A few months ago, without telling anyone, I entered a short story into a writing contest. Well, not just any writing contest. It was the Winter Writing Contest that The Write Practice hosted in partnership with Short Fiction Break literary magazine. In other words, it was my writing contest.
Why I Entered the Writing Contest
I entered the writing contest for four reasons:
- I entered to give me perspective on what the experience was like for other writers. And it worked! While the contest was an amazing experience for me, there are several things we're changing and improving for our next one (which just opened! Here's the link to learn about the contest theme and prizes).
- I had been working on a few short stories and wanted to test one of them out on an audience. What better test than a writing contest that I knew and trusted, in which I could ensure the story was read both by judges but also by other writers?
- As a writer I always want to be growing. I never want to assume I have arrived. The best way to grow as a writer is through feedback, and that is the distinguishing characteristic of The Write Practice's writing contests. In fact, it's the main reason we host them, because writing contests can be great practice and great practice requires feedback.
- In the midst of all of these motivations, I wanted to win. Of course I did. I even imagined the faces of the judges when I revealed that they couldn't award the prize to the winner because the winner was me.
How I Made Sure It Was Fair
Of course, I wanted to make sure participating in the contest was both fair and free of conflicts of interest. Here's how I did that:
First, I competed anonymously. I wasn't a judge on this contest, so I wouldn't be able to give myself any unfair leg up. And since I was using a pen name, no one would be able to show favoritism. I even went as far as setting up a unique email address for my pen name, just in case anyone on our team at The Write Practice saw my email address and put things together. My goal was to be completely anonymous.
Second, if I won, I would have revealed my identity and refused the prize.
There were over $3,000 in prizes for our Winter Writing Contest, but for me, the practice, feedback, and chance to experience the contest from a writer's perspective was the main goal.
Where My Story Idea Came From
My short story idea came through our worksheet, 10 Questions to Better Story Ideas. I really love this resource, and use it all the time in my own writing. (You can get a free copy here, by the way).
Specifically, the idea came from question eight, which says, “Does your character bump into his or her soulmate?”
This question comes from the meet-cute moment, a Hollywood term that describes the moment when the hero and heroine of a love story first bump into each other. I had the idea to write a love story and center the meet-cute around the hero firing the heroine, which would be the first time the two characters met.
How I Wrote My Story
After the initial idea, the story flowed naturally. I always try to write short stories in one sitting because it's so much harder to come back to a story when you've broken off in the middle of it.
I finished the story in two or three hours, re-read it, and felt like I had nailed it. I knew it was a risk because it had a happy ending.
In writing contests, the stories that win almost always have sad endings. Even though most people prefer stories that end happily ever after, the reality is stories that end in tragedy almost always carry more emotional weight. And thus, judges usually rate sad stories higher than happy stories. This isn't always true, but it's a general rule.
However, I was too excited about my story to worry about that. In fact, I almost forgot I was writing it under a pen name and tried to share it with my team at The Write Practice. Fortunately, I was able to hold myself back and my writing contest story was kept secret.
Peer Feedback
In The Write Practice's writing contests, you post your story in a writer's workshop to get feedback from other participants in the contest. This is a great opportunity to make your story better, and so when the workshop opened, I posted my story. I was expecting high praise and instant lauding of my unbelievable skills as a writer.
The feedback I actually got was not very flattering. Some people struggled understanding key sections. One person questioned the setting. Others caught spelling issues.
I was disappointed but not discouraged. I believe even if you don't take every piece of feedback, it's all helpful. I set about editing and rewriting my story.
My Rewrite Process
Rewriting is always the hardest part of the writing process for me. I rewrote the story three times. It was miserable. I almost gave up on the story completely. If I hadn't had a deadline from the contest, I honestly wouldn't have kept going and finished the story.
The night of the deadline, I still wasn't finished. It was midnight my time, and the story was due in three hours. But finally, I discovered my writing groove. I wrote furiously for an hour-and-a-half, and finally finished my story.
I used almost all of the feedback that I got in the workshop. I completely revamped the setting of my story based on feedback, clarified sections readers had a hard time with, and fixed all those pesky spelling mistakes.
I knew it wasn't perfect, but it was good. Maybe good enough to win? I submitted my story to the judges.
The Results of the Writing Contest
Waiting for the results was surprisingly difficult. I, of course, would have been able to monitor the entire judging process, but I resisted the urge to see where my story was ranking with the judges. When the announcement went out about the winners, I had no idea if my story had been chosen as a winner or not. I opened the email nervously, and found out…
I had lost. I had lost my own writing contest.
All the usual feelings came through: disappointment, frustration with the judges, indignation, and a twinge of shame. I've been rejected enough to know that while all of these feelings are understandable, they're not helpful. The only feeling that is helpful is a desire to learn and grow as a writer. Which is why I was so excited to see the feedback the judges had left for me.
Judges' Feedback
When I first signed up, I paid for the premium entry, which included feedback directly from the contest judges. I wanted to see why they felt my story wasn't good enough to win, and what I could learn as I moved on to my next story.
When I finally received the judges' feedback, I read through it quickly and then went back to study each point. Some of the feedback was good, some of it was arguably correct, even if I disagreed with it, and some of it may have come from a misreading of my story, which is fine and normal. One piece of feedback in particular was really surprising:
“This was one of my favorite stories,” said the judge, “only it struggled to meet the two worlds theme requirement.”
Considering I came up with the contest's theme, I found that surprising. The main reason we have a theme at all in our writing contests is so that people are forced to write a new story, to practice their writing, and not just pick out something from their archives.
Still, the number one rule of writing contests is to follow the instructions, and I hadn't followed them as closely as I should have.
What I Learned From the Writing Contest
This feedback, left me disappointed, but I also knew I had to take responsibility for it:
As writers, we can't blame our readers or editors for misunderstanding our writing. We can only write something so good it rises above misunderstanding.
Writing contests are amazing practice. That's great, because the thing is, no matter how much experience we gain as writers, we always need more practice. I definitely do!
That's why I'm going to keep participating in writing contests like this one. And I hope you'll join me!
Our Latest Writing Contest
We've just announced our latest writing contest today, held in partnership with Short Fiction Break literary magazine, and sponsored by Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl.
If you’ve spent much time around The Write Practice, you know we love to help writers grow. Sure, it’s rewarding to win a writing contest (and we’re offering some amazing prizes to make it exciting!).
But we believe the real value comes in the practice you get along the way. That’s why you’ll get the chance to workshop your story in the Becoming Writer community, receiving feedback to help you polish it to perfection.
Plus, you’ll even have the opportunity to get personalized feedback directly from the judges on why your story was or wasn’t chosen as the winner.
No other writing contest (that I know of) offers this kind of support.
Not only that, but EVERY writer who enters will have the option of publishing their story with Short Fiction Break. That means even if you don’t win the main prize, this contest will still be well worth your time. You’ll grow as a writer and have a published story to show for your hard work at the end.
Plus, everyone who enters will get a free copy of Shawn Coyne's amazing book, The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know, and Tim Grahl's Your First 1,000 Copies. It's a pretty amazing offer!
You can find all the details about the Spring Writing Contest here.
And who knows! Maybe you can figure out which pen name I'm competing under!
Have you participated in one of our writing contests before? What did you learn from the experience? Let me know in the comments section.
PRACTICE
Start writing your entry to the Spring Writing Contest using the theme as a prompt:
Person in a Hole. A character gets into a big problem, then finds a way out of it. (See Kurt Vonnegut’s video that inspired the theme.)
Write for fifteen minutes. When your time is up, share what you have in the comments section. And if you share, give feedback to a few other writers.
Hope to see you in the contest, and happy writing!
It was a fun to participate in your own writing contest and lose it.Think otherwise.Had you won the contest and other writers came to know that you too had participated and won.What would have happened? Had you lost your credibility? Or Had they taken it seriously or sportively? I shudder to think.Normally,in a contest meant for prizes, not even the employees or their wards or relatives will be allowed to contest.Anyhow it was a critical but a very senstive idea.It could have been better had you kept off from it.
It was great having you too!
If I had won, I would have made sure the judges picked someone else, as I mentioned in the section above about keeping the contest fair. You might re-read that section, since I address all the conflict-of-interest stuff there.
Thanks for reading!
I love this. Good for you!! It’s really cool that you did this and experienced the pain and humiliation… erm… the sense of pride from rising to a challenge! Yes, that’s it!! 🙂
I am kidding, of course. For me, accepting the contest challenge was a last minuted dare to myself. I was pretty sure I’d fail to come up with an idea like the last time and just fail to produce, again. This time was different, though. This time I did write and did submit. I learned that I could do it – I could actually write a short story that followed the prompt (ahem) in the time allotted. That was huge for me! It wasn’t a great story, but it got some nice comments and useful feedback.
Joel Branch was a veterinarian who hated dogs, cats, hamsters,
cows, horses, pigs. He didn’t start out that way, but for no reason he could
ever decipher, animals hated him first. Naturally, after being bitten,
scratched, kicked, or peed on the first time he met an animal, any animal, his
own animosity developed. The only reason he got into veterinary medicine was because
of a girl. He thought she loved him. Turned out, she loved veterinarians who
loved animals. By the time she learned of the deep seated hostility between
Joel and any animal, he was near graduation and too deeply in debt to quit. She
dumped him.
“Go into research, bro.” That was Nex, his best friend.
“Nah, man. The only thing worse than getting bloody lips from kissing up to a house
pet is a lifetime of tedious, boring research.”
He found what seemed to be a perfect solution. He became an
outstanding surgeon, a specialist. No more snatching his hand away from someone’s
ungrateful beast then apologizing to the owner for having been bitten. By the
time he touched any of them, they were asleep.
I have no idea what comes next.
Thanks Cathy! So much pain, humiliation and pride! Ha. Thanks for commenting and for sharing this great beginning of a story! I think it could be great! Do you think it’s a love story? Could be kind of fun if he met the perfect girl after getting dumped by the girl who got him into his career.
It could be a love story, yes. Or something ironic, or diabolical. It could be a diabolic, ironic love story…. Hmmm…
Haha sounds perfect!
I participated in a contest with a novel in French, a novel in Arabic and a collection of short stories with the hope at least to be read by judges, those people whose critique is welcome. I didn’t win of course and the sole report I received was about my collection of short stories. I received nothing about the two novels. As far as the collection of stories is concerned the report I received said what follows: ” Stories written in good French but there is no link between them (between the stories).
Of course there was no link because if we refer to the title of the collection, the title is : Journal of a fool man.
A journal written written by a mad is logically mad and the only link between the stories is this madness.
I hoped i would be read but the bitter reality is the contrary.
P.S
I do not master the English, so please …
That’s so disappointing that you didn’t get any feedback from your novels. That’s a lot of work and no feedback means you are no wiser.
My first contest (not this organization) I had only one comment from the judges and they (she?) didn’t understand the story at all. I was crushed. But then I realized it was my job as writer to fix that, write more clearly. Eventually sold the story, but after much work and workshopping. I like how TWP’s contests are organized so we will get feedback.
Keep writing.
I have not done a contest.. Yet any how. Just like you said: Rewriting is always the hardest part of the writing process for me(same for me)
Caleb, you are so right! The first draft always feels brilliant, hot off the keys. Then I read it the next day. uff. And the real work begins. Keep writing.
Yeah your also right. Speak of witch even more annoying is when you finish the book and make a new one then check on your old book and see… A peace of junk!
I admire you for entering your contest. If you can have such a good attitude after losing your own contest, that’s a good example to all of us
You’re right, win or lose, entering a contest tells us where we are in our writing and what to improve on.
We shouldn’t be afraid to get critiqued. It teaches what we do wrong in our writing and how to improve.
Thank you for giving us a chance to learn how to write better through your contests.
Sincerely,
Robin Staley
It’s a humbling experience to get the feed back you received. I’m new to the contest side of writing, but am eager to experience it. I like how much constructive criticism is given.
I didn’t write a scene with the prompt, but I did start to plot out a story. Is there a min/max word count? How literal should the theme be taken? For instance a character gets herself into an issue, does it count if circumstances resolve it rather than action by the character.
Awesome. It would be great to have you Kayla! Max word count is 2,000 words. For the
Awesome. It would be great to have you Kayla! Max word count is 2,000 words. I would highly recommend making sure the character gets herself out of her own issue. Otherwise it’s deus ex machina. Here’s some info on that: https://thewritepractice.com/deus-ex-machina/
I appreciate the clarification. I need to go back and read some of your previous posts. Would help me out immensely. I came up with a few new endings to my story that will involve the character herself solving the problem.
Nice! Good work Kayla!
What a brave writer you are! You received rejection. I think you handled it pretty well! And, you won. You learned some things……
So Joe, which story was yours? I’m dying to know.
All the best,
Deena
Yes, me, too. (I think I know…)
What’s your guess?
You said it involved one of the couple firing the other from a job. I read one about a girl who fired her boyfriend so they would be free to move together to another state where he would be so much happier. Can’t remember the title.
Hi Guys! This is a first for me so not sure whether this is where to post the fifteen minutes worth of a story. I’m keen o get some feedback so here goes.
It would have been of great benefit to my sanity to have not woken up that day! No, it wasn’t raining, I didn’t have an exam, I wasn’t on my period. It’s just that it would have been better if that day hadn’t started.
I had been excited all day about the prospect of going to the gallery opening with Tom. We were meeting there. It had been arranged weeks before and I had bought a special dress for the occasion. As I sat in my loft apartment waiting for my cab, my phone rang. It gave that delightful
little tune that I had allocated to Tom’s calls. Why was he phoning me? As I pulled the phone from my purse I saw the picture of Tom on the screen, smiling at me. I couldn’t help but to smile back and looked forward to the sound of his voice.
“Hi Tom,” I said and waited for those mellifluous tones to wash over me.
“Hi Cilla, I’m sorry,” came the shrill scratch of his PA. “Tom asked me to phone you. He won’t be able to make the opening tonight. He says he’s sorry.”
What the f.. Why was Candice using his phone to call me and tell me that my fiancée was not going to be able to make the opening?
“Candice.” I said, barely able to keep from screaming down the phone. “Where’s Tom. Why won’t be he able to make it and why has he given you his phone to call me?”
Candice replied in her annoyingly cool manner that Tom had left the office in a rush to catch a plane, but had told her to tell me that he would call me later. Oh, and that I was to have a good time without him. I started to ask if he was there but she hung up. She hung up on me!
I was speechless with rage. I knew that Tom had not really wanted to go to the opening. He had said so in so many words the previous evening while we were having drinks. It had become a recurring pattern with Tom. I would make some arrangements and he would cancel on me at the last moment. Well this would be the last time.
I pressed the pretend buttons on my phone screen and called his number.
“The number you have dialled is not available at this
time. Please leave a message after the tone,” said some patronising, smooth tongued bimbo. Then the tone sounded.
“Well Mr. Tom Baker,” I screamed down the phone. “This is the last time you do this to me. How dare you get your personal assistant to call me – on your phone – and cancel out on me. If you think that to be the basis of a lasting relationship, well you can forget it. And as for having a good time without you, you had better believe it. I’m meeting Max there and afterwards we will go back to his place and make out like I did the last time you cancelled. Your ring is in the post.” I snapped the phone shut, satisfied I had delivered my message succinctly. Brief and to the point.
The apartment door bell rang. My cab. I hadn’t expected the delivery boy from the local Interflora to be standing there with a bouquet of roses.
“For Me?” I squealed, and plucked the card from the box and read it.
“Sorry about letting you down at the last minute. I have had to go to New York suddenly. Speak when I get back. All my love. Tom.”
My heart leapt with joy, then froze as I remembered the petulant, spiteful voice mail I had just left. The one where, in the heat of my anger, I had confessed to something that had never happened.
Oh! Joe. I meant to say what a wonderful extract the Kurt Vonnegut video was. Thanks for that.
Isn’t it great? I watched it a long time ago, but I was recently reminded of it by Shawn Coyne.
I know it
from the Beginning – you can not write!
So you try making
money here – teaching others
how NOT to
Write! So you stay on top of the Amateurs…
Great!
On my worst days, I worry you might be right. That’s the thing about being a writer, any kind of artist really, every day is a battle with self-doubt. But pros know it’s not about being the best writer. It’s about showing up every day and giving your writing your all, knowing that it’s a long journey to success, and I will outlast you. Good luck, Rag Mars. Happy writing.
WHAT are the Essential Ingredients of ANY Artist? The Art of STUDY! Before
we even think of anything-we MUST study the deepest most exploring way. Any
piece of any Art shows immediately, where lack of STUDY is superimposed by poor
Phantasy. Lack of Study, Ignorance, infantile Phantasy determine the Quality. Leonardo
was heavily critized for his amount of Study, that robbed him of the resources
to produce more. Leonardo knew of his deficiencies in lack of deep Study. So ask
yourself: what and how intense did you ever study anything – probably – nothing
at all. That black hole of Ignorance swallows all the bright stars of Creation
around you.
I’ve been a member of Write Practice for almost two years now. During that time I have knocked out over 100,000 words in short stories, essays, a few poems, and even have a novel nearly completed. Where I started and where I am today is a testament to Joe, The Write Practice, and the members of the Workshop that have put up with this curmudgeon for all those months.
Would I do it again knowing what I know now? You bet you’re sweet bippy I would.
Three years ago I hadn’t published anything and I didn’t take my writing seriously. Joe and his team gave me the inspiration, encouragement, courage, and knowledge I needed to become a writer. Since then, I’ve published three novels and have written over 50 short stories that have been published in multiple literary journals. Additionally, I now work full time as a writer who leads a team of writers designing simulations for an innovative tech company. Had it not been for Joe’s work, I would not be where I am now. While I have seen people in this industry hoping to make a quick buck off of amateurs, Joe is not one of them. Joe is the genuine article, I owe him a great deal, and I will always be thankful for his humble, encouraging, and vulnerable approach to writing.
But … in that last contest I placed ahead of Joe; Runner-Up I believe it was called. But … Joe teaches me how NOT to write so he stays on TOP of us amateurs? Ouch … reality can be so unpleasant.
I’m SO happy you placed ahead of me, Gary. I love your writing!
Howdy Joe 🙂 Long time no see well at least in the comment section anyway. I have access to this contest and I might just try to do it. (despite my long fight with anxiety and depression going on constantly that’s kept me from writing before). I think I have an idea so we’ll see what happens. I really want to know your pen name but I get that a guessing game might be more fun… *sigh* you WILL tell us after right? All the best Miriam N.
Awesome, Miriam. We’d love to have you! And yes, I’ll of course tell you (after). 🙂
oh btw Joe. I replied to the email thing that we have going. Have you gotten it? Just curious.
Melvia Zeigler
I’m a big fan of The Write Practice. I have one question, does my story grant you exclusive 1st publication right to my entry? In other words, who owns my story? Thanks so much your support.
Great question. Thanks for asking it. The Write Practice wouldn’t own anything, since Short Fiction Break would be publishing your story. They would take one-time publishing rights that would revert back to you immediately after publication. I believe that if your story wins and is featured, they ask for six months exclusivity, but you might want to check their website to confirm that. I believe you would always own your story, they just take temporary publication rights. How does that sound?
WHAT are the Essential Ingredients of ANY Artist? The Art of STUDY! Before
we even think of anything-we MUST study the deepest most exploring way. Any
piece of any Art shows immediately, where lack of STUDY is superimposed by poor
Phantasy. Lack of Study, Ignorance, infantile Phantasy determine the Quality. Leonardo
was heavily critized for his amount of Study, that robbed him of the resources
to produce more. Leonardo knew of his deficiencies in lack of deep Study. So ask
yourself: what and how intense did you ever study anything – probably – nothing
at all. That black hole of Ignorance swallows all the bright stars of Creation
around you.Including yourself
A real Life Story
Alexander Issajewitsch Solschenizyn read from his book The Gulag
Archipelago at the Auditorium Maximum of my University in Germany. I was one of
the students to have a chance to talk to him and ask him, what he recommends
how to write.
Look for the cheapest most dreadful 1 Room Apartment. All walls
covered with the cheapest total empty whity paper tapestry. A simple kitchen
worktable, a rugged hard chair, a prison type metal bed, an open kitchen
Cupboard for a minimum of utensils, clothes. You write standing before the
empty wall from top to bottom all day long, until you are so fatigued, you must
lay on the metal bed for 2 hours to rest. Always a simple light bulb on. You
are a prisoner of war. The only chance to escape from that prison cell is, when
all of the tapestry walls are full with your writing. No space left. Then you
remove the tapestry from the wall and walk out a free person…
60 seconds of the best advice in my entire Life.
I adore being that volunteer prisoner of war.
All Life happens here.
Hey Joe,
Loved reading this. It was such an awesome story and I love that you ‘outed’ yourself and put it out there for others to read.
Thank you for sharing this!
Will you still be entering your story under a pen name this time around, then? 😉