Also, I think it might be good to talk about WOTF stategies. I know Kathy W posted some ideas on how to place in the contest a few months back on the WOTF blog. Let's post those suggestions here and talk about them.

If anyone here has already placed--or even if you haven't--any thoughts, ideas, stategies? Were you part of a writing group? Who read your story before submission? What improvements, changes, etc. did you make before submission?

Also, if you have submitted and didn't win, why do you think your story (ies) didn't place higher? What have you learned from past submissions? What are you doing differently now?

I'm determined to place in the contest. I know some of you are to. Let's help each other out.

Go down and look at July 2nd.

http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

2. No sign that this is a science fiction or fantasy story by the end of
the first page

What would you say quaifies as a "sign that this is fantasy?"

This will be the last quarter that I expect to qualify since I have a couple of things being published toward the end of the year. But the story I'm thinking of submitting has no magic in it. Would it be disqualified because of that?

Anyone have any thoughts on exactly what that means?

That said, in Volume 22, in Games On A Children's Ward, the speculative element didn't seem to enter immediatly(going by memory). Therefore, as has been said, amazing writing might be carry you further. Perhaps the story title can help. Perhaps a past-like setting hints at fantasy.

Beside the point really. I don't know whether to try with this story or not because of the lack of magic. I mean it's clearly not in this reality which makes it speculative in my mind.

I'm just not sure that is how the judges would look at it.

I posted the first 13 lines in the Short Story section which I don't usually, but I'm curious if it looks speculative to anyone who cares to look at it. I have it up for crit at Critters Workshop, but they won't look at it with the same end in view. Thanks.

Also, I wanted to make you aware that publication alone doesn't necessarily disqualify you from the contest. It is three professionally published stories, or one novelette, or one novel. There are lots of people who enter who have published numerous stories in semipro mags, like Strange Horizons or [Apex[/i] that don't count. That's another reason why the competition is so fierce. Some of the entrants are experienced writers, just not strictly professionally published by WOTF rules.

I am eligible at the moment, but I have doubts about after this quarter. (good doubts that is) *smiles*

Edit: Thanks for bringing that up though. I will double check the rules to be sure.

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The G-Bus Man
I mean where this "Hatrack Groups" and "WOTF Group" are.

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www.writersofthefuture.com

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Edited to say: Computers. Niether will display the page. I guess they don't want me to enter!

The deadline for the quarter after than is Dec. I wish I had decided that far in advance that I would enter so I would have something more suitable than I do.

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Well, annepin, the next deadline is Sept 30, so it is right around the corner.

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When I got the email saying my story was entered in the fourth quarter, it also said the results would be released in mid-December. I wondered if that was for everyone, or for the finalists and semi-finalists? Are the ones that are knocked out earlier sent rejections so they can start subbing the story or everyone finds out all at once, or what? Thanks.

Be aware, that even though the last two quarters have had the results come back within this time frame, there have been many more when it took much longer. Sometimes, the deadline for the next quarter will come and go before anyone finds out anything about the previous quarter.

I'm not sure what SWMBO is in this context, however. Baen's accepts simsubs. That doesn't mean it's all right with WotF though.

And I don't know that Baen would be all right with a story they published being in an anthology. It depends on what rights they normally buy, which I don't recall. If you do a simsub and it is accepted, you are expected to withdraw it from other markets.

If anyone has anything showing that simsubs are ok with WotF, that would be nice to know.

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1. No entry fee is required, and all rights in the story remain the property of the author. All types of science fiction, fantasy and dark fantasy are welcome.

2. All entries must be original works, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters or another person's universe, without written permission will result in disqualification. Excessive violence or sex, determined by the judges, will result in disqualification. Entries may not have been previously published in professional media.

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The first rule makes it clear that all rights remain with the author. Therefor, you could win the contest, and then have the story published elsewhere, but not the reverse. It has happened where a winner in the contest has done that, but by doing so you would be robbing yourself of being published in the yearly WOTF anthology, and no market pays as well for a short story than WOTF.

The second rule makes it clear that if you had simultaneous submissions, and it was accepted by a market other than WOTF and sold to them, then you would automatically make yourself ineligible to win with that story, since it would become a previously published work.

So, while you could do simultaneous submissions, if the other market accepted the story and wanted to buy it, you would have to make a decision which market to sell it to. You can't win in WOTF with the same story published elsewhere.

If Kathleen has ever made a post regarding WotF rules, I've never seen it and, much as I respect her, I don't consider her the ultimate authority on them. However, I do think she would be careful before she posted anything on the subject.

I believe that luapc is correct on the rules of the contest. I will not be subbing the story until I know the results. Generally speaking, when I sub a story somewhere that doesn't mention simsubs, I make the assumption that means you shouldn't do them. Since they aren't mentioned in the rules, I assume they aren't a good idea. I think luapc's explanation of the rules is probably spot on.

Edit: While I freely admit my chances of winning are so small as to be miniscule, I don't want to reduce that to nil.

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IB, I am aware what SWMBO stands for, just had no idea who meg was talking about in the context of WotF. I thought she was talking about a WotF judge or official.

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Sheesh. I was just trying to help.

KDW informed someone--in an earlier thread--that you can submit elsewhere. I tried hunting it down for you, but I can't remember what the name of the thread was.

Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. I apologize.

If she has discussed this, I haven't seen it. It looks as though a simsub wouldn't exactly be against the rules, but might be a problem if it is accepted elsewhere. I won't take the chance on it on the extraordinarily slim chance that Mr. Card would like my female protag. *falls down laughing*

Actually, I have no idea how the judging works (and whether all the judges have to like the winner) except that he is one of the judge.

Edit: I've never seen another meaning of the acronym either. I don't know how widely it's used, but I have seen it occacionally.

He also told me that there had been a few winners who had sold their stories to a magazine after submitting to WotF, and that they had still published the stories in the anthology, except for the one winner who had decided not to be published in the WRITERS OF THE FUTURE anthology, but that was the only one.

I wondered about that at the time, because they purchased First World Serial Rights to my story (instead of First World Anthology Rights as I would have expected), and those are the rights usually purchased by magazines, so they would have had to purchase second serial rights from the authors who had sold their stories elsewhere.

I don't know if they changed the policy now that K. D. Wentworth is the first judge and anthology editor, but they haven't changed the official rules. I can ask her, if you like.

If you could check on that, I'd sure appreciate it. If you sold something after submitting it, my experience is that there is a good chance it wouldn't actually appear until after the winners were declared anyway, but the subject of rights seems to be a problem.

Edit: And thanks very much for offering to check on it. And for the clarification on your own preference, although I think I'll probably stick with calling you by name if you don't mind.

I would have assumed WotF would buy anthology rights, but some magazines and ezines want those rights for anthologies too, so I'm really hesitant on the whole thing.

By the way, "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is the full title/name of the title character in H. Rider Haggard's old novel, SHE. So it all goes together.

Thanks again for checking on the contest situation.

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The simultaneous submission issue has not come up since I took over Coordinating Judge, but I think they would not be okay with it. It's very important to them that the stories appear in print for the first time in the anthology.

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Edit: Needless to say I feel very sorry for myself not making it that far, but I'm sure your story is great. Way to go.