ARC contest (+ a new teaser)
It’s been wildly busy, in the best possible way, and I hope to have some really exciting news soon. I don’t yet. But I hope soon. But for now:
My publisher sent me four ARCs of The Becoming of Noah Shaw. This is exciting and scary—it’s been five years since I’ve had ARCs for a book, and three years between the ending of Mara’s origin story and the beginning of Noah’s…hero journey, let’s call it. If you’ve stuck with my characters for the length of three books, I can’t thank you enough. I wouldn’t be here without you, and I’ve been thinking for months about ways I can thank you for that. I’m still working that out—I owe you all a monumental debt, and figuring out how to repay it isn’t easy. But there is one small thing I can do first, right now, which is to try and make your wait for The Becoming of Noah Shaw a bit shorter.
Since this is a series that I wrote as much for fans of the Mara Dyer trilogy as I did for myself, I decided against giving ARCs away randomly—I want to make sure they go to readers who are as excited about reading the book early as I am about sharing it. If that’s you, here’s what you’ve got to do:
Make something. Create. I’ve got four ARCs to give away, so it seems right that there should be four ways to win it:
1) Make MADNESS art. Draw something inspired by Mara. By Noah. By Jamie or Daniel or anyone or anything in the series. Paint something, sculpt something, draw a cartoon, a comic, a graphic design, typography–photography counts too! I love bookstagram and the staging of book-related photos, so it would be splendid to see entries like that. You can also do multiples (like comic panels, or anything considered part of one series), to count as one entry.
2) Write something series-inspired. A poem, a short little story (500 words, max), an excerpt of your fanfic; something set in the Dyerverse. (Keep it rated PG-13 to a soft R, though, because my baby brother is probably going to end up judging some of the entries and…awkward).
3) Film something. A fanvid, a trailer, a short film, movie, or even just a video of yourself talking about the books, Booktube-styles. Making videos is hard, but that probably means there will be a less crowded field!
4) Rando! Make a dress out of the pages of one of the books (someone did that once and it was super rad). Make a fannish thingie (creating headers, Tumblr themes, fan mixes, fan sites and communities) get your cosplay on, make some jewellery, show off your fresh MADNESS-related tattoo—really, anything goes (except nudity. Not that).
You post your entry or a link to your entry via the ‘submit post’ option on Tumblr, or the Ask option, or, if it’s an image or a video, you can post the link to such in the Ask box or, if you feel so inspired, on Twitter. My goal is to honour your hard work by retweeting/reblogging what you send, and then that way, everyone will be able to appreciate your stuff. Just be sure to let me know which category you’re entering in, and don’t post your email address or address-address—I won’t need it unless you win, and since there is SUCH TALENT in this fandom, there will be first/second/third place winners. First place is the signed ARC; second is a signed chapter sampler with the first three chapters (and a handpicked teaser from me); third place is secret snippet of a secret thing that I won’t be sending to anyone but you.
The contest will end on 8/21 and the judging will take place that week, so about two and a half months before the book comes out. If you enter, consider that an agreement not to post spoilers if you win. “KJJGBLJSBGTR^&%E$RDT” and “WTAF????!!!!” posts are cool, though.
Also: this contest IS international. Anyone can enter. And since entries will be posted publicly, and I very much want this to be a fan-led endeavour, likes, shares, RTs, comments and such will be one factor (not the only factor) in judging. I love pretty much every MD thing I see, so it feels fairer to let fans have a say in the winners to make sure I’m not paralysed by indecision.
One super last thing, for real: the ARCs are uncorrected proofs. So uncorrected that there is in fact a chapter missing, which had to be supplemented at the very last minute. I also changed a lot—like, a LOT—between the time the draft was submitted and when it went to magical ARC printing place. This is all to say: if you don’t win one, don’t worry—the final version is the version I meant for everyone to read.
Also, here’s a new snippet/teaser under the jump.
amandla
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
2087
izzy806
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
prguitarman
