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I suppose this is the right place to post such a thing (since there's no miscellaneous forum that I can see). I just received an envelope from L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest. Inside was the first page of my entry and a brief "thank you for entering" letter. The letter went on to say my entry placed in the finals of the first quarter this year. This was something I had not expected, by any stretch of the imagination, since the story I sent off was written in late 2001/early 2002, and submitted in 2002. Their mail room (I was surprised to learn) had lost the entry, and then found it in the fall of 2003. The Contest Administrator sent me a very nice letter apologizing for the error and asking me what I wanted done with the entry. Well, I knew it wasn't very good, since my skills have increased drastically since 2002, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. You can imagine my surprise on finding that it actually made it past the initial volley of editing.
I suppose many of you have sent off entries to this contest, which I think is one of the best in the business. The way they handle submissions is extremely considerate of those submitting. In my case, the fact that they even bothered to tell me they'd found my entry, and asked me what I wanted to do with it instead of incinerating the thing, told me volumes about the quality of the contest. Anyway, I think my first "rejection" letter went rather well. I have extremely high hopes that some of the entries I'm preparing right now might have a better shot at winning. Who knows? Perhaps the next letter I receive will be a congratulatory one. Anyway, I just wanted to get it all off my chest before it started to affect my normal train of thought. Thanks for listening.
Inkwell ------------------ "The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp." -Anonymous
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Wow...wish my first rejection had been so nice. I got a standard form letter. I think congratulations are in order. Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Why not send it to a magazine and not a contest next time?
If by this you mean send this story to a magazine next, that's a good suggestion. But if you're asking why bother to send a story to a contest instead of to a magazine, allow me to share a few details about the Writers of the Future Contest.
If you are one of the top three stories in a quarter, you win a prize of up to $3000, and if you are one of the four first-place winners for the year, you have a shot at winning a $4000 grand prize. On top of that, they buy your story and publish it in their annual anthology. They fly you out to their writers' workshop and awards ceremony.
So, until you have published enough that you become ineligible for the contest, it's probably the best place to send a science fiction or fantasy short story.
(Wait a minute -- you are all potential competitors against my submissions to the contest!)
Uh, never mind. Bad idea to submit to this contest. Go sell to the magazines. Yeah, magazines, that's the ticket!
[This message has been edited by EricJamesStone (edited March 19, 2004).]
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Thanks for all the congrats, guys. I wish I could figure out how the entry got so far, though (and I'm not sure how many manuscripts get lumped into the "finals" pile, either...I could be one of 3,000 for all I know). Basically, this story was all I had ready to send off (in time for the deadline) back in 2002. I'm pretty sure it even had a few spelling/grammar errors as it went through the contest (despite my painstaking red-pen-on-paper reviews at home). Quite honestly, I'm baffled. But I guess I shouldn't ask questions and simply try to submit a better story next time...one that can actually win (though the odds are against it). Thanks again for all the encouraging comments. Here's to all the rejects...I suppose everyone can claim to have been one at some point!
Inkwell ------------------ "The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp." -Anonymous
[This message has been edited by Inkwell (edited March 19, 2004).]
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> I wish I could figure out how the entry got so far, though (and I'm not sure how many manuscripts get lumped into the "finals" pile, either...I could be one of 3,000 for all I know).
Well, you're not one of 3,000-- much much nicer than that. Terry Bramlett answered a similar question in 5663 over at the Market Questions section of the Rumor Mill, and said:
"Over at sff.net, KD Wentworth answered that very question.
"With over 1800 entries, there are a variable number of quarterfinalists, usually around 15, she said. A total of 10 writers are semifinalists. The judges read from 6-8 stories from finalists, from which they cull the three winners of the quarter.
"Quarterfinalist puts you in the top 2% of all entries."
(Board haunting? Waiting neurotically for my WOTF reject? Oh, don't be silly... I'm so much worse off than that. This is the thing about contests: they somehow become larger in my mind, because hey, someone has to win. With, say, F&SF submissions, I can console myself with the fact that no other unpubbed got lifted that week either. With WOTF I apparently become neurotic. )
Congratulations, Inkwell. And I agree with Kolona (from another board) that it's a very nice idea for a board name.
posted
Something else about being a finalist, Inkwell--if the twelve winning stories (three from each quarterly contest each year) aren't long enough to fill the anthology, the editor selects stories from the finalists to include.
So there's a chance your story might make it into the next anthology. (I have a story in volume 9 of the WotF anthologies that was a finalist story.)
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