I am working on my next submission to WOTF and the story idea that I have greatly involves a mental illness. The story will be the first hard sci-fi that I have ever done, and the actual condition will never be specifically named. I do not want to go into any greater detail for fear of disqualifying my proposed entry. My question is: Since scientologists do not recognize the existence of mental illnesses, would I be better off scratching my idea and going with something different or do you think this would not matter to the judges?
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
Do not worry what a scientologist would think. They have no bearing on judging the contest. You will have to impress K D Wentworth and she (I believe) is not a scientologist.
Posted by TamesonYip (Member # 9072) on :
No actual knowledge on which I am basing this but my understanding was the scientology part and the WOTF stuff are kept completely separate so it shouldn't really matter. Judges are sci fi writers like OSC for the finalist round, so if it makes it that far, definitely won't matter.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
KD Wentworth is not a scientologist.
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
I'm a psychiatric nurse and I won--so I don't believe it will have a bearing on the result.
Posted by Brad R Torgersen (Member # 8211) on :
Kathy Wentworth is not a Scientologist, and neither are any of the judges. They decide who wins and who doesn't, not the Church, which from my experience doesn't appear to have anything at all to do with Writers of the Future. Are some of the administrative people who work at Author Services and Galaxy Press themselves Scientologists? Yes, I believe so. But here at the Contest they never discuss it, it never comes up, and whether or not a story is flattering towards or critical of Scientologist doctrines has 0.0% bearing on whether or not that story will win.