WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

Excellent article. Thanks for sharing. We have to make the reader care *right now* about our story. More than they care about their kids fighting in the playroom or the beep of the microwave. Hooks, all the way down.

My very first short story submitted to WotF began with someone waking up. I didn't know it was so cliche at the time! Since then I've tried to do better, but I am now startled that the only story I've ever resubmitted to WotF had characters in the forest at the beginning of the first version. Intere...

Hey all, wanted to weigh back in here. I ended up doing what a few of you suggested and just pushing through the writing. I think the story ended up pretty solid. More relevantly, it certainly isn't any worse than my other stories. I am still uncertain why I got stuck - perhaps the genre felt uncomf...

LittleRed wrote:Thanks guys for the warning but disgruntledpeony is right --- this is my SF - so no resubbing for me.

Op my bad. Congratulations

Be careful of posting details about your stories - the contest is anonymous.

Fight on! My first round through critters 2 years ago was brutal. So brutal I haven’t touched that story since. But I wrote the next one, and the one after that, and incorporated what I learned into each one. If we don’t know where we’re weak, we don’t know where to grow! Onwards!

I agree but if you do plan to submit it you should edit your comment to delete any reference to your story - judges sometimes browse the forum and you don’t want to get disqualified. However, that wouldn’t be the right subject matter for WotF. Sex - explicit or otherwise - seems to be a lot more tab...

In case anyone is feeling a tad lost about which Super Secret is which, I have been keeping tabs: #0: Proper manuscript format for the win. #1: Enter EVERY quarter. With a fresh story. #2: DON'T drive to the story #3: Set the hook! #4: Pick a major emotion and make your reader FEEL it down to their ...

wotf058 And didn't win. This is my life :p Congrats Brittany on your making finalist too! Better luck next time! Congrats. That's 5 now? Awesome! wotf010 I have now passed Scott Parkin as the most-losing finalist ever. He won on his fifth try. That's definitely something! Persevere, everyone, and y...

Congrats to you Brittany! You know you're close!

Fingers crossed for the other forumite we're waiting to hear from!

I like Heinlein's Law (possibly mis-attributed) that writers have a million words of crap in them before they start to produce publishable material. Now like the 10,000 hours thing, it's meant to communicate the idea that practice and determination are the foundation of success. That being said, I h...

Sure, PM me. If you want, send me your first 450 and I'll read that before I read the entire manuscript.

Or write it, send it to appropriate markets, and write a new one for WotF!

MiloMinderbinder wrote:My story The Bicycle Thief won the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Derringer Award for Best Flash Story!

https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/2019/ ... unced.html

Congratulations!

I like to critique because whether I have something to offer or something to learn from the exchange, it helps me grow as a writer. Teaching helps us master our art, I believe, as much as continuing to learn from those with more experience than we have. I did have to learn where to take and leave ad...

Always

Yeah the opening 350-450 words. I like to swap those because it gives you a sense of your hook.

Finished my second new story for the quarter, so I'll have at least two to choose from when the time comes. I'm hoping to keep the momentum going, but I've got edits on my novel coming up when my beta readers get it back to me and a new novel idea nudging me in the frontal cortex. In the meantime, I...

Always, regardless of length

My Q3 is finished and out to my critique group - and I checked your boxes as I wrote Wulf! FWIW, I got a rejection for my Q1 and looking at Wulf's Super Secrets, I made a few of the mistakes he warns against! I "drove to the story" (oops! Cut those first few pages and it's already better),...

If you subscribe to duotrope they send out emails.

Is Dave's blog the one starting with mydoctor? I can't access the website I guess due to geo-restriction. wotf024 wotf024 I think he posts it on two sites, the story doctor one and his personal website. I always read them here: http://davidfarland.com/category/for-writers/ Hopefully you'll be able ...

R for me. Ah, well.

Sorry to hear, Chuck. Expected or not, rejections sting.

Now I’m twitching. Best of results to all concerned!

Finished a first draft today. Let the editing commence.

I’d be delighted with a SHM!

Here’s to taking every quarter

So! Monday is one of the more likely Thursdays. Maybe? Every weekday is Thursday, by those metrics. wotf019 I think I'm done stressing over it for the moment, myself. I can only twitch for so long before my mental muscles get tired. That's just me, though. It's certainly a possibility, so feel free...

We live in a state of quantum rejection and acceptance. Schrodigers Publication.

Looking to get in this quarter for the first time. Do many of you try your hand at submitting your stories to pro-markets before submitting a story here (after rejection)? If I have a story that will suit the contest, it typically goes here first. But I have a few that are inappropriate for Writers...