Announcing the 2010 Royal Ascot

The Beau Monde Regency Writers' Specialty Chapter of Romance Writers of America is proud to announce its 2010 Royal Ascot. You can read the basic rules in the column to the right. Future announcements will specify the exact rules and final round judges, along with several blogs by experienced contest enterers and judges and published authors who have sold as a result of winning a contest.

The contest will be open for entries beginning March 15, 2010, and close to all entries at midnight PDT, April 20, 2010. If you have any questions or special needs regarding the contest, feel free to ask questions at any time. Just leave a comment on the blog, or contact the coordinator personally at theroyalascot@gmail.com.

Delle Jacobs
2010 Royal Ascot Coordinator

2009 ROYAL ASCOT WINNERS!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2009 ROYAL ASCOT WINNERS!

*Regency Historical:*
FIRST PLACE: Alleyne Dickens, MisMatched ***
SECOND PLACE: Carol Jo Kachmar, Seduced By Passion
THIIRD PLACE: Karen Dobbins, Never Too Late
Final Round Judge: Linda Fildew, Senior Editor, Harlequin Mills & Boon
***MisMatched Revised full manuscript submission requested

*Sweet & Mild Regency:*
FIRST PLACE: Constance Hussey, The Angel and St. Clair (Traditional Regency)
SECOND PLACE: Donna Maloy, Legend of the Fox (Young Adult Regency)***
THIRD PLACE: Marjorie Gilbert, The Return of Hope (Traditional Regency)
Final Round Judge: Deb Werksman, Acquiring Editor, Sourcebooks
*** Legend of the Fox Submission of partial manuscript requested to Children's Editor


*Hot & Wild Regency:*
FIRST PLACE: Pamela Bolton-Holyfield, The Deceit of Desire (Very Sensual Regency Historical)
SECOND PLACE: Leah Ball, Secret Possessions (Very Sensual Regency Historical)
THIRD PLACE: Shereen Vedam, The Coven at Callington, (Fantasy Regency)
Final Round Judge: Tessa Woodward, Associate Editor, HarperCollins

ROYAL ASCOT FINALISTS!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2009 ROYAL ASCOT FINALISTS!

*Regency Historical:*
Karen Dobbins, Never Too Late
Aleyne Dickens, Mismatched
Carol Jo Kachmar, Seduced By Passion
Final Round Judge: Linda Fildew, Senior Editor, Harlequin Mills & Boon

*Sweet & Mild Regency:*
Constance Hussey, The Angel and St. Clair (Traditional Regency)
Donna Maloy, Legend of the Fox (Young Adult Regency)
Marjorie Gilbert, The Return of Hope (Traditional Regency)
Final Round Judge: Deb Werksman, Editorial Manager, Sourcebooks

*Hot & Wild Regency:*
Pamela Bolton-Holyfield, The Deceit of Desire (Very Sensual Regency Historical)
Shereen Vedam, The Coven at Callington, (Fantasy Regency)
Leah Ball, Secret Possessions (Very Sensual Regency Historical)
Final Round Judge: Tessa Woodward, Assistant Editor, HarperCollins

Entries and score sheets will be returned to contestants by June 18, 2009. Thanks for entering!
Winners will be announced at the Beau Monde soiree in Washington, DC, July 15, 2009.

EVEN MORE FAQ's: Why not .docx?

I've had several people ask me what .docx is and why they shouldn't use it.

If you don't know what it is, then you probably don't need to worry about it. This is the file extension for the new format of Word 2007, so if you have Word 2007, you might want to check to see if your document extension is .docx and not .doc

Why can't we use it? Well the older versions of Word can't read it, and a lot of people have chosen not to update a program they see as working perfectly well for them. I actually bought a version of it, but it's been sitting in its original box since last summer, untouched, uninstalled. I don't want to go through the problems it creates. I'm sure it's a perfectly fine version, but if nobody can read it, why don't I just stick with my favorite, WordPerfect, which I already have to convert to send to people? Why go through two conversions?

There is a conversion package you can get. But I will be much better off as the coordinator if I don't have to solve this problem in addition to others that are bound to come up. So that's why I'm asking all contestants to save their entries in .rtf format. Then we all can read it. If you happen to make a mistake and send it to me in WordPerfect or Word as a .doc file, I'll just convert it for you and send it on to the judges. But if you send it as .docx, sorry, I'll send it back and ask you to fix it.

If you don't know how to save as .rtf, I'll be happy to help you do it. It's easy. But I can't do it for you because I can't open your .docx file. No, I have no clue why Microsoft did this and I probably won't ever know.

Maybe next year.

MORE FAQ's

I've had a few more questions I'd like to share with you. Most of them seem to relate to format, but there are others.

1. You don't say I have to double space my entry. But if I single space, I have far too many words. Why didn't you just say to double space?

We're trying not to get into the old format wars that have dogged so many notable contests in the past. And we know sometimes double-spacing isn't really double, for various reasons. But at the same time, we want to give all contestants an equal chance.

So rather than concentrate on formatting issues, we've set a word and page limit. We hope you'll be kind to us and use a standard font and font size, reasonable margins and a nice healthy space between lines.

2. Okay, fine. Why don't you tell us what you would use?

Okay, you asked. But keep in mind you don't have to do it my way.

I'd set my margins at 1 inch, use Courier 12 pt, and 25 lines per page. To do this, I actually have to set line spacing at 1.85, not double. Sometimes I use Times New Roman but it's really difficult for me to spot typos, so I set it at 13 pt. Most people would go to 14 pt, which means it uses up more space than Courier. Times New Roman 12 pt. should NOT be set to get 25-26 lines per page. This gives far too much word density, since TNR's normal double spacing is 21-22 lines per page.

3. But if I do that, I can only get one chapter into the contest. I want to send three chapters.

The Royal Ascot was originally a "First Chapter" contest. We've always limited it to 30 pages including synopsis. We want to keep it that way but also realize for some writers the "beginning"
can include more than just the first chapter.

Regardless, try to find where your first major "hook" is, and stop at that point. If it falls outside the 30 pages, especially with the synopsis included, you probably will do better in contests if you condense your first chapter. I think you'll find that contests expecting three chapters will tend to run about Golden Heart-size length, 55 pages.

4. I want to get the judges to the point where the action starts to sizzle, but it doesn't fit within the 30 pages. What do I do?

Edit. Like crazy. Throw away those first few chapters that don't sizzle. Personally, I want my action jumping right out of that frying pan sizzling from the first page, but I know other people prefer it a little slower. Whatever your style, the point where the action "sizzles" is where your story starts.

Everything before that is backstory, not story. Move it or delete it, but don't put it up front because your readers have come for your story, not your words- no matter how beautiful your words are. Do your best to keep your lead-in to a page or two.

Please go read my post on February 26, FINDING THE RIGHT PLACE TO BEGIN:
http://theroyalascot.blogspot.com/2009/02/finding-right-place-to-begin.html

It explains this concept more thoroughly.

FAQs

Some of the frequently asked questions about the Royal Ascot:
1. Why do you care about the format of my entry?
If all entrants use similar formatting, no one is getting any special breaks from that, and the quality of the story itself is showcased instead of unimportant things like font. It's also easier for the judges to read if they are not side-tracked by unusual fonts or densely crammed paragraphs.

Sometimes contestants feel if they can just get the judges to read more of their words, they will have a better chance. Actually, the reverse is true. I've seen some really extreme examples of attempts to cram more and more words into an entry, things like not indenting paragraphs, running paragraphs together, and cramming extra lines on a page. In reality the entry becomes less and less readable. White space is good. It makes the words stand out.

2. Why do you have both a page limit and a limit on the number of words?
The maximum word count of 8500 words allows for 283 words average per page. If you have more words than this in 30 pages, you have a densely crowded manuscript, and it will be difficult for judges to read. That has a negative impact on a judge's opinion of your work.

3. Am I supposed to provide a set-up for my story in addition to my synopsis and manuscript beginning?
Only if you are entering a time travel that doesn't begin in the Regency period. In that case, give us a short summary of what happens between your story's opening and the time when it enters the Regency period. Begin your manuscript portion of the entry with the point where it enters the Regency time period.

4. Why can't I send you a printed entry?
We've tried having both printed and electronic entries at the same time, and we have received poor response for the paper entries. They add a lot of work and expense in relationship to their value to participants, and we believe we're giving better value to everyone, including those judges and coordinators who donate their time, if we just keep it all electronic.

5. Does an entry in the Hot & Wild category have to be both Paranormal AND Erotic?
No. Our categories are designed flexibly, to provide the most opportunities for the contestants and help find suitable judge for such a wide variety of sub-categories. Hot & Wild entries could be paranormal, or very spicy, or erotic. Or they could be both paranormal and very sexy. They might also include other elements that might make them fit into other categories, but generally if the paranormal or very hot elements are dominant in the story, the Hot & Wild category would be the best choice for them.

6. But what if my entry has no sex in it, and has some romance but is really more of a mainstream historical about the Peninsular War, but also involves angels on the battlefield? What category should I choose for it?
We'd like to find room for everybody who is endeavoring to write Regency-set romance, but sometimes that does create puzzles for us. You could probably choose any of the three categories. If the story is not all about angels, though, I'd suggest avoiding the Hot & Wild category. If it's an Inspirational Romance, you might want to put it in Sweet & Mild, where most Inspirationals will be. And if it's most strongly historical, perhaps the Regency Historical category would be best.

7. Will you disqualify me if I pick the wrong category? What if I end too many pages? What if the formatting messes up my page count?
No. We'll discuss it with you if we think another category would be a better choice for you, or if your story doesn't fit in that category at all. For example, an Inspirational romance probably needs to remain in the Sweet & Mild category because that's where its strongest judges will be. And a sexy story really should not go in the Sweet & Mild category.

If you have too many pages, again, we'll talk about it. I might be able to suggest something that will help you edit a bit more. The problem might be caused by different formats, or there might be too few lines on a page. If you send me 50 pages, though, I'll send it back and ask you to cut it down before submitting. All of this must be finished before the deadline, though.

8. Are your deadlines firm? What if I send it out on time but it gets there late?
Now that we're all electronic, this isn't much of a problem anymore. But we have to adhere to a tight time schedule if we're going to be done in time to announce our winners at the soiree in July.

Crafting the Winning Synopsis

The question has come up of whether the synopsis for the Royal Ascot entries is judged. Yes. I'm still surprised when I hear this question because it's only been recently that the notion of submitting something that's not judged has developed any popularity. But I'm an old contest maven, remember. I entered my first contest back when notifications of contests were done entirely by circulating flyers to other RWA chapters. They weren't even listed in the RWR back then (which by itself was a pretty primitive magazine at the time). Okay, that was 1993, if you really need to know.

Another thing about back then: You could read books on how to write a novel, but nobody wrote one about how to write a synopsis. Nobody taught any courses about it, and you couldn't find any information online. Heck, you couldn't find anything online. Chances were, you hadn't even heard the word modem then.

So I spent a lot of time trying to igure out how to do a decent synopsis. I still have one of my earlier ones, and I'll guarantee, it is awful. It's a 12 page list of events in chronological order, in sentences that all have the same structure, short and clipped, and bare. No wonder no one was interested in buying my stories then.

But no matter who I asked, no one could, would maybe, tell me what I needed to know. There was "You've got to get the emotion into it." Yeah, I did ask over and over how to do that and got what amounted to blank stares in return.

And mine were long. The first one I wrote was 42 pages. I did have the sense to not submit it, and realized it was really a story outline, the kind I'd use for myself. With great effort, I got it down to something almost useful. The above-mentioned 12 pages.

So what have I learned over the years? Well, most of that is covered in these three links to some great information for synopsis writers. I swiped this list from another author, Jenna Bayley-Burke, right out from under her nose, because I thought you could use them:

Synopsis Creation-Plot Revision by Alicia Rasley - example of how to fix a bad synopsis
http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artsynrevision.htm

Honing your Synopsis Skills by Joanne Rock - emotional landmarks make the synopsis, not just a string of events
http://home.att.net/~jrock008/synopsis_article.html

Synopsis by Linda Needham - synopsis worksheet
http://www.lindaneedham.com/synopsistwn.htm

What did I personally do to make my synopses work? Well, I started with my first tool, whiich was my first excited notes/outline of the story. Sometimes, if I'd finished the story, I'd go back and briefly edit to make the synopsis fit however the story had changed. Then I'd get out my YELLOW highlighter and mark all my major points- plot turning points, emotional turning points, motivations-- everything I thought needed to be in the synopsis. I'd then copy and paste them into a long list, which I would whittle down further by using the PINK highlighter in the same way as I'd done the yellow one. That makes orange, by the way. Delete the stuff that's still only yellow. I'd re-phrase next, trying to consolidate sentences. This usually got me down to the 12-15 page stage. Still too long, and it didn't exactly make exciting reading.

Next, I'd look for ways to generalize the plot. Instead of the detailed interaction of the hero and heroine going fishing, I'd just say they went fishing, where he rescued the trapped otter-- whatever, and she saw a softer side of him.

I discovered that by making a separate emotional plot line, which sometimes I run in a separate column side by side with the physical plot, I can see how it's the emotional line, the romantic growth, that makes the story strong. Then it's much easier for me to write sentences that combine the two, while minimizing plot and maximizing emotion.

A number of times my first plot sketch has been good enough to work into a synopsis. This has usually happened when I set out to keep my story-teller voice in the sketch. I just act like I'm explaining-telling- my exciting new story to my best friend. Somehow it ha better voice and shorter, too.

Another approach when I'm stumped, and need a much shorter synopsis but it wont trim down: I go to the extreme in shortening it. All the way to a blurb that would fit on the back of a business card. Sometimes not any more than a sentence. The question I ask: What's the essence of my story? Think Elevator Pitch. How would you describe your story to an editor if she asked you in an elevator, and you know she's getting off on the eighth floor?

An example: Sunrise on the Cornish Coast: Two ladies. One spyglass. Two naked men dashing into the surf. One of them is the man Lady Juliette hoped would never find her.

Sure, there's lots more story after that. But this captures the theme, suspense, setting-- go from there.

This one better encapsulates the entire story: What was intended to be a restorative tonic for women turns out to have an entirely different effect on men. And the bachelors of the Ton re running scared.

The object is to keep your tiny blurb in mind as you expand it. Build your synopsis from that point, maybe occasionally checking with your long one where you think you had it just right before. But build like you're putting up house framework, then adding on the remainder. Stop with the framing for a very short synopsis- just the emotional guts with clear but very general plot line. Add more detail for one that's 3-4 pages long, more emotion and motivation, more plot. Then your 7-10 page synopsis can be your mainstay that fleshes thing out. But again, keep your concentration on motivation and emotion.

Hope this helps! Now go get busy and polish up your synopsis!