Before I get started I want to tell you about the two extraordinary writers joining me on this blog. Kari Lee Townsend has two 3 book deals right now, both sold on proposal. She writes Middle Grade for Jabberwocky (SourceBooks) and mystery for Berkley Prime Crime. Cassy Pickard writes mystery and romantic suspense, and I have no doubt this will be her year. Give them a warm welcome when they make their official appearances.
Now on to what I want to talk about. Can you remember the first time you entered a contest? If you're like me, you had no idea what head hopping was. You wrote the story as it unfolded in your own head. Speaking for myself, with each contest I entered, I learned something new about the craft of writing. Granted, a lot of contest judges took their jobs too seriously and felt like it was their duty to discourage me from ever writing again, but mostly, I received invaluable constructive criticism. Then there was this one judge whose comment was so absolutely ridiculous that I still laugh when I think about it. I write mystery/adventure. Right in the middle of a high-drama kidnap scene in a foreign country where the bad guys have thrown my heroine into the back of the van and are racing away from the police at a high rate of speed, this judge downscores me because I didn't tell her if the van had windows.
Seriously???
I kept saying I was going to quit entering contests because I always had one or two judges who absolutely loved my voice and one who hated me. Consequently, I never finaled. Part of the reason for the mixed reviews was the fact that I always entered romance contests with manuscripts that I now know are nowhere near being "romance" despite having tender love affairs and happy endings.
The judges who scored me really low were usually following the score sheets (that's another whole blog) with a black or white interpretation. I write gray. My hero and heroine rarely meet in the first chapter. My better scores came from judges who I can only assume saw something in the voice and the writing and modified the scores.
Because I had such mixed reviews on my entries, I am a much more tolerant judge myself. I look for writing that makes me sad when the pages end. I've even been known to tell a few entrants I wish I had the full manuscript. But no matter whether I score the entry high or low, I usually take something away with me. After reading an entry where most of the sentences start with he/she bullet points, I always go back and make sure I vary my own sentence beginnings. And I can't tell you how many great stories I've read that have no hook - anywhere. It makes me work even harder to end all my scenes with a good one.
Although judging contests can be a real time drain, I will continue to look at it as a free craft lesson. Plus, it's a good way for me to pay it forward for all the great advice I've ever received from other authors. It's hard hearing someone say your baby is ugly, but after a week or so, I usually take a second look and see if there's any merit to the critique. If there is, it was worth the $25 bucks. If not, I light a match to it and work harder.
I'm curious if anyone out there feels the way I do about judging contests. If you have any great stories, I'd love to hear them. I just finished judging a GH entry. It started with way too many choppy sentences, and I was convinced I would score it low. By the time I finished the excerpt, I was laughing so hard, I was crying. I didn't score it low, believe me. I only wish I could tell the author to tone down the choppy sentences. Like everything else, moderation is the key.
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14 comments:
Thanks for the welcome, Liz! I'm so excited to be a part of this blog.
And I totally agree on contests. I'm judging the Rita's right now, and with some stories, you really can't tell how they will affect you overall until you finish. What I think might be just an okay book can really turn out to wow me by the end.
I just wish I'd thought twice in volunteering to judge, having crazy deadlines myself :-)
Liz: Your thoughts ring home. I am co-coordinating our RWA chapter's writing contest this year. Well, that's another story of organization and spreadsheets, but the point is--many of the questions I have received from judges are exactly to your posting. "How do I judge an entry I love but has problems?" Or, "What do I do when the scoresheet doesn't match the entry closely enough to be fair to the work?" Or, "I love this, but I can't tell you why. What do I do?"
The contests have somehow become an important validation process in our writing growth. It's almost as if we don't enter, we aren't really part of the community.
I think we need to trust ourselves. There will be valuable moments when we take what works from the feedback and put it to use. Then, there are times we just need to keep our "you-know-what"' in the chair and put our story on the page--as we want it to be.
I am thrilled to be part of this great blog. In another post, I'll introduce myself.
Hey all! Great blog and wonderful photos - you are all so beautiful!
I've been a judge for the Catch A Star contest for several years now. I, too, look at as a chance to help writers understand their craft better. Inevitably, there are submissions that I want to place a gigantic X on each page with my red marker (can you tell I had teachers who did that to me?!?!), but most of the time the submissions are excellent. I truly enjoy judging and hope to continue for years to come.
Kari, judging the RITAs is a whole different thing than judging a chapter contest. Don't you have to read the whole book? It would definitely put a crunch in the time you need to spend with your own deadlines.(Kari writes for two houses and has TWO deadlines looming.)OTOH, you get to read books by published authors. What a great way to learn craft and see what's selling.
The longest contest I judge is the GH and that's 55 pages total.
Cassy - I don't envy you with your job as contest coordinator. Although I've never done it, friends have told me what a big job it is. That's really paying it forward.
I love that the judges are at lesst asking those tough questions. I wish the score sheets would be different for every genre or at least for Novel with the Romantic Elements category.
Kris - welcome and thanks for the comment. Like you I have had entries where the only good thing I could say about it was that they handled POV well. I think the important thing is to encourage them to study the craft, get Cps and keep entering contests for the critiques.
As I mentioned, I wish the GH allowed the judge to make comments as I feel this would really help.
And Kris - you silver -tounged devil, you!
Liz: I am only a co-coordinator with a great group of folks who have jumped in every chance they could. But, it is a little daunting, to be perfectly honest. Judging somehow seems to have a beginning, you receive the files, and an end- send them back.
Coordinating starts before the contest and will end months and months later. But, I have had great email conversations with both the participants and the judges. I have learned a tremendous amount, including how friendly Excel and I have become!
Liz - with the contest I judge, I'm able to make comments on each section, and then give an overview/overall type of comment. I try very hard -as with the authors I work with daily- to be aware that these writers have poured their soul out on the paper. They may or may not know the mechanics of writing. I believe that by giving them positively negative comments (not degrading their writing skills in any way) when needed, they will hopefully learn how to hone their skills and do much better. I'm not sure that this actually happens, as I've never received any feedback, but I do try very hard to give as much positive feedback as possible. Judging is time consuming, but it also helps me become a better writer (I feel the exact same way when dealing with my authors).
Cassy~ Kudos to you for coordinating a contest! That must take a ton of your time, but I'm sure that all of the entrants are so appreciative.
Love the dialogue! You ought to make this a whole new blog post! I've never entered a contest but this info makes it sound interesting. Of course, I'm prone to smacking people in the mouth if they irritate me (not really) (well, sometimes) I'm glad to hear you all take the responsibility seriously and don't just fall slave to an arbitrary grade sheet. I'm looking forward to more round-robin posts on this page! (And Liz,thanks for the encouraging words in the last thread.)
Kris, I always try to get my point across without taking someone's self esteem away. I concentrate on at least one good thing about the writing, even if it is only something minor. It sounds like you do, too.
Sheila - welcome. If you have never entered a contest, I'd advise you to try it. Most of the time you get great feedback. Don't start with the GH, though, as you only get a number score from 1-9 with no comments. Hopefully, you'll get a judge like all of us who really try to help. Past scores have shaped me into the sympathetic judge I have become. And remember, in our profession, everything is so subjective. What one person loves, another groans while reading it. Like I always say, it only takes one person to love your voice.
First of all, I'd like to thank Cassy for telling me about this blog and asking me to post a comment.
In my short writing but very long life I've been a judge, coordinator and entrant. Which one is the hardest? I think they all are equal. Each having its good and bad points.
When I judge a contest, usually I request either historical or paranormal, I know I'm in for an interesting experience. I tend to go through each submission at least twice. The first to read the story. See what the author is saying. Unless something glaring jumps out at me I avoid scoring until the second read through. At least a week later.
When I read through the entry to score it I don't really care if the van has or doesn't have windows, or what the characters in a scene are wearing. Unless it's crucial to the scene. Example- If they're dressed for the arctic and the stories set in Florida-points off. (Unless it was this past month).
Who cares if the H&H meet in the first twenty or so pages. They'll meet. That's what gets me to read on and can gets high scores in my book and score sheet. And how, as a judge, can you take points off for sexual tension if they haven't met.
Judging isn't just a learning process for the person submitting but for us judges as well. We can see both the good and bad. Both deserve the same treatment. Constructive helpful comments. Being nit-picky can and does hurt the person who slaved for who knows how long to get their story perfect.
In conclusion, I would most definitely like to agree with Liz-there is no black and whites only grey. Readers and critics see black and white but us judges should be able to see the grey.
I'd like to thank Cassy for telling you about this blog, too. LOL. Lindsay, you sound exactly like the kind of judge I wish I had every time. You get it. I think the biggest problem lies in the score sheets. They should concentrate on the important things, like - is there a hook, is the dialogue fresh, does the descriptive writing make you long for a nap, do you like the H/H if you get to meet them both, and key for me is do I want to read more.
As I think back about the van thing, I feel I had a true contemporary romance author judging or a newbie. (Most of us blend genres.) The old ingrained "use all five senses to enhance your scenes" was probably solid in her mind. Never mind that my heroine was on the floor screaming as the van swerved all over the road and she thought she was gonna die. In a later scene the next day, I have her looking out the window and this judge commented. "See this is what I wanted to know."
Thanks again for your comments. I love it that you agree with me.
And Lindsay, keep coming back.
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