[Writer Post] I Was The Carrie Ann Inaba of a Short Story Contest
This Wednesday I’m actually having to narrow down the options for this week’s blog. There’s so much to discuss surrounding Tyler Rose City Comic Con. Considering this is a Writer Wednesday post, let’s start with the Short Story Contest. Then I’ll do a convention write up for the overall convention.
Part of a deal I made with the convention included being one of five judges for the short story contest. That’s the only bit that made me hesitate even a little, because short story contests? Yeah… sometimes are quite painful. This one could’ve been a lot worse – and a whole lot better.
Let’s get the “bad” out of the way from an organizational stand point… there needs to be more structure to the contest. Granted, I’m used to FenCon which has been around for more than 10 years, is more literary focused, and has had time to develop a strong program for their contest – Tyler Rose City is a COMIC CON and only three years old. There’s room for growth – if they’re interested, FenCon is willing to share their info. However…
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1. Rules need to be online, accessible to contestants and judges at all time, and … well… be more than “send us your story”.
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2. The deadline for said contest needs to be much earlier in the run than 5 pm the WEDNESDAY of the CONVENTION. Invariably there will be last minute entries and having to read stories while packing/traveling? Not good for author or judge.
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3. Telling judges to “not judge too harshly” for spelling/grammar/formatting issues does no one any good.
The “bad” from story points of view? Not insisting on standard manuscript formats and technical details. There was one judge that actually said (and did) take all content from the story and put it in his own format “to only judge the story”. Okay, that’s a nice THOUGHT, but I don’t agree with that. If someone’s submitting to a contest or a workshop, then they’re thinking they’re ready for publication. To NOT JUDGE on the whole package – story, format, etc. – does a complete disservice to the author of the story. If you’re going to want to be published in the future, you want us to tell you how to make that happen.
I ended up being the “technical judge” – in Dancing with the Stars vernacular, I was the Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba of this contest. “You have talent and potential, but now you have to learn the foot work if you’re going to reach the next level.” I was “your story has potential, now learn some CRAFT.”
Borrowed from PARADE MAGAZINE online.
ONE story had both potential and proper formatting – it won. I had to ask on Facebook if this block format we see in blogs and such (like this) is now considered a “Standard Manuscript Format” – and NO. No, it’s not. But 19 of 21 stories were in this format (half of those weren’t checked for basic things like spelling errors and missing punctuation), a couple were in smaller than 12 pt fonts, and ONE had EVERY LINE centered like a poem (physically couldn’t read that one). OW! If you don’t know what “Standard Manuscript Format” is? Check out this link – yes, it’s all 1950s, but welcome to publishing. At the very least DOUBLE SPACEIS YOUR FRIEND. PAGE NUMBERS ARE YOUR FRIEND. Actually sending in a SHORT STORY rather than a play or a poem? Yeah, do THAT. Seriously, we got a play and a poem. NOT A SHORT STORY.
The GOOD… because there was a LOT OF GOOD… were the stories themselves. There was a lot of potential talent in that pool. And YOUNGER talent – like college kid age people. I think some were students at one of the colleges but YAY. Next generation! Let’s bring them up right, right? We did a lot of encouragement – even while pounding “Format, format, format”. Because seriously? Could be the next Gone with the Wind but never going to get read if it’s not in proper format. And, dude, I would love to see some of these kids SUCCEED. Seriously, some good potential.
I wish we could’ve talked with the contestants more, but 1 – we spent a lot longer than we were scheduled, and 2 – lost time on sales by going over on a slow sales day. If you want to do in-depth critiques of stories, make it a workshop where your writers are also trying to make money – or space it out over the whole weekend (an hour a day or so). Oh, and make that MUCH clearer to the judges.
OR, have us WRITE it all out and just hand THAT to the contestant and let them come ask us questions. And not take time at the show at all. This was hard (didn’t help that it was cold and damp – but that’s another blog post). If you’re reading this and are aspiring? FORMAT, FORMAT, FORMAT. It’s so important.