By Karen Middleton
CNHI
ATHENS —
This week, The News Courier newsroom staff has been especially gratified by the response to last week’s call for a second chapter to follow the introductory chapter of a serialized novel, “As The Small Town Turns.”
This is how it should be. This is a novel to be written by the community.
While we were happy to see the response, it was a difficult task to select the submission which made the best second chapter in the continuing saga of Raquel Traubenkraut Roddenheimer and Buck Welch.
We received excellent submissions from Carol Schwarzenbach, Susan Fagan, Sarah Lirette, Rhonda Andrews and Bill Looney. It is truly fascinating to see in what direction each writer took the basic plot.
While each of the submissions had unique points of interest, we took a vote and chose Ms. Schwarzenbach’s submission to be our second chapter. We liked the little hook of suspense she provided at the end.
It opens up intriguing possibilities for whomever writes the third chapter.
“As The Small Town Turns” is a completely new departure for The News Courier – sort of an expanded version of an old parlor game.
We were afraid it wouldn’t spark anyone’s interest and we wouldn’t get even one submission. Imagine how delighted we were when the e-mailed chapters began arriving Monday morning.
What we’re saying now, is keep it up. If your chapter didn’t make it into the manuscript, please do not be discouraged. Send more. Even if your chapter is included in the manuscript, feel free to send successive chapters.
Because the quality of submissions we received were so good, we decided to publish them all in the Lifestyle section of today’s edition. But remember, when you send in your Chapter 3, it must pick up where Ms. Schwarzenbach’s Chapter 2 leaves off.
Review the rules and good luck.
News Courier Reporter Karen Middleton may be reached at 256-232-2720.
Here are the rules of the game:
• We are a family paper. No X-rated stuff, please.
• All submissions must include a name, address and phone number. You will get a byline on your chapter or we will use a pseudonym, if you choose, but your real name must accompany your submission.
• Submissions should be e-mailed to: Karen@athensnews-courier.com by Wednesday to be considered for publication the following Sunday.
• Absolutely do not plagiarize from another published work; all submissions must be original.
• Please do not submit thinly veiled revenge plots to deliberately embarrass someone that will wind up getting both you and us in trouble.
• Feel free to introduce new characters, but if possible get them to interact with the original characters to further the plot.
• There is no set genre. Your chapter can be a mystery, romance, comedy or mixture. If you venture into murder, please don’t kill off our hero or heroine. We’ll need them later.
• Feel free to submit more than one successive chapter.
• Hold all chapters to a maximum of 500 words.
• You must work in the word “leggings” at least once per chapter.
• Should more than one chapter be submitted in a week, The News Courier staff will select the best chapter. Possibly your submission will be held and run later.
• We reserve the right to edit.
