Discussion: Q3 Volume 40

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Yup. Every story I wrote and submitted without feedback was R-eturned.

Every story I rewrote a dozen times won. ? 

 

That gives me hope or makes me hopeless, not sure.

Posted by: @ehonour

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Yay hooray! After a bunch of HMs, this is a big jump! I am pumped, and ready to do more. Strange thing was ... I wasn't really very confident about this story. But there you go.

Posted by: @selsozhu

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First time submitting to WOTF, and I'm honestly kind of shocked. Such a motivating contest, though, and I'm really looking forwards to participating more. 

Posted by: @toddjones

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I was a bit confused on getting a story rejected this time, since my test readers felt it was a top 5 story of mine.

It wasn't really a WotF content, but then again my SF was a military story and that didn't seem like WotF either.

I understand that one. One of my stories last year won the Gold prize in a statewide contest but was Rejected here in WotF. I'm pretty sure the reason was that it didn't have enough speculative content.

Posted by: @selsozhu

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First time submitting to WOTF, and I'm honestly kind of shocked. Such a motivating contest, though, and I'm really looking forwards to participating more. 

That's a super performance! Took me nearly three years of quarterly submissions to get one of these.

Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @tj_knight

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Yup. Every story I wrote and submitted without feedback was R-eturned.

Every story I rewrote a dozen times won. ? 

 

That gives me hope or makes me hopeless, not sure.

 

Just means we all get where we're going by different routes.

For some, those initial train-of-thought, emotion-fueled words work best.
Others need to wordsmith the heck out of a story before it becomes what they meant to say.

They key though is to write as consistently as you can so that you give either method the best chance to succeed. That's what too me the longest to learn. I'd show up at my keyboard one month out of the three in a quarter, finesse a story up to HM or SHM, then go dark for two months...

@toddjones 

Libbie Hawker's book Take Off Your Pants: Outlining Your Books For Faster, Better Writing, as recommended by Dustin, is the guide to plotting I will also recommend. Ms. Hawker's method and tips for staying on track have worked for two finalists since I first read it.

Have fun.

BTW, to those curious few - Yes, two in a row.

Proud to say   

After x5 R/RWC this is my first HM Can't wait to get the certificate and frame it! It's going up on the wall above my desk. 

This will definitely help to keep me motivated to continue writing and submitting.

Hoping to get revisions finished for my Q4 entry before the deadline.

@pmg 

Well done. I salute your persistence. I am about to make my 41st entry, so I know that boost of enthusiasm well.

I guess this story needs to find another market, because I don’t know how to edit it to make it any better.

Sometimes I wish SHMs at least got a bit of feedback. Like ‘we LOVED this one, but we already have a story this flavor this anthology’ or ‘great writing, but the story just didn’t catch us.’

@kent That's so awesome!  Good luck!

Posted by: @kent

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@toddjones 

Libbie Hawker's book Take Off Your Pants: Outlining Your Books For Faster, Better Writing, as recommended by Dustin, is the guide to plotting I will also recommend. Ms. Hawker's method and tips for staying on track have worked for two finalists since I first read it.

Thank you for the reminder. I read the book, but for some reason it didn't seem to help me. I did a couple outlines, as suggested in the book, but my brain just must not function that way. I'll give it another look this winter and see if it helps.

Posted by: @pmg

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Proud to say   

 

Great work. Congrats!

Posted by: @ehonour

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Posted by: @toddjones

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I was a bit confused on getting a story rejected this time, since my test readers felt it was a top 5 story of mine.

It wasn't really a WotF content, but then again my SF was a military story and that didn't seem like WotF either.

I understand that one. One of my stories last year won the Gold prize in a statewide contest but was Rejected here in WotF. I'm pretty sure the reason was that it didn't have enough speculative content.

 

Gives me hope for my story. I'm looking for a market for it now.

Im a little late to the party but.... 

First entry in almost a year and a half... So it felt good to see I didnt regress!!

Congrats and Condolences to all your efforts fellow writers. 

On to Q4!!

Shock

Congrats on the HM @shockhawk

Posted by: @ehonour

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Yay hooray! After a bunch of HMs, this is a big jump! I am pumped, and ready to do more. Strange thing was ... I wasn't really very confident about this story. But there you go.

Great news and a great sign, Doc! Once you hit Semifinalist, you’ve achieved a major milepost. You were in the running! Try to get pro eyes on that story and figure out if there’s something that held it back. Find your blind spot—we all have them. Fixing the issue can get you past a hurdle and help you achieve your goals … like a win right here! 

Kudos to you! 

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

A bit late checking in, I received an RWC for one of my favorite stories I've written yet. Guess I'll give it another look-through to see if I missed anything important in my excitement while writing it, and send it on somewhere else.

(I did get it looked at by others and I did edit it, but maybe we all missed something key.)

Well, I did succeed in breaking my HM streak, which I was trying to do with this story--just went in a different direction than I'd hoped.

On to Q4! 

Hope the judges like my quirky Q4 story better than they liked my Q3 story.

@ehonour Congratulations!

You give me hope! Your previous line-up of results looks a lot like my current one.

I'm excited your standing earned you a judge critique--hope it pushes you on up to Winner next!  

@toddjones 

Hawker's book completed a puzzle in my mind. Advanced writing classes long, long ago forced me into outlining, so I continued it for all of my school papers. Then, in Debate and Forensics, outlines became more concise, 3x5 cards to glance at during speeches. But in creative writing, I rebelled and would pants like the wind, free-flowing along down blissful side trails.

Fortunately, I'm focused when necessary, so I can write thousands of words of fairly good copy when I'm under deadline. Posts as Prate Gabble and kentagions (a few will remember) show that I have often taken less than a week to write stories that have placed well.

Since I'm headed into novel writing, I needed to blend the seeming rigidity of outlining with the creativity of pantsing. Hawker's book covered this aspect of blending the two styles in an understandable way for me.

One major rule I had while pantsing might help your speed. (Rule #1. Before writing a line, know the end.) From there, work the ABCs - Always Be Closing. If an aspect of my story wasn't working toward that closing, it didn't belong. Hawker's book helped me define "not closing" more precisely.

Have fun.

I had loads of takeaways from the book. Anyone wants to set up a book club for it, I'm down. I'll talk about it all day.

Posted by: @kent

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One major rule I had while pantsing might help your speed. (Rule #1. Before writing a line, know the end.) From there, work the ABCs - Always Be Closing. If an aspect of my story wasn't working toward that closing, it didn't belong. Hawker's book helped me define "not closing" more precisely.

Have fun.

Thank you for the advice. I am using an outline process with each chapter in excel and one sentence description so I can see at a glance. That helps me keep going and if I want to Pantser something between chapters, I can easily move them around and see how they flow. I'll let you know how that goes when I actually sit down to finish those novels.  haha

I have adopted a quasi-outline process with beginning, middle and end. Then I try to let the characters do whatever their pantser minds want to get to those points. 

Posted by: @tj_knight

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I had loads of takeaways from the book. Anyone wants to set up a book club for it, I'm down. I'll talk about it all day.

 

I would be all in for this - I chatting craft books

Posted by: @wulfmoon

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Posted by: @ehonour

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Yay hooray! After a bunch of HMs, this is a big jump! I am pumped, and ready to do more. Strange thing was ... I wasn't really very confident about this story. But there you go.

 

Great news and a great sign, Doc! Once you hit Semifinalist, you’ve achieved a major milepost. You were in the running! Try to get pro eyes on that story and figure out if there’s something that held it back. Find your blind spot—we all have them. Fixing the issue can get you past a hurdle and help you achieve your goals … like a win right here! 

Kudos to you! 

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

 

Thanks, Wulf. I just looked at the list of winners on the blog and was astonished to see how few SFs there were. Floated away on a cloud, and can't wait to share it with my writing group this morning. I'm also very interested to see what Jody has to say about the story!

Results posted on the first (original) post on this thread. Also on the blog:

https://writersofthefuture.com/writers-of-the-future-3rd-quarter-winners-announced-for-volume-40/

Sorry Kent. Truly. I was really hoping...
Good news is, if there's a PF, you have a 10% chance.

Congratulations to the winners, to all who placed, and especially to all those who entered. Really looking forward to reading the winning stories. Onto the next quarter. Ye shall submit!

Posted by: @ehonour

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Posted by: @wulfmoon

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Posted by: @ehonour

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Yay hooray! After a bunch of HMs, this is a big jump! I am pumped, and ready to do more. Strange thing was ... I wasn't really very confident about this story. But there you go.

 

Great news and a great sign, Doc! Once you hit Semifinalist, you’ve achieved a major milepost. You were in the running! Try to get pro eyes on that story and figure out if there’s something that held it back. Find your blind spot—we all have them. Fixing the issue can get you past a hurdle and help you achieve your goals … like a win right here! 

Kudos to you! 

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

 

Thanks, Wulf. I just looked at the list of winners on the blog and was astonished to see how few SFs there were. Floated away on a cloud, and can't wait to share it with my writing group this morning. I'm also very interested to see what Jody has to say about the story!

 

Congrats again! Those brief comments from the coordinating judge are insightful, and are one of the greatest unsung gifts of this contest. Dave’s comments on my Semifinalist showed me what to focus on so I could fix my blind spot, and it made all the difference in leading me to my win. I have faith Jody’s will do the same for you. ?

Fortune favor the brave … and the studious! 

All the best, Doc!

Posted by: @chwalter

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First time!    Thanks to @babooher for the great critique.  Best of luck everyone.

Right on! Congrats!

Congratulations to everyone that submitted a story in Q3, Volume 40! It’s not always easy putting your work up for review. It does take courage, and if your results weren’t what you hoped for, it can sting for a bit. 

But here’s the good news. Q4 is a whole new mix, a whole new bag of tricks. Your turn to be the tricksy one!

Get those new stories in! It’s how you win. ?

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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congrats to all who entered!

Congrats, dude!