Discussion: Q1 Volume 40

Posted by: @watt_writes

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It's not cutthroat.

Hey, I'm totally willing to be cutthroat... against anyone being cutthroat here!

Being totally pragmatic about it (and thus, open-minded to cutthroatness) it doesn't make sense not to prop each other up in here. There's what, fifty of us active? Out of two thousand submitting! If you help someone here get better than you, assuming they were worse to begin with, you've only reduced your chances by 0.05%. Even if all fifty were worse than you (the royal you, not anyone specifically) which is highly unlikely, and you help all of them become better than you (also unlikely), you've only made your chances worse by 2.5%.

However, for each person you help, that's someone helping you. And if your help makes them better, then that means the person helping you is better too! And if your help is what makes them good enough to win, then guess what, you've got rid of your competition! They can't enter any more! But they can still help you, like two army recruits hurdling a big wall: you've given them the leg up, now they can dangle down and pull you up after them.

So really, anyone being cutthroat is shooting themselves in the foot. 

Wishing everyone that submitted to Q1 the best of luck, and to anyone that didn't but is still reading this, go for Q2! You can do it. I'll happily critique your first 450 words if it might help give you the confidence.

Apologies for the massive rant. I've been dwelling on this for a while.

Hi Ease,

I believe that it is the responsibility of every artist/craft worker to aid everyone of their ilk who seeks aid. Improvement is the main reason for interaction. Clarity of communication is the aim of improvement, no matter the medium of expression. In writing, the author wishes to convey a story, often on several levels, to a reader who wishes to be immersed in a world that is not their own, and be entertained.

No two writers will ever create the same story, so the issue of competition should be moot.

When I exchange with another writer, I read their piece with the belief that the writer sent it to me complete. I read it through without comment and then think about what I have read. Only then will I put on my critique hat and wade back into the story in an attempt to see areas of improvement. Every mark and comment is meant to improve the piece at hand, improve the author's understanding of how it has affected me, and improve the author's ability to convey their vision with clarity.

Have fun.

Posted by: @kent

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I believe that it is the responsibility of every artist/craft worker to aid everyone of their ilk who seeks aid. Improvement is the main reason for interaction.

I agree. And to take it a step further: the goal isn't to aid that craft worker in improving (that's just a wonderful side effect). The goal is to improve the whole industry/art-form. We are but hobbits standing atop the shoulders of ents. We should do everything we can to turn fellow hobbits into ents, so that the next generation of Brandybucks and Tooks has an even higher place to stand upon, and the readers an ever improving experience.

Posted by: @ease

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There's what, fifty of us active? Out of two thousand submitting!  

How many people, roughly do enter each quarter?  I recall reading on a forum thread nearly 4,000.  The numbers aren't posted, but can someone chime in with a rough guess?

Regardless, a big thank you go out to the contest readers, judges and other staff that support the contest.

@ease Couldn't agree more. I think it's important to be said! The more we help each other, the more we love this art form and, for me at least, the more inspired I am to not only keep going but keep learning! 

And I may ask you to take a look at the first 450 of my Q2 because it's a bit wild this Quarter -- I decided to stop playing it safe and do something outta left field -- and I don't know if the style is gonna work. At the moment I'm frantically trying to fine comb my newest novel (a former WoTF HM expanded into a novel!!) to submit to RevPit. P.S. if anyone has a completed novel manuscript, RevPit is a chance to win a full 8 week professional edit. It closes Sunday at noon EDT. 

Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @ease

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There's what, fifty of us active? Out of two thousand submitting!  

How many people, roughly do enter each quarter?  I recall reading on a forum thread nearly 4,000.  The numbers aren't posted, but can someone chime in with a rough guess?

Regardless, a big thank you go out to the contest readers, judges and other staff that support the contest.

 

The folks behind the contest at WOTF are purposely cagey about the number of entrants per quarter. During Q&A someone always asks this question and they never get an answer. An estimate could be made if you take the number of HM+SHM+SF+F and assume that number is 10% of the entries for that quarter. So the number of 4,000 doesn't seem wrong per se. Another feeling you can get from reading through the posted data is that the number of entries for Q1 is lower than the other quarters and that by the time Q4 gets back around, 75% of the anthology is already filled which means competition could be stiffer in that last quarter. 

According to first-reader Kary, she gets really weird entries that are easily discarded: plane tickets, math homework, etc. So another way to think about the number of entrants would be to speculate about the number of viable entrants. Another thing that can be gleaned from posted data is that the number of competitive entries increased dramatically after WOTF offered their free online workshop.

The cool thing about this contest is that you get an indicator of how far away from placing you are. I find it very encouraging that I broke into HM territory for Volume 39. And kudos to you for breaking into SHM territory, 😉

I think what the judges and others associated with this contest want is for everyone to NOT worry about word count or what quarter it is but to write their best possible speculative story that can be shelved in Middle School and High School libraries.

I hope this helps, 😉

Posted by: @physa

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Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @ease

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There's what, fifty of us active? Out of two thousand submitting!  

How many people, roughly do enter each quarter?  I recall reading on a forum thread nearly 4,000.  The numbers aren't posted, but can someone chime in with a rough guess?

Regardless, a big thank you go out to the contest readers, judges and other staff that support the contest.

 

The folks behind the contest at WOTF are purposely cagey about the number of entrants per quarter. 

The last Q&A I saw, Jody mentioned "a couple thousand" and John quickly/politely shushed her  

But as you say, how many are viable? At least half, I feel.

And @watt_writes, send it over whenever! I'm working on a critique now but should have time for both this weekend. 

I try to help others to pay it forward to those who helped me. Most of my reviews are within my writing group.

They have discovered that some writers get discouraged if they know how many entries there are. Some people don't have the confidence to compete in a large pool. So the Contest will only say "thousands"--which is still enough to discourage some.

You here are almost certainly different by definition. You have the confidence to learn more and to strive to get better. That by itself increases your chances.

IMHO helping people is rewarding on its own (its fun—unless someone starts crying). Using startup statistics only 10% of investments is worth it, b it the ones that works out will get you to the moon (Ooooooowhoo my friend ;P). Apart from the fact that by helping others you develop yourself as well. 

Social factor:
Helping others may help you find friends. And supporting your friends may help them go higher. And have big friends pays out many ways 😀

The hero factor:
We are not in book business.
We are in experience business.
We are not competing with ourself.
We are custodians of a sacred flame of civilization waging ancient war against… stupid people on the internet, and the most tragic/comic thing is that in the known history of mankind odds have never been against us.
IMHO If we lose this war, the civilization will collapse. 
Its our duty to spread the light.

@martin-l-shoemaker That makes sense. Although, knowing the chances encouraged me to enter every quarter and take aim at the next rung in ladder. Since the number of entries is high, I don’t think twice about not getting there when results are posted. I was elated though when I got SHM.

@ease I 100% agree. I've experienced the same in the medical field (there's a pretty notable amount of cutthroat activity going on there, in my experience at least, since it is so competitive). When I work with others and team up, everything gets better for all of us. When people say they don't want more competition, they're really missing out on something more valuable: more people in your court who can support you now and in the future, and vice versa. In writing, having a tightknit group of readers / writers to bounce ideas off, crit your stories, and share successes / lessons with, is AWESOME. It turns it from a solitary craft into a community and an identity.

My advice to anyone is to drop the scarcity mindset, and realize that there's an abundance available only to those who let go of fear and greed.

Posted by: @craydimensional

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Although, knowing the chances encouraged me to enter every quarter and take aim at the next rung in ladder. Since the number of entries is high, I don’t think twice about not getting there when results are posted. I was elated though when I got SHM.

Every rung I climb encourages me to reach higher. I have fallen back a few rungs lately, but that is just spurring me on. Sometimes it feels like two steps forward and four steps back and other times it's only  one step back. The important takeaway is that we, as writers, are always trying to climb higher. 

Keep writing my friends, and achieve those goals.

Posted by: @spencer_s

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My advice to anyone is to drop the scarcity mindset, and realize that there's an abundance available only to those who let go of fear and greed.

Well said.

When I get constructive criticism that hurts, I have to take a step back and think about it. If the person didn't care about me, or my story, they wouldn't have spent the time to give it a read and a crit. 

I've been deflated many a times and yet, when I sit at my computer and think about it, I end up with a better story in the end.

Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @spencer_s

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My advice to anyone is to drop the scarcity mindset, and realize that there's an abundance available only to those who let go of fear and greed.

Well said.

When I get constructive criticism that hurts, I have to take a step back and think about it. If the person didn't care about me, or my story, they wouldn't have spent the time to give it a read and a crit. 

I've been deflated many a times and yet, when I sit at my computer and think about it, I end up with a better story in the end. 

Its a cultural thing you know?
I might just be in a a bubble (but of a statistical significance i think) but there is a huge difference between how you crit and how people in my country do it.

Seems like you in general are trying to be nice and sometimes pull your punches because on your side its not just a story but a stamp of someone’s soul on a paper. 

In my country (from my experience but by now i have more experience with you in this matter :)) we treat stories as beings with souls of their own. When I criticise your story i dont criticise you, but your child, and we have common understanding that we don’t want to form a circle of adoration but help the little thing reach its full potential. But in corner cases we are way more prone to get intrusive, and sometimes hurtful, so its good to always remember uncle Neil’s advice: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/477087-remember-when-people-tell-you-something-s-wrong-or-doesn-t-work

Which is better? Its up to each individual to decide 😀

For a long time I lost sight of the competition part of each quarter. Either my story made the cut or it didn't. I would search the quarterly list for friends and familiar names, congratulate them, then put nose to grindstone and write the next quarter's entry.

Took a while to get to that point, but I found it healthy.

Cheer for your friends / Write your best story.

Posted by: @vrlass

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Seems like you in general are trying to be nice and sometimes pull your punches because on your side its not just a story but a stamp of someone’s soul on a paper. 

In my country (from my experience but by now i have more experience with you in this matter :)) we treat stories as beings with souls of their own. When I criticise your story i dont criticise you, but your child, and we have common understanding that we don’t want to form a circle of adoration but help the little thing reach its full potential. 

I agree. My friends reading my stories and saying, 'I like it' feels like getting a participation trophy. I don't learn where there are issues (pace, plot, character active agency) so the story never grows to become what it can be; it just stays how it is.

Thank you to everyone in the forum who helps others grow their stories.   

@vrlass, interesting observation & perspective. What country are you from? 

@jeschleicher 
Poland

Posted by: @tj_knight

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For a long time I lost sight of the competition part of each quarter. Either my story made the cut or it didn't. I would search the quarterly list for friends and familiar names, congratulate them, then put nose to grindstone and write the next quarter's entry.

Took a while to get to that point, but I found it healthy.

Cheer for your friends / Write your best story.

I love that, but I'll take it one step further.

It's easy to forget, when we're all sitting here hoping for our stories to place and waiting restlessly for the results, that the contest is ALREADY OVER. Our stories are submitted, and nothing is going to change where they place. Maybe you and I did the preparation and work necessary to win, or place, or get a HM, or maybe we didn't. But there's no changing that now. Those choices are behind us. We can't choose now to work harder, or do better.

But we still have some choices ahead of us.

Are we going to act in a way that we'll be proud of, regardless of the results? Are we going to keep working, keep trying, keep giving our best even if we lose? Are we going to treat our placement like it's ranking us as people, instead of ranking our story, the winners feeling like they're better people then everyone else, and the losers feeling valueless? 

I know that making the choice to be the type of person you'll be able to respect is the best way to truly succeed. For a long time, I saw this contest as the definition of success. As an aspiring writer, winning was the greatest thing to bring me to the "success" I've been searching for. But at some point I realized that success is not a ranking. It's not a placement or a trophy. It's a process, toward becoming someone I can respect.

Well said Malachi!

Posted by: @physa

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According to first-reader Kary, she gets really weird entries that are easily discarded: plane tickets, math homework, etc. So another way to think about the number of entrants would be to speculate about the number of viable entrants.

I do first reading for one of the scifi mags. A few of the submissions are simply throw-aways, but most are viable stories with some merit to them. It's easy to weed out the poor efforts, and not much harder to set aside those that aren't going to hit the top—but then there are maybe 30% of the submissions that are all pretty good. From my experience, I don't envy Kary her job! (Except that she gets to read a lot of stories, and gets paid for it!)

Posted by: @toddjones

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Posted by: @ehonour

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Got my first novel self-published.

Congrats. I'd love to hear more about the experience, marketing and all that stuff.

Posted by: @ehonour

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Working on a second book, an anthology of short stories (with several WotF HMs in it) to get out this month, I hope. Neither of them yet earning enough to trigger pro status, but it's very nice to sell a few and see them in print.

Double congrats. The anthology seems a fun project.

 

 

Thanks, Todd. I'd be willing to share my experience with publication and marketing for anyone who's interested, but this Forum isn't the place for it. You can reach me at ehonoursr@gmail.com.

Actually, the anthology has to wait for 1Q40 results—because my current submission is one of the stories in it. Can't publish the anthology until I know whether WotF wants it!

@ehonour Are you considering writing (or have I missed) a blog post or the like about your publishing/marketing process. Honestly, the more I die in the query trenches of traditional publishing the more I'm interested in indie publishing. Mostly for the freedom to just write what I enjoy writing. I don't want to limit my stories to what "will sell."

@tj_knight 

Agreed. Writing is very solitary. And if the only thing anyone gets out of doing WotF is the disappointment of not winning quarter after quarter, then that's a pretty crushing experience. But if its not all about the competition. If it's about growing your writing network and truly connecting with other writers. Then win or lose the competition, this becomes a winning proposition, a positive experience. At least speaking from my experiences with other writing things (HiveMentorships, Futurescapes, going to writing conferences with friends, etc). Supporting others makes it such a better experience for yourself too.

Is this the week to start biting my nails?

Posted by: @toddjones

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Is this the week to start biting my nails?

[the current watcher's eyes strain to see the faintest hint of smoke]

[nothing yet says the current watcher]

[maybe this will be the week we get word from the first reader]

[in the meantime the folks in the tent are in various stages of twitching]

[some are twitching hard even though it's too early...]

[others are attempting to get their mind off it by working on their Q2 or Q3 story]

[others are lurking in the tent from the shadows]

[finding no word, the lurkers dart away, mostly unseen except to the sharpest of eyes]

[some are engaging in lighthearted pillow fights]

[others are sampling the snacks and drinking hot cocoa]

[happy spring [or fall] equinox!]

@physa [peeks up to see the quiet lurkers]
[twitches a little at the unknown call she got from insurance]
[grabs a cookie and gets back to work]

@craydimensional 

[Takes deep breaths]

[Ponders the physics of the tent in which so many people lurk]

[does some experimentation with this alien magic]

[does other silly and pointless tasks]

[Finally continues writing]

[Steals the cookie while Cray Dimensional isn't looking]

@m-norris

[sees something through the telescope]

[my heart beats faster and I take a deep breath]

[gives the telescope a good polish]

[ah, it was just a smudge]

[the distant hill is quiet]

[no smoke signal in evidence]

[I sip my hot cocoa]

[and savor my yummy breakfast sandwich]

[soon a relief watcher will come]

[and I can get back to writing]