The Writers Aspirant Accountability Thread

My Q2 goal is similar to @annax :

1. Enter Q2
2. Enter Mike Resnik Memorial Award
3. Complete three stories (including Q2 and MRMA).
4. Get 25 rejections
5. Complete 3 KYDs

My writing goals this quarter:

1. New story for Q2

2. Write and submit new stories to at least two other markets

3. Participate in small flash competition 

Also, can someone tell me what a KYD is? Is that a reference to kill your darlings or something else? Still very new here!

Posted by: @kz_richards

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Also, can someone tell me what a KYD is? Is that a reference to kill your darlings or something else? Still very new here!

Posted by: @ease

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@toddjones What are your goals for Q2? 

And I hope everyone got their Q1s in! Fingers crossed we have a Q1 winner from the forum, toes crossed its someone from this thread!

Q1 is in.

Q2 New story for WotF.  Entering Resnick contest with an updated version of my first HM from WotF. Going to start back on my horror novel.

Posted by: @kz_richards

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Also, can someone tell me what a KYD is? Is that a reference to kill your darlings or something else? Still very new here!

Good question! In a nutshell: the Kill Your Darlings Exercise is:

1. Write one flash story based on the weekly prompt, around 1000 words.
2. Economy of Words Training: reduce to 500 words and STOP. Now think about the angles, where the emotional payoff is, and how you can best amplify that.
3. Storytelling Training: Write the 250 word vignette, focusing on the poignant moment you discovered.
4. Let it sit for a bit. When it speaks to you (or when you need to write a new fresh story!) return to the 250 and expand. You can expand it into a flash story, or into a short story or larger. Build it around the story's BEATING HEART.

And… and back up to 1,000

If you are interested in Moon's extensive training on this, he's providing a workshop on KYSs as part of his kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wulfmoon/how-to-write-a-howling-good-story

His workshops [4 hours long, live zoom] are phenomenal. There are 3 days left to his kickstarter...

All the best,

Amy

My goal for this quarter is to:

1. Do a Q2 entry                                                                    Way too early for me, I subbed early last quarter, had a whole day to spare.

2. Enter the Resnick contest                                                    I plan to do that.

3. Write at least one KYD every month (3+)                             That one will be easy-peasy.

4. Enter at least 2 other contests/submissions per month (6+)   Sent one in yesterday, so one more to go.

These are good goals Anna, we can do this.  

My q2 is ready. Just waiting for the portal to open. As for the rest of the quarter, that will be spent editing a novel and my Q3. 

Hm, well, I'm already in for Q2, which is probably my only hard-and-fast Q2 goal. I did it specifically to clear the decks for my broader 2023 goals.

As always, I'm going to be looking to try and enter all Quarters this year, but--aside from one very specific flash-fiction challenge I already committed myself to--I'm also making a target of not writing any new short-form fiction until I have at least one of the following goals completed:

• Complete the full draft of my new novel project, or
• Fully rework or edit any of my 2-3 abandoned prior novel drafts

I have 2 prior novel drafts that were to the point of completion, and a third that was perhaps half-way, and any of those could be worth revisiting, though there were good reasons they were abandoned. However, novel writing is what I started out trying to do, and to a great extent has always been the purpose of short-fiction writing to me--short story work was a means to an end, to improve my general writing craft, and to get to a point where I feel like I understand both the word-craft and the smaller-scale story craft better. Now, I need to ensure that I don't fall prey to allowing it to prevent me from working on those novels--I don't want to fall into the trap of constantly trying to get better and better, convinced that I need to be just a little further along before I do the thing I really wanted to do in the first place.

All of which means, I won't be committing to short-story goals, though I'll continue to turn over any finished stories that return to me, and resub them out to fresh markets. But for Q3 and Q4, I'm not expecting to write anything new. So I'll either be going with HM/SHM revisions, subs of existing stories that I haven't entered, or novel excerpts for those quarters. 

And I think that covers everything! My hard goal for this year is to have a minimum of one novel project finished to a point where I'm happy with it, but I have a very optimistic target of aiming to finish up three. I'd be pretty happy if I could get to the point of two finished and a third in progress, but that's what I'm gunning for this year. I'll continue to drop in during the Quarters as we go forwards, though! 

Posted by: @doctorjest

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However, novel writing is what I started out trying to do, and to a great extent has always been the purpose of short-fiction writing to me--short story work was a means to an end, to improve my general writing craft, and to get to a point where I feel like I understand both the word-craft and the smaller-scale story craft better. Now, I need to ensure that I don't fall prey to allowing it to prevent me from working on those novels--I don't want to fall into the trap of constantly trying to get better and better, convinced that I need to be just a little further along before I do the thing I really wanted to do in the first place.

@doctorjest I am in the same boat as you. Novel writing is my ultimate driver and goal with writing short stories being the "hard yards" to help me improve, allow me to finish a story and be able to reflect on what works, what does not. The danger, I find, is writing short stories takes up all my writing time so I have largely neglected working on a novel for some time. However, I feel I am not yet done with short stories - and to be honest, I think I will always now write short stories as I do enjoy the process and the finished products - but I think 2023 may be the last year I fully commit exclusively to short stories.

@ease @annax

Good exercise in prompting me (and others) to focus on what our goals are this quarter. Mine are:

1. Write and submit a Q2 entry. I have a story idea that I could write from scratch, or one already written but never submitted which I need to figure out a few things before it is ready (and trim work count from around 12k to more like 7k).
2. Submit x3 finished stories. @angelslayah had an interesting post on this one. It led me to submit my SHM from vol 39 Q4 yesterday. I have a habit of letting stories just lie there and not being persistent in submitting elsewhere.
3. Plot out a rough novel outline and commit to writing 500 words a day on a novel. I read that John Grisham wrote a page a day for his debut novel while at his desk at work. Three years later his novel was released. Starting good habits and focussing on the end goal, "a marathon not a race" and all that. I lack some of the discipline to stick to the bigger goal, which is one reason I think I am still focussing on short stories.

I would like to find and submit to a competition too, but I suspect I may struggle to achieve all the above. A bonus goal is to submit to the Mike Resnick award, but I am not sure I will get something finished in time. It depends on how my Q2 entry goes. Hats off to those who have ALREADY submitted their Q2 entry, my jaw is on the floor.

Posted by: @joel-c-scoberg

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Posted by: @doctorjest

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However, novel writing is what I started out trying to do, and to a great extent has always been the purpose of short-fiction writing to me--short story work was a means to an end, to improve my general writing craft, and to get to a point where I feel like I understand both the word-craft and the smaller-scale story craft better. 

@doctorjest I am in the same boat as you. Novel writing is my ultimate driver and goal with writing short stories being the "hard yards" to help me improve, allow me to finish a story and be able to reflect on what works, what does not. 

Same here, although with a more arrogant (due to youth) and naive (also youth) approach. I finished a novel, and was horrified that it didn't immediately publish and sell itself. So I entered one quarter of WOTF in order to win and use the fame to publish that book... Didn't even get an HM  

Got disparaged, let life get in the way, wasted a decade tweaking and tweaking the novel. Then, ten years later, started properly querying agents, and in the meantime tried writing some short stories and learning about writing.

One of the first things I realized was that my novel wasn't good, and I had been mistaking an understanding of English for an ability to write stories. I also realized that finishing something provides more opportunity for growth than not finishing something, and I can finish a short story a heck of a lot faster than a novel.

So until I get the hang of this story telling (and I am improving, albeit slowly) novel writing is on the backburner. Hopefully I'll get back to it around the end of this year.

Posted by: @ease

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One of the first things I realized was that my novel wasn't good, and I had been mistaking an understanding of English for an ability to write stories. I also realized that finishing something provides more opportunity for growth than not finishing something, and I can finish a short story a heck of a lot faster than a novel.

Here here to that! Nothing is a more effective way to realise you have a lot of learning to do than reading something you wrote a few years earlier. It's one way I have seen how much my stories have improved (in my view anyway!) since I started writing more seriously in 2020. Progress and improvement, no matter how slow, is still progress and improvement. With the benefit of a few years experience, maybe revisiting that novel of yours with fresh eyes will help see where it can be improved, what can be salvaged or needs replacing, as well as threading in stronger story elements. I have found with each short story--and critiques of other writers' stories too--help me understand more of what is effective in story telling, and where my short comings are. The difficulty is projecting what works in short form to around 100,000 words!

My ultimate goal is novels as well. I finished one during my last semester of college years ago, but it is YA dystopian and the writing is only okay. Now, after taking several years off from writing, I’m using short stories as an opportunity to improve my writing and also reading as much as I can. Already, I feel like I’ve learned so much. The writing/reading process is SO fascinating to me. You can be told basic tips, but it’s really only through constant read/write/read/write that you actually start to understand them. I can think I’ve done a good job with description or pacing or setting or anything else and then I read someone’s story and recognize what my story/writing is lacking. Once I feel like my stories are on par with the ones I admire, then I will think about starting another novel. Good luck to those of you working on longer projects! 

Posted by: @ease

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One of the first things I realized was that my novel wasn't good, and I had been mistaking an understanding of English for an ability to write stories. I also realized that finishing something provides more opportunity for growth than not finishing something, and I can finish a short story a heck of a lot faster than a novel.

I wrote a novel, several in that series, in fact. I loved them. I would go back and read them and still love them. I would go back and try and change it, according to my knowledge of today than the past 10 years when I wrote them, and it would change the story so much that it was not the same anymore. The stories weren't perfect. They weren't masterpieces. They were sometimes awkward and unsure. But they were their own. And they were unique like how every person is unique. The me today, would never be able to write that story in the way it was written by the me of the past.

I'm okay my story didn't sell millions of copies (it was about vampires during a vampire craze). And I'm okay people didn't like my stories. But there are some who did. Some who even loved it. It's for those people that stories like mine exist. Somewhere out there is a reader who will love your story, who will understand your characters, and who will have a better understanding of life because of it. Your story will speak to them, and they will speak back.

I still think my stories are awesome. I know every character inside and out. And whether your story was good or not, it's still yours. You should still think it's awesome too. That story of yours that isn't so good, should still be published, after you're happy with it. I'm going to go back and work on my novels too, after I get some short stories published and finally get a feel for the industry. My life goal is to publish all my stories, no matter whether they're amazing or not. They're meant to be out there, not trapped inside my head. I wish the same for you and for everyone, to get your stories out there too. 

Posted by: @joel-c-scoberg

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The difficulty is projecting what works in short form to around 100,000 words!

For me, it's different. All those words give you the ability to slack off, to experiment, to make things not so crisp and clear, to weave intrigue, to have more complex plots, to describe everything to your heart's content, to have so many more characters, to have sub-plots, and so on.

Short stories are very hard. If you can master that, you can master the 100,000+ word novels. In short stories, there are no room for errors. Everything has to be tight, packaged right, and tied with a nice bow on the top. If you don't have the right verbose language, then your story won't compare to the next writer who has a top-notch ability to google synonyms and weave it into their stories like spinning silk threads, and far less chances than those who are poets. Short stories are very primarily the meat of any meal. Novels are like the entire four-courses with an appetizer to start off, then a soup or salad, then an entree, then desert. If the meat is slightly undercooked in a short story, the whole thing will be remembered as bad tasting. But in a four-course meal, if the meat is a little undercooked but the dessert was amazing and the soup was delicious, the meal will be remembered as mostly enjoyable.

A novel is an expansion of a short story. Think bigger. Your main character interacts with more people, can go on more adventures, and can even have that budding romance you wanted and such. A short story is like seeing a city on a map. A novel is like seeing the entire country. There's so much room for movement. If you wanted to write that epic fantasy adventure, then a novel would be great for that to detail what kind of issues your characters come across and how they resolve it on their quest. If you wanted to write that romance about boy meets girl but doesn't realize girl is the one until later, then you have the space to build up the meeting, the falling in love, the tensions, the overcoming difficulties, and the happily ever after. If you wanted to write that crime thriller, then you have the space to build your serial killer, have your main character see the different crimes and connect it all to one person, catch the perpetrator, build the backstory for their depraved behavior, lock them up with no chance of getting out, and have your main character promoted to a job well done. Novels offer so much room for so many things that short stories just don't allow a writer to do.

I hope you enjoy writing novels. You will love being able to put all your ideas for that character and story onto paper/print and not worry about a word limit constriction.

Posted by: @kz_richards

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My ultimate goal is novels as well. I finished one during my last semester of college years ago, but it is YA dystopian and the writing is only okay. Now, after taking several years off from writing, I’m using short stories as an opportunity to improve my writing and also reading as much as I can. Already, I feel like I’ve learned so much. The writing/reading process is SO fascinating to me. You can be told basic tips, but it’s really only through constant read/write/read/write that you actually start to understand them. I can think I’ve done a good job with description or pacing or setting or anything else and then I read someone’s story and recognize what my story/writing is lacking. Once I feel like my stories are on par with the ones I admire, then I will think about starting another novel. Good luck to those of you working on longer projects! 

I wish you the best in your novel writing, and I hope you get back to it soon. There's no "right time" for novel writing. You can write in between your short stories. Don't lose focus because it's easy to see a proven method (writing short stories) and then only use that because it's what you know best. 

I like YA dystopians. In novels, writing doesn't have to be brilliant. You also don't have to use language that no one understands, because after all, your readers aren't going to be college professors and only highly educated people. Readers come in all shapes and sizes, all backgrounds, all levels of learning, and are pretty much everything you are in a nutshell. They're like you: human. Therefore, I never believed your writing has to be the best to get sold. Your writing doesn't have to have the biggest sounding words to be great. They simply have to tell a story. Your story has to tell a story.

I love the way Brian Lumley wrote his Necroscope series, books of like 500+ pages in super tiny print (like 8 pt font or something). I definitely can't write like that, but I can write like myself. While I understand the want to emulate your favorite authors, I especially encourage people to just write like themselves. We may never be as good as the people we admire, but that doesn't mean we can't pursue our dreams of becoming writers like them. We can and we should.

So please do write your novels. I'll be looking forward to reading them one day.  

@annax Thank you so much for your encouraging words. It’s true, I won’t be able to write just like someone else, and that’s a good thing to keep in mind. I do hope to get back to novel writing soon. And I look forward to reading your future writing too!

As of two minutes ago I have 11 stories out on submission, including my Q2 at WotF. I am roughly 25% through editing my novel too, after which I intend to put it through Ken Rand's 10%, which may take a while. I have 2 first drafts waiting to be read and edited and one story started that has been stalled for ages. I may skip that one until it starts nagging at me again. I also have half an idea floating around in my head (which is a permanent state of affairs, if you ask my boss ).

@annax thank you for your encouragement. The thought of writing a coherent story in 100,000 daunts me, even though is is what I want to do. The restriction of writing something short gives me a structure at present that allows me to explore and finish smaller ideas. I wonder if finishing a novel will break that psychological block. I have plenty of ideas for novels, getting them down on paper/screen is the difficulty. I'm going to try and write a chapter a month (minimum) this year, with the aim of breaking the back of or finishing a novel. If I can stick to that goal and turn an idea into something tangible on screen, then hopefully my confidence will grow. I am learning a lot from writing short stories, and I am sure I will learn a lot too from writing novels. I imagine it is harder to get feedback on a novel versus a short story though, and I have learned a lot and benefitted greatly from critiques on this forum (and elsewhere).

It's also great to read how much you enjoy (and have enjoyed) writing novels. A reminder why we all do this, and put ourselves through so many rejections. There is something joyful about creating a story--the process of creating a world, characters, conflict--even if you are the only one who ultimately reads and enjoys it.

Posted by: @joel-c-scoberg

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@annax thank you for your encouragement. The thought of writing a coherent story in 100,000 daunts me, even though is is what I want to do. The restriction of writing something short gives me a structure at present that allows me to explore and finish smaller ideas. I wonder if finishing a novel will break that psychological block. I have plenty of ideas for novels, getting them down on paper/screen is the difficulty. I'm going to try and write a chapter a month (minimum) this year, with the aim of breaking the back of or finishing a novel. If I can stick to that goal and turn an idea into something tangible on screen, then hopefully my confidence will grow.

I think your confidence will grow with that and with being able to finish a novel. If I may be bold to suggest ideas to help, I suggest:

1. Write down a short line or two about your idea for the novel. It’s pretty much what the story is about.

For example: A young princess is tired of living royal life so she runs off to find a dragon in which they live together and become friends (Talking to Dragons by Patricia C Wrede); or A young boy finds that he holds the key to stop another world from coming to take over his world (Mister Monday by Garth Nix); or A young boy born in a living prison that breathes and changes escapes and discovers his true identity (Incarceron by Catherine Fisher); or An orphaned teenager comes across three vampire brothers to find that she’s already one of them, just not yet turned, and that the death of her parents were by no accident (Marisa and the Vampires, mine).

2. Break your novel into chapters with an outline that details what is happening in the story. This should only take a few sentences each. (Try not to laugh at the silliness of my story. I wrote it in response to my annoyance at Twilight.)

For example: Marisa and the Vampires

Chapter One: Marisa starts over in a new town and goes to her first day of school where she meets the three vampire brothers.

Chapter Two: Marisa has a nightmare about the accident that killed her parents and gets one of the vampires to talk to her.

Chapter Three: Marisa is invited to their house for dinner.

. . .

Chapter Twenty-Four: Marisa discovers Anastasia’s secret.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Marisa tries to break the vampires out of the spell of the witch, but gets thrown off a cliff in return.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Marisa vows to not lose another family and saves the vampires.

3. Start writing, following your outline. Be okay with your story changing and not following your original outline.

4. You can also break your novel into three parts: beginning, middle, end. Describe in a few sentences what happens in the story during that time. Then tackle each part.

For example: Marisa and the Vampires

Beginning: After the death of her parents, Marisa moves to a different state and starts school. There, she meets three vampire brothers who are interested in her because she smells like them.

Middle: The brothers figure out that she’s a different type of vampire and adopts her into their family and try to figure out why her turning is taking so long. Marisa is unhappy with not turning and takes it upon herself to complete the transformation.

End: Three vampires are sent to bring the brothers and Marisa home, one of them a powerful witch. Marisa has to save her family from the hands of another vampire seeking to destroy her happiness.

5. You can also write an essay if you want on what your story is about so you can follow the points. I like a bullet list of things the character does or what happens to the character. It kind of allows you to follow the action and problems of the story.

For example: Marisa and the Vampires

A. Marisa starts over in a new town.

B. Marisa meets the brothers.

C. Marisa has a bad dream about the accident.

D. Marisa has insatiable hunger pains that lands her in the nurse’s station.

E.  Marisa accidentally runs over a rabbit with her car on her way home.

F. Marisa is invited to dinner.

Surprisingly, random things like E actually becomes important later. Some random things may correlate later to make sense.

Hopefully, by breaking your novel into smaller parts will help you focus on each part and finishing it, rather than the whole. So when you’ve finished all the parts, then you have the whole.

Feel free to dm me any time and I’ll try to help as I can. I’m not a pro or anything. I have no credentials, but I’m willing to help where I can.

I know you’ll be able to write a chapter a month. If you’d like a reader when you finish, I’ll read for you. Good luck.

@annax thank you! These are very helpful suggestions and I appreciate the time taken to put this response together

@ajschultz6, @clfors, @doctorjest, @writhmic, @pdblake, @annax, @kz_richards, @toddjones, @joel-c-scoberg, @storysinger, @physa, how are we all doing? We're almost one month into Q2!

Still two months until both Q2 deadline and the Mike Resnik Memorial Award (and if you have a spare SF&F story in you, I strongly recommend submitting to both).

I think I'm mostly on-track with my goals. I've finished the first draft of my Q2 and already got some fantastic feedback on it. I've left the ideas for two stories brewing 'in the back room' and they're both nearly ready to take out and put to 'paper.' And I've completed three KYDs. I'm behind on the rejections because recent "level-ups" have left me feeling like I need to edit all of my completed stories before they can be sent out and, well, I don't want to do that right now/can't prioritise it. 

I hope all of you are finding success in your endeavors. Feel free to hit me up for a pro bono 450-critique at any time (though I will likely be slow responding this first week, as I'm sick as a dog and already have a small queue).

Now back to your keyboards!

Writing has been slow but it's nothing unexpected considering this week was/is full of final exams. For Q2, I'm excited for a new idea I've got playing around in my head, and I have somewhat of a beginning written down for it. Now I've just got to plot. From what I've seen, the Mike Resnick Memorial Award is only for sci-fi short stories... right? I've never been a sci-fi writer and the one time I took a stab at it, there were far too many logic and plot holes. I guess sci-fi is off the tables for me!

Posted by: @ease

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I'm behind on the rejections because recent "level-ups" have left me feeling like I need to edit all of my completed stories before they can be sent out and, well, I don't want to do that right now/can't prioritise it. 

I feel you. Pretty much all of my stories are sitting on the shelf right now because I just can't find the will to fix them up in my new and improved style of writing. I find it's much more liberating writing new stories anyways, so for now that's my priority.

Well, I subbed in on Q2 early, so no concerns there--aside from that, I've subbed to 2 pro and 3 semi-pro markets in the same time. Two stories still on hold, and one at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly requested the full story (impression I get is that even so, <10% may make it from full request to acceptance, but still nice to get). I've been disqualified from the Mike Resnick award for a while now, but I'll be crossing my fingers for other members of the Forum to get going there! 

I've been joining in with a weekly flash-fiction challenge, part of another group I'm in, and that has been a lot of fun so far--flash is a fantastic way to seed new stories, and it's a great opportunity to experiment. Novel-writing has been pushed back a little while I dealt with that and some other life challenges, but I'm set on returning to actual long-form writing again this week. I've lost the knack and the habit that goes with that--and once dropped, you have to push a little to get these things back again. Habits are valuable things, and are seriously worth protecting once you've got them.

Also, though it's only tangential, I picked up my reading a little more in the last week or so. That has been nice to return to.

Posted by: @ease

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Still two months until both Q2 deadline and the Mike Resnik Memorial Award (and if you have a spare SF&F story in you, I strongly recommend submitting to both).

Slow and steady on the WotF Q2, about 1/2 completed. I'm taking a previous HM from WotF, brushing it up and sending it in for my first Mike Resnik contest.

Posted by: @ease

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I think I'm mostly on-track with my goals. I've finished the first draft of my Q2 and already got some fantastic feedback on it. 

Great news.  

OK, once again I'm already in this quarter. I currently have 11 stories out, one held (though they've held one before and gave it a form rejection). I'm approximately 75% through editing a novel and have a couple of short first drafts to kick into shape. I have not actually written any new words for weeks and probably won't for a few more weeks. I do have a lot to edit though. 

Q2 is in the works, but I’ve been mildly distracted by a little flash contest where I have made it to the final round. Yay.
My WOTF story is sci-fi this time and is  hogging all my sci-fi inspiration at the moment, but I hope to write something for the Mike Resnick contest once my Q2 is finished. 

Posted by: @ease

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Still two months until both Q2 deadline and the Mike Resnik Memorial Award (and if you have a spare SF&F story in you, I strongly recommend submitting to both).

I think I'm mostly on-track with my goals. I've finished the first draft of my Q2 and already got some fantastic feedback on it. I've left the ideas for two stories brewing 'in the back room' and they're both nearly ready to take out and put to 'paper.' And I've completed three KYDs. I'm behind on the rejections because recent "level-ups" have left me feeling like I need to edit all of my completed stories before they can be sent out and, well, I don't want to do that right now/can't prioritise it. 

I hope all of you are finding success in your endeavors. Feel free to hit me up for a pro bono 450-critique at any time (though I will likely be slow responding this first week, as I'm sick as a dog and already have a small queue).

Now back to your keyboards!

Congrats on getting things done! That's great that you got your Q2 draft done with two contenders in the works. The three KYDs are a feat too!

I've been wrapped up in moving, and again. I went from east coast to west coast and now, into another place on the February 1st, so after that, I can finally set up a desk and get back to writing. 

I did finish my Q2 first draft and got some good feedback on that, but I might change it entirely. I haven't gotten anything concrete in mind. I haven't done any KYDs yet, but I'm looking forward to doing my 6 for the quarter, even if it's to juggle some new ideas or to get some new stories out there. I have worked on my Resnick but it's not completed. I think I have an idea about how to accomplish the story I want to convey, but I'm not sure my execution is up to par so I'm going to have to really work on that too.

I do plan on getting some writing done today, so let's see how far I go. I'm planning on finishing my draft of my Resnick entry since I'm not quite sure about how to change my Q2 yet. I'll save it for when I'm done with this story so I can focus only on it.

Thank you for the offer of 450 critiques. Good luck to you and to every forumite. Let's do this!  

Posted by: @kz_richards

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Q2 is in the works, but I’ve been mildly distracted by a little flash contest where I have made it to the final round. Yay.

Congrats on making it to the final round on your flash! I hope you win! Yay!