The Writers Aspirant Accountability Thread

Posted by: @kz_richards

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This story is terrible. This story is great! Give up, it can't be saved. Are you sure? I think it can! 

And the winner is...another round of revisions complete! How are everyone else's stories coming along?

The good thing about writing new stuff is that I have less revision time. That is huge, because I used to be one of the revision, revision, revision guys until I was so tired of the story I almost shredded it.  I will still pull an older story I like out and try to save it. That is fun and depressing at the same time. haha.  I'm really trying to work on new stories for each quarter submission. Let the brain wander.

Q1 is my current goal, then revisit some HMs from WoTF and start submitting them to magazines.  

@toddjones 

That's a great call to right a new story for every quarter. Mine is new as well, but it has been exhausting to send it through such extensive revisions from its first draft. The original idea just turned out to be much more convoluted than I imagined, then after so much pruning, the story needed filling in other spots. Next time, I hope to plan a bit better so the revisions are less extreme. 

@kz_richards I have a couple stories like that.  I loved the idea, but then found that a flash or short story may not be enough to get all the aspects fleshed out.

One a good note, I trimmed one of those down and it earned me my first HM here q4 2021.  I've just started rereading it and still like the concept, but can see some issues with the flow and how I didn't build the suspense.  All good things out of an old story that I thought I would have to shred.  I'm 51 and just started focusing on writing q4 2021 so it is never to late to start honing skills and doing something you love.

Just checking in. My current short has stalled due to almost two weeks of sinusitis and flu. Instead I've been editing a novel. I find I don't need to be firing on all cylinders to edit. 

I do have a short ready for next quarter though and a couple of first drafts. 

Finished off one more short story, which I've sent out this evening; that makes 2 pro and 8 semi-pro subs for the month to date; I have 3 rejections back and one hold notice, so we'll see how that goes. My Q1 draft is in a decent state, but could use some details that require additional research. And now I'm going to pause for a few days, while I deal with some non-writing things. After that, my next thing really needs to be research. I have the relevant book on my desk, just waiting to be read.

@toddjones Glad to have you here! I think working on a new story for each quarter is grand idea: not only does it keep writing fresh, but you're stocking up on pieces to send out to the rest of the market. I've had similar struggles with revision. I have a Rev 10 of Version 4 of a novel that is sitting in a drawer waiting to be revised again... except I don't think it's going to be revised. It's put to bed, for now. Maybe I'll rewrite it from scratch one day, after I've finished some other novels.

@pdblake How's your Q1 coming along? ... I'm joking! Sorry to hear you've been ill. There must be something going around as I've also been wiped since Thanksgiving, and I'm getting real bored of it. Burning the candle at both ends (and in the middle?!) doesn't help with recovery, either.

@doctorjest What do you mean by 'hold notice' - they've told you it's good but are waiting to compare to other pieces? 10 submissions in a month is awesome. What are you researching/going to read? I've just acquired The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface bt Donald Maass which I've heard is really good, and I have Characters and Viewpoint by OSC on reserve at my library. Looking forward to working on the craft without being at the keyboard over the winter break.

Accountability-wise: I rewrote my Q1 (which I thought was 'finished' but several critiquers pointed out it was 'driving to the story') and lost 1000 words: nearly a quarter of its length! And now it feels too short, and lacking a try-fail cycle, but I feel I've painted myself into a corner as there's so few things the MC could try to overcome the conflict they face. I'll work something out. Push comes to shove, I'll submit the last version for Q1. 

For this quarter I've been unbelievably slow haha. I'm loving the idea and I have everything plotted out but I feel as though I'm in a writing slump. I'm hoping once winter break comes around I'll get more motivation to just sit down and write. 13 days is plenty of time... hopefully.

I do know for sure that I'll get the story done and submitted but the question now is whether I'll be done in time to get feedback.

Posted by: @writhmic

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For this quarter I've been unbelievably slow haha. I'm loving the idea and I have everything plotted out but I feel as though I'm in a writing slump. I'm hoping once winter break comes around I'll get more motivation to just sit down and write. 13 days is plenty of time... hopefully.

I do know for sure that I'll get the story done and submitted but the question now is whether I'll be done in time to get feedback.

That's how I feel right now. I'm updating a previous HM, for the nth time, for a backup to the new Q1 story. I will continue to write new stories each quarter, but need to start submitting some of these older HMs to other markets to see if I get any bites.  

I swapped jobs in late 2021 which unfortunately meant my writing was on hold until July this year (when I changed jobs again to one that gave me more family and writing time). I found writing flash fiction got me back into writing, the satisfaction of starting and finishing a story really helps me, as well as then sending it out to markets. But I need to get back into the swing of revising existing stories, old HM and SHMs (and Rs) as well as developing new ones. I find I struggle to both get a new entry for WotF and work out the kinks in an old one simultaneously, which means I tend to only submit either to WotF in a quarter or revise and send to different markets. I need to work out how to do both to increase my output while maintaining the standard of writing I want to hit (and continuously improve that standard). I admire those who can, and it is inspiring to read posts from those who do and of their successes, and I think it shows I have ways to go on my own writing journey but we are all here at different points. That's the beauty of this forum, really, and what I gain most from it (as well as the shared critiques).

I'm aiming to submit to Q1 imminently, I'm about 99% there, and then my writing goal for 2023 is to hit the next three quarters to complete four submissions for Vol 40 (The 4 for 40 challenge?). Let's see how that goes. But, having others on the forum to spur you on does help, and this thread is a great idea.

@ease re your Q1 draft, that's kind of what happened to my Q4 submission. It ended up at barely 1,800 words and a story between flash and a short story. I feared it was too short but went ahead and submitted (mostly because I ran out of time to add more try-fail cycles, plot line B etc.) but was delighted (and very surprised) to get a SHM. While we all strive and dream of placing Top 3, after a R (which was a rewrite of a SHM! and then a newly created RWC), I was more than happy with a SHM as it is a sign that I am improving.

Posted by: @ease

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@doctorjest What do you mean by 'hold notice' - they've told you it's good but are waiting to compare to other pieces? 10 submissions in a month is awesome. What are you researching/going to read? I've just acquired The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface bt Donald Maass which I've heard is really good, and I have Characters and Viewpoint by OSC on reserve at my library. Looking forward to working on the craft without being at the keyboard over the winter break.

Hold notices vary by market and by how far the story has gone, but in essence, they are letting you know that the story has cleared one or more stages of reading, so you can expect it to be held by the market for a longer period of time. Right now, I have three active hold notices--one is with a market that'll decide from a pool of held stories by the end of the year, the second is with a market that's cleared all its readers and is waiting to see if the editor wants to use the story, and the last is a hold where it's cleared the first reader, and needs to go to the second reader / editor to finalize. The second of those is the one I was referring to earlier, but I actually got the last one after my previous post, and an acceptance this morning that isn't related to any of them!

For the research, I'm actually researching a specific place at a specific time in history--I'll not go into detail here as it'd link to specific details in my story, but I have two books on my reading desk that are related to the period and place. I already know about the core details that make it an important place for the story, but now I'm looking for story flesh, details to bring it to life a little more. The story's heart is already well established, so it won't change the direction, but it'll definitely aid the reader's sense of transportation.

Addendum -- Characters and Viewpoint was one of the first books on writing that I really dove into. It's a book I would eagerly recommend. And The Emotional Craft of Fiction is next to my reading chair, sitting on top of that same volume of WotF that you just recently acquired! But at the moment, when it comes to pure writing, my go-to book has been Jeff VanderMeer's Wonderbook. I think it may be my favourite book on writing ever, but it's quite different, and certainly suits my mad-scientist approach to most things.

I finally finished my Q1 today! Going to read and edit tomorrow then submit. I cut half the words of my unfinished first draft, realizing I didn’t need all the pretty prose. I’m going to edit it like I critique someone else’s story, so that’ll help me be more objective. I’m happy it’s done. It turned out different from what I imagined and the story turned a bit darker and scary. Hopefully, it’s good enough. 

Then on to ZBN’s Artifice, and Game On entries. I’ve still got 10 days. I can do this. 

@annax Dark is great, just make sure you have that "happy uptick" at the end! John Goodwin has called it a requirement on the podcast multiple times. Oh, and it has to be Middle Grade appropriate. I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse but just want to be safe 😀 

But congratulations, that's awesome! Best of luck with your ZNB entries. You can definitely do this!

I want to do one too but beta-reading V39 is taking my every moment of spare time (which are few and far between anyway as half my team at work are away 😔 - I drove for seven hours yesterday jumping between all of our work sites, and that doesn't even count the actual work I did).

@doctorjest Boundless congratulations for the acceptance! And those holds sound promising too! I hope you'll let us know when we go can read your published stories. 😁 I like the sound of that research. My Q3 was set in 1920s America so I read The Great Gatsby ~20 times just to try to absorb some of the style, as well as scouring over every article about the 20s I could find on the Internet.

Addendum - it sounds like I have no choice but to get Wonderbook as our libraries are otherwise in sync! How have you got on with your stack of to-read? I read one short (I bet you can guess which) from that volume and the first chapter on Maass, but then beta-reading took over my reading time.

@joel-c-scoberg I wouldn't be surprised if Kary or Dave recognize(d) a story they'd give it an R out of efficiency (they're looking for any excuse to cull stories with 1000s of submissions), especially if they notice the same issue that prevented it from running before. 

Congratulations on the SHM! Feel great, doesn't it? Last Q was my first SHM (and after five consecutive HMs it definitely felt like a trend of improvement).

When you were last in the thread your Q1 was 99% done - it's it done done, now? 😁

Posted by: @ease

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@doctorjest Boundless congratulations for the acceptance! And those holds sound promising too! I hope you'll let us know when we go can read your published stories. 😁 I like the sound of that research. My Q3 was set in 1920s America so I read The Great Gatsby ~20 times just to try to absorb some of the style, as well as scouring over every article about the 20s I could find on the Internet.

Most of my stories only require bits and pieces of fringe research--either a science detail for accuracy, or a specific linguistic or mythological reference for thematic notes, for the most part. But this one needed quite a lot more than that! I've completed all the research-driven changes now, though, and I'm into the final revisions and polish. There's quite a bit of that too, but it'll be ready in time. I hadn't planned to submit before the 30th anyway!

And yes, I'll share links when I have them, though this last one likely won't be available as a free read--it went to an epub/print magazine. It's actually a reprint of a story that's no longer available to read, which was also the first story I ever had published (though technically my second sale)--the market that took it has been offline now for some years. I still like the story quite a bit, though, so I'm glad it found a new home. I'll throw up the link in the Success thread for any story that gets published, though, regardless.

@ease my Q1 is done done and submitted, I avoided the 31 December rush for once!

Youre definitely right, getting an SHM is an awesome feeling. And you moving from HM to SHM is a great step forward after vey respectable consistency at HM for 5 entries, congratulations. Getting into the top 50 or so stories is not easy, well done. It's also encouraging to see progress as a writer and makes me think it's not impossible to keep progressing toward a podium finish one day. There's been great success among forumites recently - so here's to hoping there'll be more of us continuing that success in v40  

Staying in touch as we grind up closer to the end of the year...

- 12 subs to pro or semi-pro markets in December (1 acceptance, 1 hold, 5 rejections, 5 others outstanding)
- Q1 story is completed, pending some feedback for the opening, and some minor revisions
- Q2 is also ready to roll
- Revisited novel draft notes to start prep for 2023

After giving it some thought, I'm actually planning to peel back from a focus on short-story work from the start of 2023, until I'm happy with the state I've been able to get my novel project into, which is a significant part of why I've made sure to have Q2 queued up ahead of time. Q3 will have to take care of itself for now, at least until I'm able to step back from the novel and feel like I'm satisfied with where it's at.

@doctorjest Brilliant! Awesome idea to get Q2 done so you can work on the novel. Can you tell us anything about it? Genre, length, tag-line, etc?

After facing query-hell at the beginning of the year, I'm turning how I write novels on its head fit my next one. Everything is going backwards.

I'm going to write my query first. Then some Twitter-style pitches. Then my synopsis (starting with the end). Then I'll plot/write it. Not sure which first.

I gotta follow your lead and get on top of my short story game before all that though! 

Posted by: @ease

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@doctorjest Brilliant! Awesome idea to get Q2 done so you can work on the novel. Can you tell us anything about it? Genre, length, tag-line, etc?

After facing query-hell at the beginning of the year, I'm turning how I write novels on its head fit my next one. Everything is going backwards.

I'm going to write my query first. Then some Twitter-style pitches. Then my synopsis (starting with the end). Then I'll plot/write it. Not sure which first.

I gotta follow your lead and get on top of my short story game before all that though!

Tag-line no, but I know the through-line for it. And for length, only broadly--I can tell from the scope of the story that it's definitely novel-length, not novella, novelette, or short, and it won't be 50k or anything like that, but whether it will land at 80k or 180k is up in the air for now. Previous novel drafts for mine fall in the 90-110k range, so I could guess there, but this story has more depth than my previous ones, and I don't know how that will affect it. I can't derive it from scenes or outlines, as I'm not big into making outlines, but once I know all the characters, what everyone wants, and what the world-state is when the story begins, everything can flow from there without me needing one.

Genre, though, is something I can touch on! It's sketched out to be broadly fantasy with some steampunk veins running through it. The original idea was an alternate history setting, actually, and I did quite a chunk of research that actually pinned it down to a specific year and month in history for me to start the story--but I decided to ditch that for at least the first draft, as I think I can get more from a full secondary world setting for this particular story. If I do decide the alternate history is better, though, it won't significantly alter the story itself, due to there being enough similarities between the secondary world concept and the original world setting I'd considered.

If I don't move it there, I'll almost certainly write another alternate-history story in that setting in the future.

The idea of inverting it is an interesting one! I've tried a number of approaches to novel-writing, including very thorough outlining (such as used by James Patterson, with enough scene details that you could hand off to a ghost-writer), but I find nothing works for me so well as knowing the pieces and the stakes, and then writing the story first-time at the time of writing, probably not least because I enjoy my writing much more that way! I know every writer is different, when it comes to these elements, but this feels like the best way for me to work.

Update!

Yay! I got my Q1 in, and I managed to get in three of the Zombies Need Brains submissions! 

I didn't do the last one because it's solar flare and I honestly don't understand what solar flare is and anything about it. It doesn't make sense to me so I'll just try to keep reading stories about it and see if I can understand later.

But I feel happy about my Q1, happy about my three submissions, and hopefully will get some good results. I got to write some dark things for ZNB Artifice and Craft and for Game On, so that also helped me to get unstuck just writing fantasy and science fiction.

I wish everyone the best of luck! I cheer for all of you too! Go forumites! ^-^

That sounds great, @doctorjest. I look forward to hearing more as you progress. Your way is pretty much how I wrote the last one I wrote, and I agree about it being one of the most enjoyable ways to write. 

@annax, congratulations! That's brilliant. Fingers crossed for you and all four submissions. Their description of solar flare was pretty much exactly my understanding of solarpunk, so I treated it as such.

Everyone else, four days left! You got this. I know you can all get something great submitted. 

If there's anyone needing a fresh set of eyes on a story, PM me.

Two days left! That's twice as long as @wulfmoon wrote his winning story! Pen to paper, tips to keys, you got this.

Update. 

I have 9 stories out doing the rounds. Three waiting for markets to open, including q2, two waiting for edits and a couple that need some trimming before they can go back out again. 

I'm about 15% through editing a novel too. 

Posted by: @pdblake

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Update. 

I have 9 stories out doing the rounds. Three waiting for markets to open, including q2, two waiting for edits and a couple that need some trimming before they can go back out again. 

I'm about 15% through editing a novel too. 

Wow. Congrats! That’s a lot of stories. I’m proud of you. 😊 Best of luck!

Update

This month I got Q1 submitted and five other stories submitted elsewhere. One’s been rejected, and one has been passed along to the editor because the first person really liked it. Hopefully that leads to good things!🤞Thanks to those of you who posted about your submissions and motivated me. I hope this quarter goes well for all of you!

@kz_richards great work! That's a fantastic achievement. Will keep my fingers crossed for that piece on hold.

Everyone else, get those Q1s in! Only a couple hours left! 

Happy New Year, everyone! 😊

My goal for this quarter is to:

1. Do a Q2 entry

2. Enter the Resnick contest

3. Write at least one KYD every month (3+)

4. Enter at least 2 other contests/submissions per month (6+)

So total, I’ll be entering at least 8+ contests/submissions per month (including Q2 WotF and Resnick), and writing at least 3+ KYDs

That’s 11 new stories I’ll be writing, at least  (Technically 9 since I already started on Q2 and on Resnick).

Lets make this our best year yet! 🥰

I'm in, I'm in, I'm in! I honestly wasn't sure I'd make it in this quarter. In the past three days I wrote almost 10 thousand words of my story making it my longest short story yet and I only had time for one pass through for edits. Somehow, though, I'm feeling confident this story will get at least an SHM. It's one of my best yet and I feel like the quality of my prose has increased to the point where edits now are mainly for minor grammar issues and less for content issues. That's not to say there aren't content issues in this story, though, haha, but at least they're minor (dare I say overlookable?).

Kind of interestingly, last night as I was writing, I spotted a ladybug on the wall near me. That was the first time I've seen a ladybug in my house, let alone in the winter. Maybe it's a lucky sign?? Fingers-crossed things go well with this story and good luck to everyone else!

Congratulations @writhmic. Knew you could do it. 

@annax - thank you for sharing your Q2 goal. 11 new stories is a lot, but I'm certain you can do it!

@ajschultz6, @clfors, @doctorjest, @pdblake, @kz_richards, @toddjones, @joel-c-scoberg, @storysinger - What are your goals for Q2? 

And I hope everyone got their Q1s in! Fingers crossed we have a Q1 winner from the forum, toes crossed its someone from this thread!