Friday, March 4, 2011

Introductions and Contest Winners

This week on Paper Hangover we introduced our contributors and hosted contests for some pretty awesome prizes! Today we bring you our final introductions and the announcement of the winners from the contests throughout the week.

Before we announce the contest winners we'd like to introduce you to the Writing Tips Crew. Lauren and Michael will be posting on Thursdays bringing you writing tips every week!

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How do you develop the best name for a magical object? How do you create a magic system that's cool, unique, and consistent? How do you create a language that feels real and is easy to read? How do you plan a series?

Michael and Lauren will attempt to answer these world-building questions and more every Thursday! We'll break each topic down into quick and easy steps that we've found useful in our experience. Once you implement these tools you'll no longer feel like pulling your hair out in frustration. Okay, no guarantees on that, but we've been there. Our hair is growing back and we'll be here to answer your questions to help get you going and not go bald.

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Hey guys! My name is Michael. I'm going to help you build your fictional world with fun tips--emphasis on fun. Because if you're not enjoying it, you shouldn't be doing it. (That's not always true, but it rhymed so I'm keeping it.) Even if you don't write fantasy, all fiction requires some level of world-building. I'm going give you personal world-building techniques that have worked for me. I'll scour the Internet for world-building resources so you don't have to. And I'll recommend the best reads and the coolest apps that'll help make the hard stuff easier for you. Let's build!

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Hi everyone! My name is Lauren, and I write fantasy with one foot in the real world. High fantasy is classic, but low fantasy is increasing in popularity. I'm going to offer you tips on how to give your readers a story that's believable, create a language that's realistic and not just a Quenya knockoff, and scrutinize your magic system for internal consistency. We'll also take a peek into the secret goldmine you can ethically steal ideas from--history! As time goes on I also plan to bring you tips on other aspects of writing any genre, from starting a story to revising it. See you in a couple weeks!

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And now on to the contest winners!


Tuesday's Book Giveaways
Haven and Unearthly
Theresa Milstein

Divergent and Like Mandarin
Janet Johnson


Wednesday's Query Critiques
Erinn
Kelly Andrews
Jennifer Pickrell


Thursday's 1st Page Critiques
Rachel Morgan
Carrie
Tiana Smith


Congratulations to all the winners! Please send us an email at paperhangover(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prizes!  Thank you all for entering the contests and joining us in our debut this week. We had a lot of fun and there's a whole lot more to come. Stay tuned.

20 comments:

Holly Hill said...

Awesome intros you guys! I know I'm looking forward to all of your tips!

And YAY for winners!

Marquita Hockaday said...

Nice to meet you, Michael and Lauren! I am excited about your tips and can't wait to start using them (especially the world building stuff). Congrats to the winners. Ummmm, Janet-- if you don't want Divergent I can take it off your hands for ya, just sayin'...

Glenna said...

Congrats to all winners! And HELLO all crew membuhs! Can't wait to see this blog really rolling. <3

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad I work from home b/c I am doing a ridiculous happy dance right now - thanks for the contest! *does more ridiculous happy dance*

Kulsuma said...

Congratulations to the winners!:)

Heidi said...

So excited for this blog!

Alicia Gregoire said...

I can't wait for the all tips and other awesomeness.

Congrats to the winners!

Erinn said...

WOOT! I won. Paper Hangover is becoming my favorite new blog!

Krispy said...

Congrats to the winners!

Excited about all the world-building fun!

Lori M. Lee said...

Congrats to the winners! <3

Yahong Chi said...

"That's not always true, but it rhymed so I'm keeping it." HA! Too funny, Michael. And yay for fantasy, Lauren! I'm testing the waters in that direction. :)
Congrats to all the winners!

Unknown said...

Congratulations to all our winners, but remember the Oscars, there are no losers only those who don't get the free stuff!

Remember we will be here Monday to Friday, thanks to everyone for stopping by.

Unknown said...

Thanks for for stopping by everyone. Great to meet you all. Congrats to the all the winners!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the winners. Such awesome prizes!

Tiana Smith said...

WOOT! I won something! I never win things :) Off to email ...

Hannah said...

Congratulations to all the winners. So looking forward to your posts, Michael and Lauren! :)

& said...

Great intros, Michael and Lauren. I'm looking forward to the world building posts! And congrats to the winners!

Theresa Milstein said...

Nowaynowaynoway! I'm so excited! Thank you very much!

Theresa Milstein said...

Lauren and Michael, nice to meet you. I've tried both, so I'll be interested to learn your perspectives.

Unknown said...

Woohoo! Thanks so much!
*happy*