Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS Workshop & Challenge!

Am I seeing things right? The challenge is open for all to participate in here? In here?

I am in!

@wulfmoon I'm up for your challenge even though I'm not one of your top gunners, I'll look for guidance on prompts and where to post. I'm looking forward to learning lots. Best regards, Amy  

@wulfmoon Count me in for the challenge 😉 

@wulfmoon I’m in. Though I am freaked out by #4 on your list, not gonna lie.

😬 

Posted by: @ceciblack

@wulfmoon I’m in. Though I am freaked out by #4 on your list, not gonna lie.

😬 

Ceci, you aren’t in if you don’t put your blood oath on the wall—you can still back out if you wish. No curse will befall you. 😊 The act of signing up before onlookers adds important accountability, and even though it’s a personal challenge this year, I will ask at the end of Qs who is still living up to their oath. Don’t do this if you don’t feel you can make it. It should be fun motivation, not stressful obligation. But those that do it will grow, and that’s what leveling up is. Marked growth.

Cheers!

Beastmaster Moon

@wulfmoon 

*scrawls name in blood on wall* I’m in for v39. 

Posted by: @linardos

@wulfmoon Count me in for the challenge 😉 

Welcome to the forum Akis! Glad you’re here. Don’t forget to drop a note on the ‘Introductions’ thread so folks can get to know you.

This challenge year is going to be awesome!

I'm in for the challenge!!

It's GREAT to see so many people taking up the challenge for V39. 

It's a big commitment with big rewards. 

For those doing the monthly KYD challenge, and for anyone needing a writing spark, here is your MONDAY WRITING PROMPT:

Dead Drop.

You know the drill!

Kill those darlings!!! If you need more help with that, go back and read the Super Secret on the exercise. And if that's not enough, read my upcoming article "Wulf Moon's Super Secrets: KYD: Kill Your Darlings!" coming out October 17th in DreamForge Anvil magazine!

Cheers!

Beastmaster Moon

P.S.: I just saw the illustration for my KYD article. I can't share it with you yet, but it's cool! All I can say is, "ROCK ME, AMADEUS!"

I'm in!

I'm off to the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Workshop and Gala, along with two of our Super Secrets Workshop member winners that can make it this year--Leah Ning and Brittany Rainsdon! 

Contest coordinator Joni has invited me out to write the daily blog on the writers' side of things. I'm also a guest speaker on Marketing Day. That was my favorite day when I went--lightning rounds with industry professionals giving us their unique take on the business side of writing. It's like drinking from a firehose! 

I hope you'll follow along with the winners each day as they enjoy the workshop. You know I'll sneak in writing tips shared, so don't miss it! Starts this weekend, and I'm guessing the blog will go live on the Writers of the Future website this Sunday. Culminates in the grand Hollywood award ceremony on Friday, October 22nd! Don't miss the live-streamed event and cheer your fellow forumites on as they give their award speeches and receive their hard-earned trophies! Check the website for the exact time. It's the Oscars of Science Fiction and Fantasy!

Would you like to read my 24-hour story that I wrote in the Writers of the Future Workshop? For each of us, Tim Powers pulled from a top hat our magical, mystical, totally spectacular items that would ignite our passion and inspire wondrous stories of mystery, intrigue, and suspense. Naturally, mine was a TOTALLY WHITE 3X5 INDEX CARD! And then we were turned out in the streets of Hollywood to interview a stranger--mine proved to be a Hispanic food truck operator's daughter that was from Nebraska. Walking back on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it all came together. Sentient Hollywood buildings for the win! Alas, I was so busy when I came back from the workshop, I put the story aside, but then I saw this pro-rate anthology and knew I had the perfect fit. It sold the first time out! 

See how you can make anything work by reading "Sophie’s Parisian Stationery & Parfumerie Magnifique" in Third Flatiron's THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE. Kindle version is available now, trade paperback follows shortly. Top Gun member Emily Dauvin has her first sale in this book as well! Don't miss it! 

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR COPY!

Finally, for two weeks now I've had the open call to do this year's self-directed Super Secrets Workshop challenge. It's time for me to shut the doors. Don't worry, onlookers can still follow along. I count around eleven that have signed up, plus the Top Gun year members are staying with us until Q4 announcements come in. Thank you to all that officially joined by putting your blood on the Wall of Oaths! I will be keeping my eye on you, it's not going to be entirely self-directed. This gives you two more weeks to get your month's requirements done. Put it on your calendar, don't miss a month, because I will be doing a roll call now and then to see who is still standing! Write hard, have fun, keep learning, and I'll see you on that Hollywood stage!

And since I won't be here next week, here's your Monday prompt for October 18th:

LAKE OF THE SERPENT

There you go! SEE YOU IN HOLLYWOOD AT THE WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE LIVE-STREAMED AWARD CEREMONY!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW SO YOU DON'T MISS IT!

Commander "Beastmaster" Moon

"Sophie's Parisian Stationery & Parfumerie Magnifique" is wonderful! Such a creative use of a blank 3x5 card!! Love this story!

Posted by: @crlisle

"Sophie's Parisian Stationery & Parfumerie Magnifique" is wonderful! Such a creative use of a blank 3x5 card!! Love this story!

Thank you, Candice! The WotF Workshop teaches you in that 24-hour exercise that you can pull rabbits out of a hat when you have to. We have much more potential within us than we realize. Glad you enjoyed the result!

If anyone else would like to see what you can do in 24-hours with the most uninspiring writing prompt I can think of LOL, here's where to order the anthology the story is in! Includes our own Top Gun member's story by Emily Dauvin! Her first published story! Woo-hoo!

https://bit.ly/MoonFeather

@wulfmoon Can't wait to read your blog posts from Hollywood!  

The current issue of Dreamforge Anvil actually has a story named "Kill Your Darlings".

(@alexvss)The current issue of Dreamforge Anvil actually has a story named "Kill Your Darlings".

I read A J Mietke's Kill Your Darlings.

The French phrase used totally disrupted the story.

After I finished I looked up the meaning, then went back to the story to see if it was revealed, it wasn't.

So why didn't he just say (hell is other people) in English?

It's a creative take on the whole KYD experience.

Posted by: @alexvss

The current issue of Dreamforge Anvil actually has a story named "Kill Your Darlings".

The current DFA also has an article on Kill Your Darlings.

The WotF Daily Blog is up. Day one has ended, Day Two has just begun! We're off to ASI HQ! Mecca for hopeful SF writers!!!

@storysinger I haven't read it yet, but Hell is other people was originally written in French, since its author, Jean Paul Sartre, was a philosopher from France. I think a footnote would suffice.

@wulfmoon I just read the article. Really useful. Thank you. But I have an observation. It's about topic #3. Infodumps. You said that it's no fun when the author stops the story mid-action to dump information, and I agree, but I've seen many stories that do just that. Editors seem to like this structure, as they're always buying it. Some big magazines have at least one story per issue with that exact same structure.

I was discussing this in another forum just the other day, and some people noticed that too. The story will start off in a frenetic action scene, that goes on for some paragraphs, and then it will stop to explain how the characters got there.

Takes this story as an example: Escape Pod Episode 800: Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death, by N.K. Jemisin. She's the first author to ever win the Hugo three times in a row, and she's doing exactly what you told not to do (before you say it: no, she's not playing with the structure. Nor is she breaking it. She just wrote a competent story with that structure).

I know that outlier examples will always exist, but I've seen this structure published in pro-rate magazines one too many times to call it a coincidence. And I'm not critizicing you either. As I said, I always roll my eyes when I read stories like that.

PS: nice Falco reference there btw. I used to listen to him a lot!

Alex:

I would never presume to speak for Wulf Moon, and I never will, but I'm fairly certain there's a distinction between "info dumps," and "exposition."

I forget which of the WOTF Judges stated this in their online course, but I remember one of them said you don't need to be afraid of exposition; you just need to know how to use it.

An "info dump" could be, "Well, as you know, Miranda, the spacecraft has three cylinder pods stacked with highly-enriched uranium, and they're stored against the west wall." That would not be acceptable.

On the other hand, exposition is occasionally needed to guide the reader toward things he or she would never in a million years arrive at on their own. The three best ways to interject exposition are with 1) The military briefing, the meeting, is a great example of exposition, and 2) The puppet/ the one who doesn't understand and needs explanation/ the new recruit on the block who doesn't understand established protocol. 3) Dialogue during an argument.

As opposed to an info dump: "Why are you late today, Charlie?"

                                           "I'm late because, as you know, Jane, we were supposed to go to the seminar an hour ago. You know the one - the lecture on assembling jewelry in Idaho, on the night of the full moon. Then later, we were headed to meet the vampires."

Best,

Retro

(@wulfmoon)The WotF Daily Blog is up. Day one has ended, Day Two has just begun! We're off to ASI HQ! Mecca for hopeful SF writers!!!

In the pictures on the blog I count fifteen people. If this event is for v36 and v37, shouldn't there be twice as many?

@storysinger The international winners couldn’t attend due to covid, there are a few absent because of other health or family things too. I believe they’ll be rolling them into future workshops instead, as things hopefully improve. 

Thank you Rebecca, I wondered what the reason was. Covid sure is altering everyone's existence.

Posted by: @rschibler

@storysinger The international winners couldn’t attend due to covid, there are a few absent because of other health or family things too. I believe they’ll be rolling them into future workshops instead, as things hopefully improve. 

Becky is correct. Those that couldn’t attend this year are invited to next year’s event. And for all those waiting for Q3 results, it will be a minimum of two more weeks, and more likely longer. No questions please, just chill and write your next story!

Posted by: @wulfmoon

Posted by: @rschibler

@storysinger The international winners couldn’t attend due to covid, there are a few absent because of other health or family things too. I believe they’ll be rolling them into future workshops instead, as things hopefully improve. 

Becky is correct. Those that couldn’t attend this year are invited to next year’s event. And for all those waiting for Q3 results, it will be a minimum of two more weeks, and more likely longer. No questions please, just chill and write your next story!

    

No worries on my end. Plenty of things to do besides twitching. I'm glad the gala week seems to be going well. Am loving the pictures and blog! Helps me to picture what it would be like, 😉 Working on carving more writing time!

@alexvss  I stand by what I wrote. Infodumps are deadly to pacing. Judicious sharing of information will serve you much better than pages of exposition on your science tech, cool magical laws, research on your favorite lizard, and any number of wiki dumps inserted into your manuscript. Scot Noel, the editor of DreamForge, agrees. He told me the two most common reasons he rejects stories are infodumps (especially in the beginning pages), and lack of character agency. It's why I wrote those articles for him. It's why he paid me for them. It's why he published them.

How is everyone enjoying the daily blogs on the winners? I stuffed Day 3 with writing tips from the workshop. You would do well to write some of those down. Advanced info was shared by David Farland and Tim Powers. Don't miss it!

Cheers!

Beastmaster Moon

@wulfmoon 

I've just caught up on the blogs this morning. There were some seriously good tips on Day 3. It sounds like an incredible event, even more so considering it is FREE to enter! My word, I hope one day I can be there to enjoy it in person.