Is there a single thread that goes in-depth on Silver HMs?

When Dave Farland was running the competition he wrote one about HMs (not sure SHMs existed when this was written) but it has the general pointers

https://mystorydoctor.com/why-you-only-got-an-honorable-mention/

He says that "But in the end, I found two or more little problems that go beyond your typical typos." which he lists. My thought process was SHM was one step above that. Maybe it had one little problem. Or maybe, as its one step behind Finalist, it just wasn't quite as polished, or original or error-free as 8 others that quarter. Or maybe it was too similar to something they took in the prior quarter. SHM are good stories generally.

As I understand it, finalists are picked from the stories set aside as SHM. In other words, a SHM in one quarter might have been a finalist in another. Maybe there's already a winning story picked that is similar to your SHM story and they want each volume to have a nice variety of stories. Congratulations on writing a story that received an SHM. You do indeed have what it takes to win, :).

@gideonpsmith Thanks for sharing the link. Good information.

My understanding is that achieving an HM means someone read the story all the way through, but it might not have been David or Jody. Lots of stories entered each quarter and that would be a Herculean effort for one person to read all those.  Stories are deemed potential SHM go up to the next level, which might be Jody level.

Posted by: @physa

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As I understand it, finalists are picked from the stories set aside as SHM. In other words, a SHM in one quarter might have been a finalist in another. Maybe there's already a winning story picked that is similar to your SHM story and they want each volume to have a nice variety of stories. Congratulations on writing a story that received an SHM. You do indeed have what it takes to win, :).

What about the semi-finalists?  Not sure how they are picked, but it is nice to get Jody's opinion on what was wrong with the story. That is a huge help for smoothing out a story and getting it sold.

Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @physa

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As I understand it, finalists are picked from the stories set aside as SHM. In other words, a SHM in one quarter might have been a finalist in another. Maybe there's already a winning story picked that is similar to your SHM story and they want each volume to have a nice variety of stories. Congratulations on writing a story that received an SHM. You do indeed have what it takes to win, :).

What about the semi-finalists?  Not sure how they are picked, but it is nice to get Jody's opinion on what was wrong with the story. That is a huge help for smoothing out a story and getting it sold.

 

As I understand it, semifinalists are picked because they are a. well-written stories of the highest quality, and b. have an easy-to-address flaw [e.g. no genre cue or it comes way too late or could have worked in a non-speculative setting], too long could have been shortened and accomplished the same thing, not right for WOTF market in some way] that will come up in the written critique of said story. A finalist story could have been chosen as a winner depending on the judges picked by Joni for that quarter [can come down to taste]. Remember, SHM stories can be reentered, but semi-finalist and finalist stories cannot.

Hope that helps...  

Posted by: @toddjones

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@gideonpsmith Thanks for sharing the link. Good information.

My understanding is that achieving an HM means someone read the story all the way through, but it might not have been David or Jody. Lots of stories entered each quarter and that would be a Herculean effort for one person to read all those.  Stories are deemed potential SHM go up to the next level, which might be Jody level.

lol, well you've been here longer than me so I would definitely defer to you on this one

I will say, in one of the chats from Jody she said that R is often at slush level, but the rest get passed up to her, but because of that if she's reading and she knows that its going to be an HM/SHM/non-finalist, she stops reading. So I don't think HMs get read all the way through anymore, even if they did (or not) in the past, which is understandable given the volume.

@gideonpsmith Thanks for linking the article! 😎

@gideonpsmith Makes sense.