Benifits of RWC

I for one appreciate having the category, Harvey. It lets me know that my story had some redeeming qualities, greater than a straight Reject. (Picture an editor flinging a stack of paper off his desk in disgust.) What WotF does with this category is much more than I get from any of the dozens of magazine markets, and that's the reality of writing life.

Could they provide something more? Some personalized comments on every story? Of course they could—if they expanded the paid editorial staff by a factor of ten, reduced the size of the cash prizes, and depleted the corpus of the L. Ron Hubbard grant.

You’re in for a real shocker when you start submitting to actual markets outside the contest. 

It is one list of common RWC factors. I view it as "you almost made HM, but failed in one of these major area." Check your work and possibly enter again. The amount of entries they receive prevent any type of personal feedback at this level, or even the HM level. 

I could see moving the RWC list up a level to HM+ and checking a box. That would be extremely helpful to the writer and limit the quantity of stories this activity work take.

There is a nice personal feedback at the Semi-finalist achievement level, but that level also excludes the story from re-submit. 

This is the only market I know of that has RWC. Receiving a personal rejection from an editor is rare.

Posted by: @nova

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Why won't they say what's exactly wrong ?

Like just tick a box on the form or something?

*Thousands* of submissions per quarter. If assessing the piece and checking the boxes takes a minute per RWC, you're talking ~16+ hours of extra work on top of the hundreds of hours they're already doing, reading every submission.

Ballpark cost for an editor (and that's what they'd become, if they provided assessments on writing) is $100/h. Maybe if you ponied up $6k-12k a year they could do that?

Posted by: @ehonour

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reduced the size of the cash prizes

I feel that would be worth it.

Posted by: @morgan-broadhead

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You’re in for a real shocker when you start submitting to actual markets outside the contest. 

I'm asking about something WOTF is doing.

Other markets, or my interaction with them, is irrelevant.

Posted by: @toddsjones

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It is one list of common RWC factors.

Thank you.

Posted by: @toddsjones

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There is a nice personal feedback at the Semi-finalist achievement level, but that level also excludes the story from re-submit. 

Good to know.

I didn't realise higher levels prevented resubmitting?

Semi finalist, finalist, win?

Posted by: @ease

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Maybe if you ponied up $6k-12k a year they could do that?

That would be about the prize amount?

The prize money, especially at this point, is meaningless to me.

There are easier ways.

It looks like it could be better spent on helping writers with some feedback.

Posted by: @ehonour

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I for one appreciate having the category, Harvey. It lets me know that my story had some redeeming qualities, greater than a straight Reject. (Picture an editor flinging a stack of paper off his desk in disgust.) What WotF does with this category is much more than I get from any of the dozens of magazine markets, and that's the reality of writing life.

Could they provide something more? Some personalized comments on every story? Of course they could—if they expanded the paid editorial staff by a factor of ten, reduced the size of the cash prizes, and depleted the corpus of the L. Ron Hubbard grant.

In case clarification is needed, plenty of WotF R's are good stories and some even get published at professional markets. An R doesn't mean a story has no redeeming qualities. Not that I'm qualified to speak on behalf of WotF slushers, but sometimes it might just be the first reader a story hits, as although there will be guidelines, everyone sees things in a different way. I've a story that first received HM and a couple of quarters later, R.

@alexh - absolutely. WotF, and many other markets, have "confessed" to rejecting many great stories. Fantastic stories. Unfortunately a story need not only be great, but also a good fit for the publication. It is absolutely possible for a story to be incredible but a bad fit, for any of a multitude of sometimes-difficult-to-discern reasons.

Posted by: @alexh

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An R doesn't mean a story has no redeeming qualities

Thanks.

Posted by: @ease

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It is absolutely possible for a story to be incredible but a bad fit, for any of a multitude of sometimes-difficult-to-discern reasons.

Another couple of questions.

How many options are on the list?

And how many problem points does a story need to receive RWC?

For example, about 10 things on the list, given out to stories with 1-3 of them , sounds ok.

However, 100 options on the list would confuse greatly.

I've never received one; my only R came before they adopted the RWC response. And I doubt it would have got the RWC; it was rejected because it was awful, not because it tripped on a technicality. But there is a stickied post explaining the RWC: 

Posted by: @karyenglish

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The current RWC categories are:

Failure to Launch - your opening went on too long, was too unfocused, or did not engage us

Didn't Stick the Landing - your ending was weak or didn't fit the story

Content issues - too much violence, sex, or profanity

No speculative element - your fantasy or sci-fi element was not present, introduced too late, or was insufficient

Your story was for children - We're OK with YA, but you sent us something for middle grade or lower

Politics and Religion - Your story depended too heavily on real-world politics, was better suited to a devotional market, or spent too much time trying to advance a particular religious or political agenda

And I believe that hitting any of the above, even just one, will yield you an RWC, although nothing is black and white.

Posted by: @ease

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And I believe that hitting any of the above, even just one, will yield you an RWC, although nothing is black and white.

Thanks.

I didn't realise that.

6 options, 1-6 may be present.

Also tells us the 6 most common issues/last hurdles people are getting caught by.

However, all 6 seem pretty obvious to me.

Although I do wonder how much I have already been breaking them.