27thAnnual Self-Published Book Awards. Judge’s Commentary:
AGE MATTERS
by
Peggy Dougherty
“This is a fresh and humorous story about the unintended consequences of deception amid the complications that go into writing a screenplay and then selling it. Hollywood’s preoccupation with youth, which extends to writers, leads to a 60-year old woman convincing her 30-year-old daughter to pretend to be her at a meeting with a producer about her screenplay entry in a contest. One deceit leads to many others involving a co-producer and his wife; a niece of one producer who also entered the contest with her screenplay; an ex-husband unhappy over a role in the screen patterned after him; and a bunch of others swept up in the confusion and turmoil which includes a threat of script infringement. Roiling the heady plot are a pair of IRS tax evasion cases which temper the plot a great deal. The final outcome, affected by emergence of a love story, has some surprises in a satisfactory nod to age as well as ability.
The suspense factor of whether the screenplay will be purchased keeps the plot moving. More chapters, though, need suspenseful endings to make the reader wonder what the next twist will be.
The writing is crisp and often humorous. All the characters are well delineated. The snappy dialogue works to give the characters more dimension, and the use of interior monologue is very effective.
The title is intriguing with various interpretations. The cover image, however, is too obscure. The cover could use a subtitle that alerts potential readers to the novel’s amusing contents about a screenplay and its ultimate fate.”
Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 4
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 4
Production Quality and Cover Design: 3
Plot and Story Appeal: 5
Character Appeal and Development: 5
Voice and Writing Style: 4