Tag Archive for: writing contest

Molly Elizabeth Atkins, author of “Obsidian Spire”

It seems to me that Molly Elizabeth Atkins is in the middle of a transition. She’s a published finalist in the 33rd Annual Writers of the Future anthology, of course. It’s her first time in print. Her story is titled “Obsidian Spire” and tells the tale of a young swordfighter dealing with fables and trying […]

Ziporah Hildebrandt, author of “The Long Dizzy Down”

Despite being a bit quiet on first meeting, it only took a moment to determine Ziporah Hildebrandt is a free spirit. She is the kind of person who wears print skirts that flow around her like a magic cloud. Her smile is big and infectious. When she speaks, she uses words like healing and energy […]

Writers & Illustrators Workshop Wrap-Up

At the beginning of the week, I had said that this was a contest like no other and that remains true today, as this is the largest on-going contest for Writers and Illustrators in Science Fiction and Fantasy. In 2013 I was a winner in Volume 29, it was my first entry and I…

Writers of the Future Workshop 2017 – Day 6

Saturday is essentially a “Cavalcade of Stars.” For the winners, this means that today they don’t have to go anywhere except the classroom, but about every hour or so a new judge stops by to give them something new to think about (luckily, the brains of the winners are infinite storage cells for all the […]

Writers of the Future Workshop 2017 – Day 5

The group is dragging a bit today. If you’ve read yesterday’s blog, you’re not surprised by this. It’s been a couple jam-packed days and late nights in a row. “I think I hit a wall today,” said Ziporah Hildebrandt (2nd place, Q4). Of course, you couldn’t tell it by the way she went about the […]

Writers of the Future Workshop 2017 – Day 4

Welcome to Due Date Thursday. Stories are to be turned in no later than 4:00 PM. No exceptions. That’s the tough news. The super-cool news is that this is also Writer-Meets-Illustrator Thursday, meaning that after the work is done, each writer is going to finally see their stories as interpreted through the eyes of a […]

Writers of the Future Workshop 2017 – Day 3

A subdued tension hangs in the air this morning. Yesterday’s conversations about craft have been absorbed, and the collection of this year’s winners have spent the night with the knowledge of their story objects working their way into their psyches. They’ve shared moments. They’ve gotten comfortable with each other. This morning they know the learning […]

Writers of the Future Workshop 2017 – Day 1

After as long as a year’s wait, fourteen writers (and one illustrator!) from around the world descended on Los Angeles today as the 33rd Annual Writers of the Future workshop commenced. They came from Finland, and from Utah. From Poland, and Kentucky. From the United Kingdom, Michigan, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Missouri, and, yes, even California. […]

Writers of the Future Judge Robert J. Sawyer on “The Length of a Story to Submit to the Contest”

Robert J. Sawyer, is one of eight writers in history—and the only Canadian—to win all three of the science fiction field’s top awards for best novel of the year (the Hugo, the Nebula and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.) He also just received the 2017 Robert A. Heinlein Award for “outstanding published works in […]

Writing Advice from a Legend-Honoring Frank Herbert-Our Dear Friend and Judge  (1920-1986)

The single most important piece of advice I ever got was to concentrate on story. What is “story”? It’s…