Discussion: Q4 Volume 40

That makes four HMs for Vol 40. I would have liked to place higher, but it shows consistency in my output (I think). Just need to make that step up to SHM consistent, rather than fleeting.

Congratulations to everyone who submitted and to those who placed. I look forward to hearing the annoucement as to the winners, and to see if there are any forumites in the top 3.

On to Vol 41!

I got another HM.

I've yet to receive any notification at all. Submitted sept20 by my records...

Posted by: @angelslayah

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I've yet to receive any notification at all. Submitted sept20 by my records...

 

 

Posted by: @angelslayah

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I've yet to receive any notification at all. Submitted sept20 by my records... 

 Ok, so I looked at my WOTF submission page and it showed I'd submitted Sept 21.

I searched my gmail for "writers of the future" and saw Joni's note of Nov 10 (rejection with "some common reasons") and tho it shows the label "Inbox" in my actual inbox this is not visible. 

Found it also showed up in my "Important" folder.

I'd previously turned off "important" markers but a little research showed I could turn off making things important, based on my previous actions. 
I dunno if that's a fix for this issue but I have seen it maybe once or twice before.

The idea that an email could be labeled as being in my Inbox and not be visible there fills me with dread!

Anyone else got facts on this spooky phenomenon? 

@angelslayah It may depend on your email facility, so it could be worth checking their Q&A docs if they have them. I use Yahoo Mail and Joni's WotF emails always go to my Inbox, never to the Spam folder. I hope you find a resolution to your problem.

I am new here and I got HM for my first submission ever to this contest. It doesn't really sink in because I am not too sure what HM is lol. It seems good though, and I am quite happy to snatch it 😉 I will spend time to read through the forums now, so I can get to know the community a bit more, and see if I'll submit something else.

Happy to be here anyway  

Honorable Mention means roughly top 10% out of thousands of entries. It means Jody found your story good enough to finish (most aren’t), but she found reasons why it wasn’t yet ready to publish.

it means you did good, now do better!

@angelslayah -- one thing I ran into in gmail recently was one of my emails being categorized differently. All my notifications for story submissions had been coming through into my main inbox, but recently, one of my rejection notifications got filtered into Promotions instead, so I almost missed that I'd received it at all. It shows as being in "Inbox", according to its labels, but it's not actually in the Primary inbox folder.

This response was a Moksha automated email, and every other one (proviso: as far as I know) has gone into my Primary folder. I don't know why this one didn't, there's nothing glaringly obvious in the email body, save perhaps for a web link, which would be a heck of a stretch to be the basis for `this is a promotion` really. But I would check in there, and see if something similar happened with it.

I give my promotional email folder a glance through periodically, generally just scanning titles in case there's anything I actually want to know about--otherwise, I might never have known about my story's rejection at all.

I got an Honorable Mention as well, though I really thought my story was one of the best I've written for WotF--and I've gotten a few Silvers before, too. No matter, I think every new story I've subbed has been better than the last, and I'm eager to see where things keep going.

@doctorjest @angelslayah you can turn that functionality off in the settings.

Gmail settings, account, inbox categories.

The only one I've ever used is Primary and I i typically don't even pay attention to that. They may have improved, but when those rolled out they weren't implemented very well, so I turned them off. I've had Gmail since it was in beta almost 20 years ago.

Posted by: @doctorjest

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@angelslayah -- one of my rejection notifications got filtered into Promotions instead, so I almost missed that I'd received it at all. It shows as being in "Inbox", according to its labels, but it's not actually in the Primary inbox folder.

Yep. That was it. I can see that that is also my 'inbox' so labeled 'correctly'...

Does anyone know: is this the same email Joni uses for promotions, for instance of the workshops? This might easily trigger that kind of analysis by the system...

Whatever: I'll look into filtering these incoming to my actual inbox.

In general, what separates a semi-finalist from being a finalist? 

Posted by: @sorenwilder

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In general, what separates a semi-finalist from being a finalist? 

They can only take 8 Finalists, and they have more than 8 worthy stories.

Literally, that's the #1 reason: Jody picks what she thinks are the best 8 stories that she would be proud to publish. This is based on quality to a degree, but also on genre balance and balance for the book. If your Q4 story is a brilliant Werewolves in Hell story but a Werewolves in Hell story already won in Q3, yours had better be a really good Werewolves in Hell story, or it will probably be a Semifinalist just because the book doesn't need two.

If there are more than 8 worthy stories (in her opinion), the rest are Semis.

@martin-l-shoemaker So in terms of quality, there really isn't much of a gradation? It's more often circumstances?

Posted by: @sorenwilder

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@martin-l-shoemaker So in terms of quality, there really isn't much of a gradation? It's more often circumstances?

It might -- might -- be quality. But Jody doesn't publicly reveal reasons. Circumstances are just as likely.

In a different quarter with a different mix, she would have been proud to publish that story. But she gives a personal critique on a Semifinalist, so that story is no longer eligible. It is considered to have an unfair advantage after that.

@martin-l-shoemaker That is both heartening and frustrating. I truly thought I had a winner with this story. Oh well.

You had winner quality. Sell this one somewhere else, and keep writing!

And I've been there...

This isn't directly related to this quarter, but the topic of semifinalists sparked my memory - are there any others from the previous quarter in the forums, and if so, have you received your critique yet? Or do you know how long it generally takes to come out? According to the email I received, it should've arrived last month, but I haven't seen anything. 

Posted by: @sorenwilder

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So in terms of quality, there really isn't much of a gradation? It's more often circumstances?

My first semi was due to space. Literally. Dave said he had two finalist-level set in space stories that quarter and felt the other one was slightly better than mine, so I got nudged down and got a critique. Basically to cut the final 2 pages or so. I did and it sold first time out. 

2nd SF he mentioned the ending again. but nothing about a similar story, so down I went. 

Scott Parkin had 9 semi finalists… Four non-winning finalists. Fifth was the charm. He’s in V.31.

Posted by: @selsozhu

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This isn't directly related to this quarter, but the topic of semifinalists sparked my memory - are there any others from the previous quarter in the forums, and if so, have you received your critique yet? Or do you know how long it generally takes to come out? According to the email I received, it should've arrived last month, but I haven't seen anything. 

My one semi-finalist (so far) was among the last group selected by Dave Farland for Q4 V38 before he passed away. Sadly, I never got my critique from him. It took Jody a couple of months to catch up on all the back log, so my critique came quite late. Hopefully yours comes much sooner than that!

Yeah, Jody and the slush readers had to drop a lot of things to get Q4 judged. Plus Jody has had some major travel. She’ll catch up.

Posted by: @laselby

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Semi-finalist! Whoo hooo!

Whoa, that's a surprise! I think that's the first time in a long while that I haven't recognized any of the Finalists and Winners in a quarter. If there are any of you lurking out there, though, I'd be happy to make your acquaintance...

Wow, I have just seen my name in the blog post, lost in the middle of the HM list. This was really emotional: the first time my writing is actually recognized anywhere. I will allow myself a tear of joy and a pat on the back.

@hannya Clearly a promise of things to come. Well done and keep writing!

@hannya Well done. Thank you for mentioning your joy. Jody Lynn Nye, a well-known writer and editor has read each placed story in its entirety. That honor is absolutely cause for celebration.

Congratulations!

@kent I asked Jody Lynn Nye if HM and above were read all the way through, and she said not necessarily. But, HM is an accomplishment nonetheless.

Posted by: @kz_richards

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@kent I asked Jody Lynn Nye if HM and above were read all the way through, and she said not necessarily. But, HM is an accomplishment nonetheless.

Wow. That ... kind of ... sucks ...