Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS Workshop & Challenge!

That's AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations, Wulf Moon!!!!

SUPER exciting, Wulf, and great news. You must be so excited! Can't wait to see it come to life.

Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS Publishing Announcement!

As the journey for all of us continues, I share my greatest Secret of all with you--the reason I created the Super Secrets workshop.

To save you years of trial and error and pain . . . by sharing what I had learned through mine.

May all of your writing dreams come true!

Beastmaster Moon

What would I have done without you and your SUPER SECRETS? They have rocketed me forward so fast, I can barely hang on!
They work and they work fast. An aspiring writer just needs to put them into practice.

Beastmaster Moon, whatever you put your voice to, I want to hear -- Sounds like I might have to subscribe to Audible.

Your books will have a place of honor on my bookshelves, when I'm not using them, which, come to think of it -- I will be using them constantly, so they will have a place of honor at my writing desk.

That's wonderful news Wulf. I look forward to getting copies of the books. 

Heh-heh. And that is the EXACT moment I signed the two, count it, TWO book contract with Mark Leslie Lefebvre's company, Stark Publishing Solutions, to publish Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS! Since today is the rise of the Wolf Moon, I figured it would be a most auspicious moon to sign under. Thanks for noticing, Dragonchef! I JUST FINISHED SIGNING AND YOU ARE ALL THE FIRST TO KNOW! Of course you should be first to know--it was here, in this very online workshop, that the SUPER SECRETS were created.

The Wulfman Rocketh!
Sooooo . . . Wulfy, How do we get a signed copy of said publications?

Thanks for your interest, Dragonchef! I really did sign the publishing contract at the exact time you quoted the wolf moon arrived! You are in tune with the universe and all things wulfish! : ) Stay tuned for the Kickstarter. Signed books will be one of the backer level rewards!

Thanks for being a challenge beastie, and for your support!

That goes for all of you! I am grateful for all of the good wishes. YOU helped make this happen! Much appreciated, and there's more to come!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Just popped on the forum for the first time in a few days - CONGRATULATIONS, Moon!!! I am so happy for you! Can't wait to see those books finally come out. And what a cool person to be working with!

Just popped on the forum for the first time in a few days - CONGRATULATIONS, Moon!!! I am so happy for you! Can't wait to see those books finally come out. And what a cool person to be working with!

Thank you, oh speediest of all root vegetables! Yes, Mark Lefebvre is a really cool guy. Everyone loves him, and he thinks outside the box so much, the outside the box companies hire him to be their spokesman. It’s why I planned to hire him as a consultant—that’s what he does. While explaining the project and what we’ve accomplished here, he stopped me and said he’d like to publish the Super Secrets through his company! He told me he doesn’t normally do this, takes on very few publishing projects apart from his own, and then only with people he trusts.

And that’s the Secret. It’s why authors must get out of their writing caves, mingle, network, and make good impressions by being good people. The industry and players within it do take notice.

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

I feel like I am late to the party. Congratulations, Moon! What exciting news. Wow, all your hard work is paying off. Wishing you the best as you continue to garner success!

Congrats again, Moon! Looking forward to the Kickstarter.

...authors must get out of their writing caves, mingle, network, and make good impressions by being good people. The industry and players within it do take notice.

I've resisted this so much.
My writing cave is warm and quiet and full of my favorite treasures. To actually come out, give away some treasure, and hope to be welcomed (eventually) by the industry is way scarier. But it's necessary.

Thanks again for all of your sage advice, Mr. Moon. You deserve every bit of your success--both that which has arrived and is forthcoming.

Sorry for the late prompt today, folks! Today's Monday prompt is: RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT (or) RELUCTANT NECROMANCER.

Thanks for posting the prompt, oh Keeper of Records! That's a fun one. There is conflict built right into that prompt!

I thought I had made room in my schedule to FINALLY finish out the Three Act Super Secret using "Muzik Man" as an example, but I just got an assignment to write a SUPER SECRETS' article for DreamForge Anvil magazine. Paying gigs take priority, I have to keep telling myself that this year, and it's hard. I want to help! But I have not abandoned you. More to come!

In fact, I'm giving you an EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT that might yield a seed for a story. Listen to #106 Steven L. Sears Writers of the Future Podcast. Toward the end at the forty-four minute mark, he describes his own version of KYD (Kill Your Darlings Exercise for you home gamers). Now, it's not boiling down 1000 words into 250 through the processes I set up in the KYD SUPER SECRET. His is having you write a ten page scene or skit and boiling it down to five pages. Here's the rules, and this is extra credit, not required. You all have WotF winners to write!

1. Write a scene ten pages long.
2. Include FIVE characters with definitive backgrounds and reasons for being together, like on a bus, stuck in an elevator, etc.
3. All must interact.
4. The scene must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
5. You must rewrite it until those ten pages are as perfect as they can be.
6. And then Stephen says that's not the exercise. The exercise is cutting five pages out and not losing anything.

One of the things I like about his exercise is working with five distinct characters. I just challenged myself to write a story with seven interacting characters, and it sold to DreamForge Anvil ("Shaken, Not Stirred" coming out this April). Managing that many players in one scene is tough, but it pushes your skill levels. Steven tasks you to detail five. Here's the bonus. If you send the five page final result of this exercise to Author Services' President, John Goodwin, John said in the podcast he's going to send it to Stephen for a critique. Will Stephen take the time? If so, you get a critique from the screenwriter of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS! No promises, but John did say he'd send any completed exercises to Stephen Sears.

Soooo, do you feel lucky? Well, do ya? Punk? Then take up the extra credit and push your boundaries, and learn how to tell tighter stories while working with a large cast of characters. Here's the podcast to listen to, and the exercise description starts at the forty-four minute mark. Cheers!

https://soundcloud.com/writersofthefutu ... eenwriters

Again, when you've gotten the same ten page scene down to five pages, send an email to John Goodwin with your properly formatted, double spaced manuscript attached, stating what this was for, that you're from the WotF Forum, and that you'd like John to send your final five pages to Stephen Sears as the podcast directed. John's email is jgoodwin@galaxypress dot com. No guarantees, but just doing this extra credit exercise is excellent training.

I hope some of you do this. Let me know if you do! And since these posts are here for posterity, I'm going to remind onlookers that we probably shouldn't send these to John Goodwin after February 15, 2021. Both he and Stephen Sears are busy people and we don't want to be sending them things months later. Thanks!

Again, no promises you'll get a response, but wouldn't it be cool if you did?

Fortune favor the brave!

Beastmaster Moon

That's a GREAT episode. I listened to is when it came out and was blown away by the challenge. Since then, I've been working on a story to submit. Nearly finished and ready.

That's a GREAT episode. I listened to is when it came out and was blown away by the challenge. Since then, I've been working on a story to submit. Nearly finished and ready.

This is why you’re in the workshop, Christopher. You are self-driven, striving to create your own destiny. You took on that exercise even before I mentioned it. Well done!

While here, thanks again to all for the good wishes on the upcoming Super Secrets’ Kickstarter, writing books, audiobooks, and workshops. I do appreciate it. It’s taking much time away from here, but you’ll love what Mark Lefebvre and I are creating through his company, Stark Publishing. In the meantime, keep writing fresh stories, and studying the Secrets to improve your craft. I’d say take the WotF Online Workshop, but you guys are smart cookies, you’ve already benefited from that. Well done!

Want more detailed Super Secrets? I’m writing one today for the magazine DreamForge Anvil. John interviewed the publisher and editor, Scot Noel, recently in a WotF Podcast—have a listen! I’ll have a freshly minted story published there in April. And with the magazine’s focus on helping new and unpublished writers get published, why aren’t you a subscriber? Oh, you are? Smart cookie! This will be another great resource to help you succeed as writers and to teach you skills to help you win this contest! Many submitting will get full edits by Scot, even if they don’t make it in his pages. An edit by a pro can make all the difference, and these are free. He’s also got a webinar coming up to teach you how to write stories that sell. And Scot’s a WotF winner, so you can count on his teachings and edits to be right on the money.

Both of us have the same passion: to help aspiring writers improve their craft so they can have the joy of seeing their stories published and read. We’re trying to help. Take advantage of it! : )

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Sounds like Crystal and Henckel are going for the extra credit. Well done! Any others?

Oh, at the end of the year I posted we hit half a million views. Wow! About one month later, we hit 92,000 additional. That means the Super Secrets are now getting about 100,000 views a month! Thank you to all reading this resource and to those participating in this workshop! Can’t wait to show you what we’re doing with the books!

Keep writing! Keep sending! Fortune favor the brave!

Beastmaster Moon

592,549 today

UPDATE on the EXTRA CREDIT STEPHEN SEARS EXERCISE:

Crystal pointed out Stephen Sears said to write ten pages and then take them down to five, not 10,000 words and take them down to 5,000 like I had posted. Woah! Thank you, Crystal! That's what I get for not going back and verifying. So please scroll back up a few posts and see the updated extra credit exercise. My apologies for the error.

Actually, I know of one great thing that came from it. Henckel wrote a story using my version of the exercise, and I hear it's going to be his Q2 WotF entry. I've heard great things from the challenge beasties that have read it. And since he earned a full edit for this quarter, I look forward to reading it!

Hm. I think I'm going to patent my version.
All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Thanks for your kind words and advice, Moon!

So a few updates for everyone.
(1) my story only has four characters rather than the required five, so I dont qualify to send to Steven Sears. But that's okay because,
(2) I've still ended up with a killer-good story and I'm super pleased with it. So pleased, in fact, I intend to use it as my Q2 submission. Lastly
(3) For the benefit of all the lurkers intending to take up Stephen Sears challenge, I reccomend 3rd omniscient.

Keep writing, y'all.

You’re welcome, Christopher. Sounds like you’ve created a good one! I look forward to reading it.

A word to the Super Secrets’ followers. Third person omniscient is hated by many writers and readers, including myself. It creates much head jumping that can be supremely annoying when your greatest wish is to experience the story through the hero’s eyes. Third person intimate/close/personal/limited creates a limited POV that most modern readers have come to expect in today’s tales. Judges and editors with the power to select your story prefer it as well. While there are exceptions to every rule, becoming a master of 3P limited will serve you well, and many aspiring writers never quite master it.

The best way to sell your work or win contests? Stick to a format the editors and judges and even most readers prefer. You won’t distract from your tale that way.

My advice. Backed up by the teachings of judges from this very contest.

Keep writing. Keep perfecting your craft.

Beastmaster Moon

Hey folks, happy Monday! Today's Monday prompt is: SYMPATHETIC ENEMY.

Our challenge beasties know about this, but I'll also make a public announcement here on the thread where it all began.

Scot Noel is a Writers of the Future winner. He's also the editor and publisher of DreamForge magazine, which is now DreamForge Anvil, with greater focus on helping aspiring writers get published. Toward that end, Scott has commissioned me to produce guest articles for his subscribers and readers on the craft of writing. The first will appear in the next issue, DreamForge Anvil, Vol.2, in April 2021. The title of the article is: "Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS: How Driving to the Story Creates Accidents."

This article is based on one of the many Super Secrets challenge beasties in this workshop have applied to help their writing soar. It's bigger, it's badder, it's superpowered with 53% more nougat and creamy filling! The magazine is designed to not only bring great stories to their pages, but to teach aspiring writers what goes on behind the scenes to help those stories come to life on the printed page. Included in each issue is the finished work, and Scot's edits that helped bring the story up to publishable standards. It should be very helpful to see the process, and will assist many to craft stronger stories that can sell to other markets, such as, I don't know, maybe Writers of the Future?

If you'd like to add this tool to your learning toolbox while reading great stories in the process (DreamForge had TWENTY stories on Tangent's 2020 Recommended Reading list!), then here's the link for you! https://dreamforgemagazine.com/

And if you've enjoyed my SF stories, you'll be happy to know I sold a fresh new story that will be published in this issue. "Shaken, Not Stirred" is the story of an ascendant celestial being named Cassie, who finds herself and the people she protects in a deadly power struggle for galactic domination. The fate of the universe hangs in this one!

Thank you to all that have been followers of the SUPER SECRETS. The books will be coming this year through my publisher, Stark Publishing Solutions, but in the meantime you can get a great sample of what's to come through the pages of DreamForge Anvil!

By the way, we broke 600,000 views today! 601,233!

All the beast as you work hard to enhance your writing and win this contest! As we say in Seattle: GO BEASTMODE!

Beastmaster Moon

That's great! Congratulations, Moon!

Hello again, beasties! Today's Monday prompt is: SLEEPLESS STARGAZER.

Thanks for the prompt, SwiftPotato. I'm an observer but trying to do as many of these as I can.

I've been going over the Super Secrets more thoroughly- reading #31 again, about story length. I had already looked at each winning story when analyzing vol.35- it was interesting to see their (rough) word counts. The average was 6,930. Just wanted a shout out to say thanks for the secrets! And excited to get a copy of the books. Congrats!

Already signed up to DreamForge Anvil, too. Thanks for that.

Thanks for the good words on my upcoming in DreamForge Anvil, Henckel! And Scott Sands, you've pretty much hit the sweet spot on word count. Doesn't mean you can't win with more, and can't win with less. But it's a good fact to know as you target this and other markets. At 7500 words, you're in novelette range, and that's a hard sell for aspiring writers outside of this contest. Don't ask me how I know, that's all I used to write! I really had to train to think like a short story writer instead of a novelist. Short stories must be wound tight as violin strings and should sing when you slide across them! Yes, there are exceptions. This Super Secret is just a guideline to reflect on, but I know I started selling (and winning this contest!) when Dave told me to kill my darlings and I took it to heart. The KYD exercise I developed came out of that, and it's why I'm having everyone in this year's workshop do one a month. Follow the program, and you'll be writing tighter, smarter stories in no time. UNLESS you're the rare bare bones writer. If you never put enough detail in your stories, KYD will only make it worse. But few aspiring writers are that type. Most aspiring writer stories can shed a surprising number of word poundage!

I am buried in editing for clients right now, so I apologize on finishing out my latest Super Secret. It's quiet in here because I gave the current challenge beasties a private assignment, and they're working hard on it. Don't worry, we shall return!

In the meantime ... aren't you supposed to be writing?
All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Happy Monday, beasties! Today's Monday prompt is: HEART DRUMS.

Wulf Moon - for the ignorant and new, what do we do with Heart Drums?

Wulf Moon - for the ignorant and new, what do we do with Heart Drums?

InkFinger, this is a writing prompt. Writing prompts are designed to prompt you to craft a story around them. The members enrolled in this year's workshop have agreed to write one KYD exercise with them a month to help them improve their writing craft. For more on what my KYD exercises are, you can find the SUPER SECRET on how to Kill Your Darlings here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7600&start=960#p92258

There are also great examples that follow after that post by members enrolled in that year's workshop. The KYD exercises start here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7600&start=630#p90555

This year's workshop is now closed and underway, but anyone can follow along and do any of the exercises on their own, that's why we share everything in the open here. It's all meant to help, and help it has for many, and not just those in the workshop.

I do know many have used these prompts to craft 250-word vignettes (what KYD's are) that they expanded into full-sized short stories. One of the members--disgruntled peony--created a story from hers that was a fourth place finalist in Writers of the Future! So have fun with them, and may they help you come up with a story, maybe even one that wins Writers of the Future!

My very best to your writing craft and writing goals!

Beastmaster Moon

One more thing: There's a thread Liz created to play around with the supersecrets here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8000. I'd be happy to critique you, and I'm sure others would be as well if you choose to do so. The only downside is that then it's considered published, so it's just for exercise.

SUPER SECRET #47: Stick Your Landings! : )

Yes, I have to finish two more parts on SUPER SECRET #46. But I'm deep in editing for clients and workshop members, plus a deadline I must meet before month's end. But one thing has come up so often, I need to do an emergency SUPER SECRET. You're about to go into labor on your next WotF submission, and I've got to help you deliver a healthy baby to win!

I've talked about endings before. You have to nail your endings. Watch a beautiful routine by a gold medal gymnast like Simone Biles. At the end of a nearly flawless routine, she lands on her feet with a perfect stance. But note her arms and hands. There's a dramatic pose that says, "Ta-da!" She tells you by that pose she stuck the landing; it's dramatic and finishes off the routine with a solid ENDING of grace and poise. Show's over, folks. You can hand me the gold medal and go home.

You have to do the same with your endings. Many stories I edit for aspiring writers fizzle out at the end. Sometimes, the only way you can tell they are over is that they took the care to write THE END at the end. Otherwise, you'd scroll down hunting for what must have obviously gotten lost, it can't end here, can it? Well, it did, and if you don't have someone experienced telling you to go back in there and nail your ending, you can have a perfectly good story lose on that last line's failure. Yep, you did everything right, all the way through. But if you don't nail your ending, you lose.

You do know Kary English, the WotF first reader, reads the first two pages, AND THEN CHECKS THE LAST PAGE to see if you nailed your ending, right? She won't send it on to Dave if it looks like you failed at the end. A waste of his time. It's that serious.

But there's another recurring issue I see. Scenes are like mini stories. Many need to go back and repeat that to themselves. Scenes are like mini stories. ONE MORE TIME, WITH FEELING! : ) They have openings with characters in settings (please do some scene setting!), they have middle drama, and they wrap up with an ending to the scene. Good scenes end on dramatic notes, hooks such as cliffhangers or mysteries or puzzling questions or GRAVE DANGER that compel the reader to move to the next scene to find out what's going to happen to that dear heroine, is she going to be okay? Instead of sticking the landing on the last lines of a scene, it's like a gymnast that does her twists and twirls and then, just when she's supposed to land on her feet and raise her arms to say "Ta-da!" ... she stumbles off the floor to get a bottle of FIJI water. And the next routine begins, and the next, and each scene ends without the dramatic sizzle that makes you crave the next scene. It's as if the author is saying, "Whew, I'm exhausted. Glad that one's over with!"

If you want to win contests, you must create page turners. And that means you don't end a scene when the action is over, you wrap it up with an intriguing lead into the next scene. Take the old Ginsu knife ads. After they show that their knife dices, it slices, it pulverizes, are they done? No, there's that famous line that makes you hang on the edge of your seat. "But wait! There's more!" Get out of town! There's more? You've already promised me a knife that can cut through a hearty redwood with a single slice, what more can you possibly offer me? And the advertisers keep upping their game until the drama is so high, the only way to satisfy your whipped up desire is to call the number on your screen and buy what is clearly the work of Samurai metallurgists, certain to replace every other knife you own.

Same thing with stories. End each scene with dramatic power. Give your reader a reason to turn the page and read the next, all the way to the coup de grace at the end.

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Thanks Moon!!!!