Anyone Saving Their Best For Later? -- Strategy [Archive]

zeprosnepsid

03-21-2005, 12:18 AM

Julie Worth

03-21-2005, 12:43 AM

Since I was submitting from a novel, the only thing I thought about was finding something that could stand on its own, without being too confusing. But if you look at it strategically, the first round eliminates 95% of the entrants, and the next round only 10%. Even the last round eliminates only 50%. So the first round is the toughest, statistically.

mommie4a

03-21-2005, 12:46 AM

Did everyone just put their best piece in the audition? Or did anyone hold out in case they made it to the top 10? Any strategy going into this thing? (Like bribing the judges!) How did you approach the word count issue? Anyone write something specifically for the contest?

how did you choose your piece?

Hi Zepro. The piece I entered ("Nobody Loves Me Better") is something that recently received recognition from a national organization of markets like the one that published it about a year ago. So I would say that I haven't held out at all. My strategy was to submit the best thing I have. No, I didn't write something special for the contest. The piece was 696 in its original form and the word limit helped narrow possible entry choices.

How'd I figure out what was the best thing I had to submit? This piece had external recognition, flowed like an Amazon rainfall when I wrote it and, when someone tells me that my work made them laugh and cry at the same time, then I know it did what I wanted it to - convey and evoke emotion. That's usually a good sign I think.

Knowing that Jenna and/or the judges (I'm not sure who) will be setting themes as the weeks progress, I figured I'd take it one competition at a time, so to speak. And, if I get to move on to the next phase, I imagine that's what I'll keep doing - just submitting the best I have that meets the basic rules.

I can tell you, I'm terrified to have to write in some categories!! But fear can be a GREAT motivator!:whip:

Good luck to you.

Betty W01

03-21-2005, 12:50 AM

I used one of my poems that I especially like and that had already been published, so as not to mess up first rights on anything I'd already written. I'll take my chances on future rounds, if I get that far.

And as for saving the best for later:

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: Spend it all, shoot it,
play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good
for a later place in the book, or for another book, give it, give it all, give
it now ... Some more will arise for later, something better. These things fill
from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to
yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive.
Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes." --Annie Dillard

hapsburg

03-21-2005, 01:18 AM

Well, back when I entered there weren't any prizes yet so I was just entering for the fun factor without any strategy (there was a lot less competition back then too!yikes!). I don't have anything 700 words or less and didn't want to do an excerpt so I thought up something that I could excecute in a very short flash piece and tried to have a little fun with it. I really don't think I'll survive the first cut so haven't really thought about how I'd handle the competition from that point if I did. It's been a good writing excercise for me already, and I've found myself producing a couple new works and getting into the swing of submitting again.

JAlpha

03-21-2005, 01:25 AM

Hi Mommie 4a,

I entered a short piece titled, Sea Cameo. For all but the title of our pieces, I could have written your exact post---I submitted a piece that has just received national recognition too. But, going forward, well I think you said it all . . . "I'm terrified to have to write in some categories!! But fear can be a GREAT motivator!"

Ditto. National recognition aside, we are only as good as our next piece. When it comes to facing a blank page, all writers are equal.

Good luck and kudo's for your honest and heartfelt post,

firehorse

03-21-2005, 02:08 AM

I, too, entered a previously published piece, one that had received positive feedback and had a good hook. Only problem: that the whole piece was (is) 3000 words :Smack:

I started at the beginning and picked what I thought was a good out; I had to trim about 40 words, so I began with adverbs and moved along from there. I hadn't looked at the piece in a couple of years, and I was relieved to find that it wasn't too difficult to cut. If anything, I probably could've made it a little tighter.

I considered entering an excerpt from the manuscript I just finished, which is technically better-written. I couldn't find a good stand-alone 700 words, though.

About the weekly component: I gather the top 10 will be getting assignments (poetry, magic realism, nonfiction, children's...), so holding back doesn't make much sense. What I submitted is a fair sample of my ability, so if I make it to the finals, I have to trust that I can match or exceed that level. Easier said than done ;)

As someone else pointed out, fear is a great motivator. The level of competition here - the level of talent - has me on my toes. Or fingertips, as it were.

Cheers, and good luck to all,
-Sarah

Torin

03-21-2005, 02:36 AM

I grabbed one of the short-shorts I wrote for fun. I doubt it'll make the top ten, but it's a neat little tale. I could have put in a snippet from my novel, but hey, I used the one I used and by gum, I'm going to let the little tale stand on its own. :)

Trapped in amber

03-21-2005, 02:48 AM

Strategy?!:eek: I knew I'd forgotten something...:Smack:
Can someone lend me one?

BradyH1861

03-21-2005, 03:08 AM

Strategy?!:eek: I knew I'd forgotten something...:Smack:
Can someone lend me one?

Sure. You can have mine.

I am an expert in strategery.

:guns:

Brady H.

Trapped in amber

03-21-2005, 03:18 AM

Sure. You can have mine.

I am an expert in strategery.

:guns:

Brady H.

Is it a cunning strategy? Is it legal? How much are you charging?

CACTUSWENDY

03-21-2005, 03:19 AM

When this started, I just sat down and wrote up a less than 700 word short. I thought it was for fun too. I had no idea it was for all this big stuff. I sure have loved reading all them so far. Such talent.:D

BradyH1861

03-21-2005, 03:47 AM

Is it a cunning strategy? Is it legal? How much are you charging?

It is indeed cunning. As far as the legality goes......all things are legal unless you get caught.

:Shrug: (" I have no idea how that got there.")

Brady H.

SRHowen

03-21-2005, 04:14 AM

I entered just for fun, from my WIP and what I had in front of me. I am thinking I should have waited and entered something else--but oh well.

Shawn

BlueTexas

03-21-2005, 04:55 AM

I entered just for fun, from my WIP and what I had in front of me. I am thinking I should have waited and entered something else--but oh well.

Shawn

I did the same thing, and now I'm also wondering. :(

mistri

03-21-2005, 05:22 AM

I entered just for fun, from my WIP and what I had in front of me. I am thinking I should have waited and entered something else--but oh well.

Shawn

Me too, and I was focusing on story, rather than pretty words, but never mind. I still see it all as a bit of fun.

WhisperingBard

03-21-2005, 05:33 AM

Strategy?!:eek: I knew I'd forgotten something...:Smack:

Ha! I have a really good one. I'm going to have all the little kiddies who like my poem make their mommies and daddies vote for me. So there! :box:

See, I submitted a kid's story. So it...oh, never mind. :gone:

astonwest

03-21-2005, 06:06 AM

Since I was submitting from a novel, the only thing I thought about was finding something that could stand on its own, without being too confusing.

Same here...fortunately, there was a good cutoff under the word count limit in my first chapter. At least I thought it was pretty good at standing on its own.

I entered just for fun, from my WIP and what I had in front of me. I am thinking I should have waited and entered something else--but oh well.

I entered just for fun to begin with, and I'm not going to try second-guessing myself...I have no expectations of being one of the ten best writers on this site...but it gave me something to shoot for, and heck, it's kicked my butt into gear in my other writing endeavors...so that much has been a positive, at least.

pepperlandgirl

03-21-2005, 06:21 AM

I knew "Mad World" was my best work to date, and from there, I just tried to pick the most powerful scene that was also the least confusing...Sure, I'm sure it would have better if I could have included the context, but I thought it was fine even without the context.

edfrzr

03-21-2005, 06:21 AM

I too entered for fun. And so far I have not been disappointed. Unfortunately, I have not been previously published. Those that entered off of published material are very lucky. They already know their work is good! Kudos and congrats to all of them. I wish them the best.

Even though what I submitted probably cannot stand on its own, I submitted a piece (though heavily edited) I thought would make the reader want to continue, or at least ask themselves why. This manuscript is complete and is in the process of being edited as we speak. It was put out to a test market of twenty people (Author's name withheld) and got an excellent response. So for that reason I felt a piece from this work might stand a chance even though I realize it is probably more of a commercial value rather than aesthetic. Now I'm not so sure.

At this point I'm just hoping to be involved in the discussion. The next time I believe I will think before I leap.

zeprosnepsid

03-21-2005, 06:43 AM

congrats to those of you who submitted recognized work! Tough competition =)

Like Hapsburg and Torin, I just submitted a stand alone anecdote that was for fun. I also submitted pretty early on in the competition, before I heard about prizes. But I think it's cute and funny enough. I think it's a nice break between some of the more serious stuff.

But I think those who did submit excerpts from a longer work are probably smart. Because if you can get a judge, or in the future an audience member, to want to read more then it'll stay in their mind.

firehorse

03-21-2005, 06:43 AM

I was focusing on story, rather than pretty words
I'm not one of the judges, but without story, pretty words mean nothing. And sometimes they can take away from the impact of a story. So stick with the story thing. (2 cents Canadian isn't worth very much, but there it is.)

-Sarah

DTNg

03-21-2005, 01:21 PM

I submitted one the few pieces I had that fit in the word count.

Diana Hignutt

03-21-2005, 01:55 PM

I submitted a poem that had been previously published (Apex Digest Online #2). It fit the word count. Probably not my best, but it was there, handy. I just noticed that the font changes mysteriously halfway through. Oh well, with the extremely talented competition here, there will be no shame in not making the finals.diana

PixelFish

03-21-2005, 04:29 PM

I didn't save anything for later. I mean, I have other works, but they probably won't be hauled out for later, as I'd rather write something new for the contest. I also kind of got the impression that in later weeks there would be themes, so in that case, I would be likely writing from scratch.

As for how I picked my piece: It's a short piece, slightly over 400 words, but I felt those 400 words were used well and more efficiently than some of my more descriptive works. Setting is established pretty quickly, various characters are introduced or mentioned, and a conflict is already being set up and alluded to. Granted, we don't yet know who the opening narrator is, but we can make some guesses based on the information given. And the snippet itself was rather fun to write.

As mentioned before, I have other stories--but one of my besetting sins (or so I feel) as a writer is that I don't often use words as sparingly or as efficiently as I could. I have short stories which have somehow ballooned up to 10,000 words and shown no sign of stopping. They keep trying to turn into novellas, but frankly, I feel that the shorter form would actually lend them more impact. Sometimes I have NO idea where the story is going. I have a chapter in one of my books that turned into an entire chapter's worth of exposition, and while it is good for me to know that information, I'm not sure it's good for the characters or the readers to have it so baldly spelled out. So I picked this piece because I think it worked well on an efficiency level.

maestrowork

03-21-2005, 05:25 PM

I didn't want to submit anything that has been published. I thought I would submit something that I was working on, that showed my writing style. My understanding was that this audition wasn't designed to judge the pieces themselves, but the writing ability. Otherwise, it's really hard and unfair to judge an "excerpt" as opposed to, say, a complete humor piece.

Besides, I think this contest is fun. No need to take it TOO seriously if you win or lose.

underthecity

03-21-2005, 06:24 PM

Strategy? I had no idea. . . .

I was one of the first to submit my entry. I decided to pull part of one of the chapters in my WIP on entertainment history in Cincinnati. There's a lot of fiction posted on the thread, so theoretically my nonfiction history piece should stand out from the rest.

I chose this particular piece because it fit the prescribed length, although I posted it before the rules were clarified (and thus had to trim out 33 words) and before any prizes were announced. This entry also serves as "sneak preview" of sorts to my upcoming book. Those familiar with my earlier works (http://www.allensedge.com)might find my entry interesting.

I have to admit I really liked my piece on burlesque history in Cincinnati, and thought it might be fun to enter it in the contest and share it with the fine folks on AW. Hopefully those that read it will learn something they didn't know about early entertainment history, especially the distinctions of early burlesque, which I found interesting myself.

This piece also demonstrates my history-writing technique that I hope is apparent to readers besides me. It's one thing to write an entertaining piece of fiction that captures your interest from the start and makes you enjoy the whole story. That's good writing, and you'll see a lot of that on the thread--some very nice fiction to be read there. It's another thing entirely to write nonfiction, especially history, in such a way that it's not boring and dry. No offense to any academics here, but I've (tried to) read books written by professors and published by university presses that used long words and long sentences, clearly written for other academics. And these were books on railroad history found in any bookstore. People who love railroads also love to read about railroads. Why would you write a book that goes way over their heads?

That's the style I avoided in my first two books. I've been writing my latest WIP in the same style as my first two books: an easy-going manner that talks to anyone, not just one particular audience.

And I HOPE that's how my burlesque entry reads. If it doesn't, please let me know!

undethecity

plumberman029

03-21-2005, 06:43 PM

skylarburris

03-22-2005, 03:46 AM

I didn't put much thought into, to be honest. If I had, I would have posted my best poem, instead of a decent piece of short fiction. I am really more skilled as a poet...but for some reason at the time I thought the contest was only for fiction. Ah, well, I'll keep my fingers crossed...the competition looks rather fierce, however.

BlakeOvard

03-24-2005, 07:40 AM

What an interesting question...

I actually took one of my published pieces from my monthly column in a national arts magazine, chopped, diced, and edited to get to thw word requirement while still maintianing the integrity of the piece. (Well, mostly maintaining the integrity of the piece.)

I didn't pick one piece over the other for any particular reason, just thought that any would be a good example of my writing style. What most concerned me was the word count limit as a normal column runs from 1000 to 1500 words for me.

firehorse

03-24-2005, 09:41 AM

I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have waited until later to post my entry. I'm intimidated by many of the other entries, and the judges will have to think back to remember mine (if it's memorable to them). Then again, we don't know their process. I'd imagine it's similar to the process of editing: they tighten the field, then go through and weed until they're down to ten.

It's going to be a helluva ten.

I'd really like to make it into the finals: a) I think the challenges would be lots of fun, and b) I am drooling at the 'press release' prize. Those contacts really are priceless, and they're exactly the contacts I'm trying to make this year. I try to support my book-writing habit by writing for magazines, but as my rate goes up, so does the competition.

Okay, now I'm sounding like an applicant for Queen for a Day. Not my intention.

The level of writing I've seen is pretty high, and if I don't make it into the final ten, at least I'll know I was up against some very good writers.
I hope those people will stick around and join in the board dicussions.

I've said this before, but congrats to everyone who had the guts to post an entry, and good luck to all! :Clap:

-Sarah

Moondancer

03-27-2005, 04:23 AM

INo need to take it TOO seriously if you win or lose.

I took it seriously without even caring about winning or losing in the sense of making the finals. I've never been able to bring myself to show anything I've written to anyone whom I didn't know well enough to be comfortable.

Being able to post something I wrote where complete strangers can read it was my win.

Elincoln

03-27-2005, 04:43 AM

Strategy? I thought this was Absolute Write Idol, not Absolute Survivor!

I actually put one of the only pieces in that was in its final stages of revision AND didn't have any content that would be "unpleasant."

If I go to the next round (and by what I read...that's a BIG if), I'm going to have to improvise.

Hmmm, where did I put that Fast Strategies for Writing Contests for Dummies?

-Elaine

CACTUSWENDY

03-27-2005, 04:48 AM

:banana: Hmmm, where did I put that Fast Strategies for Writing Contests for Dummies?

-Elaine....And where do you buy one of those books?...ebay?....lol...order me a couple.:banana:

Zane Curtis

03-27-2005, 05:44 AM

When I posted mine, there were already four and a half pages of entries and quite a bit of time left for more. So, I just went for the most striking and unusual image that I could think of, and hoped it would stand out. That's all you can really do against so much competition.

If I get through to the next round, I'll try for something else. But if one of the challenges is poetry I'm probably ****ed. :eek:

JennaGlatzer

03-27-2005, 06:05 AM

Being able to post something I wrote where complete strangers can read it was my win.

WOW! Moondancer, I'm proud of you. :) That's a big step.

KTC

03-29-2005, 01:36 AM

I just picked a piece that I had a feeling for, one that I could be proud of win or lose. I'd love to make it to the next round...I work best under pressure with a clock ticking and a prompt in front of me. But I received a great critique of my piece, so I guess I already won. (thanks Vig!)

Alphabet

03-29-2005, 01:04 PM

I only found out about the competition on the final day, so I didn't have long to think about what to enter. I chose an experimental poem (in the sense that the style is 'mosaic') that I've always wanted to get some feedback on.

I've a lot of poetry that will probably never get published so it didn't worry me to place it in this fun competition (I've always enjoyed Pop Idol, American Idol etc but can't sing for toffee (not that that stops everyone!) so entering Absolute Write Idol just had to be done).

If I did get through who knows whether the themes will allow me to use existing material or whether I will need to write something new, so there isn't much point in holding back.

I hope Jenna knows some english agents (just incase I win LOL)

Alphabeter

03-29-2005, 03:55 PM

I'm just pointing out in as unobnoxious way as possible that Mr Alphabet and I are different people near different bodies of water (me Missouri, him Thames). :hi:

I waited until close to the end of the contest then looked at several things I had in a file that I figured would be under the word count. I picked the one that made me want to know more, tweaked for a few hours and posted it.

Whats odd is the piece I chose was something I just sat and typed out one day. No real though or direction. It just rushed out. It was done on a typewriter and I had to 'transfer' it to computer. Only after I posted it did I get around to figuring out the rest of the story.

So for anyone who has/will read it, I knew as much about that story (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=134516&postcount=252) when I posted it as you did/will reading it. Feel free to post (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9084), email (alphabeter@aol.com)or PM me (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&userid=116) your comments.

kohuether

03-29-2005, 04:23 PM

I also entered a previously published piece. The terms of my contract said that I could put the piece in other places, I just had to mention that it was originally published with them... in case you were wondering why I mentioned the zine in my post!

I doubt I will make it to the second round as well. But, you never know. As far as word count goes, this was a flash piece that I wrote so I knew I wasn't over the word count.