The Adventure Writer's Competition, Final Notification

FINAL NOTICE:

The deadline of March 1st is fast approaching for the Inaugural Adventure Writer’s Competition.

This was announced in March 2007 and details can be found here: http://www.cusslersociety.com/writers_competition.html
and elsewhere on this forum.

For those that have been writing all year, now is the time to get those manuscripts edited, polished, and ready to submit!!

We have some final details and adjustments to the competition rules to share – and some news of how the competition will be judged and by whom.

First – we want to be able to obtain manuscripts that reflect the Cussler name in both quality and scope. It was pointed out to us that limiting the word count to 100,000 might preclude some quality work from being included. We agree and have now increased the maximum word count to ~ 130,000.

Second – all manuscripts will be submitted to Kerry Frey, c/o the Clive Cussler Collectors Society at the following email address: aceroberts@charter.net
Manuscripts must be submitted in either Word or PDF format no later than 11:59PM PST on March 1st.

Third – once a manuscript has been deemed eligible by the contest leadership – it will be given to a “reader” who will grade the work using a provided grading sheet. The scores from 1 to 10 (with 10 being excellent) will judge the work on areas such as: setting, characterization, plot line, dialogue, narrative, pacing, motivation, point-of-view, style/voice, relationship, mechanics, and over-all impression.

The manuscripts receiving the top three (3) highest scores will be given to Dirk Cussler for his consideration & selection of a winner.
The winner will be announced in Denver in October at the 2008 Clive Cussler Convention sponsored by the Society.

For those that may have missed the original announcement in March, now would be the time to begin writing your manuscript for the 2009 Adventure Writer’s Competition.

Good Luck to all that enter! Here’s to Adventure!!

Kerry Frey
c/o Clive Cussler Collector Society

Just so I am clear, do you want a manuscript that uses the Cussler name? or just one that reads like a Cussler manuscript? Dumb question I know, but I wanted to be sure.

Just curious. How many probable entrants are there? Are we going to make the minimum? Or do I need to submit "I Went to Denver but It Was Closed" under a false name?

The response has been amazing to date - If you think about it - it's one thing to write & submit a short story for a competition - but to write a full-length novel is quite an accomplishment.

I remember Jack Du Brul's words to me after winning one of the Literary Idol contests "The single hardest thing about being a writer is actually sitting down and doing it. Most people want to say they wrote a book - few are willing to put in the effort to actually acccomplish it."

We will have no problem meeting the minimum number to hold the competition - I have seven manuscripts submitted to date with at least four more on the way that I am aware of. Hope you still submit Nick!!

Owen - I apologize for missing your question - the contest rules state the manuscript must be original and NOT fan fiction - so we do not want anything with the Cussler name attached to it. My statement was meant to reflect the quality and scope of his novels.

Thanks, I actually found the information about the fan fiction shortly after I had made the posting. won't have my novel finished for this contest But I hope I can submit it in the next one!