to agents in a query letter.

April 6th

Round Four: First Pages

The top 5 entries are expanded to full first pages, giving you 250 words with which to grab our judge’s attention!

April 13th

Round Five: Prize Winner Announced

Finally, we announce our winner, who will receive the prize of a full manuscript request from Alyssa Jennette.

On March 9th, the submission window for Red Light/Green Light will open at 9am EST. We will remain open to submissions until midnight. Red Light/Green Light is open to completed NA, YA, and MG manuscripts. During the submission window on March 9th, entries should be sent via email to ayaplit(at)gmail(dot)com.

Entries must be formatted as follows:

ENTRY FORMATTING

Please type AYAP CONTEST ENTRY in the email subject line for your entry.

Name: Your name.

Genre: Please include age category as well as genre. Example: YA Contemporary, NA Romance, MG Suspense.

Title: Your title.

Query Letter/3 Paragraph Pitch:
Please include your query letter/3 paragraph pitch, minus any
personalization. You do not need to include any biographical
information–just the bones of your story, please.

First Page/First 250 Words:
Please include your first page (up to 250 words–if a sentence cuts off
at the 250 word mark, you may go a few words over to finish it).

If you have any questions at all about Red Light/Green Light, please leave them in the comments below!

Adventures in YA Publishing

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Posted: Mar 2, 2017

Category: Imported from AYAP

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The first slide is an animation of a science/magic room in a castle. A cartoon character of a mad-scientist looking man in in the foreground says: “Hello! Dr. Frankenstein here to say, Well Done on kid lit zombie week! I’m an expert at reviving the dead, and let me assure you, with a little spark, you can bring dead projects to life. Especially if you dig up parts from other dead things. I’ll even let you have a sneak peek at my laboratory’s store room to consider potential parts for your dead project. If you see something with a yellow glow, that means you should click it. Have fun!”

He points to the right side of the screen and a new scene slides in of a castle science/magic storage room. There are various cartoon Frankenstein body parts scattered around. Some of them have a yellow glow. If you click on them, the images below appear (I’ve added alt text to them, so I hope it works).

The Heart of your story is the main character. The protagonist is the beating core that truly brings your story to life. If your MC doesn't make kids (and their grown-ups) care within the first few pages, your story will flatline. </p>
<p>Your main character needs to be:<br />
• Relatable enough for kids to see themselves<br />
• Unique enough to stand out in the slush pile<br />
• Active enough to drive the story<br />
• Memorable enough to survive multiple readings at bedtime</p>
<p>Where do you find this amazing donor heart? It might be the very thing you loved so much about the manuscript you want to revive. It might be the younger sister from your shelved YA novel. Or maybe it’s the hilarious kid you blogged about meeting at a school visit. Find a character beating with potential and place it in the center of your story.<br />

The Brain of your story is the theme or central message. The theme is the big idea that controls everything else. Picture books are more than stories - they're tiny life lessons disguised with humor and heart.</p>
<p>But your theme needs to be:<br />
• Subtle enough not to trigger the dreaded "didactic" rejection<br />
• Clear enough for a four-year-old to grasp<br />
• Universal enough to speak to both kids and adults<br />
• Fresh enough to prevent agents and editors from responding with "Not another sharing/bedtime/first-day story!"</p>
<p>Check your other dead manuscripts to see if there is a recurring theme, something that really seems to be speaking to you. Find the bit of poetry you scribbled on the back of a receipt to see what theme inspired it. Reread the pep talk you texted your critique partner at 1am. Pick the theme that will drive your story, giving it purpose, direction, and deeper meaning.<br />

The Legs of your story is the plot. Not to be confused with a grave plot.🤪 The plot is what keeps everything upright and moving, as well as providing support for all the other elements. You have very few words to use in a picture book, so you need to do a lot with each plot point.</p>
<p>In general, your plot should:<br />
• Hook readers fast<br />
• Build tension that a child can follow<br />
• Create page turns that feel natural<br />
• Wrap up in a way that satisfies</p>
<p>You can borrow a plot twist (a leg) from one manuscript and the opening (the other leg) from a different manuscript. Consider if the subplot of the middle grade novel you trunked would work better as a picture book. Or maybe your Facebook post about a disastrous camping trip could become a story for kids. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other until you have your storyline.

The Arms of your story are the side characters.

The Torso of your story is the setting. Setting helps a story breathe and connects all the elements of the story. It isn't just where your story lives, it's what makes your story ALIVE. It's the difference between "this happened in a park" and "this happened in that park, the one with the twisty slide that burns your legs and the creaky swing that sounds like a baby crying.”</p>
<p>Your setting should:<br />
• Make your character's world feel real<br />
• Contain your story in a way that makes sense to young readers<br />
• Connect different scenes and moments organically<br />
• Give your illustrator enough room to add visual subplots</p>
<p>Half-finished manuscripts are a great place to dig up settings, since you worked out the place details before the plot petered out. Or maybe you had to cut a second fantastic location from your chapter book. You can also revisit the detailed caption from your Instagram carousel documenting your tour of that delish candy shop. Disinter a robust setting that can house all of your story's vital organs.

After you press the Click When Done circle button, the lights flash with the sound of electricity buzzing. Then the screen goes black and lightning zaps across the screen with the sound of thunder.

The screen then lights up to show the storage room, and all the Frankenstein pieces have been assembled into the whole monster. An upbeat song plays in the background. Then a speech bubble pops up with the words, “I’m alive! I’M ALIVE!” Then the screen goes to black.

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