Discussion: Q1 Volume 40

You sure are good at being first poster for each quarter. What's going to happen to us after you win?

We'll chain him to the forum and force him to continue. No freedom for Dustin!

Argh. I am still on q4.  

In all seriousness, I am contemplating what I'm going to do for my Q1, but it's behind another project or two at the moment, so it's something I'll have to return to. I submitted relatively early into Q3 and Q4, but Q1 of Vol 40 I think may end up being a slightly later entry.

Well obviously, I intend to kick off Q1 with Kary English's slush pile is alive fyrelite event.

And then I'll think on what my Q1 story will be. Also, I'm still working on my Q4 like @craydimensional is.  

I'm working on my prospect story now, and having a great time with it. I really want this to be my Q1 entry.

And tonight, I had one of those golden moments when researching something. I believed I had picked a detail out relatively at random for the story, and then when looking up details about it, it is just so perfect for the nature of the story that I wonder if I already knew some of this stuff. Maybe forgotten since, but still recalled by my subconscious, which is making frankly stellar suggestions without my input. For two nights prior, all my research has just been turning up gold, but tonight's details are platinum through and through. A reminder, if any was needed, that research time pays you back threefold.

The story is otherwise being a brute, though. I'm writing it in a style I don't often write, but which I think is correct for this specific story--and because it's unfamiliar, I'm finding momentum challenging to come by. But I'm still having fun with it. The energy is really odd as a result of all this, but I think even that works out somehow.

I already have my loose outline and opening of my first story (I try and write two a quarter). I like the idea, but I'm going to have to see how it plays out in a few spots.

Kary's slush reading at Fyrelite was indeed eye opening. I see that I need to start my Q1 piece as close to the character's main problem as possible. Time to kill some darlings...  

In for Q1 with my backup for Q4.  It doesn't have the effect on readers I anticipated, but it does have an effect, and it certainly amuses me.  I've written three new short stories in the past four months and am a little burnt out, so now I get to work uninterrupted on my novel until March when it'll be time to concoct a Q2 entry.

I'm jealous!

But like we said in the other thread - the hard work was done first.

Hello everyone. I'm new here, so where can I find the writing prompt regarding this new quarter?

@physa I've gotten to the point where I pretty well assume I'm going to cut out the first 100 to 1000 words of most stories (current one I'm writing now is definitely one of those).  I keep telling myself "start later" but for a lot of stories i feel like it helps me set character voice, and atmosphere firmly to start earlier, even though I know it's going on the chopping floor.  I think I need to figure out a way to get those without having to waste time writing things I know will probably be ditched.

I have an idea for Q1 but I’m letting it sit until I finish editing on my novel. I need to finish that in October so I can use November to write the first draft of a whole new novel unrelated to my previous series. 

I am planning to write a short story during the last week of every month so maybe it’ll get done last week of October. We’ll see! 

I’m excited to get this novel off of the to do list and clear space for new projects!

Brainstorming phase

@aivanther would it be more efficient to be able to write your story without that warm up? Sure, but if those 1000 words don't take that long (and they shouldn't, because you shouldn't be editing as you go, especially if you know they're going to be cut) and you enjoy them then I'd be very cautious about avoiding them. They're likely making your story better, and at a very small cost.

Some pro writers, including Dan Wells, deliberately write a few pages of each character just being themselves as a way to get to know them better, to find their voice, and purpose.

Maybe, instead of avoiding those words, you could just approach them with less care, and blast through them super fast so you can get to the "to keep" words. Then kill those darlings!

I'm 60% through draft 1 of Q1, though I've been writing it for a month. I'm also in the brainstorming phase for Q2, 3, and 4. I have the setting/idea for each, just need the character and emotional arc 

Posted by: @geebmachine

Hello everyone. I'm new here, so where can I find the writing prompt regarding this new quarter?

Hi Joel! We're glad you're here!

We met at FanX, and I know you attended the WotF panel on the topic of writing prompts--I saw Dr. Robotnik in the audience! That topic was provided as a discussion point for the panel, and was not intended to imply each WotF quarter is based on a specific writing prompt. The sky is the limit each quarter, as long as your idea is original, speculative, and PG-13.

That said, I do provide a writing prompt every Monday in the Super Secrets Workshop and Challenge topic if you'd like to challenge your abilities in creating fresh stories. Alas, I missed it yesterday, but I'll go post one now. I'm swamped with orders for my first indie release. Shipping out twenty more today--I'm about to sell out of my first print run! And you're a part of that success--thank you for coming by my FanX booth, both to purchase a signed copy of Writers of the Future Vol. 35, and to buy The Illustrated Super Secrets of Writing workbook. Don't forget there's also a random prompt generator in that workbook--it can help you push your imagination to new limits, perhaps helping you come up with a fresh story that could be your WotF winner!

So write, write, write to your heart's content. No writing prompt necessary, but they do help to challenge and expand your abilities--always a good thing. We're all here to cheer you on in your journey. Life is better with friends!

Cheers!

@ease Fair point, and kind of why I keep doing it.  I guess I fear two things: 1- Its an excuse for avoiding improvement in my  craft. 2: That I don't cut enough.  In fact, I'm about 80% or so certain that's why my entry in V39Q4 did not place, I should have cut the...first 20 to 30%, and figured a way to put the world building into the latter parts or just cut them.

Posted by: @geebmachine

Hello everyone. I'm new here, so where can I find the writing prompt regarding this new quarter?

Welcome Joel!

No writing prompt needed. Just write whatever you want, as long as it’s speculative, science fiction, or fantasy. It can have elements of other genres such as a bit of romance or suspense, but the main thing is for it to be sci-fi or fantasy. 

WulfMoon does good writing prompts. Check out his Super Secrets Thread! It’s full of so much information, but he links it all in the post so you don’t have to go read the entire thread just to find the treasures. He gives them to you, to all of us.

Take your time and I wish you the best of luck! I haven’t even started V40 Q1 yet! Lol. 

Many thanks, @annax and @wulfmoon; I'll definitely look into those.

@chwalter Wow! Impressive. It sounds like the hard work was done before this quarter, so at least it will avoid you working frantically to the deadline and working on your novel. Good luck on both fronts.  I'm in a not too dissimilar position for Q1. I put in a (very) short last minute entry for v39 Q4 because I couldn't figure out the ending to my planned Q4 entry. Now that it is figured out I have time to get some critiques in and fine tune before 31 December without trying to rush it (like all my last entries )

1st draft of Q1 complete and with my alpha readers  

Q2 1st draft 60% complete. 

Hoping to transition from getting a submission in at the last minute, to submitting to each quarter in the first minute.

Curious to see how life will stymie that plan.

Working on KYD to seed story for qtr1.  

I have no idea what to write this quarter. I'm trimming down my novel so maybe I'll pull a Rothfuss and submit some chapters ?, or maybe I'll just pay more attention to my four year old's rambles. She comes up with some crazy stories and has a dark sense of humor too -- might work out. Maybe it'll just be another 24 hour dash. So far that's yielded better results than the stories I overthink haha.

Best of wishes in the hustle everyone  ? 

Well, I have my rough alpha draft complete now, but it is going to need a lot more work before it's actually finished. It's turned into the most research-intensive short story I've ever worked on, which came as quite a surprise, as the initial idea was a silly throw-away thought, brainstormed from a list of random words. It's ended up following quite the different path from that seed...

However, I'm taking a short break from it now, and I'm going to rough up something that I intend to be a throw-away short story--a simple idea that I think could be fun to write and work on, and which I'm stealing an old, abandoned opening for. I don't expect this one to be too difficult to write, as it's a very tightly contained little piece, and it should be something of a palate-cleanser before returning to the Q1 piece.

@physa That is so awesome that you've learned something and are inspired to rewrite to improve! Good luck!

@watt_writes Dash it! Dash it! Dash it!

I had too much life get in the way for my Q4 story, so I pushed that one to Q1. I ended up updating a previous submission for Q4. I have my fingers crossed that my updates make it place better. It's all in the judge's hands now.  

I've been trying to write a new story for each quarter and working with different genres. I'm not sure what genre or style is best for my writing. I know that my Q3 story seemed easy to write and earned me my first semifinalist. I've always been one to wear multiple hats, so maybe I can be good at multiple genres. Stay tuned and we'll find out together.