Discussion: Q4 Volume 39

Posted by: @vrlass

if you want to try some different anime (not to mention rest of non-western culture) i would advise:

1. Graveyard of fireflies (prepare tissues)-war time tragedy about orphans trying to live on their own
2. Legend of galactic heroes (110 episodes but WORTH IT) i have never seen/ read anything like it. If anyone can recomend, please do so. Expressing all my love for this series would take too long, so i will just tantalize - there are battles but most of the fighting is against humanities own weaknesses.

I've seen like 3-5 anime movies ever and Graveyard was one of them. Had to see Ghost in the Shell, of course. Can't remember the others. They're like comic books to me. I love that they exist, but can't connect to them in the way I'd like.

Posted by: @axeminister

Posted by: @vrlass

if you want to try some different anime (not to mention rest of non-western culture) i would advise:

1. Graveyard of fireflies (prepare tissues)-war time tragedy about orphans trying to live on their own
2. Legend of galactic heroes (110 episodes but WORTH IT) i have never seen/ read anything like it. If anyone can recomend, please do so. Expressing all my love for this series would take too long, so i will just tantalize - there are battles but most of the fighting is against humanities own weaknesses.

I've seen like 3-5 anime movies ever and Graveyard was one of them. Had to see Ghost in the Shell, of course. Can't remember the others. They're like comic books to me. I love that they exist, but can't connect to them in the way I'd like.

Probably you saw some Ghibli productions.
I liked the stand alone complex series way more than ghost in shell movie.

Anime have the whole barrage of artistic tools unbound by reality to communicate with the audience in deepest of levels. Not everyone does it tho…

Posted by: @vrlass

cool training-arc-seinen findings.

it's not even the training arc part, but the climactic battle itself that is split into these two halves. Now that I think about that, I see its often because the Big Bad is often not directly encountered until that climactic battle. Skirmishes before then are always with minions. Most of my studying has been from breaking down Fairy Tail. 

Oh, and another aspect that's different is how readily the characters cry. Really flies in the face of some authors *cough*Orson Scott Card*cough* who advise to never have your characters cry. 

@reigheena David Farland advised the same: when the characters cry you prevent the reader crying for them. I'm pretty sure he was talking generally though, and not as a hard and fast rule.

[people are staring at their cell phones]

[people ask "Am I getting a call? Am I not getting a call?']

[my cell rings]

[California!]

[my heart hammers against my chest as I answer]

[my main character tugs at my shirt making me drop my s'more]

[it's a fishing call from a credit card company]

[a swarm of flying lizards clean up the spilled food]

[I get another marshmallow and head for the dragon flaming station]

[my main character sits back down and stares into the void]

Here's how it works for when results come out.

Once Jody and I finish, everything is in Joni's hands. If her schedule is nutso, it can sometimes take a week or three before the calls and / or email results start coming out. Q4, however, is its own animal. We're under super tight deadlines on the production side of things, so the finalist stories go to the final judges with something like a 72 hour deadline to respond. We had our results in early, so the final judges might have a week this time, but no more.

Very rarely, as in I've seen it once, maybe twice, in 10+ years, finalists only get a single call at the very end saying "Hey, you were a finalist and you did / didn't win." Most of the time it's two separate calls.

So while I don't know *exactly* when calls or emails will go out, the window is any time from yesterday to two weeks from now. Calls before US Thanksgiving for sure. Small chance emails might not go out until after Thanksgiving, but I'd be pretty surprised if it happens that way.

@karyenglish thanks Kary. Your updates are so appreciated! Best of luck to all!

@karyenglish Thanks Kary for the explanation.

[Packs the Halloween cauldron fully of candy and chips to bring to the twitching tent.]

That's super nice to know, @karyenglish... thanks for providing information from behind the scenes. 

Ok… so its like waiting for letter from Hogwart all over again…

Btw. Anyone knows if they have strict age limits?

<rushes towards mailbox, but finds there only sadness and nostalgia… >

<checks on the internet how to make bait for owls…>

Looks like results are incoming... I just got an HM email!  

Got the email.

Well done to all who entered, and congrats in advance to the winners!

V/R,

Michael

RWC for me but I was expecting as much.

 I honestly was expecting a R with the absolute chaos I had going on while writing this story, it feels like such a big win considering I submitted less than 24 hours post emergency appendectomy haha! Congrats to everyone! <3 Better get cracking on my Q1 entry now!

I'll join that pack myself...

I drag myself home from the convention to find that @karyenglish  has dropped a Rusultomancy bomb on us. I shake off the effects and get ready for bed then take one more peak to find results are pouring in!!! Are you people trying to kill me?

Then, of course, I have to go to email, and...

Thanks, Kary and all my fellow tent mates!
Congrats to those who have placed so far and good luck to everyone else! I am hoping for many more to follow!

  I thought it was better than my Q3 SHM, but it didn't rank as highly. Well, time to send it out to other markets--

Fly, my pretty, fly!

I didn’t place, but congratulations to everyone who placed this quarter! ?

And its my first one! 

Posted by: @jadeankh

And its my first one! 

Congratulations! Make sure you fill out the form and get that certificate!

I got     Congratulations to everyone on their results. I was really hoping for a step up from my silver for this story. I felt good about this one. I think quarter four results are the most difficult not to take hard. On to volume 40. Much love to everyone else who was hoping for different results than they got and to all our judges for doing such a hard job ?

Yahoo! I was getting tired of RWCs. 

and with that, I’m out! It has been such an honor to write alongside you all and I’m so incredibly proud of what I’ve accomplished since deciding I was gonna be a writer and started writing stories for Dave Farland. You should be too. This business/art takes incredible bravery. Write on!

This was another of my revised stories (with more revisions than some of the others), but this is the first one to improve its results (it received in R in 2020). Also, this version was a bit of a mess, so maybe it has room for even more improvement?  

@rschibler congratulations on proing out!

Posted by: @rschibler

and with that, I’m out! It has been such an honor to write alongside you all and I’m so incredibly proud of what I’ve accomplished since deciding I was gonna be a writer and started writing stories for Dave Farland. You should be too. This business/art takes incredible bravery. Write on!

It'll be sad to not have you entering alongside us, but wonderful to see you pro out! I'll be keeping an eye out for your next.

Posted by: @jadeankh

And its my first one! 

That's awesome, Jade! Congrats!

As Jest encouraged, fill out that form. It'll make a great addition somewhere. 

Posted by: @rschibler

and with that, I’m out! It has been such an honor to write alongside you all and I’m so incredibly proud of what I’ve accomplished since deciding I was gonna be a writer and started writing stories for Dave Farland. You should be too. This business/art takes incredible bravery. Write on!

Amazing, Rebecca. Your list of certs is crazy - and your stories are always a joy to read.

Best of luck as you continue your journey, and congrats on pro'ing out!

Another one of these for me.