Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS Workshop & Challenge!

Not real sure how the yearly self-report goes, but here's what I did in the WotF contest in 2021:

Q1: SHM

Q2: Finalist

Q3: Rejection (But at east I know what I did wrong, so I learned something. LOL)

Q4: SHM

@wulfmoon I stated my MC's decision more boldly and it gives the scene a punch. Thanks, Moon!

Posted by: @empressed

@wulfmoon I stated my MC's decision more boldly and it gives the scene a punch. Thanks, Moon!

That’s character agency, what my Super Secret was on in DreamForge. Was that applied to your Finalist, Vickie? What do you feel made that one reach the top tier on this Contest? What did you do different from the others? Or what have you been doing that you amplified? It’s good to analyze.

And congratulations for your showing in the Top Gun Year 3. Those are three upper tier results in one year! Not easy to hit there so many times with your arrows. While there is an R there, as you show, we learn from every fail. They’re not really fails, they are often attempts to try something new that perhaps could not fly with the knowledge and skills we have at present. As Mario Andretti said: “If we’re not coming back to the pits once in awhile holding a steering wheel, we’re not trying hard enough.” 

Light ‘em up!

Best on your Q1.

Beastmaster Moon

To all in the Super Secrets Workshop, Year 4, I took for granted you’ve taken the WotF Online Workshop. Just in case you haven’t, that is a requirement. All WotF winners are now required to take that before attending the Hollywood winners’ workshop. The same is required here. You don’t have to report, just get ‘er done if you haven’t done so. The instructors know what parts go into every working story, and you must know them too. You won’t win at the races if you’re missing a carburetor. 

Carry on. Q1 deadline is almost upon us. Get pro eyes on your story if you have access. Turn to your mentors from Top Gun if they reached out to you.

Cheers!

Top Gun member

(Year 3 of the Super Secrets challenge series)

Final Report

Q1 Silver Honorable Mention

Q2 Rejection

Q3 Rejection

Q4 Semi-finalist

Successful Missions:

First pro sale of short story sold to Improbable Press and published in Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging - Volume Blue on 12/13/2021

2nd pro sale of short story sold to a magazine and will be published in 2022

Extra Success:

First time speaking as a presenter at roundtables (Fyrecon 2021)

General Stats:

Accepted: 2 short stories

Pending: 25 (1 novella, 12 novelettes/short stories, 4 flash/drabble, 8 poems

Rejections (for stories subbed in 2020-2021): 146 (1 novella, 71 novelettes/short stories, 31 flash, 39 poems, 1 project pitch)

Total Submissions in 2021: 155 (2 novellas, 77 novelettes/short stories, 30 flash/drabble, 44 poems, 1 project pitch)

A pleasure serving Commander Moon.

Let’s light up the skies, my fellow pilots.

Wow, I love seeing what everybody has been doing in the last few years. I am new to the group, but sent a short story to Wulf to edit earlier in the year.

I wrote about 150K words this year, finally figured out how to outline a novel, wrote one long (11K) short story, drafted the beginning of three longer works (more than 20k each). Finished NaNo, which was amazing. Started with the challenge in October. Did a load of writing to prompts. Started to get a handle on the short story process, but it is still not my favourite form--as yet. 

I spent a lot of time reading genre and training. I focused intently on learning plot, and understanding the elements people are looking at. My big win for the year is daily writing, daily reading and an honest to goodness professional practice.

Given all that, I have 14 days until the end of the deadline, and 3 stories to submit and one WotF story to enter--my first since about 1998, or maybe I had another go in 2006.

So, I wanted to share that I finished one of my short stories and have almost completed two others, and I am going to have a go at using all the techniques I have learned on something completely fresh. I am going to send them out, not leave them idling in my hard drive, and I am going to be ready for a cracker 2022.

Thanks for having me here. 

@rjklee Impressive!

Candice Lisle’s Accomplishments while a Top Gun cadet, year 3

(October 2020 thru December 2021) of Wulf Moon’s Super Secrets workshop:

Writers of the Future results:

Q3 2020 HM

Q4 2020 SHM

Q1 2021 HM

Q2 2021 HM

Q3 2021 HM

Q4 2021 HM

SALES

1. First pro sale to Daily Science Fiction of a flash
2. Sale to Galaxy’s Edge of a short story
3. Abyss & Apex is considering another flash for publication
4. Short story to be published in the LTUE anthology, Feb. 2022, Parliament of Wizards

Let's light up the sky! 

@wulfmoon Just finished watching the 36-37 Winners Ceremony, and I cried. Amazing. I can't tell you how inspired I am now. So, while I haven't yet completed the workshop (actually only found out about it a couple of weeks ago), I am super excited to get into it.

Thanks, Wulf, for sticking with this program. You are awesome! And I have been focusing on agency in my short stories, so been working at the homework, too. 

Posted by: @danuta

@wulfmoon Just finished watching the 36-37 Winners Ceremony, and I cried. Amazing. I can't tell you how inspired I am now. So, while I haven't yet completed the workshop (actually only found out about it a couple of weeks ago), I am super excited to get into it.

Thanks, Wulf, for sticking with this program. You are awesome! And I have been focusing on agency in my short stories, so been working at the homework, too. 

You’re welcome. I love hearing about everyone’s discipline and wonderful results from accepting the challenges and training in this workshop. The growth we’ve seen from prior members is amazing, and I look forward to seeing what smart practice, writing fresh stories, and sending them out to WotF and other respectable markets will do for this year’s challenge beasties. That includes you, Danuta.

And yes, that live-streamed award ceremony every year is moving … and motivating! I love hearing the winners relate how they got to that stage. It’s not easy, as you can hear from their tales, but it’s worth every effort.

May each of you see good rewards from your hard work to improve your craft. As you can see from the results of previous Super Secrets’ alumni, studying what makes a story work and applying that knowledge to your own writing and style will cause you to level up. The more we work at our craft, the more we learn, the better we get.

Keep writing.

Beastmaster Moon

@wulfmoon As far as the finalist went, I used the Super Secrets not just as a checklist, but to ask myself HOW I fulfilled each secret. I realized somewhere while using it as a checklist that asking myself HOW I'd fulfilled the requirement also forced me to question if I could make the fulfillment stronger. Most of the time I could, so I did.  

I have not gone back over my finalist story yet. Still trying to polish my Q3 and Q1 for submission by the end of the month. I applied the assignment to my Q1 and it's stronger, faster, better. (Cue the Bionic noises.)

@rjklee Impressive. MOST impressive. 

@crlisle You're doing so great! I was telling Ryland on FB the other day, I want this volume to be all Wulf Pack. Can't you see us all prowling L.A.? Dang, that would be awesome. Let's do it!

Stay on target and light 'em up!

And this week's KYD prompt is:

Shattered Blade

Have fun with it!

That is an impressive list (@rjklee). If anyone from the forum pros out any time soon, it will be you.  

@empressed thank you for your kind words. This sounds like a good plan! Let's light up the sky together! 

I'll have to be honest, the year 4 challenge is kicking my #$$. But...  I have 8 days to stay in this group. Is anyone else having trouble getting the Q1 chores done? Trying to hang tough, Hoping to break my R streak.  

Posted by: @physa

I'll have to be honest, the year 4 challenge is kicking my #$$. But...  I have 8 days to stay in this group. Is anyone else having trouble getting the Q1 chores done? Trying to hang tough, Hoping to break my R streak.  

You got this! I’m a bit behind myself, but that’s what vacation days are for. More writing!

Posted by: @physa

I'll have to be honest, the year 4 challenge is kicking my #$$. But...  I have 8 days to stay in this group. Is anyone else having trouble getting the Q1 chores done? Trying to hang tough, Hoping to break my R streak.  

TBH, I have just had to acknowledge that I will be sending work I consider unfinished out the door. But hey, that's the way it goes. It has been a major quarter. Lots of good and lots of difficult things, but to get this done will be a real win for me in so many ways. To get four stories drafted and shipped in a month, that is something I can't remember doing for a very long time.

Thanks @lost_bard and @danuta. I'll do my best to stick around and stay in this challenge. My main issue was how soul sucking October and early November were what with keeping up with my day job. Q2 should go a lot better for me if I can just get this last bit done for Q1. Hanging tough! -Amy

@physa Don't stress!!! That's the key. If you can't get a Q1 in on time save it for Q2 and make it count. No need to worry your head off over this. Stress is NO GOOD!!! Take a breather. Have yourself a soothing drink of something.

Posted by: @dragonchef

@physa Don't stress!!! That's the key. If you can't get a Q1 in on time save it for Q2 and make it count. No need to worry your head off over this. Stress is NO GOOD!!! Take a breather. Have yourself a soothing drink of something.

Thanks @dragonchef, that's good advice,  

I'm back, but that means I must catch up with work for clients to the end of the week. So here's your Monday prompt, with happy wishes for a prosperous Q1! Which is almost over! Which means get those stories finished and submitted. You can't win if you aren't in! YOU ARE WRITERS, AND WRITERS WRITE!

Just think of yourselves as newspaper reporters, your article is due, and the paper's copy will hit the press with or without you. Make it with you! Cheers!

Your Monday prompt is:

Sanctimonious Prayers

I will be doing a concluding post for the Super Secrets TOPGUN Year 3 Workshop, so stay tuned for that. 

Don't miss your deadline!

Beastmaster Moon

@physa last month and this month have been challenging. (I haven't done a decent Kyd yet for December, let alone 3k.) Whatever I produce won't be pretty. That's ok. Vomit is never pretty. ?

Posted by: @empressed

@physa last month and this month have been challenging. (I haven't done a decent Kyd yet for December, let alone 3k.) Whatever I produce won't be pretty. That's ok. Vomit is never pretty. ?

And here's a secret: the same problems some of you are experiencing are the same issues for virtually everyone this time of year. That actually presents an opportunity, one you can take advantage of! This is likely the best quarter to submit to in WotF! As Tim Gunn would say: "Make it work."

And here's my latest SUPER SECRET, published in DreamForge Anvil Issue 6! I was even able to give a nod to the Writers of the Future Forum! Keep looking for that Padawan or even a youngling to help. There's always someone just behind us on the path that we can offer a helping hand! Cheers!

DreamForge (mywebportal.app)

Thanks @empressed and @wulfmoon for your words of encouragement. If it were easy, everyone would do it, :). I do suspect that Q1 will be more competitive than normal given that Kary English has encouraged folks who got an R for Q4 to resubmit to Q1 due to the haste she had to take in judging.

I listened to Kary's do's, don'ts, and wtf podcast yesterday while cutting triangles for my quilt project. It's quite illuminating and I love how helpful those who've succeeded in this contest are. I've also enjoyed the WOTF related posts started by English and disgruntledpeony in the writing craft section. It's a real pay it forward crowd.

I have collected a number of crits for my hopeful Q1 story and am hoping in the next several days to employ them to make my story stronger. My many thanks to @TimE and @RETreasure of the forums and Jenny Parr (dicord) as well as my mentor @clisle (forums and discord). Plus I received crits from Steph of my writing group and loads of encouragement and writing advice from Ceci. Looks like one of my issues is the need to get more deeply immersed in POV third person. I'm tempted to switch to first person for my Q1 to see if that helps me get more into my character's head. I have 2 things on the vol 39 challenge year 4 yet to complete by the 31st. I'm close! So tantalizing close, :).

I did enter the IOTF contest for Q1 for the first time. Old pieces of artwork and mainly to see what the process is. My mentor (Candice Lisle) has seen them and had some nice words to say about them. Her encouragement plus my new found time now that I'm retired has added that to my list of to dos. I'm sure my second grade teacher would be pleased that I've returned "to my art". According to her I (in the second grade) did our classroom's bulletin board. Mrs. Tolliver was one of my all time best and favorite teachers!

Anyway, it's just a matter of time for all the wonderful teachings of Moon and Dave Farland to finally kick in and enhance my short story writing skills. Vonnegut says to get to that good short story, you have to write 20 bad ones -- well I'm determined to get through that forest of bad 20 short stories in 2022...Cue Galaxy Quest music and the stirring "never give up, never surrender" tag line!

@physa Amy, I’m very happy to hear the mentorship program is working for you. I designed the Top Gun Year 3 group with the purpose of members teaming up to sharpen iron with iron, and they certainly did—everyone in the workshop achieved first respectable sales and/or Finalist honors in WotF (final graduation ceremony soon to be posted). Toward the end of the year, I asked all to turn around and choose someone to mentor from your Year 4 group. I’m grateful that several answered the call, and that you and others have benefited. 

You are correct that it takes much practice to create a professional product that can compete with the work of other professionals that have put in the time. It is so obvious, yet so hard for many new writers to understand. That said, having a mentor guiding your hands a bit with the knowledge and insight they’ve worked hard to achieve can really help an aspiring writer progress faster. It is a time-honored method of transferring knowledge among craftsmen.

And it’s exactly what I’ve designed these Super Secrets of Writing Workshops to accomplish.

Stay the course. There is a good reward for your hard work. Which is quite obvious in the results you’ve seen by those here that have done so. I look forward to hearing of your own publishing successes in the days to come. 

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

@empressed I know how you feel. This quarter was tough all around. But we learn and grow from the challenge. The key is to not give up. Somehow, I still managed to get an awe out of my final reader. I have been reading your KYD and you have some excellent ideas. Keep it up.

Posted by: @wulfmoon

I know you are all pressed to get Q1s out, so this is a reading assignment. But if you’d like to share a salient point or two you learned from the reading, please do. It helps the Pack. Scot Noel of DreamForge magazine told me the number one issue he sees in submissions he rejects is lack of character agency. Naturally, I wrote a Super Secret to address the issue. Read it. Take notes. Go back to your Q1 and ask: Does my protagonist stand at the threshold and CHOOSE the journey? Or is he or she just swept along by the problem? Go to your climax. Ask: Does my protagonist actively battle it out against the opposition, or do they watch someone else take the blows for them? Do they make any sacrifices to beat the opposing force (or lose to them if it’s a tragedy)? Passive characters are not the stuff of heroes. They have to rise up even if they’ve been passive in their own world (think Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit) and grab destiny by the horns. 

After shuffling their feet, make sure your hero cries out, “I’m going on an adventure!”

You have to the end of the month to study this. Which, by the way, is when your Q1 is due. 

?

Click HERE for the Super Secret!

Beastmaster Moon

Wanted to circle back to our December assignment. Complete! The timing on this article was great. Wonderful reminder to make sure your protagonist is making choices that drive the story forward vs a character simply reacting to things happening around them.

Had some issues with my current story that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and I sat on the story for several months. The problem was character agency. I did some rewrites to strengthen goals/drive/agency, and it made the story much stronger!

Q1 is submitted. Phew!