WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

Glad to have you guys aboard! Life last year kicked me hard, so I completely understand if any of us miss out on some, or a significant portion of these exercises. Still would love to hear about what is accomplished.

All right, czing and storysinger, I've got my challenge posted in the Writing Craft forum. And if anyone else wants to join me, feel free.

I posted in the Q1 thread that I was going to do a challenge in November of doing a 20-30 min writing exercise every day, and some people said they'd be interested in following along. So, this is my plan. Any and all are welcome to join in. Feel free to adapt it to whatever situation fits your needs...

Getting back reader's responses for my Q3 entry. Nice to see such a clear reason for the R - the beginning was too confusing. I can fix that.

I'd love to get a discussion going. I found discussing exercises with others helps me to see things about the writing process I didn't realize. Most of the exercises I've found are online, so that would help anyone who wanted to join. I can start a new topic once I've chosen all the ones I want to do.

That sounds like a good challenge you are taking on. There are some good writing exercises in Ursula K LeGuin's Steering the Craft. Yeah, I'll be doing a couple from there. Right now I'm eying the ones that say to write a descriptive passage without adjectives and adverbs, and to cut a piece by hal...

My next question was actually going to be about critiquing. :) I really like Mary Robinette Kowal's guide to training your internal editor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgFE2W9qICo Specifically, a writer should ask those they are critiquing to address their reactions to things, which fall into 4...

Ah yes, forgot about the email wonkiness. PM sent.

Sent you an email.

What disgruntledpeony said. I know I am bad at evaluating my own work, but my error tends to be in thinking its better than it actually is instead of the other way around. Hence my many rejections. Rather than focus on new/revising, I think my challenge is going to focus on developing specific skill...

I've submitted every quarter for three years, but the last two rejections hit my mental health hard. I think its time to reconsider my submission process. I need to focus on quality over quantity, which means I'll submit my next story when I have done everything to make it absolutely ready, not bec...

I've submitted every quarter for three years, but the last two rejections hit my mental health hard. I think its time to reconsider my submission process. I need to focus on quality over quantity, which means I'll submit my next story when I have done everything to make it absolutely ready, not beca...

Got a rejection. That's the fourth in a row for me. It's hard not to feel like my writing's getting worse. I'll blame it on competition getting stiffer. Congrats to those placing!

In order to alleviate the fear of revising making things worse, I always save the old draft in another file. That way, I can always go back and restore what I broke. In practice, I've never actually done that, though I have sometimes gone back to look at how I had things previously, like if I accide...

girlinglasses, thank you for pointing out your perception of my tone in a nondefensive way. It does help me see that I let my frustrations of a lack of counerpoint get the better of me. I started a thread in the craft section of the forum - first topic is discussing different methods of rewriting. I...

My first question for the forumites: How do you structure your revisions? I've seen some authors will do multiple passes, focusing on one skill at a time (character, description, theme, etc.) I tried this once. I feel like it didn't do much beyond my normal method (described below). Possibly this is...

wow, that sounds like a horrible contract. Pro magazines don't ask for that much stuff. SFWA has some examples of what a good contract looks like. Generally, the more rights a company wants, the more they should pay you for it, and it sounds like they're not even paying you pro rates.

I have two things that help me.
1. Work on the next story.
2. Have a plan for what to do with the submission once I get results, whether that's knowing what market to send it to next, or how to tackle revisions when it comes back.

I'm happy to make this thread a discussion of revision strategies. I agree with you on the "who am I to offer writing advice anyway" since I haven't sold pro yet, but I do know what it takes for me to feel confident enough to send something into markets beyond WOTF where you can't resubmit...

Is Wulf doing this to benefit us? Yes, I believe that is his goal. I'm just pointing out that for me, his tips are doing the opposite. Yes, some writers publish 2-3 books a year. But others only publish 1 book every 2-3 years. Some make a living by writing fast. Others by writing more thoughtfully. ...

No. It was:

TITLE
by reigheena

story text

I don't think they look in the properties of the file.

*Brings the marshmallows* Well, my last submission was disqualified due to me forgetting to delete the byline from the manuscript. Can't get worse than that, right? ;)

Wulf, I did not mean my post as an attack. I thought I was being fair by sharing when I thought writing new stories was good. I apologize my intentions were not clear. I am not asking for an end to the super secret challenge, but I do feel like there is a bias on this forum against revision that pre...

And I am in as of a few minutes ago. Now to start draft 2 of my Q1 story.

It's been a long time since I've been on the forum, due to life and password issues. To be honest, I'm glad I took a break, because if I had been active, I would have been ticked off by Wulf Moon's constant pressure to write FRESH ORIGINAL STORIES. Is it good to write new stories? Absolutely. Workin...

R for me. It's the third in a row, which hurts after the HM and SHM I've gotten. So since this one hasn't gotten any critical feedback at all, it's off to critters I go.

Whew. The only reason I submitted this quarter was this goal. I didn't get the chance to get this story critiqued, so it may still be horribly confusing, but I like it.

And I am in. Now to take the rest of the quarter off. :)

Revisions are coming together, so it looks like I'll have something to submit. It just won't be as polished as I would like, especially since I haven't had time to get any critiques.

No one wants to admit it, huh? Fine, I will. I got a rejection. Flash fiction, so wasn't expecting it to do well, but I hoped.

Off to find a more suitable market.