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Welcome, BeeW! Best of luck with your submission! Have you read "The Howler on the Sales Floor" yet? IIRC it's in volume 34.

Welcome, BeeW! Best of luck with your submission! Have you read "The Howler on the Sales Floor" yet? IIRC it's in volume 34.

Thank you!
I've left it til the last minute because that's the type of human being I am.
Oh I haven't! I'll have to try order volume 34. I've only got got volumes 29, 30 and 35.

Hey hey, I'm a longtime lurker of the forums and am hoping to finish off a story to enter 37 Q1 (my first time). I live in Melbourne where I'm studying creative writing and working in comms and tourism. I tend to find short stories difficult. Most of them end up becoming comedies, even if I didn't originally envision it as comedy. I guess that's just my style. The reason I signed up to the forum was to ask for recommendations of comedies that have won WOTF so I can read to get a taste of what makes Dave laugh.

Also may as well ask if anyone is going to WorldCon in New Zealand in 2020? I'm heading there solo and in need of friends.

Welcome aboard, BeeW! Glad you are no longer a stowaway on our ship and have come out of hiding.

Dave says he wants comedy. I suspect he picks some but they don't make it past the quarterly judges. But the world can always use more stories to make us smile and laugh.

Swift already gave you an example. I don't recall others at the moment. Do your thing, send it in, and let Dave be the judge. And go write your next. That's my advice. : )

Look around the Forum, and do say hello on the quarter you are entering. Most of the chat happens there.

Have fun and welcome to the club!

Best,

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Hmm, I'm Chezecaek, I live in Fort Collins Colorado. I used to fantasize about being a career writer but have since realized I just like television, video games (especially the video games), time with friends and getting drunk all too much for that to be a likely possibility. Not an IMpossibility however. Regardless I want to share whatever scheisse my brain spews onto paper with the rest of the world in the hopes they'll reap some enjoyment out of it. I've been published in a small handful of Amazon horror anthologies, mostly featuring writers who are known from reddit's nosleep if you're familiar with that place. I've also had a short article published in Autism Parenting Magazine. Haven't been published anywhere else as of yet but as with everyone here I think winning Writers of the Future would be pretty darn swell. I've submitted two stories which I admit were not a fit at all for the contest, but now that I've attended David Farland's fantasy workshop and actually taken the time to PROPERLY read stories in the anthologies I think I have a better idea of what's being looked for. I have some stories being looked over by the Odyssey Critique Service at the moment and will be submitting them once I've polished them into being not crap.

Hey BeeW. "The Howler on the Sales Floor" from a recent volume comes to mind. I remember Dave saying there's a shortage of good comedy submitted, so if you can do it well and to the judges' tastes, you stand a good chance.

Thank you for the warm welcomes! I'm eager to read "The Howler on the Sales Floor" now! I'll be ordering a copy of volume 34 as soon as I get back from my Japan excursion. Currently sitting underneath the Tokyo Dome polishing up my entry for Q1. Time differences confuse me so my aim is to just get it submitted in the next 24 hours. Eeeeek.

Also I've been powering through Wulf's Super Secret thread and there is a masterclass of writing advice contained in there! What a Goliath effort.

Thank you for the warm welcomes! I'm eager to read "The Howler on the Sales Floor" now! I'll be ordering a copy of volume 34 as soon as I get back from my Japan excursion. Currently sitting underneath the Tokyo Dome polishing up my entry for Q1. Time differences confuse me so my aim is to just get it submitted in the next 24 hours. Eeeeek.

Also I've been powering through Wulf's Super Secret thread and there is a masterclass of writing advice contained in there! What a Goliath effort.

Awww, shucks. Thanks so much, BeeW! I did it to help all of you. Nobody should have to go through 25 years of guesswork like I did. I figured I could shave some years from the learning curve of those working hard to level up!

Best of success to you! Enjoy Japan!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Hi everyone! I’m Woodstock Writer, a 39-year-old writer from Oxfordshire in the UK. I work in publishing and write in my spare time. I’ve had a number of non-fiction pieces published, mostly about my mental health, and have just started to have some success with my fiction. I was published in Youth Imagination magazine in November and 101 Fiction in December. My first submission to Writers of the Future has just received an Honorable Mention, so I’m pleased with that. I write mostly, but not always, YA, either contemporary (especially issue-based), fantasy, sci-fi, or a mixture of those. My HM was a story about a young female magician who has OCD.

Welcome a-board!
And welcome to the first HM first sub club! (That's not really a thing, I just made that up)

Thank you! That sounds like a great club...

Hi everyone! I’m Woodstock Writer, a 39-year-old writer from Oxfordshire in the UK. I work in publishing and write in my spare time. I’ve had a number of non-fiction pieces published, mostly about my mental health, and have just started to have some success with my fiction. I was published in Youth Imagination magazine in November and 101 Fiction in December. My first submission to Writers of the Future has just received an Honorable Mention, so I’m pleased with that. I write mostly, but not always, YA, either contemporary (especially issue-based), fantasy, sci-fi, or a mixture of those. My HM was a story about a young female magician who has OCD.

Welcome aboard, Woodstock Writer! Nicely done to get an HM on your first try!

Do look around the site, and do post to the quarter you are entering. Most of the chat happens on the quarterly thread!

Best of success as you reach for your dreams!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Hi everyone! I’m Woodstock Writer, a 39-year-old writer from Oxfordshire in the UK. I work in publishing and write in my spare time. I’ve had a number of non-fiction pieces published, mostly about my mental health, and have just started to have some success with my fiction. I was published in Youth Imagination magazine in November and 101 Fiction in December. My first submission to Writers of the Future has just received an Honorable Mention, so I’m pleased with that. I write mostly, but not always, YA, either contemporary (especially issue-based), fantasy, sci-fi, or a mixture of those. My HM was a story about a young female magician who has OCD.

Welcome aboard, Woodstock Writer! Nicely done to get an HM on your first try!

Do look around the site, and do post to the quarter you are entering. Most of the chat happens on the quarterly thread!

Best of success as you reach for your dreams!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Thank you will do!

Hello my name is Alaina (Lainy is a nickname), and I'm, umm, new here! I live in Michigan with my spouse and our grumpy cat/writing partner, Gary. I was shocked to realize, as we slipped into 2020, that I've written my only complete novel as part of NaNoWriMo 2010. I want to stop playing and step up to actually *write*; it's been too long that I've said I "want" to write, dabbling with only incomplete stories. I enjoy reading and writing fantasy and science fiction (but not exclusively). Stories of your Life and Exhalation are my current favorite reads. Arrival, A Quiet Place, and Brother's Bloom are among my favorite films. (Ted Chiang!)

Anyway, I hope to learn a lot here. Thanks for having me.

Hello my name is Alaina (Lainy is a nickname), and I'm, umm, new here! I live in Michigan with my spouse and our grumpy cat/writing partner, Gary. I was shocked to realize, as we slipped into 2020, that I've written my only complete novel as part of NaNoWriMo 2010. I want to stop playing and step up to actually *write*; it's been too long that I've said I "want" to write, dabbling with only incomplete stories. I enjoy reading and writing fantasy and science fiction (but not exclusively). Stories of your Life and Exhalation are my current favorite reads. Arrival, A Quiet Place, and Brother's Bloom are among my favorite films. (Ted Chiang!)

Anyway, I hope to learn a lot here. Thanks for having me.

Welcome, Lainy! I'm a fellow Michigander. It sounds like you're in a similar position to the one I was in when I started entering the contest. In some ways, you're ahead of where I was, because you've actually finished a novel. I still have yet to manage that (although I did write about two novels' worth of fanfiction when I was in my late teens).

This is a great site with a friendly and supportive writing community. I hope it does well for you.

Welcome! This is an awesome site. You will learn a lot. The people are very helpful and have various kinds of expertise which they are very anxious to share with you. I'm surprised Grumpy Cat had nothing to say about your writing.

Hello my name is Alaina (Lainy is a nickname), and I'm, umm, new here! I live in Michigan with my spouse and our grumpy cat/writing partner, Gary. I was shocked to realize, as we slipped into 2020, that I've written my only complete novel as part of NaNoWriMo 2010. I want to stop playing and step up to actually *write*; it's been too long that I've said I "want" to write, dabbling with only incomplete stories. I enjoy reading and writing fantasy and science fiction (but not exclusively). Stories of your Life and Exhalation are my current favorite reads. Arrival, A Quiet Place, and Brother's Bloom are among my favorite films. (Ted Chiang!)

Anyway, I hope to learn a lot here. Thanks for having me.

Welcome, Lainy! I'm a fellow Michigander. It sounds like you're in a similar position to the one I was in when I started entering the contest. In some ways, you're ahead of where I was, because you've actually finished a novel. I still have yet to manage that (although I did write about two novels' worth of fanfiction when I was in my late teens).

This is a great site with a friendly and supportive writing community. I hope it does well for you.

Thank you for the welcome! Yay Michigan! Happy to know that I'm not alone in starting positions

Welcome! This is an awesome site. You will learn a lot. The people are very helpful and have various kinds of expertise which they are very anxious to share with you. I'm surprised Grumpy Cat had nothing to say about your writing.

Thanks for the welcome! I am excited to learn.

Grumpy Cat is too busy sleeping on my lap to comment on my writing, haha. He does enjoys the extended snuggles my writing time affords him, though 😛

Okay, does anyone else here look at the blank 'Introduce Yourself' box and feel sudden and overwhelming terror? Or is that just me?

So hey y'all, JWBenjamin here. You can call me Josh if you prefer. I live and write in Hawaii, on the Big Island. I work construction and handyman-ish odd jobs on the side and write when I can find a spare minute. I'm mostly here because I threw my hat in the contest ring in the fourth quarter last year, and the judges were apparently sleep deprived when they read my stuff because I walked away with a Silver Honorable Mention. Which told me, after I climbed down from the rafters, that apparently there might be something to this whole Writing thing and that I should really get off my butt and keep at it. And since the Big Island has very few writers (and none of them live near me), I figured I ought to join a few writer's communities to connect with my fellow crazy people.

So yeah, I'll be around here for a while, I imagine. Please don't be offended if I don't reply to stuff right away; I'm the last guy in the world who doesn't have an internet connection in my home (because it's too distracting) so I use the public library and my friends' houses when I need a secure connection. It takes a little longer, but it works for me.

TLDR: Hi! I'm New! And Terrified of actually talking to real writers! Please don't hurt me!

Hey JWBenjamin. I think it's awesome you don't have an Internet connection through choice! Congrats on getting an SHM on your first try. If I remember rightly, the judges said that was the strongest quarter yet. I understand being terrified, but we're a friendly bunch here. Welcome in.

Welcome and congrats, JWBenjamin! Nothing to fear here! I'm still relatively new to the forums as well and everyone was very welcoming to me.
The Big Island is beautiful! My husband and I visit every year (I swear we have an excuse--his parents live on Oahu) and usually stay on the Hilo side. But yes...I can imagine the writing community there is fairly small. Maybe we can meet up for lunch sometime if you're around while we're visiting!

Thanks guys, I appreciate the welcome

Honestly SwiftPotato, I'd love to meet up. I've been kinda starved for writerly community here (One of the main reasons I joined up here and a couple other places). I miss talking to writers, y'know? Just hit me up when you're on your way here and maybe we can set something up. I live down in Ocean View (Otherwise known as the Hawaiian Boonies), so it'll probably be better for me to head to where you are than vice-versa.

Sounds good to me! I think we'll be there in October this year, so I'll throw something on my phone calendar to remind me to ping you when we buy our tickets.

Wow! A silver hm? You must be a really good writer JWBenjamin! Welcome to your tribe.

Cool backstory, Josh.

Grats on the SHM. Means your story was in the finalist pile!

Welcome to the forum JWBenjamin.
SHM is placing pretty high. Congratulations.

Hello my name is Alaina (Lainy is a nickname), and I'm, umm, new here! I live in Michigan with my spouse and our grumpy cat/writing partner, Gary.

A grumpy kitty?!? We have one of those, as you can see from my profile pic! Welcome aboard from a fellow grumpy kitty lover.
--Tracy

Hello my name is Alaina (Lainy is a nickname), and I'm, umm, new here! I live in Michigan with my spouse and our grumpy cat/writing partner, Gary.

A grumpy kitty?!? We have one of those, as you can see from my profile pic! Welcome aboard from a fellow grumpy kitty lover.
--Tracy

Aww what grumpy and pretty kitty! Thanks for the welcome, Tracy

Welcome, Josh! Glad to have you! Don't be afraid, your opinion and story is valuable. We shall add you to the collective. You will be assimilated. Be sure to post in the current quarter--it's where most of the chat happens about submissions.

Hello, new users, floating through these boards like ghosts. We know you're out there. Materialize! Reveal yourselves!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Hello, great writers. You can call me Hermione, like my English teachers do. I live and write in Taiwan, this little island by China. I submitted my first story to the Writers of the Future contest last December. I’m quite lonely, because I’m the only one in my class who writes stories in English. I hope to make some friends here in the forum

Welcome aboard, Hermione. Lots of people writing in English here! You'll fit right in.

Do look around, and chime in on the quarter you plan to enter. Plenty here to swap stories with as well. Winners happen here!

Cheers!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator