Discussion: Q3 Volume 38

Posted by: @pdblake

Not sure what to think or feel about that to be honest, knowing that the winners have already been announced, just sat here waiting to see what flavour of rejection I'll be getting. It's stopped the twitching at any rate.

At Fyrecon I heard the phrase "rejection connoisseur." Thought it was quite fitting.

Sorry for mixing everyone up on Brittneys.

@craydimensional 

Ha ha ha. Thanks for keeping things lively!

I found this strange, half-revelation very depressing to me for some reason, so I've just decided to pre-empt finding out which flavour of "no" I'm getting by sending the story out to its next potential home. I'm still curious to know where it lands, but in the meantime, it's sailing to fresh shores.

Posted by: @doctorjest

I found this strange, half-revelation very depressing to me for some reason, so I've just decided to pre-empt finding out which flavour of "no" I'm getting by sending the story out to its next potential home. I'm still curious to know where it lands, but in the meantime, it's sailing to fresh shores.

Yes, you're right.  It hadn't yet occurred to me that the tiny chance I needed to continue to hold my story no longer exists.

Well, this is a new one. 

Results on...Yester-Thursday.

Posted by: @deandamico

I'm looking for the results of Q3 2021. Does anyone have any info

Should be soon... We had some delays on the technical side of life that was all resolved. Staying in the loop here will be a good place as I will let everyone know once the blog goes live on site with full listing. You will also get an email notification, but I might have the full standings posted before all of the emails go out. As soon as I get the list I will post!! 

Jason

Posted by: @doctorjest

I found this strange, half-revelation very depressing to me for some reason, so I've just decided to pre-empt finding out which flavour of "no" I'm getting by sending the story out to its next potential home. I'm still curious to know where it lands, but in the meantime, it's sailing to fresh shores.

An extremely flat and flattening way. I've been off the forums for a while, think I'll stay further away now.

Posted by: @jason

Posted by: @deandamico

I'm looking for the results of Q3 2021. Does anyone have any info

Should be soon... We had some delays on the technical side of life that was all resolved. Staying in the loop here will be a good place as I will let everyone know once the blog goes live on site with full listing. You will also get an email notification, but I might have the full standings posted before all of the emails go out. As soon as I get the list I will post!! 

Jason

 

Thanks for letting us know, Jason. I assume the lists will be in alphabetical order for easy reference. At any rate, it's easier to be patient when we know the whys... Thanks for all that you and WOTF do for us!

It’s one quarter, guys. One. In a free contest that does everything to encourage you, and if you win it, will spend a small fortune to help you advance further. Imagine how Joni, Dave, and Kary felt, and everyone else at Author Services as their hands were tied by a third party systems transition. Problem is now solved, results are now done, and they still have to batch thousands of results by hand this quarter to do the kindness of letting you individually know your results, instead of publicly posting the official winners and honorees list and letting you figure it out that way.

Stuff happens. How we deal with the stuff life throws at us proves what we’re made of, what our character is. Every quarter, three get chosen by the judges, thousands do not. If you discover you were not chosen, dust yourself off, look to the future, and write your next. 

Just like everyone else that finally achieved a worthy goal.

Very well said, @wulfmoon.

I do feel like this is a rough way to find out, though, even though the reasons for it are understandable. Process and feel your feelings; it’s okay to be frustrated or disappointed. Rejection is part of the business, but some rejections just hit different and that’s okay. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and, to anyone else in the USofA—Happy Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for all of you here! ???

edit: Thank you to everyone with the contest working behind the scenes, too. I know you’re all working really hard  and it’s appreciated. 

@wulfmoon I agree with you, especially the stuff about life, having had a fair bit thrown at me (I and my surviving kids have a saying about life just happening) and I've already got the next draft ready and the next story idea is jumping up and down shouting at me. 

That said, I am a Yorkshireman, and reserve the right to chunter as much as I like.  

Yours, pdblake, deliberately not taking life too seriously while maintaining the ability to moan like a trooper. 

Third party transitions are always tough. I do appreciate all that this contest does. I have learned alot this last year.

I was letting anxiety get the better of me (for Q3 results and other things all happening at the same time) and my wife quoted Ford Prefect from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, p39, by the one and only Douglas Adams. The second written voice is Arthur Dent, whose rising tone may have sounded a bit like my own.

--------

"Don't Panic."

"I'm not panicking!"

"Yes, you are."

"All right, so I'm panicking, what else is there to do?"

"You just come along with me and have a good time. The Galaxy's a fun place."

--------

So don't panic, remember your towel, and remind yourself that we have the answer to life, the universe, and everything. It's 42. 

Posted by: @jason

Posted by: @deandamico

I'm looking for the results of Q3 2021. Does anyone have any info

Should be soon... We had some delays on the technical side of life that was all resolved. Staying in the loop here will be a good place as I will let everyone know once the blog goes live on site with full listing. You will also get an email notification, but I might have the full standings posted before all of the emails go out. As soon as I get the list I will post!! 

Jason

 

Thanks Jason. Looking forward to seeing results which ever way it comes out.

Sending all those emails by hand sounds like insanely painful work.  Kudos to those involved.

Posted by: @chwalter

Sending all those emails by hand sounds like insanely painful work.  Kudos to those involved.

They’ve got this solved, but thank you for offering to help privately, Marathon. That was kind of you. ?

I like some of the proactivity I've seen here. Let's keep sending out those manuscripts our factories are making. Perspective is good, too. As is your grounding, Moon. As always!

Thanks to all those involved with results and judging for your efforts.

Onwards!

Posted by: @craydimensional

So here are my notes. It was livestreamed to facebook

• Genre cue in first 2 pages
• No alien sex in taxi, no taxi driver cursing, no political figures for current worlds or sounds like
• Proper formatting (no green font on black page)
• First 2 pages must hint of problem, lay out setting, introduce character, must contain genre cue

 

Anyone know if a genre-ish title counts as a genre cue in the first two pages? I'm thinking The Wizard of Oz starts off pretty tame but it gets to the genre eventually.

Posted by: @babooher

Posted by: @craydimensional

So here are my notes. It was livestreamed to facebook

• Genre cue in first 2 pages
• No alien sex in taxi, no taxi driver cursing, no political figures for current worlds or sounds like
• Proper formatting (no green font on black page)
• First 2 pages must hint of problem, lay out setting, introduce character, must contain genre cue

 

Anyone know if a genre-ish title counts as a genre cue in the first two pages? I'm thinking The Wizard of Oz starts off pretty tame but it gets to the genre eventually.

Ahem. Super Secret #12: Genre Cue Up Front!

I wrote it three years ago to help you Forumites win. You might want to review.

https://writersofthefuture.com/forum/the-contest-quarterly-topics-and-other-items/wulf-moons-super-secrets-workshop-challenge/paged/3/#post-24984

@babooher 

Once you’ve reviewed that particular Super Secret, I would add that the title can be a powerful thing. It should be that first hook and it can definitely give a genre cue. Your example of The Wizard of Oz is a great example of both hook and genre in four words. Look at other famous books and you’ll see the same.

A is for Alibi (murder mystery, great hook)

Jurassic Park (science fiction, hooked me, and gave us a promise that we’d see dinosaurs)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (mystery, great hook)

The words or combination of words that provide genre cues inside the titles are specific to each genre and you know them when you see them. Some are obvious, like ‘wizard’ while others are more vague and simply provide a feeling. I’ve notice that titles with ‘the girl who/with/that tend towards either mystery or romance and the second part of the title fills that genre cue in while hopefully adding a hook. 

With all that said, you still better get your genre up front within your story because you just made a promise with the title that needs to be supported quickly to maintain your genre-reader’s interest. Wizard of Oz managed to postpone the genre cues inside the text because A) it was written in 1900, an era that was more accepting of slow starts, B) it was a novel with more room, C) it was written in a time when fantasy wasn’t as popular, so he had to ground his readers in the real world before transporting them.

Posted by: @wulfmoon

Posted by: @babooher

Posted by: @craydimensional

So here are my notes. It was livestreamed to facebook

• Genre cue in first 2 pages
• No alien sex in taxi, no taxi driver cursing, no political figures for current worlds or sounds like
• Proper formatting (no green font on black page)
• First 2 pages must hint of problem, lay out setting, introduce character, must contain genre cue

 

Anyone know if a genre-ish title counts as a genre cue in the first two pages? I'm thinking The Wizard of Oz starts off pretty tame but it gets to the genre eventually.

Ahem. Super Secret #12: Genre Cue Up Front!

I wrote it three years ago to help you Forumites win. You might want to review.

https://writersofthefuture.com/forum/the-contest-quarterly-topics-and-other-items/wulf-moons-super-secrets-workshop-challenge/paged/3/#post-24984

The first thing aside from the word count that a reader should see is the title. Can't get more upfront than that. If I see a title like "The Wizard of Oz" or "Cannibal Robots in Space," I should, as a reader, have an expectation of the story. That seems like a genre cue to me. Of course, I'm not sure how a story with the title "Cannibal Robots in Space" could last three pages with no speculative element being introduced, but I can see that for the Oz title. In fact, I'd guess a lot of Portal fiction could fall into this potential trap. Maybe that's why so many Isekai stories have super long titles.

This all then begs the question, is a genre cue the same as a speculative element? If the answer is no, then the answer to the question about the title could easily be no. It could be simply that titles don't count because "Ham Sammich and the Magic Mayo" might not mean anything to the actual story. Or maybe the judges just ignore titles. Dunno, that's why I'm asking.

To probe some of the nuances a bit further, can a weaker speculative element be fortified by a title that serves as a genre cue?

@lost_bard

Your reply popped up as I was probing the question a bit. I had some of your same thoughts about Oz being a novel and therefore it had more room to sprout. I just didn't want you to think I'd ignore what you wrote since my response came directly after.

@babooher That’s why we’re here, to discuss, challenge, and improve our craft. Thanks for starting the discussion!

Speaking of weird numbers on a cell phone. Yesterday I got a call several times from: 15335318347558. I don't have my voicemail set up and I didn't make it in time to pick up. I tried looking the number up and I was informed I should use a real phone number. I tried calling it back and again, it complained it's not a real number. Do any of you know what's up with this? 

Anyway, hope everyone is comfortable in their pillow forts and enjoying the shared food and entertainment as we wait to see what form of rejection we got. Those of you who got finalist calls and placement calls... I hope you don't have to wait too much longer to shout out your great news! I'm sure there must be some of those in this quarter that are posting here. 

Agreed, sucks to find out this way. But what can you do? Nothing. It's out of our control. All we can do is focus on the here and now and keep on writing. I'm grateful for every minute I get to write. That, in my humble opinion, is its own reward. God bless everyone.

Indeed, Prateworthy,

Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as a model, doesn't hold much relevance for the hopeful author of today. The novel and movie start with a somewhat normal Kansas farm girl with no indication of speculative content or goal. It is a dream sequence, beginning with Dorothy's clunk on the head during the tornado and ending with her recovery in bed. It is a classic deus ex machina as Glinda (A god. Not present as a farmworker, evil woman, or traveling salesman from reality) saves the day in the end. Dorothy's agency is weak to non-existent as she is told what to do and swept along because her house squished a nice woman who was caring for strange little mutants.

In other books, Baum swept Dorothy overboard on a trip to Australia and had her swallowed up in a California earthquake to get her to Oz (Though my personal predilections would have leaned toward more concussive interdimensional entries.). Eventually, Dorothy finds a path to Oz that doesn't begin with disaster. Baum also played up the reality of Oz for his audience, claiming that Dorothy would contact him directly from there using a wireless telegraph. 

Baum was successful, having written fourteen novels of Oz in all. Publishing of the day was far less interested in the constraints that we now hold in such high esteem for genre fiction. But do recall that the Oz books are children's literature. Children have an affinity for characters who are swept along, trying to maintain their own sanity while the world goes crazy. After all, that's who children are. Those books would not have sold to an adult audience.

We should be writing to people who are purchasing for a middle school and upward audience. These people are steeped in a sixty-year tradition of authors hacking at the defining constraints of genres and shattering them. Defined genres have multiplied like mice and the order of the day is to continue in that vein. This isn't some wild guess, read Dave's own words. The anthology is looking for work that has no defined genre.

Our work is to define the new. At the beginning of an entirely new genre, the title must indicate that newness, and the content of the first page must scream, "Here! This way to the amazing new ideas."

@physa I can't wait to see the full winners list. Hope the gag order is listed soon so I can cheer them on. I'm guessing we will hear Friday.

Did anyone read the DSF story today? https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/future-societies/daniel-james-woodhouse/a-note-on-dating-conventions

It's all about "Friday is on Thursday." I thought of this forum right away when I saw it.