HOW TO WIN THE WRITERS OF THE FUTURE

Great article @jarridcantway! I’m impressed that you pulled together advice from so many winners. 

Wow, thanks for writing that. I've bookmarked it to read properly later. That looks like an awful lot of effort when into it.  

Posted by: @prestondennett

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An article by Jarrid Cantway with advice from a bunch of people who have won this contest. Enjoy.

https://jarridcantway.com/2022/09/how-to-win-the-writers-of-the-future-contest/

Is this article removed? Can’t read it

@hermionelee I had the same but when I tried the QR code at the bottom of that page it worked to open on my phone! Next you'll also have to go via another link sending you to a Substack page. Hope it works for you as well! 😃

Posted by: @hermionelee

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Posted by: @prestondennett

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An article by Jarrid Cantway with advice from a bunch of people who have won this contest. Enjoy.

https://jarridcantway.com/2022/09/how-to-win-the-writers-of-the-future-contest/

 

Is this article removed? Can’t read it

 

You can find the article on his page at: https://www.jarridcantway.com/

Here's an article from the recent Dragoncon. Look at that panel!

https://dailydragon.dragoncon.org/2025/how-to-succeed-in-the-writers-of-the-future-contest/

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Here's an article from the recent Dragoncon. Look at that panel!

https://dailydragon.dragoncon.org/2025/how-to-succeed-in-the-writers-of-the-future-contest/

Thanks Dustin!  

I believe you can write your best original science fiction or fantasy story, follow the contest rules closely, and keep submitting until you break through.

The article can be found at this link, and this link has some additional articles that this audience may find helpful.

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Here's an article from the recent Dragoncon. Look at that panel!

https://dailydragon.dragoncon.org/2025/how-to-succeed-in-the-writers-of-the-future-contest/

I was there! This was how I found out about the contest! To think... if I hadn't made the trip down from Maine, I might not have found this excellent community

For my two cents, I'd prefer a change in title from "How to Win the Writers of the Future" to something more manageable and controllable like "How to Improve Our Writing."

Truth is, we have zero control over whether our stories are selected as winners in this contest or picked up by publishers in other venues. I fear there are too many of us who get frustrated and burned out because our stories don't place well in the contest or sell to other magazines. I know, because I'm one of them.

I think we'll all be happier if we focus on the important things like continuing to write, continuing to improve, continuing to submit, and continuing to find joy in our creativity. If we move more towards loving the process of writing rather than hoping for results that may not come, we'll be much better off. Plus, added bonus: it eliminates all the twitching over quarter-end results!

The only formula I've found that actually keeps me in check is:

   keep writing
+ keep improving
+ keep submitting
+ ignore results
    HAPPINESS

Posted by: @morgan-broadhead

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The only formula I've found that actually keeps me in check is:

   keep writing
+ keep improving
+ keep submitting
+ ignore results
    HAPPINESS

I think your math is slightly off @morgan-broadhead I believe the correct equation is

 keep writing
+ keep improving
+ keep submitting
+ ignore results
    SLIGHTLY LESS UNHAPPINESS

If you know an equation that truly end with = HAPPINESS I am however, very open to hearing it 😉

@gideonpsmith 

Tomato potato

Writer's to do list:

Ideas
Outline
Suffer

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Writer's to do list:

Ideas
Outline
Suffer

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Writer's to do list:

Ideas
Outline
Suffer

That's just for plotters. Pantsers are:

• Ideas
• Suffer
• Suffer some more

😉

Posted by: @morgan-broadhead

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For my two cents, I'd prefer a change in title from "How to Win the Writers of the Future" to something more manageable and controllable like "How to Improve Our Writing."

Truth is, we have zero control over whether our stories are selected as winners in this contest or picked up by publishers in other venues. I fear there are too many of us who get frustrated and burned out because our stories don't place well in the contest or sell to other magazines. I know, because I'm one of them.

I think we'll all be happier if we focus on the important things like continuing to write, continuing to improve, continuing to submit, and continuing to find joy in our creativity. If we move more towards loving the process of writing rather than hoping for results that may not come, we'll be much better off. Plus, added bonus: it eliminates all the twitching over quarter-end results!

The only formula I've found that actually keeps me in check is:

   keep writing
+ keep improving
+ keep submitting
+ ignore results
    HAPPINESS

Step back! I’m in here with a controversy-stick and I’ve a mind to swing it about! 🤣

I have to disagree. Respectfully, of course!

For starters, the common ground:

I agree that focusing on our motivations is a good practice. That focus, direction, self satisfaction, and personal fulfillment… They’re all close bed fellows, and they can just as easily work against us as they can for us.

A related poem: https://theandreiamethod.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The-Habit-Poem.pdf

Now, the rifts:

Those two titles are entirely different topics. The first is a specific subject matter that targets a specific audience. It also entails the phrasing and specificity that articles ascribe to. As for the second, it would probably not make its way to this forum and would not incite the curiosity of a reader who wasn’t a preexisting fan of its author.

Rift two… Zero control? Zero? Really? Such a stance feels akin to tossing a quarter into a wishing well and seems to place little to no weight on one’s craft. Granted, we don’t have control over a judge’s individual preferences, but that’s offset by having a panel. There’s also the possibility of one’s werewolf story landing in the quarterfinals alongside another’s werewolf story. That sort of scenario bodes well for neither, but the deciding factor will always be craft.

Three relates to optimism, which cannot overshadow realism lest we find ourselves struggling with logic puzzles in Wonderland. Because writing + improving + submitting + ignoring results is also a formula for quantity over quality. If one is to improve, the results cannot be ignored, for the results are the measure by which improvements are demarcated. Failure isn’t final; its just a method, a way a desired outcome can’t be reached. If we were to make a list and systematically mark off what paths didn’t lead to where we were going, then by process of elimination…

So too much optimism is how one paints a future in surrealism, while too much pessimism would see them not take up a brush, a pen, or anything at all.

If I were to critique said article, I’d do so regarding its contents. For starters, I’d more closely relate it to an opinion anthology rather than an actual article—effective for its correlation to its subject matter but not so much in the way of articles. As it is, its only audience is the one mentioned in its headline.

Now, I’m not criticizing the author’s efforts. I think he did a tremendous amount of work, which he should be proud of and that readers should appreciate. But do you see what’s missing? I’ll give you a hint, it relates to the final line of his introduction. He mentions the overlap and the echoing of winner opinions.

So, the answer?

The author himself.

While I haven’t read all of the different opinions, this is already a valuable lesson; it comes in the form of an absence rather than a presence. As is, this is effectively his collection of research with a header. He did all of that work and then didn’t distill it into the one thing that only he had been capable of providing—his voice.

In my opinion, meager as it may be, I think this could be greatly improved by compiling those echoing sentiments into what would serve as this article’s actual body; after which, he could attach all of those same independent opinions as supporting sources. After all, that’s exactly how journalistic articles are often structured:

1. lead
2. important information
3. interviews
4. less important information

As for my own motivational formula, that looks something like this:

Live life
Lean in
Learn deep
And lose ground, but only when stepping onto obstacles in order to reach something you couldn’t have otherwise.