Discussion: Q3 Volume 39

I re-downloaded Otter.io, the free version, on my new phone (an Android) and it gets right 95% of what I say, while in a car doing 80mph+ on a highway, without any additional hardware!

I was pretty stunned. As driving is a large part of my day job, I strongly recommend it.

Pro-tip, think up rare but real world words to stand in for fantastical words beforehand. I.e., my MC "Glebysl" is "Glen" when I'm dictating. Then one find and replace on the PC afterwards corrects it all.

Posted by: @morgan-broadhead

Posted by: @angelslayah

Well, I got my Q2 in very early, and I recon to do something similar for Q3. Maybe this won't be a common feeling, but it seems to me, having it in well early eliminates any kinda, whadayacall it? "twitching" later. By the time judging comes around, it's already been in the cue so long, I can just keep on forgetting about it. So... I should chose something now, hum?

But nay, 'tis not so. The actual formula for twitchiness is:

# days submitted early
x pi
x r ^ (# current quarter)

The earlier you get your story in, the higher the twitching factor. Which is why I ALWAYS submit after 11PM the night of the deadline, or else just wait until the NEXT quarter, which is very likely what I'll end up doing this quarter.

I got to be a big fan of early subs, myself, mainly because: a) I started worrying about eligibility requirements, b) I'm notorious for losing track of time, and c) I've seen things go wrong before with the last day of submissions often enough I was paranoid about waiting.  

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @martin-l-shoemaker

And that's liberating. Because you're not worried, you can actually think about the story.

And thinking about the stories means some pretty good stories! Many 24-hour stories have been published. Mine was selected as a finalist in the Year's Best Science Fiction and Adventure Stories volume 4.

This is intriguing to me. When I look back at my writing, and the stories I've written, I'd say that I still feel often that I'm at a point where I frequently write pretty well--but the stories I'm writing are too often just so-so. More specifically, I have had a tendency to take an idea, and then select the wrong entry-point to exploring that idea, without really questioning that until I'm already well into the process of writing it. I get locked into trying to make this specific version of the idea work exactly how I want, when it's sometimes not the version of the idea I should be writing.

I think this has improved for me recently--a product mostly of me forcing myself to look at my work's weakest points, and still too recent for me to have a lot of confidence in how much it has improved--but it's still where I believe I most need to improve. I'm stumbling around this, but trying. Of the stories I finished in the last few months, fully three-quarters are either complete rewrites of stories, or are shelved because they need such a rewrite. The same ideas, but with either new entry-points or some fundamental change in how the subject is being handled.

But I think the resulting stories either have been better, or will be better, as a result of this--and I think that what I'm learning by doing this may help me to get to a point where, in the future, I start the stories at this point, with the right ideas and the right frame.

I'm actually doing exactly this right now, though, with the novel project I kicked off. Writing scenes, sections, exploring characters, and all with zero expectation that anything I'm writing will need to be retained. And it is certainly liberating. I've still not done this often with my short stories--but I would like to note that the last story I wrote, truly expecting that it might end up being nothing more than throw-away nonsense that I would do nothing with, made Finalist here. So while it's purely anecdotal, it does feel like there's more than a hint of something to all of this.

This is very much a YMMV type of thing, but my first finalist story was also the first story where I ended up being willing to rewrite every scene at least once because I realized they weren't having the emotional impact I wanted and I figured out ways to make them better. I don't have to do that kind of rewriting NEARLY as often these days, but in my case, the willingness to be "wrong" because I can fix it later if need be is important for my process. (But I do try to avoid rewriting entire stories unless it's absolutely necessary, for fairly obvious reasons. That's a lot of work. )

Just trying to find heart of story right now. Attempting KYD on it.

@disgruntledpeony Forget First World Problems, this is Great Writer Problems!

@wulfmoon

Didn't know about the death in the family. My condolences.

Posted by: @angelslayah

@wulfmoon

Didn't know about the death in the family. My condolences.

Thank you. 💜

I have my Q3 ready. I'll hide it away so I can give it another quick glance nearer submitting time.

Posted by: @pdblake

I have my Q3 ready. I'll hide it away so I can give it another quick glance nearer submitting time.

Letting a manuscript sit for a bit is an excellent idea. I used to let mine sit for at least a minute before submitting them. 😁

Posted by: @wulfmoon

Posted by: @pdblake

I have my Q3 ready. I'll hide it away so I can give it another quick glance nearer submitting time.

Letting a manuscript sit for a bit is an excellent idea. I used to let mine sit for at least a minute before submitting them. 😁

If only I had this level of restraint!

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @wulfmoon

Posted by: @pdblake

I have my Q3 ready. I'll hide it away so I can give it another quick glance nearer submitting time.

Letting a manuscript sit for a bit is an excellent idea. I used to let mine sit for at least a minute before submitting them. 😁

If only I had this level of restraint!

The novel I'm currently editing sat for almost two years. 

Posted by: @pdblake

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @wulfmoon

Posted by: @pdblake

I have my Q3 ready. I'll hide it away so I can give it another quick glance nearer submitting time.

Letting a manuscript sit for a bit is an excellent idea. I used to let mine sit for at least a minute before submitting them. 😁

If only I had this level of restraint!

The novel I'm currently editing sat for almost two years. 

That may even be excessive restraint.

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @pdblake

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @wulfmoon

Posted by: @pdblake

I have my Q3 ready. I'll hide it away so I can give it another quick glance nearer submitting time.

Letting a manuscript sit for a bit is an excellent idea. I used to let mine sit for at least a minute before submitting them. 😁

If only I had this level of restraint!

The novel I'm currently editing sat for almost two years. 

That may even be excessive restraint

Forgetfulness

I have no idea how, but this morning I got hit with a sudden bolt of inspiration. I finally have my idea for Q3, and it feels like a solid hit. Just need to fine tune which characters will have the most impact and the plot I wanna use before I start putting words on processor. Wish me luck!

I thought I'd take advantage of the "Other Items" in the remit of Contest - Quarterly Topics and O.I. to just say, here, where I'm more active, that I have a request for readers over in Story Crit Exchange on the Forum.

That is all!

I think I have a good idea for Q3. Working on narrowing down to the heart to expand.

I'm 5,800 words into Q3! I'm doing so great!

Please completely disregard that this was meant to be my Q2 and I had to push it back because it was only 40% done... 

I want to start writing for Q3 today. I just wonder if historical fantasy stories ever won? I can't remember any historical stories in the volumes that I've read in the past.

Posted by: @aidanka

I want to start writing for Q3 today. I just wonder if historical fantasy stories ever won? I can't remember any historical stories in the volumes that I've read in the past.

There was one that was a jack the ripper/cthulhu kind of thing set on the Titanic. Can't remember the title or volume but it was a good story. 

@pdblake ahh thank you))

so, this time I'll try my luck with a historical something. but it will be well a few centuries ago than Titanic

Posted by: @pdblake

Posted by: @aidanka

I want to start writing for Q3 today. I just wonder if historical fantasy stories ever won? I can't remember any historical stories in the volumes that I've read in the past.

There was one that was a jack the ripper/cthulhu kind of thing set on the Titanic. Can't remember the title or volume but it was a good story. 

I think that was vol 37. Might be vol 36. Definitely one of those two. Personally wasn't a fan. The writing was fine, but anything cthulu-based just seems a little lazy to me.

@ease mm thank you) I'll look it up. Mine will be about very niche place and era. I'm glad that they accept historical stories

Posted by: @ease

I'm 5,800 words into Q3! I'm doing so great!

Please completely disregard that this was meant to be my Q2 and I had to push it back because it was only 40% done... 

I finished my Q3 today!

Nevermind that it's April 1... 😏 

@ease I have another silly question. Have you seen stories where magic happens by the 3rd part of the story? If I give the magic right from the beginning it will be a spoiler. So, I don't know if it's worth to send this story for the contest.

@ease It was Volume 35, "The Damned Voyage" by John Haas. My WotF roommate, by the way. Great writer, great guy!

Posted by: @aidanka

I want to start writing for Q3 today. I just wonder if historical fantasy stories ever won? I can't remember any historical stories in the volumes that I've read in the past.

My published finalist for Vol 38 is historical fantasy

Posted by: @wulfmoon

@ease It was Volume 35, "The Damned Voyage" by John Haas. My WotF roommate, by the way. Great writer, great guy!

Oh, you're right! I thought I had read the two latest volumes, but it was the two penultimate volumes! Apologies for the misdirection.

Posted by: @aidanka

@ease I have another silly question. Have you seen stories where magic happens by the 3rd part of the story? If I give the magic right from the beginning it will be a spoiler. So, I don't know if it's worth to send this story for the contest.

The rule of thumb is that it should be in the first 450 words. That thumb can be hit by a hammer or caught by a circular saw, though. I would worry if the speculative element to the story isn't clear by the end of the fifth page. Foreshadowing well might be the answer. 

At the end of the day, a damned good story is going to win regardless, but if there's a chance your story is a smidgeon away from damned good, and it only takes a smidgeon, then give yourself every chance you can by heeding the many rules of thumbs.

Lately my stories have started with creatures that are only found in the world of magic, so actually talking about it isn't needed.

Just saying. 

Posted by: @ease

The rule of thumb is that it should be in the first 450 words

To help writers understand why genre cue up front is so important, I wrote Super Secret #12 on this. It’s on this page here. 

Cheers!