Discussion: Q2 Volume 43

Posted by: @jtwrites

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My problem lay in the participant’s skill progression. Writing a new story has a greater growth potential than revising one that already exists. Rewriting has similarly high potential, so long as the writer attempts to write the story in a new way while using different narrative devices. So, a revised resubmission lowers a writer’s growth curve, which weakens the growth of my competition.

I have to disagree somewhat with this. A rewrite does not have to employ different narrative devices. Certainly, some of my rewrites that have netted me higher results have done this. However, others are about developing better mastery of the narrative devices I did employ. It's realizing - oh, I didn't describe the setting here, or I didn't describe it well enough. I better do that. It's realizing a character is coming across as flat and examining how to better have their motivations and emotions come across. It's digging into the nitty gritty of the dialogue so that it flows.

The time between submission and results has given me time to look at my stories with fresh eyes to see these flaws. While new stories do give you the chance to employ your improved skills from the beginning, giving your story a better foundation, unless you learn how to scrutinize it for flaws and fix it, your stories won't improve from good to excellent. 

But yes, resubmitting a story with only a single word changed is highly unlikely to get you better results. (unless that change is remembering to take your name off the submission.)

Posted by: @Anonymous

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This is where the algorithm comes in.

If you follow it, you should have a stable foundation and many flaws are nonexistent.

If only writing were that easy. Unfortunately, there is not a precise, step-by-step set of instructions or rules for crafting a story. If there were, everything anybody wrote would be award winning. 

@reigheena 

Amen. Artificial Intelligence uses algorithms to write stories based on the prompts you feed into it. I would argue that actual human writing, where real authors write real stories using their real brains and real imaginations, cannot be so contrived. Otherwise, the stories are going to feel formulaic and weak.

There's a reason why being any good at writing stories, especially stories people want to read, is difficult. It takes work. There are no shortcuts.

Agree @morgan-broadhead

Posted by: @jtwrites

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Recently, another participant, someone with a scorecard far better than my own, mentioned a fondness for a past submission and was torn about resubmitting or moving on. I recommended a new story. Another writer suggested the opposite, claiming that the participant’s scorecard qualified sound judgment.

Now, this contradiction irked me, but not for any reason that might seem apparent.

I think I was the "Another writer" in this story - and if so, apologies for the irking ☹

My comment was not that his scorecard meant sound judgement per se, but that all markets have a taste. And given Theo had had 4 finalists it seems he has figured it out (and specifically - better than me). So I didn't nec feel qualified to say don't do it. Especially not knowing anything else about the story.

I think the question of whether to write new or revise old is a broader question though, and I still think 'it depends' is the answer. It depends on where the person is in their writing journey. I've gained from both. 

Generally changing an old story is not going to level up your craft as much, unless you wrote that story a long time ago. Then practicing a new skill to level it up can definitely be worthwhile.

Your mileage may of course vary. 

@gideonpsmith 

To chime in here, I did decide to resubmit that story for Q1 (partially due to your encouragement) but to call it a "resubmit" may be a bit of an understatement. It was a complete rewrite. I kept the foundation of the story (the setting, themes, characters) but the events that transpire are different, the pace is faster, the character motivations are more fleshed out. I'm glad I did this because I believe it's the best version of that story I could write and now it feels complete in my head, whereas the first version was more of a cool idea without much polish.

I think in these situations a resubmit can be worth it but you need to sit down, really look at all the problems with your story and rebuild it from the ground up. Lets see how it does in the results though! If it ranks worse than last time maybe we can all agree to never resubmit  

We're at the halfway mark!

How's everyone doing? 

Haven't started yet. May resubmit a previous HM.

I have been picking away at a story... and realizing that once again it's probably going to end up on the longer side.  I'm debating going back and re-writing and just getting to the point as quick as possible... but I think I should get the whole story written down first. I've been pretty burnt out for like, the past month, but I've made some changes in my life that I think are helping, and I've had a little more energy, so I'm hoping that will translate to more writing in the near future.

can I just win Q1 so I don't have to write something for Q2?? No...? Okay...... 

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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can I just win Q1 so I don't have to write something for Q2?? No...? Okay...... 

I am so hoping for you. And me, of course.

Slow progress but doing okay so far. At least I'm getting back to more consistent writing. I realized I need to amp up the speculative element of this story way up so currently thinking of ways to do that.

I've rewritten the first few pages of my current story about 3000 times while I try to figure out the tone I'm going for. I think I've got it down, just need to actually write the rest now. I do worry it's slightly too...perverse? for WOTF. How much ritualistic murder is too much ritualistic murder? I suppose if you allude to more explicit content rather than outright describe it, it's generally fine. 

I finally started working on my third draft. But, alas, events in my personal life are kinda forcing me to priorize set of characters I came up with a few years ago and want to one day write a novel centred around them. So I started to write a short story with them (and possibly use this short story as a basis for a third/fourth novel-sized project), which is so far shaping up to be my favourite out of the short stories and novelettes I've written so far. 
But for now, I think I will focus on the Q2 project a bit more.