AW WESTERN CONTEST - Discussion Thread

Hi All, wow, forty entrants. Going to be tough to narrow down our favorites as we all agree. Great to see a good showing for the contest. Almost half way through the stories now and still reading. The anthology idea gets a thumbs up from me too! Lots of talent in AW, for certain pardners...

Gosh. I feel stupid. I finally figured out where all the discussion of the contest is taking place. I've been going back to the social group and not seeing anything there.

Well, all I can say is that I am stupid with these websites still. Only now figuring out how to subscribe to threads (without emails pinging me), etc. So my apologies to anyone that I have failed to follow up with a comment. I am just an ignoramus here.

And yes, I agree, there are many many good entries. Love the Dude Ranch idea.

I am a big McMurtry fan, going back to Hud and The Last Picture Show, both of which I saw in the late '70's. Loved Lonesome Dove (and my husband is still upset that Gus died). Never have been able to get through Cormac McCarthy, though.

I suspect that most of us tired of the western genre because it was such a B-movie staple, that and the horror genre.

At any rate, I take my hat off to all the other contestants. As I wrote to Harry earlier, I don't expect to place. I won in just being pushed to write a short story where I could practice many of the story-telling techniques I am learning on this website.

onuilmar said:

At any rate, I take my hat off to all the other contestants. As I wrote to Harry earlier, I don't expect to place. I won in just being pushed to write a short story where I could practice many of the story-telling techniques I am learning on this website.

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Amen and I totally agree (with the taking hat off part - not the placing thing). Though I haven't been active with AW for very long (I spent months lurking in the shadows - afraid of looking SCHTOOPID,) in that small time I have learned so much. And yes, I know I have a helluva way to go yet.

It has been (and still is) barrels of fun experiencing everything with y'all.

Oh - and one special suck up to Harry. YOU ROCK!

Hmm... You know, Westerns really aren't my genre at all; in fact I give them a wide berth. However, I do admit, I love good writing and there are quite a few in this selection that have kept my interest.

I believe I'll be sending a vote or three before the deadline.


Good luck to all. And thanks for sharing. (^_^)

Just sent you my vote Harry. Had to break a tie for third between two stories. Took me 15 minutes of back and forth to find the slightest of edges in the eventual third place story.

How much time left until we have to vote?

Archerbird said:

How much time left until we have to vote?

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I believe we have until the 15th.

(*crosses fingers in hopes the best stories' writers forget to vote.)

I'm glad I voted when I did. Right now, I have three wips, and six stories on submission. Plus, I have a nonfiction essay -since it's not due for a month, it's not a wip- that I need to begin writing. (Interesting concept, though. Write a paper about the holocaust. If you win, you get a 2.5K-5K scholarship.)

I just voted. It was painful getting down to three. The idea of flipping a coin was mentioned earlier in the thread and I was nearly ready to go find a quarter.

onuilmar said:

Gosh. I feel stupid. I finally figured out where all the discussion of the contest is taking place.

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Don't worry AW is a big place! It takes sometime to learn your way around. I was lucky when I started here because I had been on another board set up almost exactly the same way. That made it a little easier.

I won in just being pushed to write a short story where I could practice many of the story-telling techniques I am learning on this website.

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I feel the same way! It was my first Western, and my first short story after a loooong break from writing fiction. Even if my story gets no votes, I am proud of it.

Archerbird said:

How much time left until we have to vote?

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Too Long! LOL! You know Harry is going to post all the results afterwards. I'm dying to know how many votes I got...0, 1, 5? Ugh, the suspense!

I haven't voted yet, but I am nearly finished reading. To tell the truth, I think I am unconsciously procrastinating so I won't have to make a decision. I admit I do have some favorites already, BUT there are way more than three favorites. I may have to break down and use a scoring system to narrow them down. Lasso-ing (how in the world is that spelled?) Lasso-ing a calf from horseback can't be as hard as waiting for the results of this contest!

And - whether or not people are stopping in this thread to see what's up with the contest, the number of people visiting western genre every time I sign on is up dramatically. Western used to be at the bottom of the heap for popularity and these days it's riding high. Puma

You know, I have new respect for agents, book publishers, and magazine editors. After reading only 40 short stories, imagine if your job was to 1) get through hundreds of these bad boys every week and 2) decide which author to represent/publish. I now see the appeal of rejecting based on a query letter, reading only every tenth page, or whatever system someone uses to filter out most entries. I would also be tempted to provide only form rejections or "no response means no."

We tend to say "slush pile" as if every entry was bad, but this contest shows that a very high percentage are likely very good. That reassures me that a rejection doesn't mean my writing wasn't good, just that it didn't stand out from the rest or didn't fit the goals of the outlet. I don't think I could do this for a living.

Chris P said:

You know, I have new respect for agents, book publishers, and magazine editors. After reading only 40 short stories, imagine if your job was to 1) get through hundreds of these bad boys every week and 2) decide which author to represent/publish. I now see the appeal of rejecting based on a query letter, reading only every tenth page, or whatever system someone uses to filter out most entries. I would also be tempted to provide only form rejections or "no response means no."

We tend to say "slush pile" as if every entry was bad, but this contest shows that a very high percentage are likely very good. That reassures me that a rejection doesn't mean my writing wasn't good, just that it didn't stand out from the rest or didn't fit the goals of the outlet. I don't think I could do this for a living.

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Honestly, I couldn't narrow it past ten. It ended up coming down to the first sentence of each one. Two had really lengthy sentences, which were well written, but seemed slightly passive. I'm a huge fan of action. I even started one of my stories with, "I killed Janet with a hammer." if that's any indication.

You said a mouthful, Chris. I know from all the critting I've done here that there's a lot of good writing going on and there's a lot of good writing that's ending up on closet shelves because it doesn't find a home.

I think the key word is market and what agents and publishers perceive as the best markets. But how do we convince the powers that be that there are markets for the good things they're passing over. Especially because, if all they offer us are serial killers, zombies, romances, etc. how do they know what we'd buy if we had the opportunity. There's a chance the indies and some of the self-published good sellers might begin to turn the tide, but ... Puma

Just voted.

So HARD.

Thanks for putting this on

Man, it was not easy to pick. I felt very confident about my number one, but two and three had lots of competition. I really hope people keep coming back to Western themes because there's a lot of talent and oh so many stories to be told.

HarryHoskins said:

Excellent stuff, Scribe.

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Allright Harry, I am blaming this one on you!!!

Just checked out the Hillerman contest. Me? Enter the 2,500 word short story contest?

Hell no!!!

I'm shooting for the big rodeo, 60k contest!

*shakes fist at Harry before chaining self to computer until June 1st*

So if I am not around much the next three months, you all know why.

I've been thinking about entering into the Weird Western zine, but I've had another opportunity knock on my door. It's part of the "Holocaust Remembrance Project." Basically, I write a detailed essay regarding the trials, tribulations, and torture that the Hebrews endured every day. Thirty people win, top ten win 2.5K-5K scholarship; 2nd ten win a $500 grant; and third win a 250 grant.

In case anyone's interested, please know you have to currently be a high school student, and the wordcount limit is 1200 words.

Literateparakeet said:

Don't worry AW is a big place! It takes sometime to learn your way around. I was lucky when I started here because I had been on another board set up almost exactly the same way. That made it a little easier.

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Thanks!

Literateparakeet said:

Even if my story gets no votes, I am proud of it.


Too Long! LOL! You know Harry is going to post all the results afterwards. I'm dying to know how many votes I got...0, 1, 5? Ugh, the suspense!

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Yep, pardner!

Hi Harry:

Just sent you my vote. It took a lot of effort to winnow it down. Had to use of scoring sheet, even!

Can't wait for the results!

Hey Scribe - Glad to hear you're going for the big one in the Hillerman contest. That was the whole idea of the March prompt - making AWers aware there was a decent contest out there with a good prize. Best of luck. And don't forget you can post your first chapter or any difficult sections in SYW if you want some opinions before you edit. Puma

So, Harry. Can you tell us if the votes are going pretty wide, or if people are generally voting for the same stories? I find that I vote differently a lot of the time. I'm interested to see if there's a trend forming?