Author buddies, folks who just love reading, and even people who go to author events, I need advice.
I’m trying to decide which chapter should be my free excerpt for conventions and appearances. It must be full of gut wrenching emotions, plus introduce Ellie. It must make people think “What to know what happens next?”
I want to know what you’d rather read?
Chapter 2:
4-year-old Ellie is watching her parents argue which culminates in her father attacking her mother and abandoning the family for a new planet.
Cons:
- its incredibly violent and features a few swear words.
- Ellie is not shown to be strong.
Pros:
- I’ve read this chapter at events before and it always gets a “OMG, what happen’s next? What! I have to wait till the book comes out?” response.
or
Chapter 6:
Ellie, age 11, disobediently hanging outside with some corrupt androids while her brothers are at work. She goes back inside and finds her mother dead from the flu. She and her brothers must dispose of the body without getting caught.
Con:
- its Chapter 6.
- I’ve never read it in front of an audience, so I don’t know how people will react.
- Ellie is not a “perfect child,” rather she is shown disobedient.
Pro:
- Not violent, but sets up Ellie’s family’s poverty and the environment better.
- It has androids!
- Ellie obviously has a mind of her own.
Chapter 1, 3, 4, and 5 are from someone else’s POV. The back cover copy features Ellie as the protagonist. I must introduce Ellie and make people care about her.
If anyone wants to read the chapters, please message me or comment and I’ll send them to you.
ZB's Blog of Awesomeness 
Posted by frankregan17 on April 27, 2015 at 9:43 pm
Hi Elizabeth I’d quite like to read the chapters. Chapter 2 from the synopsis definitely has impact but Chapter 6 has me wondering why they have to hide the body – intrigues me about the set-up – plus androids!
Posted by Elizabeth Guizzetti on April 27, 2015 at 10:06 pm
Could you email me at elizabeth at zbpublications dot com so I can send them to you? And tell me if you want two PDFs or just a doc or even just a text file.
Posted by wittynotes on April 28, 2015 at 1:12 am
Chapter 6 excerpt, by leaps and bounds. Violence in general is exciting, but not when centered around domestic abuse, imho. Not that it’s bad, just… I can’t remember the last book where I eagerly went back and reread the wife-beating scene.
But androids make everything cool. Unless you’re in Star Wars.
Posted by Sheila Guizzetti on April 29, 2015 at 5:44 pm
Ok ma
Posted by theparasiteguy on May 6, 2015 at 5:32 am
I’d say Chapter 6, myself. It sounds a lot more science fiction-y, for one thing, and it sets the overall scene quite a bit better as you’ve said.
If you’re still looking for people to read the chapters, then I’d definitely be interested 🙂
Posted by Elizabeth Guizzetti on May 7, 2015 at 3:08 am
Thanks for the offer, but it has been decided. And yes it will be Chapter 6.
Posted by theparasiteguy on May 7, 2015 at 5:15 am
Alright, great; good luck with future appearances, in that case 😀