Writing 101 : Critiquing vs. Judging

As I finish judging a packet of contest entries, I thought about the differences between being a contest judge and being in a critique group.

They are NOT the same thing.

Both groups can benefit the writer if the writer realizes what each group brings to the table.

The following is just my opinion on the topic-- 

Critique groups:

• offer support
• brainstorm
• meet on a regular basis
• gently point out story problems
• will correct your grammar
• will offer solutions to various story problems
• know your story inside and out
• offer sympathy when perceived bashing occurs from a contest judge 

Contest judges:

• MUST follow the criteria set by the contest 
• MUST score according to the the contest score sheets
• MUST give an educated opinion about what does or doesn't work with a submission
• have never seen your story before and must score on the story's merit, flaws and all. 
• must explain why a score of 3 (or less) out of 5 is given on any one judging criteria
• must score opening scene, plot/pacing, characterization, writing technique, conflict, dialogue/narrative technique, sub-genre criteria, and the one this judge hates the most--romantic relationship. Many times the romantic relationship isn't established in the minimal length of a contest entry. And, unless a synopsis is provided, can't give a good score on this element. Our judging hands are tied. 
• If we are judging a paranormal entry, then there had better be some paranormal elements. Remember, if you remove the paranormal aspect and the story falls apart, then it is a solid paranormal story. These points should be easy to get. 

These are just a few examples of the different between a crit group and a judge. 

Contest judges are unpaid and under appreciated for the time and energy they use to score your submission. True, there are many judges out there who will simply put a number down and not comment, or will wait to the last minute to look at their entries and just throw scores out there. 

But there are contest judges who, to the best of their abilities, will try to give you feedback on your submission. 

Remember, we have never seen your story before, so we can give you our first impression. 

If we say that something doesn't make sense, it's because it doesn't. 

The contest judge doesn't know your story, or the back story of the main characters. We don't know all the versions of your story. We don't know anything, EXCEPT what you have submitted. If it doesn't make sense, or we are confused, then you failed in your ability to tell an engaging story. 

Don't go whining to your crit group about how mean and horrible this particular judge was. Instead, step away from your story and critically look at it from the judge's point of view. If you are scored low on some element, read the criteria for that element, and try to find out what was missing in your story.

Look at it this way: contest judges will give you input as to what is wrong with your story, while agents/editors will simply send you a form rejection.

It might not be the comments you want to hear, as we are not here to stroke your ego, to fix your grammar, or tell you how to fix your story. 

We simply comment on what we read.   

It's your job as a writer to write effectively. 

Later, Peeps!

This and That

Happy 4th of July!

Walking Apps

Well, I managed to overdue my walking yesterday-- 4.75 miles in the morning and 4.25 miles in the evening. My shoulder is really bothering me this morning. . . even with anti-inflammatories.

Part of the problem was that I loaded Map My Walk app onto my new phone. With my old phone, it would basically drain the battery in an hour because it tracks you via GPS, so for months I didn't bother with the app. But, of course, I had been slacking with my pace and had no way to track it, which is why I reloaded it.

I love this app! Though I don't use it to it's full potential, I love the fact that she talks to you every mile and gives you your current pace. Here's what I walked yesterday morning. I can click on the event and it will give me all sorts of breakdowns to help my workout--if I actually was walking toward a goal or training for an event.

This walk was my best time so far this summer. My kidlet swims at McClure park in the morning during the summer. Remember, I don't jog! This is just a really, really fast walk!

Walked 4.75 mi on 07/03/2013

MapMyWalk

I walked with MapMyWalk! Distance: 4.75mi, time: 01:02:29, pace: 13:10min/mi, speed: 4.56mi/h.

 

Shoulder Update

I've set my surgery for August. Right now, it's scheduled for the day before school starts. When I meet with my doctor in a couple weeks, we'll firm that up. The surgery will put me out of blogging for awhile--no idea how long--but I plan to have something special for you then.

So stick around!

Monsters University

The kidlet and I saw this movie yesterday. It was okay, but I'm glad I didn't spend the extra money on the 3-D version. It delved into Mike and Sully's back story of how they first met. They could have spent less time at the beginning, AND I think I spotted a little bit of a boo-boo that they should have taken out. But that could have just been me overthinking things again.

Contest Judging

For the first time in a long time, I'm judging a contest entries again. Over the last couple years, I've been stuck judging historical novels and wanted a bit of a change. I requested FFP--Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal.

I just didn't expect to get all three 'worlds' in one entry! The premise starts off interesting with the mad scientist conducting experiments on his own kid, the kid escaping and then the unexpected happens! I'm excited! I'm hooked! I want more! How does he really escape his father and adjust to his 'new' self. Does he find more experiments like himself? And then, chapter three . . . it's a new and different world with a different protagonist, and with magic. WHAT??! My mind can't honestly compute that these very different main characters/plot/world will actually mix somewhere in this book. -- Wait a second--I can actually use this thought when I give the entry my overall impression and final thoughts on the entry!

Or the entry where the author is using the contest as a critique. Now, don't get all high-and-mighty on me here. I know some people don't have access to other writers, but there are easier ways to find a crit partner than spending $$ to enter a contest.

Contest judging and critiquing are two different beasts. And unless I'm sorely mistaken this entry is a first time work from a first time writer, and I fear this person will be burned for life when she sees her score. This entry will take many days for me to judge, since I'll have to really soften my typical response into constructive feedback.

Yeah, these contest entries will be difficult to get through.

Stars and Stripes Swim Meet

This weekend I'll be spending my time in a natatorium. Fun, fun. This is the last chance for my kidlet to qualify for Long Course Age Groups. Hopefully, she's have her mind in the game and push through the pain to get the times she needs. We'll see. Hmm . . . I could bring the contest entries on my netbook and judge them while we're waiting . . . at least until the battery runs out. I like this idea!

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll have to go to the store later to get something to make for tonight. Yeah, nothing like leaving it to the last minute, right?!

Later, peeps!

Putting off my writing to judge a contest

I have a problem of putting off my writing when I have a contest to judge. I don't know why I do this. My writing is important to me, but I think it's the obligation I feel to the contest that forces me to put it first.

I have to stop doing this!

I'd never judged this particular contest before. The categories were a little different since the contest accepted different genre types: romance, mystery, sci-fi, contemporary and children's. I think that was all of them. I volunteered to judge the romance since that is where my experience lies. I had the typical five submissions, but this contest was slightly different in that I could have any sub-genre from the romance.

Three of the entries were excellent. One of them, I gave a perfect score to along with a request to send me an email when it was published.

I did this many years ago on a submission I had judged in 2008, and just this week, I had an email from the author who told me it had been published. Five years, my friends. It took five years. Writing a book and publishing isn't for the faint of heart or for instant gratification. That just doesn't happen to 99.9% of us, but it's always the 0.1% you hear about.

Anyway, the perfect one simply got a "Wow, just wow. This was the first time in my years of judging a contest that I read an entry that was so good." And then I told her to email me when it was published and I'd buy it.

The other two almost perfect ones had a little something off about them. One of them had a totally different name in the synopsis than in the manuscript--oops, this should have been caught--plus enough minor stuff to drop it a point in a couple of the judging categories. The other one was excellent--I actually was very excited to read this, thinking I was reading an Allison Brennan-type story--until she added elements that tossed it into the erotic category side of the scale around the page 15 mark. Excellent writing, but very disappointing.

The last two needed major revisions. Actually, I think they would be better served to ditch the first 20 pages and start over. The synopses for both of these were very good, but the writing just wasn't there. The ghost story one seemed like it would be a fun read, but it needed work.

The other one had serious characterization issues--when a judge thinks the hero is acting creepy and stalkerish, then there's a problem. The two main characters were also lawyers, but neither one acted like lawyers. Though I'm not a lawyer, I happen to have many who are my friends. The lawyers I know have a very distinct ascerbic wit, are extremely intelligent, and they think about everything prior to shooting off their mouths, and these characters didn't feel lawyerish. And the odds strongly lean in the direction that this author is also a lawyer.  I'm sure my comments will be bashed in this writer's critique group and I don't know what I'm talking about.

Stuff like this happens all the time.

Susan Grant tells of the time she was bashed for wrongly portraying an airline pilot in her paranormal romance, Contact. Susan IS a 747 pilot who flies internationally, mainly San Francisco to Hong Kong or Singapore.

Anyway, I finished judging yesterday. On Monday, I'll review my comments, tweak and return the entries.

Today I'll write . . . I need to get my weekly 5K written in one day. I can do it. I've done it before. Besides I need to get something to my CP, she needs new reading material. :-)  

Contest Quandary

I make this same mistake every January.

I outline my goals for the year. I make a plan how to achieve those goals. And then I manage to derail my good intentions by volunteering to judge a contest or THREE.

Yep, idiot in tow here.

The first batch of contest entries is only about 25 pages and a reasonable scoresheet. I've read and judged four of them and made profuse comments. All I have to do is tweak my comments (play nicey-nice) and add up their scores. The last entry, well, I don't know what's going to happen with that one.

Here's the sitch:

When I received the entries last Friday, I opened them up and scrolled past the scoresheet to the first page to see if I've read/judged/critiqued it before. All of them were fresh and new submissions that I'd never seen before. So when I started judging the entries, I simply read them the way my computer alphabetized them, unless the topic doesn't interest me, then I place it at the bottom of the list.

Excited that I was, a) on the last contest entry, b) that I didn't have any real clunkers in this batch, I opened the entry and scrolled through the pages. Why I did this, I don't know, but I'm so glad I did!

This entry was a mess, a HOT MESS--and it had nothing to do with the actual story content--font sizes were different, some sections were all CAPS, some sections were single spaced, and I have no idea what happened in other sections, except that the author's fingers typed off one key stroke. Yep, total gobble-de-gook. Originally, I thought, "Oh, I can simply reformat it." until weird section really jumped out at me.

Nope. Not happening. Not my job.

In all the years (12 of them) I've judged contests, I have NEVER seen one that looked like this!

It was the contest coordinator's job to check formatting, maybe she has a clean copy. I emailed her. Turns out, all she did was look at the first page, too.

Oops.

Usually the coordinator's are totally awesome blossom. I never have to do anything other than send my judged entries back, and they let me know if everything is hunky dory. This coordinator, though very nice, seems simply overwhelmed. I'm sure she works a 'real' full-time job outside of writing and helping with this contest, and this might be her first contest to coordinate, but she has forgotten to give me my judge number, and hasn't numbered any of the contest entries, along with the formatting issues on this entry.

Why are numbers this important?

To make it easy to keep track of HUNDREDS of judges and entries. When I co-coordinated RWI's (now obsolete) published author contest, I had pages of computerized excel sheets to keep track of everything. And I couldn't have done it without Susan Shay's help.

I'm just so glad that I decided to hop on these entries to get them judged within the first week of receiving them--I think the coordinator should be thankful, too. Many judges wait until the last minute to judge their entries. Can you imagine what the entrant would think if she got a frantic email during the last week of judging asking for a fresh copy? It wouldn't reflect very well on the contest, because this sort of thing tends to go viral through RWA loops.

--um, I'm not in RWA any longer and I don't expect anyone from this loop to tattle about this unnamed contest . . . GOT IT?

Once I get a clean copy, it will be a non-event. The other judges will also get a clean copy and life will go on. Crisis averted.

Anyone who volunteers to help with a contest is a saint. And unless you help, don't ever diss them. There is a LOT of time and commitment that happens around every single entry.

Today, I'll reread my comments, tally up my scores and send back the other entries. I'll judge the remaining one when I get it. But until then, I'll start reading the BOOKS I got in the mail for the second contest I volunteered to judge.

And then, I expect another packet contest entries to judge to arrive sometime next week.

Oh, and I still have 5000 words to write on MY story for this week. If I focus today, I might get a couple thousand written today.

Gotta go feed the dog, Peeps. Then it's time to go for a walk, tweak my contest entries and write my own story. Busy, busy, busy!

Later, Peeps!

A Contest "Thank You" or NOT?

About six weeks ago, I finished judging a contest, sent all my comments and scores back to the coordinator, and then promptly forgot about it.

That's the way I work: Out of sight, out of mind.

And it doesn't take much to make my mind empty these days!

Last week, I was emailed a thank you note.

An aside on thank you notes: As a judge, I don't expect one, and I certainly don't want one just because you feel you have to write one. This has always been my opinion from the first time I judged a contest in 2001. In all the years that I entered contests, I think I only wrote one thank you note. Don't bother writing one unless the judge actually gave you some insight into your story.  

This particular story was a historical romance. It was good, but it could use some editing and tightening.

Heck--EVERY story could always use more editing and tightening!

This story now has an agent and it will be a Kensington digital release. Good for her!

And then I got a second thank you note.

It was another "I sold my story!", but this time the subtext was very, very different.

To paraphrase:
Though you hated my story, I sold it. So there!

I'd gotten a nanny-nanny-boo-boo backwards thank you note.

Okay, I get it. The author wanted to point out that I obviously don't know gold when I'm reading it.

Okay, fine. Glad the author felt better by sending this unnecessary, and questionable, thank you.

But to top it off, the author will be handing my comments to her new editor?

Are you kidding me?

Why would an editor want my comments?

Obviously the problems that I spotted in a synopsis and the first fifty pages didn't bother the editor when she offered a contract. Besides, an editor has to think in the terms of the publishing house line, not some random contest entry comments from a random judge.

Puh-leeze. 

The most frustrating part as a judge is when the entrant puts their blinders on and doesn't really 'see' the comments. In this instance, the author thought I gave her a low score because it was an erotic historical.

That wasn't the case at all.

I had a problem with this story due to the lack of characterization in both the hero and heroine. Neither character was very developed and I couldn't sympathize with either one, which made the story uninteresting to me.  

But that was just my opinion. Another judge might not see the same thing. That is all you get when you enter a contest--AN OPINION. Obviously, the offering editor didn't seem to have a problem with this particular story or felt she could work with the author to tweak it.

So what I'm saying in my typical roundabout way is to keep writing and submitting because you never know who will find your story in the slush pile.

All it takes is one yes, but sometimes you have to slog your way through a pile of no's to get there.

Later, Peeps!

Contest Judging X2

Today I'll be judging those contest entries that I should have finished last week before I left town. *sigh* They are tougher than I expected, more of the first time writer feel to them instead of the "I'm this close to publishing" vibe.

And you see what I'm doing?

I'm stalling! I'm writing a blog post instead of buckling down to judge!

I've read/judged/commented/scored two out of three entries and I'm working on the third one (trust me, I'm GLAD I only have three!). I need to finish it so I can let them ferment overnight. Tomorrow I'll give them one last glance and send them on their way. None of them will be finalists in this contest. They just aren't ready for prime time.

Funny thing is that I thought I would have a higher quality of entries since this is a LARGE, WELL-KNOWN AND PRESTIGIOUS CONTEST. But nope, the contest is open to everyone, which means you get every type of entry possible.

Which also means I need to form my comments in as honest, but not hurtful, manner as possible. I've already learned that no matter how kindly you offer your opinion, feelings will get hurt. It's part of the game, part of developing a thick skin, part of your growth as a writer.

Not everyone will love your work. Period. Get used to it.

BUT as a writer, it's your job to present your work in the possible manner, which means you must learn the craft of writing: grammar, punctuation, pacing, characterization, emotion, dialogue, plot, etc. Some parts of the craft might be easy for you, but that doesn't mean you can ignore the rest of the factors that make a good story.

Okay, I think I'm ready to tackle the last few pages  . . .

 . . . after I brew a cup of coffee . . . and it has been ten minutes since I looked at Facebook . . . and I forgot to post my walkies on twitter . . . and I do need to run to Sam's Club . . .

Later, Peeps!

Mini Rant about Contests

As I might have mentioned, I have another packet of contest entries to judge. For the most part, I judge contest submissions the same way I critique. The difference is that when I crit, I know the writer's history, style and craft, and for the most part, I don't have to explain my comments. When I judge a contest entry, I don't know if the writer is brand spanking new or a published author trying out a different genre, which means you have to explain your scores.

--though you can tell pretty quickly the writers who have a little bit of experience under their belt.

And then you get those submissions where the writer gets your expectations and/or defenses up immediately.

I'm working on one of those contest entries right now.

Let me 'splain a little.

The way this particular contest put each entry together is: manuscript pages, one page synopsis, and score sheet.

Not all score sheets are created equal, so I had to flip all the way to the back to read the score sheet, the questions asked and the categories.

Okay, fine, this one was weighted VERY HEAVILY on the romance of the story, because the hero and heroine each had a seperate category with three questions each for a total of 30 points. OUCH! If you don't intro your hero or heroine within the submission pages, you could potentially get seriously dinged!

I really don't like those kinds of score sheets, as they tend to favor the intro of the H/H almost immediately. If you write a story that intro's either the hero or heroine later, then I'd avoid this type of contest. READ YOUR SCORE SHEETS PRIOR TO ENTERING A CONTEST.

Many times if I'm reading confusing manuscript pages, then I'll go to the synopsis to clarify who is who and then I'll get on with reading the story. But since it was a one-pager, I read it on this first submission.

And I reread it.

And tried again.

Nope. No clue as to who the hero OR the heroine were. NO clue as to what's at stake other than the end of the world (very, very broad external conflict). No clue as to any internal conflict, especially since I didn't know who the main character's were! It was a bunch of plot points that weren't even in any order to even show progression of the story.

And seperated by a couple of blank lines, the author wrote a statement that this was the third book in a series, but it could also stand-alone.

Ruh-Roh! Scooby-Doo!

Uh, no, it can't.

A quickie note about a synopsis. I don't care about all the politically correct upheavel about what constitutes a romance--romance writers know what I'm talking about here--so I will go as generic as possible.

A synopsis for a romance must show the two main characters with an attraction toward each other (they're usually fighting it) (for example: cop/con, werewolf/hunter), as the romance develops they experience internal and external conflict that tries to pull them apart, until the moment when they realize it will never work out (black moment) and resign themselves to the fact that they will never be together until something happens to threaten one of the MC's and they realize they can overcome their conflicts to live happily ever after or Happy for now.

So now, I'm faced with scoring this entry and writing copious notes about how I came to my conclusions. I have to say that giving a "1" is pretty harsh and I avoid it if at all possible. I try not to score below a three EVER, but I had to be harsh with this entry. Everything got a one, and yes, I explained why I scored this way.

But I have a feeling that this author won't have her listening ears on.

She was already defensive when she wrote that it was the third book in a series, which I think she felt excused her starting the story in the middle nowhere. Just because a book is the third in a series doesn't excuse the fact that you have to ground the reader in THIS book.

And this is my public service announcement for the day.

If there are any typos . . . oops, my stupid spell check button isn't working!

Later, Peeps!

The Small Stuff

I had a lot on my mind today when I went on my walkies. None of the problems were biggies, just the little piddly stuff that tends to be bothersome: lack of motivation in weight loss (stagnant for WEEKS), poor choices made by kidlet (her grounding is over today. I probably could/should write a blog), the fact I probably won't ever make any money selling my stories (hubby did taxes last night), the fact that I'm sprouting a couple of pimples (I'm 50, for Pete's sake! Sorry, kiddies, you will still get pimpies when you're older--only now you'll have a batch of wrinkles to go with them!), that I forgot it was Valentine's day (oops!),or how to play nice while judging contest entries (two down, three to go!).

I was about at the halfway point in my walk when I noticed a V-shaped flock of geese coming in for a landing about 25 yards away. There's a plot of land in front of a hotel that has been kept mowed in preparation for some sort of development. The geese were coming in a little high, so as one (very Borg-like, don't you think?) they changed their minds. They rose higher and circled to the right, and as they came around, they crossed over their original landing line and circled left. I lost them in the fog and figured they went a mile down the 'pike to the land surrounding a junior college.

I was wrong.

They came in for a perfect landing. Touching down and tucking their wings with one motion. About 2/3 of the 17 birds started grazing, while the rest stood watch.

It made me realize that when you don't succeed at something the first time, maybe you should approach the problem from a different direction.

I still have all the little issues to deal with, but all of them are very small problems in the big picture of life.

Enjoy the little things God has given you and, to borrow a phrase, don't sweat the small stuff.

Later, Peeps!

Contest Judging

At the end of last year, I signed up to judge a couple of contests for this year.  Well, I got my first packet last week . . . and it doesn't look good.

I have managed to spend every single day last week avoiding reading those entries. Oh, I read them enough to see if I recognized any of them. One I had judged in 2011, so I returned it. I should have kept it to judge again, but 1) it was a good entry, 2) the replacement entry wasn't going to be fun.

I've tried reading the entries, but each one of them has seriously stopped me in my tracks. All of them are bad, but for different reasons.

One was so overwritten that it was just uncomfortable and awkward to read--headache inducing actually.

Another one was a huge mess of steampunk/alternate history/sci-fi space opera that I didn't know what to think.

Another one was a flip-flopped ghost story. I still can't figure that one out. It might be a pair of alternate realities overlapping that the "real" character thinks the other one is a ghost. Call me confused.

The last two seem interesting. Why is it that I always unintentionally save the good ones for last?
Now I know which one's I'll be reading first. At least one of them. I have to break up the hideousness.

Anyhoo, since I have to take the kidlet to swim every night, I might as well do something other than reading. I'm charging up my netbook and then I'll load these contest entries to judge.

Even though I haven't judged a contest since last October, I know I can do it. I don't have much choice since I signed up to judge another contest and the entries are expected to arrive the week of February 19.

Ye-ah. . .

Hopefully I'll have a Weighty Wednesday post for you provided I haven't stuck a hot poker in my eye from the pain of these entries.

Later, Peeps!

Oh, and by the way, I'm actually pretty nice with my comments. I just complain on my blog. And no matter how nice of a judge you are, someone's feelings will always get hurt because this story is their baby. And no one wants to be told that their baby is U-G-L-Y.