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I love printing out stories for editing porpoises.

I read this, saved it on my computer, and have reread it twice since then. The benefits? I just produced a story that is probably the cleanest copy I've ever managed. I could hear the polish on it when I, as Wulf and others have suggested, read it aloud. The downside? Well, every time I start to ty...

Great advice moon, doing my best to avoid info-dumps. I am also working to shorten the average length of my stories. I finished a 3K draft of a fresh story for Q2, so that's 2 out of 4 for me in this challenge. I will let the story stew for a while before doing final revisions, but I like it so far....

RSchibler wrote:Naw, see, now you have time to have TWO stories ready to submit. Or three! Or write that novel we all have in the back of our minds.

Haha, after I catch up on reading.

I have a 3K draft done for this quarter. Now I can sit on it 'til march.

Wulf Moon wrote:But if you want to see him tug your heart strings while telling a beautiful children's tale, read THE WEE FREE MEN. In the same vein is THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN.

~Moon~

I will check these out. Thanks.

Thanks Moon and Preston! I'll do my best to be concise. My Q2 story is looking short, somewhere between 3K and 6K The thing with Pratchett is, if you took out all the humour, it'd still be good. Not all humour writers do that, including a good many pretty successful ones. I think that's why it never...

Wulf Moon wrote:
Assume nothing, and you'll always be safe.

Haha, thanks.

Do you have an opinion on word count? Which word count pairs best with a rich title and robust intro? There's gotta be a word count range the judges have a bias towards. Here I go with assumptions again.

Just a thought on HMs. An HM means a story for sure had a good opening two pages, and most likely, a good ending page as well. If you've read slush, you know what I'm talking about. It doesn't necessarily mean it was read through and through. An editor (or judge) will only read until they get throw...

I'm in, and with a completely fresh story!

I'm in with a fresh story!

Oy! Put me down for the full challenge. Fresh stories all the way through. I started writing my Q1 story a couple days ago and I am working hard to finish it right now. I took a break to read the story of your winning sub Moon, and its beautiful. I hope I get to experience something like that one da...

Honestly, I think some of that just comes down to what works for each individual writer. I don't think I'll ever nail a first draft, although I'd love to prove myself wrong. wotf001 I'm starting to get better about figuring out what stories need, but outside critiques definitely help me. Critiques ...

There's no way I can nail a first draft yet, tried that twice this year and ended up R. Maybe in a few years. I need to get better at subtext. These are fun to read keep em coming Moon.

Just don't let this concept bog you down so much you don't get your first draft completed. If it's already done and you're ready to edit, go for it! Don't psyche yourself out, is what I'm trying to say. (Your writing methods may be different than mine, but I've learned the hard way that my first dr...

Thanks for sharing your insights with us Moon. I have achieved a few hooks in the past, and I think I have been able to string along a series of hooks towards the end of my stories to build the pace to decent finales. Still, I have yet to maintain a riveting series of hooks throughout my entire stor...

It's still worth a try! wotf024 Yes it is! VSutherland, are you in or out? Because it sounds like you're in. : ) And let me tell you, you can write a story in four hours before deadline and get an HM. If you've got a whole day, you can get second place. Ask me how I know... I'm in haha, but I don't...

Damn it. I can't resist. My Q1 is going to be an automatic bust. I'll have 2 weeks to pull it off.

Congratulations Wulf! Second place is amazing. I hope you have a good time in CA and tell us all about it come april.

Just got my results - semi finalist. I know intellectually it is a great result, but I’m still really disappointed. I was beginning to think I might actually be a finalist. Sorry it's not what you were hoping for. I am sure you will land a finalist spot soon, now that you know you can get a semi. A...

Yeah just look at how long the hm list is when results come out.

Got an HM,

It takes every little bit of my creativity and skill to land an HM. I was hoping to progress further with this story. I really thought it would take me to the next tier, but I will have to be happy it's not an R. Good luck to those still awaiting results!

The suspense!

I'm not ready for results, maybe dave is taking a quick vacay before he reads Q4?

Dr Strange: I looked forward in time, I saw 14,000,605 possible timelines.

Me: In how many of those did I place?

Dr Strange: None

Sorry to sully the forum with infinity war memes lol, but we're in the endgame now.

Winter, I mean thursday, is coming.

I wonder how many people submitted to this quarter, it sounds like Q3 was a huge spike in submissions.

Thanks Orbivillein and MoganB, I don't mean to hog the post, someone else cut in if this topic is getting old. This is why we have trunk stories I suppose. Q4 was rough. I might need Q1 to slack off, deliver a trunk story and then recoup for Q2. It's amateur behavior. I am still learning to cope wit...

Thanks wulf. All great advice! I try to avoid formulae, and right now I am battling the formula for awful amateur writing lol. I do divide my time between reading and writing. I focus on this contest to keep me writing something new every few months but other than that I spend the rest of the time r...

Another problem with focusing on the ratio is that it can suppress participation. I think some writers sometimes skip a quarter when they don't have a shiny new story out of fear that submitting an old/less polished story will hurt their record. Yeah that's true. I fear Q1 of next year, I don't wan...