Volume 38 contains an excellent article by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson on the topic of collaboration. Given the number of fine stories written by this method (e.g. Niven and Pournelle, Gibson and Sterling) I'm curious to know whether a collaborative piece would be accepted by the WotF judges. My son and I have discussed the idea on several occasions.
If a collaborative submission were to be submitted and accepted, would that preclude an individual submission by one or both authors?
Yes, WOTF does accept collaborations, and some excellent collaborative stories have won the contest.
Preston Dennett
HM x 12
F x 1
Winner, 2nd place, Q1, Volume 35
40 stories published! (and counting!)
V2-Dream in a Bottle by Jerry Meredith & D.E. Smirl
V5-The Wallet and Maudie by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes & Alan Wexelblatt
V8- no co-authors but my copy has autographs by Dave Wolverton & Algis Budry
V30- no co-authors but I have Orson Scott Card & Mike Resnick sigs
Flipping through the pages and seeing the winners that have best sellers was refreshing.
I didn't find anything after V5 but I'm unable to find my copy of v16.
Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships
Preston and Storysinger, thanks for your responses. I dusted off my copies of Vol. II and Vol. V and re-read both stories. Both are excellent, well crafted tales. I also checked Vol. XVI, but found no collaborative pieces.
As to my second question--a submission is a submission. It wouldn't feel quite sporting to submit individually while simultaneously submitting as part of a team.
I think my son and I are going to have some fun writing a story for the next quarter, as I've already submitted one for this quarter.
Four of my nine SHM were co-authored stories (Three different co-authors. One re-sub).
Joni confirmed both authors would go to the workshop.
The first SHM can be found here: https://www.perihelionsf.com/1801/Fiction_4.shtml If you're interested.
Justin... Yeah, that's me. 🙁
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
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Dustin, I just read Terra Forms. A top notch story. Well done, both of you.
Thanks Gene. Appreciated. ?
In that one we swapped every 500 words or so. We didn't go with one person writing one character. That's valid, and I believe how it went with the volume 5 winner.
I'm hoping to get my 2nd one out there. Trickier at around 10k and fantasy, but we'll see. That one is one of my favs. Beth Powers and I wrote by scene instead of word count.
And my 3rd one was yet another experience. I had an HM that my buddy Frank rewrote and sent to me. He said edit how you wish and send it in. Silver with Dave, Silver with Jody.
So 3 stories, 3 styles. Pretty cool.
.
Side note, Terra Forms might be impossible to find by searching for me as author. My name in the header is Justin Adams, and in the bottom it's Dustin Adam's. Ha!
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
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I found your story by following the link you provided above. I did note the difference in names...assumed it was a nom de plume.
The three techniques you describe are clever. Would you recommend one over the others for first timers?
I would offer all four of the styles to my partner. Once we had the story idea or outline, characters, beginning/end or whatever skeleton we were ready to dive in with, review them and guess which one might work best. And be OK with changing. Or you might come up with a fifth style!
My favorite was the scene switching.
With the 500 switch I sometimes felt like I was just getting started and I had to pass it off. I was fortunate Jennifer and I were on the same wavelength. Often I would get the story back and read what I swear I would have written.
With the scenes, I could write more naturally, and when I got the story back after Beth's scene I was delighted to see what she came up with, and subsequently eager to dive into my "turn". Her stuff was always awesome and imaginative and I was challenged to keep the high level momentum. I learned a ton from that experience as well.
Side note - the trilogy I'm working on now came from that story. 165,000 words so far with around 35k to go.
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
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This settles it!
And the winners are:
First Place – Rose and Alice Robilliard from Great Britain
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
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@tj_knight that's pretty awesome!
“Stories are the collective wisdom of everyone who has ever lived. Your job as a storyteller is not simply to entertain. Nor is it to be noticed for the way your turn a phrase. You have a very important job—one of the most important. Your job is to let people know that everyone shares their feelings—and that these feelings bind us. Your job is a healing art, and like all healers, you have a responsibility. Let people know they are not alone. You must make people understand that we are all the same.”
Brian McDonald
2022: Second Place Winner V39 Q1
2021: HM, HM, SHM
2020: R
2019: SHM, R
2018: HM
2017: HM
Check out my fiction and more at spencersekulin.net
I'm so excited by this idea as writing feels like such a lonely experience sometimes. I'm curious, how do you go about submitting a collab to the contest? Does one person enter it, or do both people enter the same story and the judges infer it's a collab? How does this work? lol.
V39 - Q2 HM, Q3 SHM, Q4 HM
V40 - Q1 SHM, Q2 HM. Q3 SHM Q4 HM
V41 - Q1 Crafting
I put my co-author's name in the pen name field as co-author: Jane Doe - until I got a pen name. Then I added it like this, I believe:
TJ Knight & Jane Doe
Then I e-mailed Joni my submission confirmation and asked if she could be sure to put both authors as co-authors. She confirmed each time that it was done. ?
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
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@tj_knight Great! Thanks for the info!
V39 - Q2 HM, Q3 SHM, Q4 HM
V40 - Q1 SHM, Q2 HM. Q3 SHM Q4 HM
V41 - Q1 Crafting
Do you know if three people can do a collaboration, or is it limited to two?
Thanks!
V42: ___, ___, ___, ___
V41: HM, Finalist, HM, WIP
V40: HM, HM, RWC, HM
V39: R, R, R, HM
V38: R,
. @md you'd have to check with Joni, but my gut tells me two is the limit.
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
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@tj_knight
I sent her an email, so hopefully she'll get back to me, but I think you're right. Two might be the max.
V42: ___, ___, ___, ___
V41: HM, Finalist, HM, WIP
V40: HM, HM, RWC, HM
V39: R, R, R, HM
V38: R,