Tag Archives: Contests

Announcement: AHHH MY SECOND BOOK! (and a giveaway!)

30 Nov

[Update: Scroll down for the winner!]

Y’ALL.

I HAVE EXCITING NEWS.

If you’ll recall from back in March, when The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls sold to my brilliant editor, Zareen Jaffery, at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, it sold as part of a two-book contract.

Cavendish is a standalone middle grade novel, so my second book for S&S will also be a standalone middle grade novel, and now — dah duh-duh DAHHH — I can finally talk about it! And this publishing stuff is all very strange to me because, you know, the FIRST book’s not even out yet, and here I am talking about the SECOND one, but NEVERTHELESS.

Are you ready? AGH, I don’t know if I’m ready! I might have to dance around a bit.

Now, about the book.

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Are you ready?

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ARE YA??

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WELL OKAY.

~*~

The October Year

(coming August 2013!) | Goodreads

13-year-old Olivia Stellatella and her father have sold all their belongings to keep her father’s orchestra from going bankrupt. Now, they live out of suitcases in the back rooms of Emerson Hall, where the orchestra performs.

Olivia hates it there.

She hates her squeaky cot and shabby clothes. She hates her father, too, for being so obsessed with music that he drove Olivia’s mother out of the house and got them into this mess. Most of all, Olivia hates the orchestra. It’s the orchestra’s fault that her father’s the way he is. She can’t wait for it to fail.

Until the ghosts come.

They’re lonely, frightened, and stuck in our world. Only if Olivia and the 14-year-old usher, Henry, can help the ghosts solve the mysteries of their deaths — deaths that are somehow related to the Hall’s past — will they be able to move on and find peace. But time — and money — is running out. The mayor wants to bulldoze the Hall to the ground, which would put Olivia and her father out on the streets and trap the ghosts in our world permanently. And other ghosts — bad ones — will do anything to keep them here. As the “ghosts of Emerson Hall” craze sweeps the city, Olivia faces life-changing family secrets and must fight for her life when her world, and the world of Death, collide.

Inspired by The Phantom of the Opera, When You Reach Me, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret, as well as my own experiences as a musician, The October Year is a middle grade ghost story about loss, magic, music, and the power of friendship.

~*~

I’m SO excited about this book. It came out of nowhere and has quickly become incredibly special to me, a precious little surprise book-baby from the bespectacled stork that flies around bringing writers their ideas. You know. BECAUSE WRITING IS EASY LIKE THAT.

In fact, I was SO very excited that I made a temporary The October Year cover for you. It is, among other things, evidence that I should never, ever design covers.

TANTALIZING, no??

To celebrate this excitement, I’m holding an October Year-inspired GIVEAWAY!

What’s the booty? (Heh, booty.) The BOOTY is a MAGICAL PRIZE PACK containing the following:

  1. a hardcover copy of Rebecca Stead‘s brilliant When You Reach Me
  2. a paperback copy of Gaston Leroux’s gothic classic The Phantom of the Opera
  3. a hardcover copy of Brian Selznick’s enchanting The Invention of Hugo Cabret
  4. a $20 AMC gift card, so that you can go see Hugo (Martin Scorsese‘s film adaptation of Hugo Cabret) in theaters! (I guess you could see something else, but I would love you bunches if you DID go see Hugo, which everyone is raving about — including my editor! — and if you DO go see something else . . . just don’t tell me!)

These (brand new!) books would make great gifts this holiday season, or fantastic additions to your personal library! And Hugo looks beautiful, doesn’t it?

How to win:

  • comment on this blog for +1 entry!
  • tweet about The October Year and/or this contest and copy your tweet’s link below for +2 additional entries!
  • add The October Year to your Goodreads to-read list and copy your Goodreads profile link below for +3 additional entries!

This contest begins NOW and is open until next Wednesday, December 7 at 12:00 p.m. CST!

Also, I love you, international people, but this contest is for residents of the U.S., Quebec, and Ontario only, simply because, as far as I can tell, these are the only places where AMC theaters operate. However, don’t worry — I’ll have many more October Year-themed giveaways in the coming many months!

And, most importantly of all, thanks to all of you for celebrating with me!

EDIT: and the winner is…

Reut (@reutreads)!

Congratulations, Reut! Please contact me at clairelegrandbooks[at]gmail[dot]com!

And thank you again, everyone, for your words of encouragement and excitement. I can’t wait to share The October Year with you (and host more giveaways as the pub date approaches)!

Calling All Teens! One-Sentence Pitch Contest: WINNERS

20 Sep

Wow.

WOW.

This contest was so much fun, y’all. I loved seeing these fantastic pitches roll in during the past week, and I loved them so much that I couldn’t pick just one winner. No, no.

I picked THREE.

The two runners-up get to pick the prize of their choice — either a query critique or a 1st chapter critique.

Huzzah!

The winner, of course, gets a 6-month mentorship with yours truly, including a query critique, a 1st 50 pages critique, and an open line of communication for questions and chat sessions about publishing, storycraft, and social media!

Double huzzah!

So now, without further ado (since you’re probably all like CLAIRE STOP TALKING WINNERS PRIZES NOW HURRY YES), here are the winners of the Calling All Teens! One-Sentence Pitch Contest in reverse order:

Second runner-up is DESERAE MCGLOTHEN

Title: PLANET WEIRD
Genre: Middle Grade Paranormal/Supernatural
My age: 17
Pitch: Alien Drew Vardaman runs away to Earth after hearing a prophecy about her destiny, but when a parasitic shadow starts possessing the students of Planet Jr. High, Drew has to learn to hone her powers in order to save her friends and change her own future.

Note: I LOVED this concept! I love the fact that the protagonist is an alien because that paves the way for a whole lot of entertaining “fish out of water” scenarios. Also, this pitch has all the necessary information — the main character, the conflict, and what the main character must do to emerge triumphant. Well done!

First runner-up is LYLA

Title: NOCTURNE
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Age: 17
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Gabriel Durante has to team up with a fashionista and the Angel of Death in order to kill the demon he’s served for seven years.

Note: This pitch immediately caught my attention with “fashionista” and “demon.” I was also intrigued by the idea of the Angel of Death workin with Gabriel, rather than with the demon he serves. Also, this pitch is short, snappy, conveys all necessary information, and hints at humor within, which I can DEFINITELY appreciate!

And the winner of the Calling All Teens! One-Sentence Pitch Contest is…

Title: The Sins of our Hands
Genre: YA General Fiction
Age: 19
Pitch: Brothers Bram and Luke flee from their home after accidentally killing one of their friends, forcing them to escape to Canada by any means necessary, even going so far as joining a strange traveling circus group under the leadership of the dark hypnotist, Fiore, but when they discover that a madman, bent on revenge, is following close on their trail, their world begins to fall apart, and they soon discover that the situation surrounding the killing of their friend was not as simple as they once thought.

Note: Even though this pitch was really kind of long, the unique concept immediately grabbed me — ESPECIALLY the circus/hypnotist angle — and the complexity of the pitch itself hints at complexity in the book, which is a huge plus. Also, although this hints at the supernatural (what with the creepy circus and all), it also seems like it could lean toward the literary. In short: I’M SOLD. Plus, again, the pitch contains all the necessary information regarding the main conflict. Win all around!

Again, thank you to ALL participants! If you would like my thoughts on your pitch, please email me at clairelegrandbooks [at] gmail [dot] com, and I’ll be happy to give you some feedback. Whatever you do, I encourage you to keep writing up a storm!

Winners, please also email me at the above address so I can give you information about your prizes!

Aaaand a special shoutout to @AuthoressAnon and Maggie at @WriteOnTeens for helping promote this contest!

Happy writing, everyone!

Calling All Teens! One-Sentence Pitch Contest!

12 Sep

Are you a teen writer?

Do you have a story idea you think could rock my socks off?

Would you like a mentorship with an author of books for children and teens (*ahem*ME*ahem*)?

If you answered YES to those three questions, you’re in the right place! This is the Calling All Teens! One-Sentence Pitch Contest!

Here are the rules:

1) In the comments below, post a pitch for your story idea in one — ONE — sentence only! Try to keep your pitches as brief as possible. In other words, don’t take this opportunity to compose the longest complex sentence known to man. ;)

2) If you so desire, please also enter the sister contest, the Calling All Teens! First 100 Words Contest over at fellow author Tori Scott’s blog!

3) Both contests begin TODAY and will be open until Sunday, September 18, at 11:00 p.m. CST!

4) You can enter ONCE PER CONTEST, for a total of TWO TOTAL ENTRIES, one here and one on Tori’s blog. You do NOT have to enter both contests, but doing so will double your chances of winning!

5) Once the contests close, Tori and I will read over the entries and pick ONE winner for each contest — one for the pitch contest, one for the first 100 words contest.

6) On Wednesday, September 21, we will post the winning entries on our blogs!

7) Each winner will receive a six-month mentorship with either Tori or myself — the pitch contest winner with me, the first 100 words contest winner with Tori. This mentorship will include an open line of communication for questions and discussion, online chats when needed, a query critique, and a first 50 pages critique, as well as general guidance regarding social media and networking!

8) And, of course, you must be a teen to enter! That is, everything ending in “-teen,” ages 13 to 19.

If you don’t know what a pitch is, or are uncertain where to start, allow me to clarify!

A pitch is a brief summary of what your book is about. Say you just read a great book, and you say to your best friend, “You have GOT to read this book!” They ask, “What’s it about?” Whatever you say in response? That’s a pitch.

In this case, keep your pitch to one sentence in length. This might seem tricky, but I know you can do it! Putting your story ideas into pitch form is great practice for any writer.

Here’s an example using my own debut novel, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls. This pitch, by the way, helped me win a 25-word pitch contest right before I signed with my agent, Diana Fox!

To save herself, her best friend, and the other “degenerates” of Belleville, 12-year-old Victoria Wright must outsmart demonic Mrs. Cavendish and her living, breathing orphanage.

In this pitch, we see the heroine (Victoria), her age (12), the villain (Mrs. Cavendish), what’s at stake (Victoria, her best friend, the “degenerates”), the setting (Belleville), and what the heroine must do (outsmart demonic Mrs. Cavendish and her living, breathing orphanage).

You can also check out Nathan Bransford’s wonderful blog post about writing one-sentence pitches here!

The important thing to remember when writing short pitches is no extraneous information. Stick to the basics, be brief, and most importantly, have fun!

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 7PM CST ON THIS PAGE. GOOD LUCK!

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