Discussion: Q1 Volume 40

Posted by: @toddjones

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I am hoping for March. 

My bday is March 10th and I have my fingers crossed that I'll receive my first call from WotF this year on or before my bday.  I do feel Q1 submission is one of my best stories, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Keeping fingers crossed.

March 9th over here. Fingers crossed for both of us!  

Posted by: @wulfmoon

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@jason and his wife Sarah are priceless gems.

Thank you for your continued support.

Posted by: @jeschleicher

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Posted by: @toddjones

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I am hoping for March. 

My bday is March 10th and I have my fingers crossed that I'll receive my first call from WotF this year on or before my bday.  I do feel Q1 submission is one of my best stories, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Keeping fingers crossed.

 

March 9th over here. Fingers crossed for both of us!  

 

March 9th is a Thursday ...

BTW: I uncrossed my fingers and starting chewing my nails.   

Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @jeschleicher

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Posted by: @toddjones

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I am hoping for March. 

My bday is March 10th and I have my fingers crossed that I'll receive my first call from WotF this year on or before my bday.  I do feel Q1 submission is one of my best stories, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Keeping fingers crossed.

 

March 9th over here. Fingers crossed for both of us!  

 

March 9th is a Thursday ...

BTW: I uncrossed my fingers and starting chewing my nails.   

 

Posted by: @physa

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 I'm still slogging away on my Q2 submission.  

I thought I was done, but after setting it aside for a couple days ...    

Almost there, just smoothing things out.  

I cannot wait for the results of this quarter, I'm quite proud of my story and there could be nothing better than winning this contest. That said, I recognize that every one out there who entered has the exact same feeling, and if I win there will be tons of people who are sad because they didn't, which is weird to think about.

Posted by: @toddjones

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March 9th is a Thursday ...

Oooh, it is!  

Now that I have Q2 in, I will go camp out in the Q1 twitching tent.

Lol, now that I entered QTR2 and QTR1, I am no longer twitching for QTR1 results. Instead I am twitching for QTR2. It’s going to be a long wait.

Absolutely! Always twitch more about your current story because it's your new favorite. Hopefully Q3 will be your even greater favorite.  

[off in the distance, stakes are hammered into the ground]

[a wind gust billows a brightly covered canvas]

[it flutters and falls flat to the ground]

[sweet smells of flowers fill the air]

[catering trucks claim choice spots]

[Calliope whispers encouraging inspiration to writers and illustrators alike] 

[the air is electric with anticipation]

@physa 

[I help put the tent back up]

[Inside, we lay back on some giant fluffy pillows. We clink our mugs of cocoa and let out a 'Huzzah'.]

[I sigh and wonder about the future. Meanwhile, what could be better than this? Other than winning, I mean.]

[Crowds begin to gather. Soon more friends will join us.]

[I clink my cocoa mug into @crlisle's mug and toast to the future]

[may the odds be ever in our favor]

[we drain our mugs]

[we giggle as our eyes cast around at all the piles of pillows]

[pillow fight!]

[it's a nice moment of levity before we get back at it]

[Q3 entries aren't going to write themselves]

[Enters the tent carrying mint Oreo Thins, a skinny iced latte, and a tablet.]

[Who said twitching wasn't fun. What will we do to our characters in Q3.] 

Great cocoa! Nice and calming. I brought some sheet pan nachos so we can crunch away the stress!

Wait are we twitching? 

[grabs pillows, cocoa, and dog]

Wait for me!!

Posted by: @physa

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[Q3 entries aren't going to write themselves]

A question about entries: Has anyone submitted a sequel to a previous submission?

Note: I've been asked by two friends to continue the story that I received a SF with. I always envisioned the story to be part of a larger set of short stories, but don't want to break any rules; it isn't the same story, but rather sequel. The SF was first person and the second part I jotted down ideas for and it came out as third-person close/limit (I think those are the same POV just different names).

I'm going to write the second part regardless, but wondered if entering it would be an option.

I should get some food, I just ran out of nails...

Ring phone, ring.

@toddjones I submitted a sequel V39 Q1 to my V38 Q4.  The original earned an HM, but the sequel got an RWC.

I have a five part story from which I submitted parts 1, 2, 3, and 4,

1 = SHM

2 = SF

3 = R

4 = F

5 = unwritten

I hope to someday organize them, yet keep them independent, then write the finale. Would be around 50k words or so.

Posted by: @chwalter

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@toddjones I submitted a sequel V39 Q1 to my V38 Q4.  The original earned an HM, but the sequel got an RWC.

Was the sequel rejected because it was a sequel or for another reason?

Posted by: @tj_knight

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I have a five part story from which I submitted parts 1, 2, 3, and 4,

1 = SHM

2 = SF

3 = R

4 = F

5 = unwritten

I hope to someday organize them, yet keep them independent, then write the finale. Would be around 50k words or so.

Was the rejected part for a sequel reason?  It doesn't appear so, since 4 got a F.  Awesome work, congrats.

I was thinking along the same lines in regards to compiling the stories all together in the future and making them a short novel.

@toddjones Tough to say.  I tried to make it stand alone, but I failed in that, or otherwise, the story wasn't that good.  My Q2 will also be a sequel to that original story, but less direct, so I'll see.

Todd,

I didn't submit in order, or even to the same judge. So it's a coincidence. Should have worked on #3 longer.
They were pretty different. Taking place many years apart, different characters. Only if you read them in order might you even notice they are connected. More world / universe stories than sequels per se. But if you did happen to get them in that order, you would see progression.

If your story stands alone, sub that sucker.

Posted by: @tj_knight

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If your story stands alone, sub that sucker.

Thanks for the extra info.

MC and another character would be the same, but different story plot, character arc, and yes the story will stand on its own. (Glad the MC is so flawed I can find multiple arcs to focus on across myriad plots.)

I believe Kary English and Julie Frost wrote about the same character over multiple subs. Not sequels per se, but the same guy/wolf. Really, you can sub anything you wish save your SF.

Really, if the story stands on its own, then whether it's a sequel or not is very by the by. Readers would most likely not even know it's a sequel, though balancing it to be Contest-specific might take a hair of work, depending on how, and to what extent, you've woven earlier events into it. But the Contest has been won with novel excerpts (perhaps most notably Pat Rothfuss's entry, which was taken from an earlier draft of The Name of the Wind), so I would really doubt that a short-story sequel to another short story is ever going to run into issues, provided--just as with any other entry--it's been done well.

Posted by: @doctorjest

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Really, if the story stands on its own, then whether it's a sequel or not is very by the by. Readers would most likely not even know it's a sequel, though balancing it to be Contest-specific might take a hair of work, depending on how, and to what extent, you've woven earlier events into it. But the Contest has been won with novel excerpts (perhaps most notably Pat Rothfuss's entry, which was taken from an earlier draft of The Name of the Wind), so I would really doubt that a short-story sequel to another short story is ever going to run into issues, provided--just as with any other entry--it's been done well.

Thank you for the response.

I'm going to have to check out Pat Rothfuss's entry and The Name of the Wind.

Is it twitching time already? Can I join? I have chocolate!

[nervous lurker/introvert pokes head in tent]