Welcome to the first issue of the Writers of the Future Contest Magazine!
I’m not going to use this space to cover the history of the Contest, or mention the numerous bestselling writers who have praised it, or even talk about the famous writers and illustrators who judge it. Those things have been covered in detail on the Writers of the Future website, which is a great resource in its own right. Instead, I’d like to take a little time in this very first editorial to talk about what to expect in the upcoming months, where we see the magazine going, and to connect you with some great writers. Before we get started, I wanted to introduce myself to you, and talk a little about who I am in relation to the Contest.
While I’ve been writing for most of my adult life, I rediscovered short story writing just after my thirtieth birthday. I’d just quit my job designing video games for a firm in Vancouver and I had a bunch of time on my hands, so I thought I’d finally try and finish that novel I had banging around inside my head. After a few attempts, I realized just how rusty I’d become and decided to write a few short stories to hone my skills. I started reading a lot of anthologies and at some point picked up a dogeared copy of L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Vol. 9 from a used bookstore. I liked the stories and Googled the Contest. Lo and behold, it was still running!
The first piece I submitted was a short story about a robotic suicide bomber called “The Autobomber” which eventually earned me an Honorable Mention (HM). It was that initial encouragement that kept me writing through four more HMs and two Semi-Finalists. It seemed that every time I was getting down because of the number of rejections I was getting from places like Asimov’s and Fantasy & Science Fiction, I’d get another HM or Semi-Finalist from the Contest. Each award was that little bit of encouragement I needed to keep going. For the next three years, I wrote and submitted stories every quarter like clockwork.
Around the Spring of 2008 I hit a rough patch—and it seemed like my writing was going nowhere. I had been putting my fingers on the keyboard every day for years and had seen only a few stories published. Though I’d seen a few successes in the form of a few semi-pro sales and Semi-Finalist placings in this Contest, I was consistently striking out in the pro magazines and I didn’t know if I had what it took to ever write at a professional level.
It was during this period that I penned a seven-thousand-word short story called “After the Final Sunset, Again.” I was reading a lot of Neil Gaiman at the time and I loved the way that gods were just regular people in his books. I decided to extend that concept to mythological creatures and wrote about a human being with the same powers as a phoenix from ancient mythology. Of course, this meant that my protagonist could only have a lifespan of one day so the story came to be about how one can transcend this rather severe limitation and achieve immortality in one’s own way. The phoenix was a very tragic figure in my mind, and by the time I’d typed the last word I was in tears. For a big tough guy like me, this was a pretty big deal. When I still got emotional on the third read-through, I knew I had created something special.
I headed down to the post office days before the deadline and paid about twenty dollars to mail it Express. Then I waited. And waited. The list of honorable mentions came and went, which is often a good thing because it means that your story might have been selected as a Semi-Finalist or Finalist. But then the Finalists were announced and “After the Final Sunset, Again” hadn’t made the cut. It was by far the best thing I’d ever written and it had gone nowhere. That defeat, coupled with the other problems, broke me.
I wouldn’t write another word for six months.
After that fateful decision, life continued as it tends to do, and things gradually began to improve. I got married again and happened to be on my honeymoon when I got an unexpected phone call. It was from Contest Director Joni Labaqui who told me that “After the Final Sunset, Again” had placed as a Finalist in the current quarter. I was baffled. Wasn’t this the story that had been already rejected? It turned out that the post office had lost my manuscript for several months but it had turned up in time to be judged for the third quarter. It went on to win first place.
Like the phoenix in my story, my writing career arose from the ashes. I adoped the pen name Jordan Ellinger (Lapp, my real name, tends to get verbally butchered. Is there a Mr. Capp in the room?), and met author Steve Savile at the Writers of the Future workshop. He would eventually recommend me to his editor, who signed me to a book deal. I now have two novels coming out next year, a half-dozen short stories forthcoming from various publishers, two graphic novels in the works with illustrators I met through the Contest, and a burgeoning career as a writer/director of short films.
I owe a lot of my career to the Contest, so when Author Services asked me to helm this magazine I agreed without hesitation. In founding Writers of the Future, L Ron Hubbard wanted to pay it forward to new writers who were struggling to be heard. It is our vision that this magazine continue that tradition. To that end, we’ll be introducing you to some of the pros who judge the Contest (both illustrators and writers); we’ll conduct interviews for which we’ll solicit questions from readers; we’ll track the careers of young authors and illustrators who have just won the Contest and watch them blossom from neo-pro to pro; and, of course, we’ll publish some articles that might give you some tips and tricks to help you win!
This month we’ll share an interview with Illustrator Judge Robert Castillo, who has generously allowed us to publish some panels from the storyboarding work he does for major film studios. Next, we’ll talk with Writers of the Future’s most recent Quarterly writer winner Meghan Muriel, who previously won the Illustrator of the Future award. Later on in the month, we’ll be interviewing past winner Ken Scholes, whose story “Into the Blank Where Life is Hurled” appeared in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 21. A few days after the interview goes up, we’ll serialize his winning story in these pages.
If you have any suggestions of things you’d like to see, please respond in the comments and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!
—Jordan Ellinger, Herald Editor
Jordan Ellinger
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Introducing: M O Muriel, Writers of the Future Winner
Ack! I double checked everyone else's name, but, ironically, because I
Introducing: M O Muriel, Writers of the Future Winner
Ah! My name is spelled wrong!!! It's M. O. Muriel =p lol.
28th Annual Writers and Illustrators of the Future Workshops and Awards Celebration: Day 6 & 7
Thanks Nina! I think I speak for both Brad and I when I say it was a p
28th Annual Writers and Illustrators of the Future Workshops and Awards Celebration: Day 6 & 7
Thanks for chronicling the week, Jordan and Brad! Good job! And ni
The Passing of Anne McCaffrey - Writers of the Future Judge
I was a bookseller back in the 1980's. Anne McCaffrey was very popular
Stephen John Turner
Hi Jordan,
I was already a visitor to your ‘Without Really Trying’ blog, especially with your wonderful WOTF resource section, so I am quite pleased to see you looking after The Herald. I know it’s in good hands.
Good luck with it!
Jordan Ellinger
Thanks Stephen John Turner. Now you know why jordanlapp.com went silent.
Gerald Warfield
The magazine is a terrific idea. Jordan, I hope to get to meet you at the ceremony in April!
Jordan Ellinger
Gerald,
I’ll come every year they let me. The Awards week is one of the highlights of my year!
Matiny
I’m an action story writer.
Action is useless in writing, but better suited for comics (which would explain why people are so bad at it; it’s not respected anyways). It has become wildly obvious to me that I have to write an emotional story to win this competition, or a story that deals with human nature/generic concepts (e.g. Inception).
Any advice? Inspiration? Up until now, I’ve been avoiding drama stories or getting confused at the characters… for example. Why is everyone is Chuck socially awkward? Except for the General. She’s excellent.
jellinger
Hi Matiny,
I wouldn’t say that action is useless in writing. Ever read a Warhammer story? Or anything by R.A. Salvatore? He’s pretty much made a career out of writing great actions scenes. However, in my opinion, what a lot of Salvatore imitators forget is that his actions scenes are so effective because we care about his characters, and in order for us to care about characters we need to connect to them on an emotional level..
Steven Rose, Jr.
Your editorial article is very inspiring! It’s so helpful when more experienced writers tell stories of their careers as writers to lesser experienced/aspiring writers. It’s very encouraging. This looks like it’s going to be a great magazine and I’m looking forward to future issues of Writers of the Future!
jellinger
Thanks Steven!
The article that prompted me to write my own story into the editorial was written by Amy Casil Sterling called “Passed (Sort Of)” which you can read here: http://asterling.typepad.com/Writingresources/WoTF.htm I hoped to inspire other new writers in the same way that Amy inspired me when I was just starting out.
Maurice D. Sassoon
Your website has already stirred my sense of creativity. I have been waiting for a long time, expecting that perhaps someone would finally come up with such an idea. I am a novelist, having written three novels, titled THE LION AND THE SUN, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, AND ALL ABOUT BRIAN. My passion for writing includes poetry. I am sure through your much-esteemed website, I might score some high marks in the way of my literary contributions to your website.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Maurice D. Sassoon
sassoon18@yahoo.com
jellinger
Hi Maurice! I’m glad that we’re gotten your creative juices flowing. Check out the rules of the contest to see if you can still submit work to us: http://www.writersofthefuture.com/contest-rules . It’s possible that if your novels have sold less than 5,000 copies each you might still be eligible. If so, I’d encourage you to submit!
Here is the relevant section of the rules:
5. The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits.
Randy Federspill
Hi Jordan,
Nice kickoff. I have been a lurker on WOTF for a few years now. Torn between the requirement of academia to complete my dissertation, and writing stories I am continually challenged to find the time needed to do anything beyond study and work. I was able to write a story and submit it for the first time Q2. It was rejected, but I I still have other stories to write and find myself coming here for inspiration to continue writing.
My suggestion for the Herald would be to do two things (with permission of the author(s)):
1) Use the Herald to show off an HM. Bring a positive spin on one of the works submitted for all to see. To me I would not use this as a published item, but another form of reward without monetary gain. Again, if it were my paper to be recognized on top of the HM letter I received, I would be honored.
2) Using a rejected letter, dissect it with a critic that is informative to other writers. Again it is with the author’s permission, but if I wrote the piece and was rejected I would love constructive feedback to understand why it failed to meet the standard. Learning from my mistakes or others is a part of life and if I can avoid a mistake someone else has made, I am one step further in succeeding.
Those are two things I would do to not only entertain, but help the future writers like me.
V/r,
Randy
jellinger
Randy,
Thank you for your feedback! I’m always looking for ways to improve the Herald.
In terms of 2)
I think we’re limited, feedback-wise, because the prize for Semi-Finalist placing is a critique from Co-ordinating Judge K.D. Wentworth. I got a critique for each of the two Semis I won and they helped my writing improve immensely.
In terms of 1)
I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Do you mean that we should publish an HM-winning story in the Herald? Often writers go ahead and submit their HM-winning stories to other venues and get them published (as I have with several of my HMs), so it seems unfair of us to ask for the right to publish them here for no money. Is this what you had in mind?
Randy Federspill
Yes, that is what I had in mind. Again, it would be up to the writer. Some writers try to get their stories published, but from many of the forums I read, most stories fail to go much further than the HM. The writer moves on writing a new story for a new project, or a WOTF submission.
Remember these are just suggestions where the mechanics could be worked out. Like I said before, if it were my choice and the way I feel about the WOTF, I would let the Herald have my work before trying to sell it. Where others who may be more attached to selling a story than I am, would decline the offer. It becomes another opportunity to be recognized versus rewarded.
Sincerely,
Randy
Jordan Ellinger
Randy,
I appreciate the suggestion, but there are a variety of reasons why I don’t see that working in the Herald.
However, if you’re looking for a group to discuss why certain stories may or may not work, I invite you to meet some of the posters on our forums. On the other hand, if you want to read some great fiction, we are currently serializing “Into the Blank Where Life is Hurled” by Ken Scholes.