The Secret is Out! (Plus a Book Recommendation) by MB Partlow

If you happened to miss the September Write Brain, you’re probably wondering what the Super Secret Incentive is for entering the Contest early. And I’m here to tell you. How fortuitous is that?

Let’s see, where to begin.

·      2012 marks the 20^th Pikes Peak Writers Conference. (Keep that number, 20, in mind.)

·      Many people use the Conference as the ideal vehicle for pitching their manuscript to an agent or editor.

·      People who don’t interact with agents and editors on a regular basis (and even some who do) have been known to get nervous when it’s time to pitch that piece of their heart and soul known as their manuscript.

Aha! Everyone who enters the Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Writing Contest BY Oct. 15, 2011, will be entered in a very special drawing. The 20 lucky winners will each get a 20 minute one-on-one pitch coaching session with one of our experienced pitch coaches at the 2012 20^th anniversary Conference.

Isn’t it nice how that all falls together?

But wait! What if you win the pitch coaching session but for some reason can’t attend the Conference? We’ll still do the pitch coaching session via telephone, at a time mutually agreeable to you and your coach.

And what’s this about a book recommendation? At the Write Brain, the subject of Point of View came up. In the course of that discussion, I mentioned the “first person, plural” POV, which is written in the “we” voice.

This is probably the rarest POV, not to mention the hardest to write well. Someone asked for an example. I said, oh, I have the perfect example, a wonderful urban fantasy set in London. I then proceeded to forget the author, the title and even the main character’s name. But I did say I would find the information and make it available. The first book in the series is A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin, and it’s the first book in the Matthew Swift series. I don’t want to give away any plot details, because I thought the story was unique and impressive. But I will tell you the author uses both “I” and “we” POV for the same character, and by the end of page three I wasn’t sure where I was going but I knew I wasn’t going to stop until I found out. Since then, I’ve read books two and three in the series with equal enjoyment. If you’re looking for something unique, you might want to give this a try.

     -- MB Partlow, 2012 PPW Fiction Contest Coordinator