[Here's a sample entry to help you:
Dear Freshman Fifteens,
I'm writing to enter my short story, called MY SHORT STORY, to your Common Room Teen Mentoring Contest. MY SHORT STORY is a teen fiction horror story about zombies who invade a small town in Iowa. It is 2,500 words.
Pitch: Mary is a 15-year-old girl about to start her first day at a new high school in a farming town in Iowa. Coming from a big city, Mary expected her first day in this town where everyone's known each other since they were in the womb to be a battle. And it is. Literally. The entire school has been taken over by zombies. When Mary escapes a chomping set of teeth belonging to the gym teacher, she hides out in the girls' locker room. But she's not alone. The boy already hunkered down there promises to know the secret to overpowering them. She just has to figure out if she can trust him. His eyes are supposed to be red, right? [THAT'S A PITCH OF 120 WORDS]
First paragraph: [this is your first paragraph of MY SHORT STORY, no more than 100 words; end at a full sentence; if your first paragraph is more than 100, that's fine, just give us the first 100 of them.]
Bio: My name is Sue and I'm a junior at a high school in Florida. I have been writing stories since the eighth grade and my dream is to be a published author one day. My favorite books to write are ones about monsters and demons. I love to read and my favorite authors are XX and XXX. When not writing or reading, I'm running track, my second love. [THAT'S A BIO OF 68 WORDS]
[HOPE THIS SAMPLE ENTRY HELPS!]
3. One entry per user.
4. Optional: Request a mentor!
Though collectively we love all genres, some of us do have our favorites. Check out the Freshman Fifteens mentors by swinging by our Web sites, Goodreads, Tumblr, and Twitter accounts. If you find a mentor you think you might click with, feel free to mention your desire to work with her in your entry. This is optional. Indicating a mentor preference will not hurt or help you! All mentors will still read every entry regardless of genre and will be able to select you as their mentee. Who knows, a couple of us might even have to battle it out behind the scenes for the chance to work with you!
What do I win?
You will have the unique opportunity to work one-on-one with a debut YA author from one of the five big publishing houses AND you get your polished story published in an anthology with your selected peers on Wattpad.
Not enough? How about these incentives?
* You’ll be featured on either or both of the Freshman Fifteens Web site and your mentor’s personal Web site
* You’ll be Tweeted about and mentioned on Facebook and Tumblr via the Freshman Fifteens throughout the process and especially during selection and book launch
* You’ll receive a signed copy of your mentor’s debut book when it’s released and other fun, first-to-have author and Freshman Fifteens swag
* Post publication in January 2015, we will reveal an additional surprise or two for the winners that we have up our sleeves . . . no, we can’t tell you, it’s a surprise!
The Mentors and their Favorite Genres:
Below you will find a listing of the Freshman Fifteens authors participating in the COMMON ROOM contest and a word or two about the types of stories and writers they’d most love to mentor.
Author: LORI GOLDSTEIN (contest organizer)
Book title: BECOMING JINN (Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan, Spring 2015)
Web site: http://www.lorigoldsteinbooks.com
Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/LoriGoldstein
Favorite genres: I’m a sucker for contemporary fantasy, contemporaries, and paranormal or light sci-fi. Give me humor and a dash of romance and I’m in love!
Author: JEN BROOKS (co-contest organizer)
Book title: IN A WORLD JUST RIGHT (Simon & Schuster BFYR, April 28, 2015)
Web site: http://www.jenbrookswriter.com
Favorite genres: I’d love to work with any type of story! To get a sense of what I write, my book releasing in 2015 is a contemporary romantic fantasy. The genre I started out in, and still love, is science fiction. My current project involves history, mystery, fantasy, and romance. I love literary work, too!
Author: KELLY LOY GILBERT (co-contest organizer)
Book title: CONVICTION (Disney-Hyperion, May 2015)
Web site: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18398627-conviction
Favorite genres: I love realistic, character-driven contemporary fiction, and I’m wooed by strong setting, moral complexity, and beautiful language.
Author: CHANDLER BAKER
Book title: ALIVE (Disney-Hyperion, May 2015)
Web site: http://twitter.com/chandlerbakerYA
Favorite genres: I always love contemporary stories as well as crime novels and tales with a dash of horror.
Author: VIRGINIA BOECKER
Book title: THE WITCH HUNTER (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, June 1, 2015)
Web site: https://twitter.com/virgboecker
Favorite genres: Historical, fantasy, historical fantasy, horror
Author: CHARLOTTE HUANG
Book title: FOR THE RECORD (Delacorte/Random House, Fall 2015)
Web site: https://twitter.com/charlottexhuang
Wattpad: http://wattpad.com/charlottexhuang
Favorite genres: I love contemporary realistic fiction with fun characters and a great love story.
Author: LEE KELLY
Book title: CITY OF SAVAGES (Saga Press/Simon & Schuster, February 3, 2015)
Web site: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18300869-city-of-savages
Favorite genres: I’d love to work with someone on a gritty contemporary, a contemporary with a heavier subject matter or a magical realism story!
Author: STACEY LEE
Book title: UNDER A PAINTED SKY (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, March 17, 2015)
Web site: www.staceyhlee.com
Wattpad: http://wattpad.com/staceyleeauthor
Favorite genres: Genre isn’t as important to me as a story with characters I root for, juicy conflicts, and sharp writing.
Author: KIM LIGGETT
Book title: BLOOD AND SALT (Putman, Fall 2015)
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16429922-blood-and-salt
Favorite genres: I love horror and romance, preferably together.
Author: JENNY MARTIN
Book title: TRACKED (Penguin, May 5, 2015)
Goodreads: http://www.readjennymartin.com
Favorite genres: I love spectacular/out-of-this-word genres. Got a great sci fi, fantasy, horror or speculative fiction tale? Pitch me!
Author: KIM SAVAGE
Book title: AFTER THE WOODS (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan, January 2016)
Web site: http://kimsavage.me
Wattpad: http://wattpad.com/kimsavage
Favorite genres: I write psychological thrillers and would love to see a well-paced thriller, suspense, or mystery. That said, I’m open to all genres!
Author: JENN MARIE THORNE
Book title: THE WRONG SIDE OF RIGHT (Dial-Penguin Books for Young Readers, March 12, 2015)
Web site: http://jennmariethorne.com
Favorite genres: Contemporary, fantasy, historical
Author: LAURA TIMS
Book title: PLEASE DON’T TELL (HarperCollins, Fall 2015)
Web site: https://twitter.com/lauratims
Favorite genres: I love dark contemporary stories, as well as magical realism and historical fiction!
Author: JASMINE WARGA
Book title: My Heart and Other Black Holes (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, February 10, 2015)
Web site: http://jasminewarga.com
Favorite genres: I love many kinds of stories, but my tastes tend to run darker and quirkier. And if you have a story with a lot of emotional depth and texture, I want to see it!
Find out more about the Freshman Fifteens and follow the COMMON ROOM contest happenings at:
Web site: http://freshmanfifteens.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Freshman15s
Tumblr: http://freshmanfifteens.tumblr.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FreshmanFifteens
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/47559.Freshman_Fifteens#17235448
Be sure to visit us at one or all of these spots as we will be giving writing tips, hints about the entries we love, and more surprises before, during, and after the contest!
YOU ARE READING
Freshman Fifteens COMMON ROOM Teen Mentoring Contest
Teen FictionWant the chance to work one-on-one with a 2015 debut Young Adult author? Well then, you've come to the right place! Pitch your short story idea to the Freshman Fifteens right here on Wattpad starting June 30, 2014, and be entered for a chance to be...
