NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

Welcome (@cweaver). You could always take the WotF online workshop. You'll have a readymade story ready to submit next quarter.

Another resource on the forum is Wulf Moon's Super Secret's. I personally think doing the KYD exercises helped shave years off my learning curve.

@storysinger Thank you! I did the workshop and is was great. I've always been a fan of Orson Scott Card, so I looked forward to each video from him, in addition to all of the other wonderful content. I submitted my story from the workshop but it didn't win anything. I realize now that it was just written to satisfy an assignment, rather than truly telling a story of something I wanted to say. Back to the old editing screen...

And thanks, I'll check out Wulf Moon's legendary help for writers.

Posted by: @wahlquistj

Hello!

My name is Jillian Wahlquist. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but I’ve decided to finally ‘get serious’.

I’ve won semi-finalist, silver honorable mention, and honorable mention in the WotF contest and I’m looking to hone my skills for my next entry.

I’m also interested in middle grade sci-fi/fantasy and am currently finishing the final draft of my first novel.

I had the opportunity to attend the banquet this past weekend and it was so much fun! I’m currently reading through volume 38 and thoroughly enjoying all the winners’ stories. 

Welcome, Jillian! I've not been writing for as long as I can remember, but I have been reading for as long as I can remember, pretty much, and writing for nearly as long as that. I can still remember one of my first wonderful poem lines about one of our cats:

"And then he purred, and purred, and purred,
And then he ate some lemon curd."

I think it's already clear I was destined for greatness. But it sounds like you're already well in the mix with those Contest entries, and I hope you find the mark in one of the future quarters! I've also been reading Vol 38, but got derailed from finishing it by life (don't talk to me about life) and I'm only just picking it up again to read through to the end.

Welcome again!

Does anyone have any tips on how to upload an Avatar? I don't have any URL available to me with a picture, and the software doesn't seem to let me upload a photo from my computer. Just trying to not be a blank. Thanks!

Posted by: @cweaver

Does anyone have any tips on how to upload an Avatar? I don't have any URL available to me with a picture, and the software doesn't seem to let me upload a photo from my computer. Just trying to not be a blank. Thanks!

It's not definitive by any stretch, but when I tried changing my avatar just now, I found larger images would cause the upload process to fail. I was able to upload images up to around 500KB or so without it causing any problems, though my fail case was closer to 6MB, so there's probably a maximum somewhere in between those two. Anyway, I would probably suggest trying to crop your image down to a smaller size, and then uploading it again. You get better results with square images than rectangular ones too.

@doctorjest thanks! That worked.

@zappey1 

Welcome, Jacob! It's good you write SF--this contest is after all titled Writers of the Future. You will do well with SF here. 

We have another member that is both writer and artist and submits to both contests. You should check out her posts on art. She'd love more commentary on that topic.

Don't miss taking the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. You will learn from some of the best in the industry, and if you do the work, you'll end up with a story to submit to the Contest.

Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Posted by: @cweaver

Hello, my name is Catherine Weaver,

Welcome, Catherine!

Wow, entering since the start of the Contest. Wonderful! We're glad you've joined the Forum. If you want to critique swap, we have a folder for that. Just state the genre and approximate word count and offer to read in return. Someone will be glad to help out.

Don't miss the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. It can help you craft your winner!

Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Posted by: @wahlquistj

My name is Jillian Wahlquist. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but I’ve decided to finally ‘get serious’.

Welcome, Jillian!

If you've decided to get serious, you've come to the right place! We had six regulars from the Forum in Volume 38 this year, a new record! Winners happen here!

I'm happy you were able to attend this year's gala. It's an amazing event that can spur you on in your desire to write ... and to win this Contest to enjoy the rewards yourself! Judging by your results, you're not far away. 

Keep learning. Keep writing. Keep sending.

Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator 

Hello everyone! I'm excited to join the forum! I've been mainly working in novels and poetry, but this year I made it a goal to focus on short stories. I've only written a handful, so I'm really excited to get my toes wet. 

Posted by: @wahlquistj

Hello!

My name is Jillian Wahlquist. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but I’ve decided to finally ‘get serious’.

I’ve won semi-finalist, silver honorable mention, and honorable mention in the WotF contest and I’m looking to hone my skills for my next entry.

I’m also interested in middle grade sci-fi/fantasy and am currently finishing the final draft of my first novel.

I had the opportunity to attend the banquet this past weekend and it was so much fun! I’m currently reading through volume 38 and thoroughly enjoying all the winners’ stories. 

Hi, Jillian!

Thanks for popping in and saying hi. This is a great forum with lots of really helpful fellow writers. 

That's great that you got to attend the banquet. Very cool.

Scott

PS- you probably have already, but be sure to check out Wulf Moon's Super Secrets thread. So many amazing tips and strategies in there to improve your writing

Posted by: @doctorjest

"And then he purred, and purred, and purred,
And then he ate some lemon curd."

Ah, Jest. It seems we have greatness in common. Here's a little magic of my own from '96:

"Someone threw a nut
It hit me in the knee
I turned and threw a punch
And found it was a tree

Powerful stuff.

@scott_m_sands these are excellent— I should dig some of my old ones up. There’s some true gold in there  

Posted by: @wahlquistj

@scott_m_sands these are excellent— I should dig some of my old ones up. There’s some true gold in there  

You should definitely share! We are clearly legends of literary power. Allow me to add one more beautifully rhymed sentence from a work in my teenage years:

"Lump was a cabbage, cabbage was a lump. A wibble wobble baggage dobble flibble flobble flump."

This was, in fact, a co-written piece, in which two geniuses put their great minds together and, somehow, came up with this (though I can take sole credit for this particular line).

I've never been much of a poet, but here's the brilliant elevator pitch for my first book (fifth grade):

The Mayor's Pocketwatch is about a rat, a mayor, and a pocket watch. If you want to find out more, read the book!

Clear signs of a future successful career, right there.

my name is Vennessa Scholtz and I'm a journalist/author from Cape Town, South Africa. Two of my children's books have been published in Nigeria, one of those was picked up by an American publisher so now it's available around the world. Trying hard to finish the half written novels I have. They'll need loads of polishing, so I have my work cut out for me. :d:  

Posted by: @abby-cadabby

Hello everyone! I'm excited to join the forum! I've been mainly working in novels and poetry, but this year I made it a goal to focus on short stories. I've only written a handful, so I'm really excited to get my toes wet. 

Welcome, abby-cadabby! Cute name!

It’s not a bad idea to focus on short stories. Many of the skills you learn in the short form will transfer into your novels, including one of the most important—finishing what you write. ?

Do post in the quarter you intend to enter. Most of the daily support and updates happen there. Look around, find a topic that interests you, and don’t be afraid to ask a question. We’re here to help!

Don't miss the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. It can help you craft your winner!

Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Posted by: @svennessa

my name is Vennessa Scholtz and I'm a journalist/author from Cape Town, South Africa. Two of my children's books have been published in Nigeria, one of those was picked up by an American publisher so now it's available around the world. Trying hard to finish the half written novels I have. They'll need loads of polishing, so I have my work cut out for me.  

 

Welcome, svennessa! We’re happy to have a new member from across the world!

Congratulations on the success of your children’s books, including the one sold to a U.S publisher! Please don’t answer here, it’s just for your review, but if a novel has been professionally published—and the WotF contest guidelines define what that means—you would no longer be eligible to submit to this contest. Again, that’s for you to look over and decide, and if you’re still uncertain, you can write to the Contest administrator, Joni Labaqui, for clarification.

https://writersofthefuture.com/contest-rules-writers/

Enjoy all the information on the Contest and on writing this forum has to offer! We wish you continued success!

Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon

Forum Moderator 

Posted by: @wahlquistj

I've never been much of a poet, but here's the brilliant elevator pitch for my first book (fifth grade):

The Mayor's Pocketwatch is about a rat, a mayor, and a pocket watch. If you want to find out more, read the book!

Clear signs of a future successful career, right there.

Ah, our humble beginnings.  

Still, even at fifth grade level, you clearly nailed the subject matter! Even adults can have a hard time with that.

Cheers!

Welcome Vanessa. Enjoy the moment wherever you may be. Life is good, as is being here on the WotF forum, enjoy.

Welcome abby-cadabby, do you have a tabby, cause if you do, that's not too shabby.  I couldn't resist asking that.

Hello, everyone! 

My name is Liz. I grew up in Breckenridge, Colorado, but I currently live and teach English in Taipei, Taiwan. I also just got married a week and a half ago!

I have loved to read and write for longer than I can remember, but for a multitude of reasons, gave up the writing when I went to college. Three degrees (Modern Languages, Baking and Pastry, and Accounting) and a certificate in ESL teaching later, I'm back to writing. I finished my first novel last May, but it was such a mess that I'm actually currently rewriting it from beginning to end. I'm a discovery writer (though I REALLY wanted to be a plotter, and spent almost three years outlining books that never got written) and it's been actually a lot of fun to take characters that I know so well from the first time around and give them a better, more aligning story. 

I'm also doing Dean Wesley Smith's Great Challenge, writing one short story a week for a year. I'm on Week 29. I was never much into short fiction before I started this challenge, which was entirely to get me off my butt and out of my head and start writing regularly. That's been successful, but I've also found I quite enjoy writing short stories, when the stars align and the idea or characters are exciting enough. 

So in an effort to better understand short stories, I've subscribed to all the usual suspects; the Dell Magazines, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, F&SF etc. For some reason, it took me six months to find Writers of the Future! But here I am now, and I'm really excited to get involved, get to know everyone, and start submitting a story every quarter. 

Hope to chat with you around the forum, 

Liz

@doctorjest 

That syllabification is unbeatable, right there.

Blown away.

@lizardosity 

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you have a broad range of experience to bring to your stories. Be sure to take advantage of the Writers of the Future free online workshop. It’s really good! Also, check out the thread for Wulf Moon’s Super Secrets. So much good content, hints and tips. 

@wahlquistj Welcome to the forum

@lizardosity welcome to the forum.

Still catching up, so I'm gonna kind of collect things in one post:

@literaryserenity Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you have a pretty strong idea of what you want as a writer, which is good.  If you're looking to break into the short story magazine and/or anthology scene and have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM or some such. (This goes for everyone, by the way!)

@markwilx Hello and welcome! Sounds like you've had a lot of interesting life experiences, which can definitely help feed into your writing. Also, in regard to the sci-fi versus future fantasy thing you brought up: My basic thought process is that sci-fi and fantasy are more of a spectrum of genres than a hardcore binary. Asimov and Clarke wrote hard sci-fi, but there are always going to be stories that lean less heavily toward the science--Star Wars being a prime example. There are definitely authors who focus in a harder sci-fi direction in the modern day; it might just be a matter of finding them. (I, personally, am a big fan of all manner of sci-fi and fantasy, including blends of the two genres.)

@elainemidcoh Hi, Elaine! It's great to see you here.  

@lusine Welcome! Glad to hear you've picked up a lot of the anthologies--reading the short stories a given market puts out is a great way to get a sense for the kinds of work they're looking to publish.

@zappey1 Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on the self-publication! Glad to see you posted about it in the Tout Your Kindle and E-Publishing thread! I'm a big fan of local mythology, so I've put it on my list of books to buy. As far as submitting short stories, to the contest and to markets in general, is a big step--and a good one! I definitely encourage making a habit, especially if you have a backlog of stories.  

@cweaver Hi! The critique exchange threads are definitely a great place to get feedback. Having a strong sense for copy editing will definitely give you a leg up on the contest in some ways. At that point, it's more a matter of honing storytelling skills than prose--and that's very doable. Just takes time and practice.  

@wahlquistj Pleased to meet you! And glad you got to enjoy the banquet. It was pretty intense for me--closest experience I've had to that previously was with weddings (I'm not generally much for fancy parties). Definitely the good kind of intense, though! Sounds like you've got a decent start on the contest--keep entering. Persistence is definitely a key element when pursuing any sort of writing career. (Luck is definitely a factor in some cases, but it's not something to be relied on.)

@abby-cadabby Welcome to the forum! This is definitely a solid place to get a feel for short story writing. Lots of good resources at your disposal--plus, it's a great place to ask writing-related questions and get solid answers. (And in my experience, the more shorts you write the easier they get--in theory. In practice, I never seem to be able to write a story the same way twice in a row, but that's the ADHD talking. Also, I've found that while I don't necessarily have one set process, the more writing I do, the more narrative tools get added into my writing toolbox. While the writing for individual stories may not feel easier in the moment, I definitely produce cleaner stories faster than I used to. Practice definitely helps!)

@svennessa Hello and welcome! Congratulations on your publications, and keep up the good work! (I looked your book up on Amazon, and it seems like a fun one! Added it to the kids' wish list.)

@lizardosity Hi, Liz! I'm also a Liz. Feel free to call me Peony if it makes things less complicated. Congratulations on your marriage! Weddings are exhausting, but they can also be a lot of fun. (I really enjoyed mine, but I wouldn't want to do it again.) Welcome back to writing! And don't stress the pantsing versus plotting thing--for me, at least, different stories require different planning styles. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, even if plotting doesn't work for you now, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work for you forever (and even if it never does, there are still plotting techniques like outlining that you can use after you've got the first draft down that might help with the editing phase).

I look forward to seeing all of you around the forum!

 

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

There are definitely authors who focus in a harder sci-fi direction in the modern day; it might just be a matter of finding them.

I highly recommend Andy Weir if you haven't already read him.

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

 If you're looking to break into the short story magazine and/or anthology scene and have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM or some such. (This goes for everyone, by the way!)

This a very generous offer! Thank you!

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

Hi! The critique exchange threads are definitely a great place to get feedback. Having a strong sense for copy editing will definitely give you a leg up on the contest in some ways. At that point, it's more a matter of honing storytelling skills than prose--and that's very doable. Just takes time and practice.  

Thanks so much for the welcome @disgruntledpeony Congratulations on your win! I've decided to practice and write a lot, submitting every quarter to this contest, and to magazines or other contests regularly, too. 

@wahlquistj Hi, Jillian! I have self-published a couple of Middle Grade Fantasy novels. I'm looking to move up to professional-level writing and get some novels traditionally published. 

I haven't submitted much to the contest lately because I had a serious health issue that prevented me from writing, but a story that I submitted earlier won an honorable mention in this contest. I'm well now, and ready to go again and write a lot and submit every quarter. 

Maybe we can team up and help each other on either novels, short stories, or both.

I'm a professional copy editor, and have edited a lot of people's books and short stories. I do my best writing when I have someone who is expecting a story from me and gives me feedback, so I would love to team up with someone.

Does that seem like something you would like to do?

Best,

Catherine

@storysinger Thank you so much! I look forward to connecting more with everyone, and working hard to continue building my skills as a writer.