Entering contests

[nolawitch58]

In the spring, I submitted the manuscript for "Ruxandra" to the William Faulkner Society competition in the novel category. It didn't make it as a finalist. There were 406 entries in that category alone. "Ruxandra" made it to the semi finalist list, which was 152 entries long. There was another short list of 83 entries and the finalist list of 14 entries. I suppose I should feel pleased that it was in the top half of all entries. I pity the poor souls who had to read all of the entries. Their eyes must have the consistency of boiled onions.

Comments

[ozdragonlady.livejournal.com]

Well done. Excellently well done. Now go find yourself a publisher.

As for the 406 .. as an Aurealis judge, I can tell you that all of the 406 probably didnt get read all the way through. Writers may not like the idea, but if the work isnt up to scratch, you really dont have to read all of it - it shows in the first few pages, possibly the first few chapters if you are being forgiving. The 152 bore deeper reading - so you should be really proud of your work. The 152 are good enough for a publisher somewhere to take seriously.

The 83 would have had the judges arguing over favourites, whittling them down to the "serious contenders", and even so, I would imagine some of the judges would not have been totally happy with the 14. But you get that.

For the 2011 Aurealis I "read" more than 150 short stories - probably 120 actually got past the first page. For a short list of 5. On a panel of 3 judges, one of them a first-timer who I suspect found it hard going. The novel judges had it a bit easier with (much) fewer to read. Its a bit easier with shorts - the action has to be immediate, characterisation needs to be evident, and a lot of them are really really short. A few were put to one side because they didnt fit the category - Aurealis is divided into SF, fantasy, horror, childrens and YA. In the past, when judging a novel category, I have put aside established writers as not worth it after the first couple of chapters - and the the other judges have agreed.

It was hard to get to 5 - even though we mostly agreed on a top 10-12. Each of us had favourites who didnt make it into the 5. In novel categories it is possible to have one that everyone agrees on as the best, simply because there are less of them. And we occasionally dont award anything, because we are judging for excellence, not a good effort.

To make it out of the slush pile means that your work is worthy of serious consideration. Go for it! You should mention the result in any letter you send to an agent/publisher.

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the perspective. It bolstered my resolve to send another query to an agent.

[saminz.livejournal.com]

Hey - well done!

As the lady said: It does have a serious chance, now.

Go, you!!

[auric-merciless.livejournal.com]

Gratz!

Any chance you might self-publish on Amazon Kindle?


btw - I'm Havoc on UF - just in case you were wondering wtf I am... ;)

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

I remember you! :) I might self publish if I go through all of my agent choices and none of them accept me. I'll definitely let everyone know one way or another.