PAGE 69 CHALLENGE!
Photo taken from: http://modernmrdarcy.com
Marshall McLuhan’s challenge—“Turn to page 69 of any book and read it. If you like that page, buy the book”Okay team! I know this is going to seem odd, weird, different, and strange... but take it like a champ and join the challenge.
This is both fun for Readers and Writers, it's an opportunity to share your work, and or a book you're reading and BAM get recognition, whether your book is published, not published, self-published, traditional or what not!
Here's how it works:
STEP ONE: FIND PAGE 69 in the book you are (currently reading/currently writing/already published) and pick your favorite paragraph from that page... NO cheating! One or two paragraphs.
(Some flexibility with the fact that formatting plays a role into this) If you are published and you have a paperback, use that page count, if you are e-book only/editing/currently writing then just use page 69 of whatever formatting you have your work in at the time. If you're a kindle user... then use location 1650 (around there is page 69 for my own book, so we'll just use that as a guideline.)
STEP TWO: Copy this passage and paste it into the comment's section of this post.
STEP THREE: TAG at least three other people on Twitter to accept the challenge.
STEP FOUR: At the end of the month come back to this post and comment on one other entry, and come back as much as you want to this page and follow the entrants on Twitter and or Goodreads. Like a passage, then add the book to your "to-read" list. (#Marshalls69 #page69challenge) Twitter Hash to share on social media if we want to be cool and start a new thing.
OPTIONAL: Post your page 69 on your own blog and link back to this page (add your page link into your comment entry)
Official Logo that you can use:
winner of the challenge will get to display the same icon but with "WINNER" on it
There are TWO winners (the book with the winning page 69, and the person who submitted the page for consideration)
Depending on participation, Honorable mentions will be given. Also, a blog badge will be provided with "HONORABLE MENTION" on it.
OPTIONAL: add why you like this passage (feel free to flaunt if it's your own work) No judgement here, if you can't be proud of it then how can stranger's be? FLAUNT it PROUD, FLAUNT it LOUD!
OPTIONAL: If it's published add a link to your Goodreads (no buy now links) and to your twitter handle.
If this experiment does well then I will continue to do it on other months, or I may try to find another experiment to try to boost author awareness, even if I haven't yet read and reviewed the work.
The passage with the most comments on it will be the winner and have it's own Challenge winner post to highlight its awesomeness.
My entry isn't viable for winning, but I'll give you an example to get the party started.
“No really.” He pressed further, and held out his hand like we had known each other for forever, sharing worse secrets about my conspiracies and my mother. My age was trivial comparatively.
“My name is Victor, I work at a coffee shop, I want to go travel the world, I want to find a girl that will run off with me and trust that she won’t disappear the minute we do. Nice to meet you. Who are you?”
It was a game, and it was cute, but how was I supposed to trust anything he said was any less fake than the age on my work application, or my fake social security number to pass background checks, or even the fake smile I put on, as I looked into those patient blue eyes waiting for me to spin him more lies. Because I would. Lie to him." -- Blood Crescent @authormarie
The goal of this challenge to build your platform, follow new authors, and share in the love of reading.
I'll prepare a lovely little badge that can be displayed on the winner's blog if they have one, and or just a fun way of having a visual for participation in the challenge. Great thing about challenges is that it allows you to flaunt your own stuff without feeling like you're peddling your wares. So, join in the fun. I CHALLENGE YOU!
Photo from http://godzilla.wikia.com
Read up on page 69: https://modernmrsdarcy.com/is-that-novel-worth-your-time-turn-to-page-69-to-find-out/
You can also submit your page 69 to this blogger: https://barbtaub.com/review-guidelines/
These are merely a few of the places I've seen the Page 69 Challenge.
Brynn came running up to them panting. "I heard someone scream. Is everything okay? Are the kids okay? That dog didn't bite someone did it?"
ReplyDelete"I thought you were over your phobia of dogs," said Zachary.
"I am, but that doesn't mean I trust that mongrel around my kids."
"The kids aren't out here, Brynn. That was me screaming. I spilled hot coffee on my shirt."
"Oh, good. I mean well, not good for you, or your shirt, but . . . Have you seen Tracy and Brandon?"
"Afraid not,” said Raina. “I thought I heard them when I woke up."
"I think I saw them run off over that way." Zachary pointed toward the bushes.
"You mean they left? Why didn't you stop them?"
Zachary shrugged and opened his mouth to reply, but was distracted by Squirrely taking a dump on the grass. “Finally, he said. "Excuse me."
Raina watched Zachary bend down and examine the steaming pile. Then, he started picking at it.
"What the hell is he doing?" said Brynn "Please tell me he's not going to eat that or spread it all over himself or something."
Then Raina remembered, "Oh no, nothing like that. He's looking for his eye."
"Here it is," Zachary called out. He patted Squirrely on the head. "Good boy. I bet you feel better now. Don't you?"
Raina watched closely to see if he would put it directly back in his eye socket, but he was carrying it to Squirrely's water bucket when they heard the children's screams.
From page 69 of Within The Lahar(WIP)
“This better not be what I think it is,” Dagwood said.
ReplyDelete“Why?” Delia asked. “What do you think it is?”
Dagwood typed something into his browser. The scorpion attacked the side of the glass in a futile attempt at escape. Delia rubbed her finger against the jar as if to try to caress and calm the creature. She thought it was beautiful in its own way—possibly even misunderstood—even if it was terrifying to look at.
She stepped away from the desk and looked around the room while Dagwood typed furiously at the computer. She had always found his tastes to be a bit odd. On the wall he had a shadowbox of exotic taxidermy spiders. There was a giant hairy one in the middle surrounded by four smaller ones, some fat and some thin. They were not labeled, and Delia would not be able to begin to guess what they were.
Over on the bookshelf he had a collection of odd knickknacks—the skull of some small animal, a bat skeleton in a block of clear resin, and a large beetle paperweight. This was not a room that Delia would want to be in at night.
From page 69 of Glass Heart (WIP)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mama_abear
Deleteangelahebertauthor.com
He then spoke directly to Sxestic, “Perhaps you do have this information, but just do not know you possess it. The one that betrayed your leaders and all of you, he was the one who also captured Princess Letandra. Do you know where he might have taken her?”
ReplyDeleteSxestic stared at him then pumped his fist into the air. The Viestrahl vanished as fast as they had arrived. They took the three chests but did not attack any of the five men.
The Morro grunted what resembled something close to a laugh. “We just might have an answer after all for both our problems.”
From Page 69 of The Bleeding Crown
Goodreads --
https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
Twitter --
@https://twitter.com/Rivyen
I really like this point in the book as it is between a villain from the prior book talking to another villain, both of whom have had turn the direction of their lives in the pursuit of the overall good!
Heat licked at Dale Hicks’s skin, excruciating and throbbing. Pain obscured his thoughts down a never-ending tunnel that twisted and turned, getting narrower and narrower. It burned in the most painful way he’d ever experienced. Opening his eyes, he stared around in terror. What happened? His surroundings sparked no sense of the familiar. He thought back to his last memory, yet it seemed so unattainable. He could almost reach out and touch it, but every time he mentally grabbed at it, the memories floated away, leaving a vast emptiness. The rough ground tore into his back, and he propped himself up against a stone wall behind him.
ReplyDeleteRed, flickering light illuminated the room. Fear shot down Dale’s spine. Something bad had happened.
A large figure came forward. Shadows rippled across the massive frame. Red eyes, sparking fire, focused on Dale. Large scales and protrusions dripped with liquid ooze. “You have arrived sooner than expected,” the creature rasped.
From page 69 of WIP -untitled (I don't come up with title until first draft is complete - but I am SO close!)
Twitter:
@Author_AngieMcP
I like these paragraphs because they show something spooky that's coming my characters' way.
OMG! What happens next?! Who arrived? Great page 69!
DeleteWell written. I like this one.
Deleteoops, it didn't register as me. D.B.Tarpley.
DeleteFrom page 69 of my current novel:
ReplyDeleteJacob stumbled towards a stack of pods, each one covered with a thick layer of dust and grime.
He brushed away the filth on the nearest pod, his arm protesting the movement. He beheld a terrible
horror as he inspected the nearest pod. A human being. Long dead. Only a skeleton remained.
Obviously, his fellow captives had been dead for quite some time. He peered closer at the human
remains. Confusion washed over him: the skeleton was dressed in what appeared to be the garb of a
Civil War soldier. Confederate. Impossible.
Curious where this is going! Spooky with a mystery!
Delete@sevannah_storm
ReplyDeleteFrom page 69 of Enyl, Book 1 of the Gifting Series.
“It is as Remi stated, a distraction. The Gika pilots must have known they go to their deaths.”
“It is the why that I am interested in,” Remi said to the both of them, his impatience clear in his gruff voice.
Enyl immediately banked to the left, heading west. He flew high enough not to trigger the Gikas’ ground sensors but low enough to transmit good visuals to Remi. Grey dunes spread out in all directions.
“See anything?” Malo’s voice came through Enyl’s hood as he aligned his peju next to him. Enyl could see Malo’s kite to the south of his. He assessed the horizon and scowled. It was quiet, too quiet.
“My instinct says west,” he informed Malo.
“Mine says south west, closer to the base.”
“Do you think they would build so close?” Enyl’s intrigue was evident across the communication. He wondered at the possibility. Could Gikas have built close to Calustrum without their knowledge? From a strategic position, it was a brilliant, decisive move.
“I’ll say this, ain’t a promise, but as much as one anyone can do right now. I ain’t gonna forget. We got some emergent shit evolvin’ but as soon as it ain’t so far up our asses, we’re gonna come back to this. Meantime, keep doin’ what you can. Least we can do is help mites keep their asses clean, yah?”
ReplyDeleteShe snorts a laugh. “At the very least, I would hope so.”
Bosco’s wavin’ at me from across the main area so I nod a good-bye to Sister Monica and jog over to him. “Everyone’s gathered?”
“Everyone who’s around. Some are out on patrol… but Andi, Pint’s foaming and ready to clop you out. So, just, keep it tight on this, eh?”
I nod, my guts swimmin’ at his words. “Welp, knew it was comin’. Pint’s been gunnin’ for it since the start so ain’t gonna stop now.”
Bosco’s clenches his jaw. Worry’s markin’ his face like erodin’ sinkholes. The pressure’s real, no matter how I’m light I’m makin’ it sound. Everythin’s about to move.
- Trans Liberty Riot Brigade, Book 2
“It has absolutely nothing to do with your knee.”
ReplyDelete“Then why…”
“Penny do you like painting?”
“Painting?”
“Yes, it’s a hobby of mine. So why don’t you come over here, take them pretty white panties off, and schlob my knob until I paint your face white. Then maybe…. just maybe, if I’m feeling particularly finished – sometimes a job requires two coats (he winks), I’ll take a look at that knee of yours.”
Penny pauses, not so much from fear as from big dumb shock.
(Damn, you really don’t know who you’re talking to do you?)
She hangs her head and begins unbuttoning her top as she walks over to the table.
“That’s it baby, come make friends with Christopher Ballkin.”
Dr. Poon flips his sprig of hair over his shoulder as he unzips his slacks.
Penny pulls her jumpsuit down off one bare shoulder and quietly gasps as his stubby fingers maul her breast through her bra.
“Ohh yeah baby, that’s a nice titty.”
At this proximity his breath smells of lemon drops and old rubber bands. His voice takes on a deep bombastic tone most likely passing for sexy in his mind; but all Penny can think of is Bowzer from Sha-Na-Na.
“That’s right gurl. Welcome to the candy sho…”
Penny’s knee shoots straight from the floor up into his groin. She can feel the hard sharp point of her kneecap split his soft, swollen testicles down the middle.
“Oooooggggghhhhhhhhrrrrggglllleeeeeee.”
Dr. Poon drops to the floor like a sack of boiled cabbage.
- The Death of Love - https://www.dbtarpley.com/the-death-of-love - D.B.Tarpley
This a finished novel. horror actually. I know it reads like comic erotica but that is just the page it fell on. You can find this and my other books here: https://www.dbtarpley.com/books
DeleteI hope it isn't too late for this---I got an e-mail today saying it was still going so here goes.
ReplyDelete***
A bridge.
Tower bridge.
I saw the bridge, I saw the figures. Two people, a rope.
A flash of a body could be sen going over the bridge. Were they being hanged? I couldn't tell. I thought I saw a woman, but who was the other person? Everything was too dark and blurry for me to figure it out or make sense of it.
***
I like this passage because when I flipped to the page I felt it was one that created an ominous mood. It's basically a vision that the main character of my book is having, but that's all I will say.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40103352-the-timekeeper-s-daughter?from_search=true
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cjmnaylor
Thanks for joining!
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