WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

Reading in this old thread and concerned it may be time to follow up. When I submitted via email to Galaxy's Edge, I never received an automated confirmation. At the time of submission it said "wait 3 weeks," but now says "wait 4 weeks" to inquire. It's been that and change, but...

I have since gotten in contact with Joni, though, and she's confirmed that my stories for both Q4 and Q1 were received, so yay! Now I'll just have to keep an eye on that pesky subconscious mind of mine... >.> Hannah, Were you ever able to figure out why you didn't get any of the submission confirma...

Thomas Woodward wrote:Would anyone be up for a quick 450 exchange before the end of this month? Please PM me if interested.

Hi Thomas,

I saw you note and, unfortunately, I'm WAY behind on writing so won't be able to critique/review anyone else's work this quarter.


~Morgan

One of the exercises I've found to be helpful is to find a story--or a passage of a story--that was done very well. Then I go through and try to deconstruct what made it so effective: what words did the author use, how did he arrange their order, what senses were involved, etc. It's a pretty fun act...

The other aspect to consider is that artificial gravity has become such a trope in science fiction that you probably don't need to explain it at all. Whenever I read a story that has people walking around inside starships or moons or asteroid bases, I just assume there's some sort of machinery to ge...

Going to rewrite my HM for this one, which gives me lots of time to just polish. The story is done, only I think I may have to kill somebody. It's impossible to tell what was wrong with the story, since there's no feedback. My first hypothesis is always going to default to, "Maybe not enough p...

At the risk of going into religion... For the love of God, why in the hell would you ever consider going to an agent? I can kind of understand...sort of...going with a trad pub deal. Maybe. If you're desperate for validation and don't care to make money. But an agent??? Are you trying to have your ...

When you find yourself in that position of wondering whether you're still eligible to enter the contest, you can always send a note to Joni and ask. Include the word count of the stories you've sold, who bought the stories, and how much they paid you. She'll let you know.

Once in a very great while a story will arrive whole and complete, and all I have to do is draft it all out. Then it's a cycle of reading, thinking, revising, and rewriting until I feel like it's good enough. Most of the time though, all I get is a brief glimpse of an idea. The hard part for me is a...

Nice way to give an old story a new twist, Will. Congrats!


~Morgan

Thanks everyone!

Hey all, I'm doing the 52 Week Story Challenge (thanks again Phillip McCollum!) and posting the stories on my website. Not a lot of traffic there: maybe a couple members of my family and a few friends, if I'm lucky. Can I still submit these stories for publication elsewhere? I can't seem to find any...

Solid advice from everyone above, and I wholeheartedly agree. A couple more points I'll throw in: 1) Make sure YOU are happy with the story before you send it out to others for a review. There's no point in making other people point out something you already know is an issue. I never send a first dr...

I write on my lunch hour during the day. I usually head over to the library or Panera or Starbucks and TYPE TYPE TYPE. Depending on how soon I wake up before my alarm goes off in the morning, I might also get another thirty or sixty minutes in before work too. In all, at least one hour a day, someti...

I feel drained after writing my Q4 story. I took it easy the middle 2 quarters of this year but Q4 I went all in. Usually I finish a story bored and ready to move onto something more exciting but this time I am not sure what comes next. I need some time. I am in a weird transitional stage where I a...

I say as long as the story can stand on its own, with its own story and character arc, and it's told vividly with an original voice, then GO FOR IT!

~Morgan

I've sold three HMs. Heck, there are people who've sold Rs. That's pretty awesome. I've gotten into the odd habit of wondering how some of the pro stories I've come across would fare on Dave's desk--and how some of the WotF stories would fare on, say, Neil Clarke or C.C. Finlay's desk. You really n...

DylCary wrote:Thanks for the responses, everyone! Now to spend all of the next few weeks answering every unnamed caller I receive. Goodie

I wouldn't get too worked up about it. As KD mentioned, if Joni calls and can't reach you, she'll leave a message and you can call her back.


~Morgan

Here's Dave's latest blog post: https://mystorydoctor.com/how-to-bore-an-editor-to-death/ Happy to say that I don't think I'm guilty of any of these in my Q3. So glad that Dave is alright and recovered from his hospital stay! I just read this. I think my Q3 might pass, but my Q4 is totally screwed....

Hi guys, I'm new. My name's Will, and I'm excited to meet you all. I've been a wannabe writer since like 2011, but only in the past year have I really buckled down and gotten seriously (and only within the past year have I started seeing some success!) Welcome, Will. Strap in and hold on tight; it'...

Phew! Okay thanks. That's one less thing to stress about. Since I do my writing directly in Word on a computer/iPad Pro, and I don't convert for Kindle or Nook, I'm going to assume I'm okay.

~Morgan

about this, i'm not sure if you check, but if you look at the file author, some ppl forget to remove their author tags in MS word. Can someone explain what this means? "File author"? "Author tags"? Does this mean all of our personal information under the File > Info section of W...

How much are you charging, Orbivillein? lol


~Morgan

Here are my favorite free learn to write references on the internet: Writing Insights Part One: Becoming a Writer http://amazonauthorinsights.com/post/165774835635/writing-insights-part-one-becoming-a-writer?ref_=aai_fp_wr Writing Insights Part Two: The Rough Draft http://amazonauthorinsights.com/p...

That is a gorgeous cover!


~Morgan

vjalrik wrote:I have a 1500 word story I'd like another set of eyes on, with say a one week turnaround so I can still get it submitted this quarter. If you've got a short piece and can get some general impressions back quick, I'd be happy to swap!

PM sent!


~Morgan

I'm going to be submitting my 1st story on wotf this quarter. It has some downer portions and doesn't end on the highest note. From what I've read in vol 34, all the stories have generally happy endings. Does this mean stories without happy endings don't stand a chance? Good writing to everyone! wo...

I wonder if Kary lets those quarterly love letters to Dave slip through anyway just to mess with him. Then she just sits back and laughs and laughs...


~Morgan

Dang! So close! I had a story that was being held for consideration by a semi-pro magazine. I sent them a follow-up after their deadline had passed for getting back to me. The editor told me it's a strong story; they just can't use it at this time. But . . . he also said if the story hasn't sold by...

Just my opinion, but it seems to me if they want to see shorter stories, perhaps the word count limit in the rules should be lowered to, say, 10K max?


~Morgan