Free For All Friday
Posted by Jamie Michele Nov 19 2010, 12:01 am in Free-For-All Friday
The deadline for entering the 2011 Golden Heart has passed, but the deadline for getting entries in still looms. I’d like to open the floor to any and all questions anyone might have about the final stages of putting an entry together. Yes, RWA posts the official rules, but sometimes you wonder about things that you really shouldn’t be bothering RWA about, like, “Will the color of the binder clip I use influence the judge’s first impression of my entry?”
My springboard question to YOU is: what’s the biggest content entry snafu that you’ve experienced or committed?
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Aaaaah….the one big downside of NaNoWriMo (aside from that pesky 1667 words a day thing, which is of course also the biggest upside) is that December 2nd comes so close behind it, and I’m in danger of forgetting the GH entirely. (I DID remember to do my entry form/fee by November 15).
I have to remind myself to get everything printed and xeroxed and in the mail in the next week sometime so I don’t have to pay $60 to ship it. (But I probably will end up paying the $60 anyway). At least the manuscript itself is done. Last year I was still FINISHING the damn thing on November 29.
With contests, I’m always pushing the limit for deadlines…literally emailing at 11:59 for a midnight deadline. With judging, too, I have my eyes on that final due date–and until recently THAT’S when I send all the entries back.
Then I co-ordinated a category for Golden Pen, and discovered how many people send in their entries WEEKS ahead of time, and how many judges turn at least a couple of their entries around within a day or two. By the due dates for both, I only had a few stragglers. sending things in. I was amazed.
I fear I am a Straggler for life.
It’s very strange to be on the inside of one of those contests, isn’t it? I was surprised by the number of judges who’d apologize for getting entries back to me ON TIME.
To think that I’d expect anything less than a last-minute rush from writers! Imagine.
And I’m glad to hear that you’re entering again this year. You’re going to final, and the best thing is that you’re going to sell before you do, so it’ll make for great promo.
As a GH judge in various categories, I’ve seen it all. I’ve had a few who only give me a synopsis for the first 50 pages. The synopsis ends where the pages end, so I don’t know the middle or end of the story. I forgive alot for a good story and unique voice, but I mark down more for an incomplete synopsis than I do for a poorly written one.
As an entrant, I’ve done “it” all from grammar to punctuation to formatting. I’ve used the wrong font. In another contest I didn’t realize my toner ran out because I didn’t eyeball all the actual pages. I still made it to the finals, but I’m not sure how the judge managed to read the dang thing. So spot check your pages. Just recently I spelled a word wrong over and over and over again. The final judge wasn’t impressed. As a matter of fact that was pretty much her biggest complaint as she ranked me 3rd out three. But there isn’t a judge in the world who can beat me up about my mistakes as well as I can myself.
What was the word?
Great advice: CHECK EVERY PAGE. Make sure there’s stuff on them. Readable stuff. Stuff you wrote, and intended to be there. Literally check page-by-page, looking at page numbers to make sure nothing’s missing. Read the story one last time, if you have time. Hopefully you have time!
I can’t emphasize enough how badly poor spelling and grammar reflect on the author. I tend to see it as a symptom of inattention, and I assume that flows through to their actual writing. If you can’t sit down and take five minutes to spell check – and have someone else spell check as well – then I don’t really think they’ll survive proofing a real manuscript with an editor.
As a judge, I once had an entry that changed font for *every scene.* It was a paranormal, and the scenes were very short, so that meant font/italics/bold changes on almost every page. It was very disorienting and I do NOT recommend this strategy. Even if you’re writing paranormal, your words should set the mood for your readers–not the font.
My own entry stories have been pretty boring, although like Elisa, I’m a habitual straggler.
No GH entry for me this year, unfortunately. I did a writing retreat last weekend where I completely revised my first 45 pages, from scratch, but while I now have a much stronger draft in terms of scene shape, pacing, and characterization, it is *might* rough and I won’t have time to polish it before the GH deadline. I’ll miss being an entrant this year…although hopefully by next year I’ll no longer be eligible!
“your words should set the mood for your readers–not the font.”
Oy! Indeed. I may compile these into a handy list we can post next week.
I hope we’re ALL ineligible to enter next year! Cheers to that.
Just wondering what everyone’s thoughts are about page limit. Does it matter if you use the full 50 pages? Or do you think it usually leaves a better impression to have less pages that read faster? Right now, my entry ends on a great hook, but it’s too far in – page 57. I am trying to decide whether to back up to something a little less of a hook that happens around page 43 OR sort of rewrite the pages to stay within the 50 page limit. Does that make sense? I am just trying to get the best “hook” at the end. Does anyone have an opinion about how many pages you should use? Is there an advantage to wrapping up the page count a little early? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Also, now I’m curious. WILL the color of the binder clip I use influence the judges’ opinion? I have to know! Hehe.
Good question. I’m struggling with the same thing! My very best early-book hook comes a few pages too late, and it’s killing me to not use it.
IMHO, I think it’s very, very important to end on a strong hook, even if that means a slightly shorter entry. It’s like that a judge will appreciate having slightly less reading to do.
But I’d love to hear other thoughts on this. Does anyone re-write an entry to make sure that it ends on the best hook?
I do think binder clip color says something about the personality of the entrant, but I do not think that it can (or should) influence judging.
I’d go with the hook, Sarra. I was surprised to hear that people manipulate their GH entries. My entry has always been my entry. I’d rather stop a few pages short and end on a hook than futz with my opening pages. Every word should count and if you “can” cut them – do you really need them to begin with?
I pretty much know within about 2 pages where the score’s going to be. Good writing is good writing, and another writer can recognize it in a few paragraphs. (Here’s a little experiment. Next time you get a package of GH entries, read just the first two pages of the first one, then write a tentative score. Do that for all the entries. Then read them in their entirety and score them. Chances are rare that your final score will deviate more than one point — two at most — from your initial impression.)
Yeah, go for the hook when you can. However, chances are, by the time the judge reaches the last page, she’ll have long since decided on the score, so don’t sweat it too much.
OMG! Was that you who suggested this last year? I did it with the first five pages and the final score changes very little. I would love it to end on a great hook as Jamie suggested.but if the writing is good you want to keep reading no matter what.
I’d be afraid my page 2 score would subconsciously affect my page 50 score. I read the pages, read the synopsis, read the pages again before I score.
Sarra I personally wouldn’t want to see an entry end on page 43. The final decision is up to you. What do you feel in your heart? If you were giving it to us to read where would you want to end?
Go with a plain clip. I will tell you, last year I had one entry that did not use heavy weight paper and while it did not influence the sore it felt out of place with the others. put your best stuff out there.
Hi, Sarra,
I think you should do everything in your power to get the great hook in the entry.
Something similar happened to me with my 2009 GH manuscript. The best hook was on page 60. I had a 3-page synopsis–so I had to get that puppy down to 52 pages. I went through the MS, beefing up verb, eliminating -ly adverbs, removing “that”, “just”, “so.” The entry dropped by 3 pages. Then, I found a 3-page scene that was important for foreshadowing a plot twist much later in the book but was not important for the actual entry. I ended up moving that scene past the 52-page mark. (It still worked in the full manuscript.) That left me one page to cut–and I just did it with better writing.
Good luck!
Beth
I’m with Beth on this one. Sometimes there are bits of info in the early chapters that DO need to be there for the complete manuscript that won’t necessarily be missed in the contest entry. (For instance, you may be able to leave out a secondary character, or a link to a subplot).
And I *love* doing “contest cuts”: i.e., finding ways to trim and tweak, including all the ones Beth listed, sometimes cutting just a word or two from a paragraph that has only a word or two on the final line.
Somehow I’m more willing to cut deep if I tell myself it’s “just for the contest.” Very often, I end up liking the tighter version and keeping it for real.
Do what you can to end on a hook. Maybe the judge has made up her mind by page three, but if you’re in contention for finaling, I think it still makes a difference–every little bit will count when the competition’s tight at the top. And having a strong ending could really matter with a final judge.
I’d at least try rewriting to see if you can get to the stronger hook within the page limit. I’ve done this several times for contests, and every time, I’ve ended up with a stronger, tighter opening which I ended up using in my manuscript as well as for the contest entry.
Love the hook – but I’d still prefer to see as many pages as possible. Don’t stop w/your hook if you can still give us 2-3 pages. I’ll take it all!
Okay, I have to brag. I already mailed one of my entries. However, the post office says they delivered it on the 17th, and I’ve still not received confirmation from the RWA office that they received it. I know they sent emails last year. Are they not doing that this year?
Congratulations, Kate!
I don’t know if RWA is sending emails, but you can check your status online.
Login to http://www.rwa.org/ and navigate to
Member Resources —> My Account Profile —> My Contests
Under My Contest Entries, it should show the date your entry was received.
I’ll bet it takes them a couple days to log them in, Kate. I wouldn’t worry for a couple more days.
The only snafu I can think of was not mine but the post office’s, where they lost one of my entries last year and thus the mad dash to Houston on deadline day. (kind of a waste since I didn’t final but fun nevertheless–yes, I have a boring life, no excitement outside of fiction.
) Incidentally RWA did eventually receive my empty envelope which leads me to conclude I have fans at the post office who could not wait to read my work! 
For others entering, check your page numbering! RWA is not picky about much, but a friend was disqualified for incorrectly numbering her pages–she’s still not sure how she did it wrong, but print off that check list and check everything.
I didn’t enter this year either, just too much to do to pull it together. Good luck to those who did!
This gives me the hives!
I need to print out TODAY. TODAY, Jamie Michele!
Sending in a hot mess.
When I started writing three years ago I set goals for myself. A goal in 2008 was enter contests. How many contests was determined by how much money I could spend. It was seven contests including the GH. Started entering in June and I had no idea what I was doing. I mainly wanted feed back. I finaled in the first contest I entered. Dear gussy it was a hot mess! Finalist entries went to an agent who was supposed to crit the work. The poor thing gave it up after ten pages. It was the story they liked. I cleaned up my act in time for the GH. I finaled in four out of the seven I entered.
SO send in your best work!
My goodness, Rita. You’ve come a long way for just starting 3 years ago. Same thing happened to me. The judges must have forgiven a lot for me to make the finals. The final judge editor – not so much.
Yeaphers! Three years and twelve days after I started the MS for a Romance Writing class I had a contract. I went back and looked at my goals and was stunned I made everyone. I wanted to have a contract the first part of 2010 but the last part of 2010 is just fine with me.
Rita, my dear, I need you to teach me about that goal-setting thing you do.
I made the goal and everything I did was aimed at completing that goal. When it was completed I refocused on the next step. The contract one was the hardest because I had no real power to do anything. My agent was doing it all. I even made a mock up cover for the book with NYT bestseller and winner of the GH for RS banners on it.
That and the mojo thing I do. grin
Just a funny story about contests…
A friend in my chapter entered a contest and got judged in the wrong category…erotic instead of historical! Her judges’ comments said things like “nothing’s happening here.” She came in 3rd from last. She was upset about the whole thing, but her husband said, “Honey, you mean to tell me you didn’t even come in last in the totally wrong category? That’s great!”
(I think that hubby is a keeper…)
OMG that’s funny. I ended up in the wrong category one time and won. I still don’t know how it happened. My fault? Their fault? I kept my mouth shut for fear they’d throw me back to the category I’d entered and I wouldn’t make the finals. But the final round judge was not one I’d have targeted.
Kelly, I think it’s actually worth piping up if you final in a category you didn’t think you entered.
A contest coordinator, in my opinion, is unlikely to take away your achievement. If your scores would have qualified you to final in the other category, the coordinator might be able to squeeze a fourth finalist into that group, and bump up the fourth-place finisher in the mistaken category to go to the finals. The final judge would have to be willing to read a fourth entry, but that happens sometimes, anyway, with unbreakable ties.
Okay! finaling and winning in the wrong contest category is too funny.
No big contest snafus to report.
I have this year’s GH entry printed out and sitting on my desk, but am strangely reluctant to let it out of the house. So, if someone could find some way of encouraging me to get to the post office, like, say, poking me with a sharp object, that would be great.
DO IT TODAY!
You’ll be too darned busy next week to want to run to the Post Office, and you’ll probably pay less to send it today than you will next week.
DO IT TODAY!
poke, poke, poke, poke….
If you don’t, an old, short, fat, white woman dressed in black will jump out from behind the bushes one night, smack you around and before you can regain your wits disappear into the inky darkness. Then, try explaining what happened. But officer…..
Okay, okay, I did it. (That Rita is scary.)
When I entered the 2009 Daphne, I printed off my Synopsis and entry from a single Word file, not noticing that the page numbering in the header resulted in my Prologue starting on p. 6 rather than p. 1.
The paranormal category coordinator, Connie Gillam, called me to let me know, and thanks to her I was able to send a correctly-paginated entry within the submission window–THANK GOD, because The Daphne was such a kickstart for for my writing career. Not only did I place first in the unpublished paranormal manuscript category the same year I was named a Golden Heart finalist, but the agent who judged the final round of the Daphne became my agent.
And it’s all thanks to Connie, who rocks like a big rocking thing.
There is a way to make word start your pagination over, but I’m darned if I can get it to work! I will be printing two separate files in order to achieve the correct numbering, but somewhere out there is a solution!
Jessica
Jessica, I think you can get your entry to begin numbering from page one, even if the synopsis is in the same file, by inserting a “section break” instead of just a “page break” at the end of your synopsis. My beta copy of Word expired last week, but I’m pretty sure that there’s an option within the numbering box dialog for beginning with page 1 at a new section.
It’s not worth killing yourself over, but once you’ve got that section break in there, it’s just a box you need to check (or uncheck) to make it happen.
Thanks,
I’ve played with that part of word, but I don’t think I inserted a section break. I’ll try that. Maybe I’ll have time after I finish tweaking the synopis!
Jessica
Hi,
I have a silly question. If I don’t put my name on my manuscript or on the synopsis, how do they know it’s my entry? Should I include a cover page with contact info for the contest organizers? And I posted a question on the PRO loop about series. My book is the first in a series, should I put in information about the other two books. Yes, there is an overlapping arc throughout, in fact the bad guy is the same throughout and doesn’t get a comeuppance in the first book. There is a conclusion, but how much should I include about the whole story arc?
thanks for being willing to share and educate us newbies! Funny thing, my young adult contacts say its no longer newbies, its now pronounced “nubes”, but spelled nubs! Welcome to texting!
Jessica
My GH finalist is part of a series that shares the same protagonist. What I did was make sure to close the ROMANCE arc for the satisfying ending, something like, They knew they hadn’t seen the last of him, but . . .
This communicated his presence in the rest of the series, but didn’t detract from the story I presented.
I hope this helps.
To romance writers, “nubs” has an entirely different meaning! “Nubs? You mean nipples?”
Despite what those darned kids say, I don’t write YA so I’ll keep using n00b.
Jessica, I don’t know how exactly they know your name, but my first thoughts are:
-They match the name of the manuscript, which you put on your entry form and on the ms itself, to the writer.
-If two entries have the same title, you probably put your name on the return address of the package. Plus, if you submit your full ms on a CD, you have to write your name on the CD so that will make it clear whose ms this is.
Perhaps they have other, more magical, ways. I like to think they do
“I have a silly question. If I don’t put my name on my manuscript or on the synopsis, how do they know it’s my entry? Should I include a cover page with contact info for the contest organizers?”
Interesting question. I think in 2009, I wrote a cover letter identifying the contents and purpose of the package. I wanted to be certain that there was no confusion about what I was sending, and that they could contact me if they needed to. I probably included a print-out of the emailed confirmation RWA sent me after I paid my entry fee, as well.
I think RWA identifies these things by title, not author, but putting your name on the entry is a personal choice.
Jessica, in the past I always printed a copy of my entry confirmation from RWA and just stuck that on top of my entry. (I think I put binder clips on each of the six partials, then a rubber band around the entire set (with the disk) and then the confirmation page on top.) That has enough info the coordinators can reach you if there’s something wrong (like they can’t read the disk — happened to me one year and they let me just email in another copy).
Regarding that disc with the full, I also put a copy of the partial entry on it. I figure that if something happens to the printed entries, they can always run off another from the disc. They’re labeled “Title.FULL” and “Title.Partial,” and I can’t imagine RWA having a problem with that.
If someone spills coffee on my stack of entries, I bet she’d be pretty happy to have that digital partial on hand.
I also used a cover letter. And… I put my name on it. Another author and I agonized over doing this. I did, she didn’t. My reasoning was if I could, why not? I was proud of what I was turning in and wanted my name on it.
Synopsis is for the story you are presenting. The synopsis is a guide to plot and characterization. To see if the rest of the story holds up like the submitted pages. I’ve seen agent blogs saying not to mention you are writing a series and this book is number such and such. Each book in a series has to stand alone. Each will require a synopsis.
Thanks for all the great info from everyone! This is terrifically helpful. I hadn’t thought of copying my receipt and including it. I’m sending it in next week so I can still use the cheap form of US mail, so this week is formatting, buying clips and last minute panicking!
Jessica
My only real contest snafu was last year, when my mom offered to pay for me to enter the Golden Heart because she was so excited about me writing a novel. The check never arrived at the RWA office, though. I happened to realize on the very last day that I’d never received an email from RWA and called them to explain. Fortunately they took my credit card info over the phone.
Unfortunately I didn’t final. So on March 25 I wished I hadn’t called them to find out if they’d received my entry form and mom’s money.
I’ve entered this year and I’m so excited. I need to finish up my entry this weekend and send it off this week.
Oh, and I’ll be going with some lovely red binder clips.
Katrina, I think we all feel that way when we don’t final. We think of all the awesome things we could have done with that entry fee, and we wish we’d just ignored that “I’m gonna be a contender!” feeling in our guts.
Good for you for giving it another try! Fall down seven times, stand up eight, right?
I’m entering a manuscript that didn’t final in 2009, but I’ve been polishing it since. I feel good about its chances, but you really, truly, never can tell with the GH. I’m also entering a new baby that I don’t think is ready, but I’m impatient! I’m pushing it out the door and hoping for the best.
I recently changed the date of my novel from 1811 to 1804 to make sure some of the things that happened in my book were historically accurate. Only…I entered the GH regency category for the Golden Heart this year! I just realized it now and it’s not a big problem since it doesn’t really affect the first fifty pages, but I’m making my synopsis a bit more vague and am changing the date at the top of chapter 1.
The things a historical writer has to consider! I, personally, consider the “Regency Era” a bit more broadly than 1811-1820, but I haven’t checked RWA’s standard recently. Do they actually have dates that you must conform to?
Honestly, Stephie, I wonder if you might shoot Carol Ritter an email and see if it’d be possible to switch categories. It’s worth checking. You never know!
Wish I’d seen this earlier! I won Regency last year with a story set in 1802. Apparently, no one had a problem with it.
(Yes, the political Regency was 1811-1820, but the cultural Regency is usually reckoned more like 1795 to the later 1820s. That’s how most publishers seem to see it.)
The categories kinda make me go “hmm.” Some categories are refined so precisely (for example, Historical and Regency), yet most contests have a single contest category for all the paranormal, urban fantasy, futuristic, sci-fi, and time travel romances.
Wow … I can’t believe it’s so close to time. My entries are done (I hope!) but I’ve been so busy writing my NaNo story (nearly 35K to date) that I haven’t printed them out to read them one more time. Maybe on Sunday, when I’m only working a half-day.