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[Sticky] Martin's OPINION on the Unwritten Rules

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On another thread, we brought up the topic of the Unwritten Rules of the Contest. I decided to put these in one place. These are my opinions on some principles (I hate the word “rules” when it comes to writing) that I have gleaned from the Forum, Dave’s tips, Jody’s tips, Kary’s live slush sessions, Pegeen’s post, and discussions with Dave, Jody, Kary, and various judges.

Keep in mind that slush readers seldom have time to read the whole story. They may only have time for the first page or two. That’s the only way to manage the thousands of submissions the Contest gets every quarter. Is it unfair? No, it’s realistic. All of the major markets get more submissions than they can keep up with any other way. You have a page or two to hook the reader and not lose them. Most stories submitted lose the slush reader within two pages. Or less.

Principles of Content

  1. Make sure the story is speculative fiction (science fiction or fantasy). Make sure it clearly is speculative fiction within a page or two. At the very least, hint or foreshadow. Even a speculative title can be enough hint to the slush reader.
  2. Please note that "It was all a dream" isn't speculative in itself. (It's also a tired old trope that almost no market will publish.) "It was all Virtual Reality" might have been speculative a decade or two back; but Virtual Reality is here today. By itself, it's a yawn. "My dream turned out to be real" is probably speculative. "I only thought it was Virtual" can be speculative. (See Ender's Game.) Characters can dream, and characters can play Virtual Reality games, as long as those don't make up the whole story.
  3. No horror. Yes, horror is sometimes considered speculative fiction, but not for this Contest. Yes, there’s a fine line between horror and dark fantasy. Try to stay firmly on the dark fantasy side. You might get away with dancing on that line, but be prepared for a rejection if Jody or the slush readers think you crossed it.
  4. Entries must be primarily in English. The anthology is aimed at English-speaking markets. Words, phrases, and sentences in other languages (real or fictional) are OK, better if the reader can figure out the meaning from context. Paragraphs and conversations in another language are more trouble. Again, can the reader figure out the meaning from context? You're not Tolkien, you don't get to add a glossary at the end. (I hear rumors of stories with a few footnotes to explain unfamiliar words, and those stories weren't rejected for that. But still, a definition in context is probably better.)
  5. Stories should be PG-13. If you’re not familiar with American movie ratings, that means aimed at an audience 13 years and older. No cursing. A single F-bomb gets an auto-boot. Racial slurs and other derogatory slurs are also an auto-boot. Other cursing might be tolerated so the slush readers can decide if the story is salvageable, but they'll have to be edited out if you win. And more than a handful will get your story rejected. This is science fiction or fantasy. Get inventive and make up your own insults and curses. (Or borrow from another culture. The TV series Firefly famously snuck Chinese cursing past American television censors. Keep in mind, though, that slush readers are smarter than television censors.)
  6. PG-13 also means no children’s books. Fables and fairy tales and funny animal stories can work if they have more depth, more complexity than a simple kids’ tale.
  7. No devotional or political content. It’s fine if you have a point of view, but the Contest isn’t in the business of promoting specific contemporary agendas.
  8. No sex on the page. Sexual content may be acceptable if it advances the story, but it can't happen on the page. Fade to black, keep it between scenes. Especially no nonconsensual sex. You might (MIGHT) get away with that in the background, but don’t be surprised if you don’t. No sex also means no pleasuring or touching oneself. No pedophilia, no 17-year-olds in a brothel, no consensual underage sex, and no characters fantasizing about a minor.
  9. No gratuitous graphic violence. If the story needs violence, show violence, but temper it.
  10. No story that in any way shows suicide as a solution to a problem. Contemplating suicide may be OK as long as the option is definitely discarded. Note: Noble sacrifice to save others is not suicide, but it must be necessary.
  11. No explicit use of real-world narcotics or other controlled substances. Off-screen use may be OK, but not endorsing the use of these. (You may consider it unfair, but alcohol and tobacco are acceptable. This is just the way the legal system works in the USA at this time. It's still not a good idea to glamorize them.) Magical drugs or future drugs or addiction to cybertechnology or any other speculative addiction are acceptable. These make great metaphors, and we have had some winners based on these, but real-world addictive substances are off-limits.
  12. Bad guys winning is a hard sell, but not impossible. My opinion: If the bad guys win, there should be a lesson in it for the good guys.
  13. No song lyrics that you did not personally write. Not even a single line. Song titles are OK, but they’re a gray area, because titles are often lyrics as well. A character can listen to AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”, but a character cannot sing AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” if the words appear on the page.
  14. Nothing that violates someone else's copyright. You can't use someone else's world, TV show, movie, or fiction. Allusions, references, and jokes are fine. I won the Contest with a story set in the Pournelle Settlements, a direct reference to the late judge Jerry Pournelle, who inspired the characters who created the settlements. But if characters or settings from an established universe appear in your story, it's a copyright violation, and your story will be rejected.
  15. No AI-generated stories. Period. Really, they’re bad stories that will never win anyway. You might use an AI story as a prompt and write your own story from it. But the text straight from the AI is a lousy story. All you’ll do is annoy the slush readers.
  16. Nothing that has been previously professionally published. Not on Amazon, not on Smashwords, not on Audible, not in any professional market (defined by the Contest as paying pro rates and with an audience of 5,000 or more). You might get away with submitting a story that has appeared on WattPad, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Substack, or your blog if these didn't reach the pro level, but I advise against it. That has the potential to violate anonymity. (Sharing with your critique group or reading to an audience at a convention doesn't count as publishing, but be aware of who might be in your audience.)
  17. No poetry. No book reports. No essays. No polemics. No academic papers. No journalism. No diaries. No stage plays or screenplays. It has to be a story of 17,000 words or less. There’s no lower limit, but it’s difficult to win with something under 2,000 words. Extremely difficult under 1,000. Don't go over the word limit of 17,000 words. Stories that get close to that get extra scrutiny.

    Note: A story might include poetry. It might be written to look like a book report, an essay, a polemic, an academic paper, or journalism. They call these epistolary tales, and I love them when they’re done well. But you have to take steps to let the reader know very early (two pages, remember) that this is fiction. Include a date in the future, or an alien name or location, or a title that references magic or advanced technology. Give the slush reader a hint that you're playing with the format.

  18. Be wary of novel excerpts. If you really want to submit a novel excerpt, make sure it also has all the elements of a stand-alone story, as above: Beginning, Inciting Incident, Middle, Climax, Changes, and Ending that tie together.

 

Principles of Structure

For many of the items below, be aware that false tension doesn’t work. False tension is when you withhold information solely so you can surprise the reader with it later. False tension can be a judgment call. Some stories (like many Twilight Zone episodes) only work by surprising the audience. So you can take the chance. But remember, slush readers may never get to your brilliant surprise on page 40 that explains everything that happened on page 4. False tension is especially difficult with a first-person narrator. When the reader is inside the narrator’s head, they’ll feel cheated if the narrator hides things from them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, unreliable narrators are trendy; but they’re difficult to do well. My opinion is that a first-person narrator can get away with keeping a secret from the reader for approximately one scene. (“OK, now I know where the vampires are hiding, I have a plan…” Then cut to the execution of the plan, without bothering to tell it.)

  1. A story has a Beginning, an Inciting Incident that takes us to a Middle, and a Climax that brings Changes to something vital and takes us to an Ending. And all of these elements should tie together. Random elements should be rare (though a random Inciting Incident is common). You might try to artistically eliminate some of these pieces, but you’re raising the odds against your story. (This is where most AI-generated fiction fails. The elements are missing or inconsequential, or they don’t really connect.)
  2. A story can have jokes, but a joke is not a story (generally). It's probably only an Incident. Rare is the joke that has a Beginning, Middle, Climax, and Changes.
  3. The same applies to shocking revelations: By itself, a shocking revelation is not a story. (Flash fiction markets might accept a shocking revelation as a story, but this isn't a flash fiction market.)
  4. Know basic spelling, grammar, and punctuation. You might intentionally violate them for effect, but try not to violate them due to not knowing them. You don’t have to be a master grammarian, but you should recognize a well-constructed sentence. Spell checkers can be your friend, though they take extra effort with exotic names. Grammar checkers can be your… Well, not your friend. They have a tendency to erase your unique voice and make you sound like a nameless corporate drone. If you use them, try to UNDERSTAND what they tell you and decide for yourself, not just blindly follow them.
  5. Polish the first two pages. Everybody makes mistakes, so typos and missing words and misspelled words and grammatical errors happen to everybody (slush readers and editors included). But if you have too many early on, you lose the reader’s confidence, and they’ll give up. How many is too many? My guess is five or so.
  6. Point of view shifts and tense shifts are especially troublesome grammar errors. While you might get away with five general errors, three POV/tense shifts can be enough to make the slush reader cringe.
  7. I'm sorry to tell you that second person POV is a hard sell. You're welcome to try. Jody and Kary have admired good second person stories, but they have lamented a lot of bad. Tell your story your way, but don't be surprised if it's rejected.
  8. This applies to experimental stories in general: they're a hard sell. Good experimental stories have won, such as Scott Parkin's "Purposes Built for Alien Minds" in Volume 31. But experiments have to be done well and they have to be a good story as well as an experiment. If you think you're up to it, give it a shot!
  9. Concentrate on "natural" paragraph lengths. Long paragraphs can serve a purpose, but too many paragraphs that are too long will convince slush readers that you don't know where to break a paragraph. Short paragraphs—even single sentences—can serve a purpose; but too many one-line paragraphs in a row begin to look choppy.
  10. In virtually all cases, if you change speakers in a conversation, you need a new paragraph. If character A speaks, a short action happens, and character A speaks again, that's usually a single paragraph. You can break it up, but it will look to the reader like someone else is speaking unless you add an extra dialogue tag.
  11. Typically you should avoid long paragraphs of action or description in the middle of a conversation when the conversation takes place over a short time. If you stop in the middle of an argument to explain the history of the argument, your reader may lose track of what has been said. Sometimes you'll get away with this, but use caution.
  12. Don't use too many dialogue tags. Don't use too few dialogue tags. (Gee, ain't I helpful?) How many to use is a judgment call, especially in the days of audiobooks. (Audio listeners can identify who's speaking from the narrator's voice--sometimes.) Keep in mind that short actions can substitute for dialogue tags, especially when they advance the action or reveal character. And "said" is a perfectly good dialogue tag. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
  13. Don’t begin too slowly. If nothing consequential happens for pages, the slush reader may move on. A little setting, a little character to set things up can work; but this is a short story. Something should happen soon.
  14. Have a good opening narrative hook. Note: Prologues are seldom good opening narrative hooks. They’re more often infodumps. (See below.)
  15. Establish your setting: time, space, and dimension. Remember the note about false tension.
  16. Introduce an interesting character (the protagonist is probably best, but you can go another way) right in the beginning. The rule of thumb is to start with a character in a setting with a problem. The problem and setting should both help us see how the character sees the world. It might not be the problem on which the story hinges, but it should be part of the main problem or logically lead us to the problem.
  17. Don’t send stories that begin with the character waking up. Most editors hate that trope. Amnesia is also a very weak opening. Both suggest to the slush reader that you don’t really know where the story is yet. (I’m a pantser. I understand discovering your story. But once you discover it, don’t be afraid to cut the wandering that leads up to it.)
  18. Stories that start with a dream are tricky—especially stories where the dream is a way to fool the reader into thinking it's a different sort of story. You can get away with it, but it's an old, tired trope. And any dream anywhere in the story that's used to fool the reader is difficult to pull off.
  19. Be sparing with dialect and accents. A little goes a long way.
  20. Make friends with your dynamic verbs. Don’t “was” us to death. Passive “to be” verbs set you one step further from the reader and slow down the narrative.
  21. Make your pacing fit your story and your scenes. There’s no one right pacing: action should be fast (usually), contemplation should be slow (usually), and travel should be summarized (usually). Description can make a world more vivid, but even Tolkien didn’t stop to describe a leaf in the middle of an Orc battle. Change the pace now and then if it fits the story.
  22. Be wary of infodumps, especially up front. An infodump is a big chunk of explanation of the history, politics, science, magic, or other elements that make your story world unique. You may think your reader needs to know all this up front, but you’re likely wrong. Sprinkle in little bits of world-building as you tell the story, with bigger chunks less common. (These bigger chunks can sometimes be a way to vary pacing. After a fast, complex space battle, maybe you break for a few paragraphs of background of the war.) “As You Know, Bob…,” also known as Maid and Butler Dialogue, is NOT a way to “sprinkle in” world-building. These are when one character explains to another something that they both ought to know, solely so that you the author can explain it to the reader. Sherlock Holmes might explain to Dr. Watson how the different varieties of tobacco ash helped him identify the killer, but he won’t explain how London cabs work. Watson should already know. You probably wouldn’t explain to your friend how to play DVDs. So be wary of having one character explain how magic or technology works if both characters should know that.

 

Principles of Format

  1. The Contest is anonymous. Do not include your name ANYWHERE in your file or your submission. Not in the file name. Not in your story title. Not on your title page. Not in your headers or footers. Not in your comments and tracked changes. Not anywhere.

    Anonymity now has a small loophole. Ultimately your story has to be anonymous to Jody. If Kary or another slush reader recognizes you from your story, their instructions are to pass it to another slush reader or to Jody with a note that they cannot comment upon the story because they know the author. So use caution to avoid exposing your story to a slush reader, but it does not automatically disqualify your story.

  2. Try to remember to delete all comments and tracked changes before sending. These can reveal your name, and they can subconsciously bias the slush reader. They make the story look unfinished.
  3. Don’t format your manuscript in a clever way so as to attract attention. Your prose should stand alone. If it’s not in a black serif typeface, double-spaced, on a white background, without illustrations or fancy capitals, then change it. (And not double-double spaced, please. Check the small box in your paragraph menu.) Twelve-point type, preferably Courier, Times New Roman, or something similar, is best.
  4. One-inch margins all around. Indent the first line of each paragraph. (Use your word processor's indent feature if you can, tabs if you must. Spaces only as a last resort.) Don't insert an extra space between paragraphs. Left justified (i.e., ragged right). Stories won't be rejected for other formats, but slush readers will be more suspicious if the format is unorthodox.
  5. Keep your formatting consistent (unless you deliberately change it for effect). Polish your manuscript to make sure the format doesn't change randomly in places. Random format changes make your manuscript look unfinished.
  6. Don’t include illustrations. The Contest isn’t going to use them. Period. (If you're proud of your art, consider the Illustrators of the Future contest.)
  7. The Contest strongly prefers Microsoft Word files (.DOCX or .DOC. RTF files are almost as good. They can work with PDF files, but these can create extra work for the slush readers in some cases.
  8. You are allowed to submit on paper. It won't be held against your story, but paper submissions may be among the last read.
  9. Please don't justify your text. That's when you make each line approximately the same width. Unless you're going for effect, please left justify, ragged right (meaning the right edge will vary for every line).

    Yes, books are almost always justified; but publishers use trained layout people who can justify smoothly (and even they sometimes produce ugly results). The justification settings built into your word processor usually do an awful job of justification. Sometimes they leave awkward gaps between words. Other times they cram words so closely together that it's hard to tell where the word breaks are.

You can find winning stories that broke many of these principles. That's why they're principles, not rules. But your odds are better if you don't give the slush reader an excuse to move on to the next story.

Note that you don't have to agree with a market's rules, written or unwritten, but arguing with them is fruitless. I once saw someone argue that Dave was wrong about what he wanted for the Contest. That's … foolish. These aren't "Rules for What Makes a Good Story," they're "Principles of What We Want." It's arrogant to say, "No, you're wrong, this is what you want!" You might possibly engage in a discussion about changing a market's policies, but you're better off just finding another market for that story that doesn't fit this one. There are plenty of markets.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 2, 2023 5:13 pm
storysinger
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This is very good information Martin. Thanks for taking the time to post this list.

Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships

 
Posted : July 3, 2023 5:28 am
Gene Louviere
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Thank you, Martin, for this valuable information. I've encountered a few of these Principles scattered about in various places around the Forum, but your consolidation of them is valuable beyond measure.

Thank you for the effort you put into sharing this helpful advice.

 
Posted : July 3, 2023 5:30 am
Pegeen
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Wonderful! Thanks, Martin, for this excellent list.

~~ Pegeen ~~
Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Writer
V40 - Q1 RWC, Q2 HM,

 
Posted : July 3, 2023 6:21 am
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Updated to add the prohibition (heh) against real-world addictive substances.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 3, 2023 1:27 pm
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After a discussion with Kary, I revised and strengthened the item on sexual content. Keep it off the page! And don't cross content limits.

I also added the end note about not arguing with the "rules". (There's a difference between discussing and arguing.)

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 5:37 am
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Organized, categorized, and cleaned up.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 6:47 am
Pegeen and Todd Jones reacted
(@watt_writes)
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This might be specific to this contest, but "The Principles of Structure" are invaluable storytelling period. Thank you so much for this!!!! I shared it with my beta group haha. Might have also caught a couple fopaux I use in my own writing. 

 

V39 - Q2 HM, Q3 SHM, Q4 HM
V40 - Q1 SHM, Q2 HM. Q3 SHM Q4 HM
V41 - Q1 Crafting

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 6:50 am
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Expanded the discussion on PG-13 and language, based on our discussion from another thread.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 6:56 am
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Posted by: @watt_writes

This might be specific to this contest, but I think points 18-30 are invaluable to storytelling period. Thank you so much for this!!!! I shared it with my beta group haha. Might have also caught a couple fopaux I use in my own writing. 

Thank you! Yes, many of these principles apply to writing in general. Others (like the PG-13 rules) vary with the market.

 

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 6:58 am
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Updated the section on copyrighted content to make clear that allusions, references, and jokes are acceptable.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 7:08 am
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Wahlquistj
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Posted by: @martin-l-shoemaker

There are plenty of markets.

Too true. Writers of the Future is almost an exception on the stricter PG-13 rating limits. Most major SF&F markets will go up to R and some will accept modern political topics and other ‘no’ items on this list.

Same with some of the structure notes, like putting your speculative element front and center. If you read some of the big Hugo-award publications, you’ll notice that some of their stories probably would have been rejected WotF if they had been submitted. Every market is looking for something different and WotF is not the be-all, end-all of the publishing world, far from it. It does, however, have many unique elements (like levels of award, year-round submissions, and the ability to re-submit an edited story) that make it a great beginning market to submit to.

Also Martin my only critique on your list is that while I may know how to play a DVD, my pre-teen kid definitively doesn’t. I just has to explain to her how a pay phone worked this weekend and felt old. giggle  

Thank you for the list! This is great.

V33- SF
V38- SHM, HM
V39- HM,R
V40- HM
V41- Q2-SHM, Q3-SHM, Q4-SHM

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 7:32 am
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@wahlquistj Yep, the PG-13 rule is because Galaxy Press aims to sell the book to junior high libraries, which are generally more cautious than the market at large. Not all junior high libraries, but many, so the Contest is cautious.

The spec up front rule is to avoid wasting the slush readers' time. As Kary can attest, the Contest gets plenty of mainstream fiction from authors who never read the guidelines. Because the Contest is listed in scholarship guides, they even get essays on "Vital Issue and My Opinion" and "How I Overcame Adversity and Deserve to Go to College." With thousands of entries to read, the slush readers don't have time to search for the spec element. If they don't see it, they move on.

But you should be aware that many markets have an unwritten spec up front rule. They have just as many entries to read, or even more, and just as little time. If you look at those Hugo winners that start slow and mundane and then build to the fantastic, you'll find that a large number of them are written by established authors. Here's a harsh but true fact: I can sell stories to Analog that you can't. It may not be "fair", but it's reality. Trevor Quachri (editor at Analog) already knows my work and knows that I know what an Analog story is. If I send him a story that opens with five pages of students struggling to pass an entrance exam, he's not going to say "This isn't science fiction" and reject it. He's going to say, "Hmmm... I wonder what Martin's up to." He may still reject it, but I get a free pass for the first hurdle. (If I abuse the free pass a couple of times, though, I'll lose it.)

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 8:30 am
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That being said: Aim high. Papa Mike Resnick once confidently told a group of new writers not to set their expectations too high. Loosely paraphrased: "Analog needs to sell magazines, so they have to put most of their effort and most of their pages on established names who will sell magazines. You're not going to get your name on the cover right away, and you're not going to sell them a novella for a while." I sat in the corner, keeping silent. My name was on the cover of Analog for my first three stories there, and my second sale there was a novella.

Don't let me or anyone else tell you you can't. Take a shot.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 8:46 am
JAbecker, Ellis Eden, Stephannie Tallent and 7 people reacted
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I updated the item on no prior publication to fit the current Contest rules (which state no prior professional publication). I also added notes on anonymity.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 9:53 am
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Added a note about speculative titles. If your story opens with five pages of studying for exams but your title is "The Martian in the Dormitory", the slush reader probably knows it's a speculative story. (On the other hand, five pages of studying may get the story rejected because it takes too long for anything to happen.)

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 10:15 am
Pegeen and crlisle reacted
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Added some items on paragraphs and dialogue.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 10:45 am
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Topic starter
 

Added items on second person POV and experimental stories.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 10:57 am
Pegeen and crlisle reacted
(@martin-l-shoemaker)
Posts: 2184
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Topic starter
 

Added a couple of items on dreams and Virtual Reality. Use them cautiously.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 11:16 am
(@martin-l-shoemaker)
Posts: 2184
Platinum Plus Moderator
Topic starter
 

Added an item on keeping format consistent (unless it's for effect).

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 11:28 am
(@martin-l-shoemaker)
Posts: 2184
Platinum Plus Moderator
Topic starter
 

Added items on jokes and shocking revelations.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 4, 2023 11:59 am
Pegeen and Todd Jones reacted
Pegeen
(@pegeen)
Posts: 95
Bronze Star Member
 

@martin-l-shoemaker  No one should ever get a DQ again!  I hope people find this list and read it. Flowers  

~~ Pegeen ~~
Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Writer
V40 - Q1 RWC, Q2 HM,

 
Posted : July 5, 2023 10:59 am
(@morgan-broadhead)
Posts: 467
Gold Star Member
 

Posted by: @pegeen

@martin-l-shoemaker  No one should ever get a DQ again!  I hope people find this list and read it. Flowers  

I can almost see Kary and Jody getting together after the quarterly results come out — lounging around, drinks in hand, laughing it up over all the weird entries they got during the quarter.

"He emailed you a WHAT?" one of them asks, feigning shock.

"Oh yeah," remarks the other, wiping a laugh-tear from the corner of her eye. "And he sent pictures too!"

 

"You can either sit here and write, or you can sit here and do nothing. But you can’t sit here and do anything else."
— Neil Gaiman, Masterclass

Drop me a line at https://morganbroadhead.com
SFx1
HMx5
R/RWCx5

 
Posted : July 5, 2023 11:08 am
crlisle
(@crlisle)
Posts: 423
Gold Member
 

Posted by: @martin-l-shoemaker

That being said: Aim high. Papa Mike Resnick once confidently told a group of new writers not to set their expectations too high. Loosely paraphrased: "Analog needs to sell magazines, so they have to put most of their effort and most of their pages on established names who will sell magazines. You're not going to get your name on the cover right away, and you're not going to sell them a novella for a while." I sat in the corner, keeping silent. My name was on the cover of Analog for my first three stories there, and my second sale there was a novella.

Don't let me or anyone else tell you you can't. Take a shot.

"#16 There’s no lower limit, but it’s difficult to win with something under 2,000 words. Extremely difficult under 1,000."

Posted by: @martin-l-shoemaker

Challenge accepted!! salute  

 

Vol. 36: 3rd -- R, 4th -- R
Vol. 37: R, HM, HM, SHM
Vol. 38: HM, HM, HM, HM
Vol. 39: SHM, RWC, RWC, HM
Vol. 40: HM, R, RWC, R
Vol. 41: R, HM, HM, HM
Vol. 42: 1st -- pending

Amateur published stories:
"The Army Ration That Saved the Earth" -- Accepted for publication, waiting for contract
"The Tell-Tale Cricket" in The Murderbugs Anthololgy
"Follow the Pretrons" in Martian Magazine, and a Critters Award
"Eyes and Hands" in Galaxy's Edge Magazine
"The Last Dance" in Parliament of Wizards, LTUE anthology
"My Ten Cents" in Sci Fi Lampoon
Professional Publication:
"Invasion" in Daily Science Fiction

 
Posted : July 5, 2023 1:29 pm
(@martin-l-shoemaker)
Posts: 2184
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Topic starter
 

Posted by: @pegeen

@martin-l-shoemaker  No one should ever get a DQ again!  I hope people find this list and read it. Flowers  

Thank you! John Goodwin (President of Galaxy Press and host of the Writers of the Future podcast) and I are discussing turning it into an official blog post and a podcast episode. That's part of why I've been cleaning it up, adding to it, and organizing it. When it becomes "official", I want it to be in good shape so it can become a resource.

In the meantime, many Forum posts (including this one) can be shared publicly. They're not restricted to members. So if you know someone who needs this advice, feel free to share.

Sadly, as Kary notes, many DQs never even see the guidelines. They have one piece they send out scattershot to as many links as they can find. So DQs will always be with us.

 

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 5, 2023 5:07 pm
Butterfly and Pegeen reacted
babooher
(@babooher)
Posts: 228
Silver Member
 

Trigger Warning: The following may make a few people feel old. I'm one of you.

Spoiler Alerts for some films that are at least 20 years old.

Posted by: @martin-l-shoemaker

Bad guys winning is a hard sell, but not impossible. My opinion: If the bad guys win, there should be a lesson in it for the good guys.

If memory serves, the original Italian Job film ended on a cliffhanger because the thought at the time was that you shouldn't let bad guys win and thieves are definitely bad guys. Same basic idea to the end of the original Ocean's 11. The more recent remakes don't worry about thieves winning. So, I'm trying to figure out what you mean by "bad guys." Is it that the protagonist loses or that people doing immoral things shouldn't be successful?

2012 Q4: R
2016 Q3: SHM
2019 Q2: HM, Q3: HM
2020 Q2: HM, Q4: SHM
2021 Q1: HM, Q2: SF, Q3: SHM, Q4: SHM
2022 Q1: SHM, Q2 RWC, Q4 RWC
2023 Q1: RWC Q2: SHM Q3:Nope Q4: WIP

 
Posted : July 6, 2023 6:15 am
(@martin-l-shoemaker)
Posts: 2184
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@babooher It's a bit of a judgment call. Thieves can be morally superior to their antagonists. Even assassins can have a turn to the good. A few volumes back there was a winner where the protagonist was trained as an assassin and compelled to serve as one. In the end, she turned against her master when she was ordered to kill her sister.

But in some circles, it's considered trendy and sophisticated and shocking to have the antagonists win. The 90s Outer Limits did this often, and usually badly: After 50 minutes of the protagonists valiantly struggling against impossible odds and succeeding, in the final minute one of their own number would be revealed as a double agent who betrays them in the end. Other examples include stories where the point is to show the futility of the universe, or that no one can stand against the forces of evil. Those stories aren't going to fly in this Contest. Take them elsewhere.

(Spoiler: Once, in my opinion, the Outer Limits shock ending actually worked. A bunch of UFO fanatics at a convention struggle to get the truth out in the face of government opposition. In the end, they almost succeed, until the government assassinates their chief spokesman. So sad... Then as the ambulance carries away the body, he sits up and looks out the window. He was the government's mole, monitoring and discrediting the fanatics.)

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 6, 2023 6:59 am
(@morgan-broadhead)
Posts: 467
Gold Star Member
 

Posted by: @babooher

Trigger Warning: The following may make a few people feel old. I'm one of you.

Spoiler Alerts for some films that are at least 20 years old.

Posted by: @martin-l-shoemaker

Bad guys winning is a hard sell, but not impossible. My opinion: If the bad guys win, there should be a lesson in it for the good guys.

If memory serves, the original Italian Job film ended on a cliffhanger because the thought at the time was that you shouldn't let bad guys win and thieves are definitely bad guys. Same basic idea to the end of the original Ocean's 11. The more recent remakes don't worry about thieves winning. So, I'm trying to figure out what you mean by "bad guys." Is it that the protagonist loses or that people doing immoral things shouldn't be successful?

Something I always try and keep in the back of my head when writing is that even antagonists are the heroes of their own personal stories. I think it really comes down to motivation. A thief is a bad guy, yes, but WHY is he stealing? Is it to feed himself or his family? (Thinking of you here, Jean Valjean.) Doing something bad with good intentions can turn a villain into a hero. Jason Bourne — an assassin, yes, but he experiences a change of heart. Captain Malcolm Reynolds — also a thief, but sort of a Robin Hood in space. In the Oceans movies, they're stealing from corrupt casino owners. In the Italian Job, they're stealing from gangsters. They're all technically bad guys, but they're sticking it to people who are even worse than them, which is why we root for them.

 

"You can either sit here and write, or you can sit here and do nothing. But you can’t sit here and do anything else."
— Neil Gaiman, Masterclass

Drop me a line at https://morganbroadhead.com
SFx1
HMx5
R/RWCx5

 
Posted : July 6, 2023 8:38 am
(@martin-l-shoemaker)
Posts: 2184
Platinum Plus Moderator
Topic starter
 

Added a note about left justified.

http://nineandsixtyways.com/
Tools, Not Rules.
Martin L. Shoemaker
3rd Place Q1 V31
"Today I Am Paul", WSFA Small Press Award 2015, Nebula nomination 2015
Today I Am Carey from Baen
The Last Dance (#1 science fiction eBook on Amazon, October 2019) and The Last Campaign from 47North

 
Posted : July 6, 2023 7:35 pm
Pegeen
(@pegeen)
Posts: 95
Bronze Star Member
 

Question about romantic elements and dark elements...

How do romantic elements play in WotF stories? I don't mean sex. I mean emotion, flirtation, and possibly minor physical contact like hand-holding. I've read a handful of winning stories and don't see much in the way of romantic elements. But I haven't read enough to know for sure.  I'm thinking I need to axe romantic elements from my WotF entries.

I'm also concerned about dark thoughts that border on suicidal ideation and minor self-harm. For example, pinching oneself but not cutting, or imagining but not doing. In one story I have a teen with a tragically deceased brother wonder what it is like to be dead.  In a few stories my YA characters have dark thoughts, not in a way that glamorizes suicide or self-harm, but in a way that is realistic for some young adults who struggle with difficult situations. I haven't entered any of these stories yet, figuring they cross the dark line for WotF.

Any insight is appreciated. 

 

~~ Pegeen ~~
Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Writer
V40 - Q1 RWC, Q2 HM,

 
Posted : July 7, 2023 5:17 am
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