Introducing RC1’s Ultimate First Pages Contest
Submissions Close Sunday at Midnight
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The RC1 community is built by writers, for writers, with tech-enabled tools to help writers thrive. Notice the common thread? In our brand new Peer Critique Forum, writers swap feedback to create a Story Score for each scene or chapter you submit. It’s a great go-to for critique of your work in progress or, in this case, Contests!
The Ultimate First Pages Contest
- If you don’t already have one, create an account on our Community Platform and navigate to the Contest category (link will work when submissions open).
- Review the first five entries from fellow writers to ‘earn’ your entry.
- Post the opening 500 words of your latest work of fiction in any genre.
It’s Really, Truly, Genuinely, Totally 100% FREE
As thanks for checking out the platform we designed, we’re waiving entry fees. We hope you’ll help us spread the word about this community and, as we grow, pave a new path for writers everywhere.
Win a Critique from Boston Globe Horn Book Honoree Fred Koehler
Don’t Let Your Story Go Unnoticed
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Frequently Asked Questions
What if I’m one of the very first entries and there aren’t 5 posts to review yet?
If there are fewer than five entries, review what you can. If there are only two entries ahead of you, review those, then post away! You’ll have 24 hours from your first post to review a total of five entries.
How do I give a review?
Be honest. Be kind. (Be both, actually.) The review has two parts. The first is a quick, gut-level 1-5 assessment of the piece. Don’t overthink it, just remember that what’s most helpful is knowing a relative strength and weakness. If it’s mostly level-3 writing, is there any aspect that’s a 4? A 2? The second part will ask you for two sentences: one that mentions a highlight, and one that mentions something that needs work.
Any rules for reviews?
We want to create a culture that supports writers, so we’re going with tried and true kindergarten rules: respect others, don’t hit, and don’t eat the glue. Basically, don’t be a troll … and don’t copy and paste the same review. We’re only asking for two sentences. Please take thirty seconds to write something specific to that entry.
How will you pick the three winners?
First, we’ll check the posts to make sure each poster has reviewed five other posts, hasn’t been a troll, and hasn’t copied and pasted the same response. Then, of the folks that meet those requirements, we’ll choose two people who have the highest overall scores. (If, for some reason, we have several people with the exact same score, we’ll be really surprised. And then we’ll assign them numbers, and pick two randomly.) Finally, we’ll randomly choose a post from the contest so that everyone has a chance to win, even if they aren’t one of the high-scorers.
You said entries should be 500 words, but I can post 514 (or some other number)?
Right now, we can only limit the number of characters, not words. And we want our sesquipedalian writers to be able to post 500 words, too. So after trial and error, we chose 2900 characters as a good estimate of 500 words. If you can fit in 514 words, go for it.
How many times can I enter?
Just once, please.
What’s the story here? What are you guys REALLY up to at Ready Chapter 1?
Like you, we’re a bunch of writers. We’ve got some out-of-the-box ideas to leverage tech-enabled tools (like this contest) to discover new talent. Essentially, if we can grow a community of writers who are comfortable giving each other measurable, constructive feedback, we’ll become a go-to writing community that publishers trust to deliver market-ready stories. Everyone wins.
