I got my Daphne contest results today in the mail. Surprisingly, I tied for sixth place. The top five final and get their work in front of a Berkley/Jove editor and an agent at Trident. *sigh* So close…and yet so far…

On the plus side, all three judges said they’d like to read the complete book and that they would recommend it if it were published. That’s encouraging. And they all had very positive things to say…”fantastic voice, excellent sense of place, excellent characterization, pacing kept me turning pages, excellent use of senses…overall, beautiful.” So that’s nice.

As for the comments that have me shaking my head…

One judge marked me down because my heroine is only 20 in the first half of the book and therefore, “she’d lack emotional depth…that would make her less interesting.” Well, she’s supposed to be immature. The events of the first half of the book shape her into what she is in the second half of the book. However, in the entry I sent, she shows no indication of being in any way, immature. So I’ll just chalk that up to judge bias.

This same judge also marked me down because the hero wasn’t introduced in the first 20 pages. Now, this is ST, not cat. so the hero/heroine don’t necessarily have to meet in the first chapter. So again, I’ll just consider that judge bias.

Another judge marked me down because my setting was off:

“If your characters are looking for a Mayan artifact its highly unlikely they’d be looking in the western or Northwestern part of Mexico where the desert is.“

Um, well, I guess she didn’t read the synopsis because they’re looking for an AZTEC artifact. And anyone who has studied history in high school knows, the Aztecs were centered around what is now Mexico City. So, it’s highly likely an Aztec artifact could be found in the desert regions of Mexico.

All in all I’m pleased. A little disappointed I didn’t final, but happy with the results. At least I know it doesn’t suck. 🙂