Contests: Give ‘Em Your Best Shot
Spruce Up Your Entry, Please
I’ve just finished judging a couple writing contests. I generally judge four or five contests a year, and have noticed several common problems that come with every packet. For a more comprehensive class on this topic, see Judith Laik’s Sales Busters. I’ll list a few of the most prevalent flaws I see.
Awkward first sentences and paragraphs
I can’t tell you how many entries I’ve read where after a page or two, the author hits her stride, but the opening is stilted and dry. I’ve done this myself, and I don’t know the cause–maybe it’s because we don’t feel comfortable enough yet to let our hair down and write.
Ending in the middle of a sentence
I kid you not, this happens. The rules say to send 20 pages, so the contestant copies the first 20 pages and sends them. Nuh uh. It’s important to leave the judge with a hook that makes her want to go back for more.
Point of View
If you write multiple points-of-view per scene, rest assured that you will run onto a POV purist judge who will deduct for headhopping, even if they try not to. Seriously consider each POV jump, and even if you’re convinced you must switch POVs, try writing the passage all in one POV and see what happens. If you still think you need to switch, then by all means do so. But be forewarned.
Vague Language
I talked about this before, but it bears repeating. Don’t write “went quickly,” write “ran.” Use strong verbs and descriptive nouns. In a short contest entry, you need to make an impression right away, and there’s no space to waste words.
Choose the right contest for your story
Make sure you enter your manuscript in the appropriate contest and the correct category. You might think this is obvious but every single judging packet I receive has an entry that defies the scoresheet. Most contests have a scoresheet online. Find it, and judge your manuscript yourself before you send it off. If you can’t answer the questions (and remember, the judge does not know the rest of your story), then pick another contest.
Backstory, Backstory, Backstory
A problem I see with at least half the contest entries is the prevalence of backstory. A strong percentage of the contest entries–whether 7 pages, 15 pages, or first chapter–are what I call pre-writing, and the story hasn’t actually started yet. Don’t begin with the hero rallying the troops and climbing up the hill. Start when the heroine is aiming an AK-47 right between his eyes. That’s a first meet and his life has changed, plus it’s a compelling event. Nothing that comes beforehand matters to the reader in the least. The reader wants to be engaged in events right now that change the character’s life.
Pizzazz
Several times, I’ve given several perfect scores to an entry but I’d bet another entry would sell before that one. Why? The manuscript is perfect, all right. Perfectly boring. It meets all the requirements of the scoresheet so no points are deducted.
I realize we all think our stories have pizzazz, whether they actually do or not. I’m not sure what to say here, other than to let your voice come through and don’t be too perfect. We want to read your story, so please do your best to sell it!
Have a Magical Monday!
Jacquie
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Tags: judith laik, writing contests
Jacquie, I am so glad to see you do this! As a veteran contest judge, I see these problems all the time. I absolutely agree with you about backstory. This is also one of the biggest issues I encounter with my editorial clients. They all argue most sincerely that they need to set up the story, that the pages and pages of backstory are all essential.
The fact is, in 99.9% of the cases, it is NOT essential that you feed the backstory up front in one huge chunk. Get to the meat of the story right away, and then you can dribble out bits and pieces of the backstory here and there in a more appropriate (and palatable) way.
Have you ever listened to someone drone on and on, taking ten minutes to get to the purpose of their story? Sometimes don’t you just want to grab them by the shoulders and shout, “Get to the point!” *g*
I have judged entries as well that did not seem to fit the category that they were entered in… I am reading a western category and they are in space…. I guess Space is the new west right throws the reader off and I Hate head jumping especially when the POV jumps multiple times in the same scene.
Thank you so much for the advice! I’m going to enter my first contest in a month or so and this was greatly needed.
You made some great points, Jacquie. By the way, though, I don’t think my Sales Busters are actually available any where at the moment! I’m going to be pitching them for some online workshops, though.
Another surprising problem I see frequently is loads of typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes. I can’t emphasize enough that, just as a carpenter’s knowledge of how to use the tools of that trade are essential to doing the job, a writer’s tools are the English language and you need to master them before you try to communicate!
If I’d had a useful set of dos and don’ts back when I was entering contests, I would have used these. And considering how much I hated contests in general, that’s saying something!
Thanks heaps for the tips, Jacquie. I’ve had a couple of rejections lately so will go and give them a bit of a workover.
Sherrie, I so agree. I’ve gone to many dinner meetings where the speaker droned on and on. Oy. You’d think they could recognize the problem.
Mercedes, I think you must be talking about the published book contests you judge. I think it’s even worse when these same problems end up in a published book.
Cinde, good luck with your submissions. I hope I helped you out, even if just a teensy bit.
Judith, let me know when you’ll be presenting the Sales Busters class and I’ll announce it on Texty Ladies.
I don’t care for contests, either, Eilis, but we’ve both entered when it was the right thing to do. I remember one of your stories receiving an abysmal score because the paranormal and inspirational were lumped together, and you got an inspirational reader to judge your paranormal. That didn’t work out so well, and looking at the scoresheet wouldn’t have helped, either. Sometimes you just have to take your lungs.
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Thanks for the guides in entering a contest and for starting a contest…It can be a great help to anyone who want to start a contest in their blogs.