I’m getting ready to head off to the RT Conference in Kansas City later today, and wanted to make sure than anybody in the vicinity knew about our fun giveaway!

First, I’m part of a scavenger hunt where readers will get a sheet, find all of the authors, and then be entered into winning the prizes below.

I’m also going to have fun giveaways for readers who find me after I tweet as part of the Entangled Scavenger Hunt!

To enter to win in the Scavenger Hunt, you’ll need to pick up a game form at our table in Promo Alley or during the Entangled Spotlight and then find all 23 of us so we can affix a special sticker to the game form.

You’ll know who’s participating because our book covers are on the form – and we’ll all be wearing one of our stickers on our nametags to help you pick us out. You’ll want to find author Christine Bell last, because she’s the keeper of the grand prizes – and the first 3 people to show her they’ve gotten all 23 authors’ stickers will win BIG! (Keep an eye on the #EntangledHunt hashtag during the convention for more details!)

PRIZES!

1st Prize: $300 Amazon/BN/Kobo/any e-book retailer gift card. Can be used for anything the winner would like, including an e-reader, tablet, books and more.

2nd Prize: A Kindle Fire & e-books from all the participating authors. Kindle will be given to the winner at RT. Winner will provide an email address so that each author can gift a copy of their e-book via Amazon to them (See all the books included on the back of this flyer).

3rd Prize: $50 Gift Card from e-book seller of winner’s choice.

Spot Giveaways: In addition to the above prizes, each of the 23 participating authors will be doing two spot giveaways during RT. Follow our hashtag on Twitter (#EntangledHunt) as each day, more than a dozen authors will tweet their location at the conference and a directive. Find the author first and follow their directive and YOU WIN! Prizes range from signed book copies, to handmade personalized gifts, from gift cards to fun-filled baskets and more.

So, I’ve been judging some contests this year, and I keep noticing a trend: contrived conflict. I’ve written an example:

June hurried into the store and stopped short. There he was. Mason Jar, the man she’d loved since he rescued her dog when they were in the sixth grade. Now she had a killer after her, and the hero-turned-cop stood staring at her with his dark grey eyes. She stared back. “Mason. Why are you here?”

He cleared his throat, muscles bunching when he stood. “I saw the police report you filed about a stalker. I want to help.”

She straightened her shoulders. The guy had gone off to the army and left her to finish her last year of high school alone. Too late to help. “I don’t need your help.”

What the heck? If I have a psycho stalker after me and a big, strong, police man who has always been a good guy wants to help… I’D SAY YES. Not NO just because the plot needs a conflict. There has to be a HUGE reason she says no…not just that he left for the army.

I think this logic lapse is in line with the TSTL scenario (too stupid to live). This is when the heroine tugs up her slingback straps and runs into the forest by herself because she thinks the murderer went that-a-way. Wonderful action in a late night slasher movie…not so much in a novel.

Or she hears footsteps behind her in the rough part of town and continues into the dark alley because her car is just a block away and she forgot her receipts. If I hear footsteps, I’m running into the nearest store screaming for help and not the nearest alley of death. Logic.

Sure, books need conflict. But the conflict has to flow naturally from the characters and the situations at hand. Stop and ask yourself: If I were in that situation…what would I really do?