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From WotF rules: "Entries must be typewritten or a computer printout in black ink on white paper, double spaced, with numbered pages. All other formats will be disqualified. Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author’s name, address, telephone number, email address and an approximate word count. Every subsequent page must carry the title and a page number, but the author's name must be deleted to facilitate fair judging."
Anyone know how to do this? Could you please explain it to me in detail with tiny words, lol. I always use wordpad to write. I can get access to a copy of word 2007, but I have literally no idea how to use its flashier features.
No submissions for which a signature is required means no parcel service delivery and no registered mail. First class mail is what I use and there's no reason I see to use any other for US handling. Delivery from most of the contiguous US takes no more than three days. As long as the envelope is US postmarked no later than September 30th, the entry will be accepted. However, there are anecdotes I've encountered of mail to WOTF going astray weeks past the deadline.
I'm thinking my Q-3/08 entry went astray somewhere after receipt notification. I've not gotten my SASE back and my name hasn't appeared on Joni Labaqui's blog posts of results. If it went astray after receipt but not before judging, I'd like to enter it again this quarter. An e-mail to Joni is in the works. Time is critical.
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Insured package, no. It's value is not enough to justify insurance, just the paper and the ink value, less than what insurance costs. I've got the original file so the story isn't lost forever. The manuscript was received by WOTF. I'm uncertain of whether it was judged or if it's in the mail or lost somewhere between receipt and return.
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BIG CAVEAT: the WOTF contest doesn't want your NAME on the actual pages of the manuscript. So just put story title and page number in the top right corner.
WordPad doesn't have options for header/footer, so you are limited there, in terms of what your manuscript will look like when it's printed. If you're on a very limited budget, you might consider going on-line and looking for used copies of Microsoft Office '95, '97, or Office 2000. They can be had for cheap, especially Office '97, which will still work on WindowsXP and should work on Vista too.
ANOTHER BIG CAVEAT: the first page of your WOTF manuscript should NOT include actual story text. It should have the demo data ONLY: your name, address, contact into, word count, and story title, with byline. But nothing else. Your story starts on the NEXT page with headers that LACK your name.
If you want an example of what my subs to WOTF look like on paper, check out this link.
Pay attention to formatting only. The "story" is an aborted novel prologue I wrote years ago, and which I don't mind sharing with the Hatrack community; warts and all.
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You can use open office (freeware, downloadable online) - which is a MS word/powerpoint/excel lookalike using open-source software. Just means it's free. Pretty much all basic options (and many advanced ones, I just don't know how close) that MS Office products have are available in open office.
Usually your MS would have a Header, in the rightmost position would be this information: page number (numeral) / Some words from your title or the whole title if it's short enough / your last name
Example: 5 / Impressive Story Title / KayTi
This way if your ms falls off the desk of the editor at F&SF, they can put it back in order and know that this page belongs to Zero's story, not some other Joe's. Same goes for WOTF, just delete the last name so that it's judged without bias. (FYI this is true for most contests that do blind judging.)
You access the Header from the View menu on MS Word (probably same on Open Office but i"m not near my computer that has OO so I can't check.) You're taken to a view of the document where only a small portion of the topmost part of the page is editable (delineated by a dotted box.) There are three "positions" in a header (same for a footer, which for whatever reason most MS formats do not use. That's different from most business writing I've done where you put your page number and document information in the footer - at the base of the page. This is also where footnotes go in research papers.)
Anyway - the three positions of a header are left-most, center, and rightmost. To get to the rightmost position, which is how most standard MS formatting guidelines show, you just need to press the tab key on your keyboard twice while you're in the header. That should move you from the leftmost to the center, then the center to the rightmost position. From here you can click the "#" button in the little header/footer toolbar that should have popped up when you went into the View - Header/Footer view. If not, another option I believe is to use the Insert option (I think it's on the View menu) and choose to insert autonumber - page number.
Talespinner is our resident MS Office guru and will hop in here to correct me, I'm sure. But hopefully this helps you find your way around the menus related to headers and footers. Good luck.
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Thanks for the tips, I'm going to download open office. Also, Brad, why does your entry (and I imagine all of the others) begin by placing only 12 lines on the second page?
And my header for the story should include only the title and page number, correct? No name whatsoever? Example:
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Sorry for all of the hassle, I'm just really excited about my entry - and I don't want to screw anything up. Posts: 2195 | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
The first page is the title page. The second page is the beginning of the body of the story, with the title ideally on the 13th line. 12 lines is about half of a page (re: the Hatrack thirteen lines policy), the half page ideal and preferred opening of a text presentation. It's a matter of aesthetics. It doesn't subconsciously overwhelm the reader with a full page of daunting and dense text. Typesetters call it page sink. A page sink of a third of a page to half a page is a standard practice in published works' chapter openings.
Joni Labaqui will extract the title page from the submitted entry before forwarding the blind entry portion to K. D. Wentworth. Ms. Labaqui uses the title page to track the entry through the process and into the future. It won't be returned in the event that sufficient SASE and envelope are provided for return of the manuscript.
Yes, title and page number is all the running header requires.
[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited September 23, 2008).]
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Hmm...does WOTF request/suggest/encourage the page sink of a third to half a page? I don't think I have formatted my MSs for WOTF that way in the past. I've skipped from title page to the start of a new page and begun at the very top. Hmm...
Zero, as I understand it, the title doesn't need "pg xx of xxx" - just the numeral.
Using your example:
John's Crazy Day / 3
If you want your MS back, include SASE adequate to get your MS back to you (basically put as much postage on the SASE as you put on the original envelope to get it TO the contest.)
Later (much, much later, it'll feel) you'll get your SASE back with your MS and one of several letters in it. One letter merely thanks you for entering. That's a non-placement. One letter tells you you're an HM, top 15% of stories, congratulates you on the achievement. This is Honorable Mention. Sadly I don't have experience with the other kinds of letters, LOL, but I'm sure they're effusive with their praise for being a semi-finalist or finalist. Because finalists go into another round of judging - their MSs are held even longer. Semi-finalists are also held longer because they get a crit from the First Reader, K.D. Wentworth.
It's cool to be excited about the contest - it's an exciting contest! Congrats on entering!
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Ms. Wentworth has said that she reads all entries as far as she thinks necessary to see the story's potential regardless of how it's formatted, as long as she can read it. She's said no page sink is required. Although she has said as have all the other commenters who are in the acquisition mode of publishing that professional formatting shows the seriousness and dedication of the writer to learn "the rules." An initial page sink is a hallmark of professional formatting.
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TheOnceandFutureMe
unregistered
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extrinsic - My story didn't make the HM list, and I haven't received my rejection yet either. I expect with the volume of submissions it just takes a while.
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Joni responded to my query saying she's working on the last box. Perhaps there might be an honorable mention or two in there that she's not going to post on the blog.
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posted
So did she decide on all the finalists before reading all the entries? Or did I understand that wrong?
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posted
Joni is the portal to Author Services, part of Galaxy Press, which runs the contest. She collects and forwards all the entries to K.D. Wentworth. Ms. Wentworth reads them and sends them back to Joni with the results of placement. From what I understand, Ms. Wentworth returned all the remaining entries several weeks ago. Joni is just finishing up posting SASE on the last box she received from Ms. Wentworth.
Honorable mentions and no-shows are returned as such in no particular order as a box fills and is returned to Joni, who then posts the entries' SASE. Semis and finalists might be held longer by Ms. Wentworth to facilitate finalists placement considerations.
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But hopefully this helps you find your way around the menus related to headers and footers. Good luck.
