Cynthea Liu's Blog, page 3

#HLS2017 – Hook, Line, & Sinker ROUND 3 Results Complete, New Anglers May Enter Anytime

Dear Anglers:

If your entry got the boot at 250 words, chances are, your passage did not make the cut when compared to other anglers with work in the same category. Think of it like the semi-finals before you go to the live show. In previous rounds, the judges looked at the work on its own, without comparison to other entries. But at 250 words, it starts to become more apparent to the fish which works are stronger than others. Never forget the power of revision and also how important it is to understand that publishing is a subjective business. Do not let the opinions of three goldfish get you down over 250 words. Seriously. It’s just one full page. Your page 3 could have been really great. If you get down on yourself after reading the results, please remember your Free-tique oath. We would like to think of everyone who submits to this challenge as a survivor.  The fact that you put your work out there for the fish to nibble on tells yourself and the rest of the world that you’re here, you’re doing your thing, and you are a writer. We here at wfcat.com are thrilled you invited us along on your journey. Still with us? Great. Here’s another option for you: the Bait Swap. You can try again with that same work with a revision. Read the rules to learn how to submit a Bait Swap.
If your entry had 250 words in the challenge in Round 3 and it made it to Round 4, please read the rules on how to submit your last line. Make it a sinker!
For those of you at 125 words or first lines, please read previous round results here at wfcat.com for tips on how the judges may have evaluated your work.
NOTE: This upcoming Round 4 will be our biggest fishing frenzy of all. The pooches will be delivering feedback from the judges for Bonus Casts and Swaps as well, so if you’ve been waiting and waiting for some words on your Bonus Cast or Swap, it might just happen for you in this upcoming round. So if you got the boot, start over with a new work, try a bait swap, or go for that bonus cast!
Last but not least, our response times may get a little bit laggy as the entire team prepares for the Thanksgiving holiday. The pooches will be decorating the house and figuring out how to make mashed bacon and potatoes before family arrives. Our Skippers will be minding the fish to ensure all of their Thanksgiving wishes are met (anyone know where to get turkey-based fish flakes?). We hope all of our anglers (current and new) have an amazing holiday! The challenge doors will be open through the Thanksgiving holiday break. Please get your entries in as soon as you can so they have a higher chance of getting feedback during Round 4.

 Official Round 3 Results

Entry #
Format
Round Result


101
PB
The boot

#HLS2017 – Hook, Line, & Sinker ROUND 3 OPEN until MON 11/13/2017 @11:59 PM CST, New Anglers May Enter Anytime

Existing Anglers who passed the last round, please read the Official Rules about how to make your next submission and our new challenge feature: Bait Swaps!

This round will close at the date and time (CENTRAL) listed in the title of this post.

New anglers can enter anytime as long as the entire challenge is still going, even if you miss this round. READ THE OFFICIAL RULES before you cast your first line! Failure to follow the rules could result in an automatic sinking of your ship. Please make this easy for our skippers and deckhands!

Please help us make this even more fun by letting others know what’s going on and inviting them to join in on the competition! This is also your chance to earn bonus casts by sharing the fishy love.

The more fishing there is, the bigger the frenzy, and the more likely our judges will hang around to offer free feedback and see what’s worth nibbling on!

#HLS2017 is the official hashtag for this challenge.

Good luck, everyone! Happy fishing!

#HLS2017 Hook, Line, & Sinker Writing Challenge Round 2 Results Complete

A few notes before we get to the results: You may notice that the judges gave a number of submissions the boot this round. Here are some reasons why: many of our anglers are onto 125 words. That, believe it or not, is a pretty tall order – did your first 125 words stand out enough or generate enough curiosity from the fish to warrant reading more? In 125 words, the fish can detect a lot about how your work compares to others and are happy to decline your bait if there’s something shiny just a few inches away that catches their attention.

Here are specific reasons the judges may have given entries the boot for first lines or 125 words.

a) they were confused and had to re-read the submission too many times to understand it clearly

b) the premise was clear but may not be as ideal when compared toother entries for the target market (particularly in the case of PB)

c) For PBs, the work may have been written with too many words that don’t significantly move the plot or character forward (e.g. extraneous details, minor movements, heavy descriptions, etc.). See this Revision 911 for PBs article to help you identify what might have given your work the boot.

d) the voice AND the premise didn’t feel compelling enough when compared to other submissions. If your entry was weak on one but not the other, Carrot and Fire vouched for your entry, even when Tiger was happy to give the work the boot. Do not rest on your pebbles; get to work and make your bait as shiny as possible if your entry was HOOKED! when you proceed to the next round.

And that’s the thing, as writers, we must consider that there are many fish in the sea (agents, editors) but a whole lot more bait (competing manuscripts). Did you do enough to make your work compelling enough to stand out, be it, premise or voice or the mechanics of writing itself in those few lines that you submitted?

If your entry passed this round, we hope that if you received feedback on any of these things, you will revise as needed if you passed the round.  If you did not receive feedback for this round since we are trying to cover everyone at least once, then please review feedback we have given to others on Twitter and ask yourself the same things (for the format that you submitted for: PB, MG, YA, etc.). Polish as needed before you submit again.

For those of you who had entries that did not pass a round, we have an exciting announcement: one of the beautiful things about WFCAT.com free-tique challenges is we here at WFCAT believe in the power of revision BEFORE you submit to agents and editors or fish, for that matter. We will give you a chance to revise your work and re-enter the work that was booted. The catch is, you won’t be able to win a challenge prize since the entry had been booted before, but you will get results like everyone else.

We’re calling this a Bait Swap. If you want to submit a previously booted entry again – REVISED – you can do so if you do the following: First, you may not have more than two entries in play in  any given round at any time (regular cast, bonus cast, or bait swap cast).  To earn a  bait swap cast, you must via Twitter, send the judges a giphy of bait they might like better to @cynthealiu on Twitter. To find a giphy, go to giphy.com. If you don’t know how to tweet a giphy to @cynthealiu, seek out help from your friends or relatives, not our team. Unfortunately we are all so busy that lessons on giphy sharing and Twitter is not in our list of duties.

The judges love giphys as you may have noticed on Twitter already. Your giphy could be anything–a shiny coin? A tasty bug? Something that symbolizes your work? Whatever it is, make it good, and if you can make the fish bubble with gurgly laughter in their bowl, even better. Next, email the challenge email address, and title your email: BAIT SWAP, Entry Number, Format, Manuscript Title (e.g. Bait Swap, #99, MG, IF YOU GIVE A GOLDFISH A SECOND CHANCE). In the body of your email, tell us what you did and give the pooches enough info that verifies you did the Bait Swap. E.g. My username is X and I tweeted the fish a giphy of Y. Then paste in your revised version of the submission that was booted. (For  example, if your entry was booted on a first line, then re-do your first line. If you were booted on the first 125, then give us a revised 125 for that work, and so on and so forth.

When our pooches process your BAIT SWAP submission, they will let you know your entry # and it will begin with an S for SWAP.

Official Round 2 Results

Please note: If the entry # result is Bobbing, this means the entry had passed the previous round but we did not receive your the next submission before the deadline. Your line is still out and you may submit the next part of that entry whenever a round is open. We will process your submission in the round it is received.

Entry #
Format
Round Result


101
PB
Hooked!


102
PB
The boot.

#HLS2017 Hook, Line, & Sinker Writing Challenge Round 2 Results in Progress

As of 11:59PM CST on 11/8/2017, Round 2 of the Hook, Line and Sinker Challenge closed. Look on wfcat.com to see when Round 3 opens.

If you entered Round 2 on time, but you did not receive an entry number, do not email Cynthea directly about it. Our deckhands are only using the submissions email address for submissions and inquiries. Cynthea’s email is reserved for everything BUT the HLS challenge, so the deckhands can get to your emails faster. Instead, please forward your on-time submission to the HLS email address and let our deckhands know they may have missed your submission. If you broke any rules, do not expect the deckhands to forgive you. For example, you may have subbed your submission AFTER midnight or titled your email incorrectly or screwed one out of our 100 rules up. The pups are doing all they can to keep things fair for everyone. If you messed something up and you know it, just wait until the next round opens and sub your submission correctly. (You can also ask for help on our Rules post before you make your submission and our Skippers will help answer your questions so you can sub correctly.)

A clarification on Bonus Casts: If your bonus cast does not pass a round, you must complete a new bonus activity in the next round to have a new bonus cast in play. In other words, one bonus activity does not last you the entire challenge. You must complete a bonus activity every time you want a second entry in any given round.

Finally, DO NOT reply to old messages when submitting work for consideration by the fishes. Doing so will send your submission to another planet where the pooches may not see your email.

Submit a fresh email every time you are sending in something to a round for fishy judgment.

Happy fishing and thanks for helping to follow the rules so that our furry friends can manage this challenge as efficiently as possible!

The WFCAT Team

#HLS2017 – Hook, Line, & Sinker Writing Challenge ROUND 1 Results Complete

Hello Anglers,

Results are in! But first a few notes on how the fish made decisions:

If the entry was difficult to understand or confusing at first glance without some serious fish food for thought, your entry may have gotten the boot.
The fish did cut some entries a break for punctuation errors or minor awkwardness if the line held enough interest. But just know they won’t be so lenient if the first 125 words are riddled with clunkiness. Double-check your work before you send it in. Read it aloud to yourself or to any pooch who will listen!
If your entry didn’t pass a round, feel free to cast a new entry for the next round.
A word about feedback on Twitter: we are doing our best to ensure that every angler receives feedback on Twitter – but we cannot guarantee you will receive feedback on every entry you submit. The pups need breathers and they’ve been running back and forth making sure the judges stay hydrated and get plenty of rest between decisions. If you did not receive feedback on a booted entry via twitter.com/cynthealiu, it may just not be right for our fish. It does not necessarily mean the entry wasn’t worthy. The bettas in the next bowl over might love it. Publishing is a very subjective field so try not to take bubbles from three goldfish too seriously, especially if they’ve only seen one sentence.
You may wonder why so many first lines made it. The truth is not every published book goes out with a memorable first line. The fish weren’t looking for the best lines ever invented (well, Tiger was, but we all know nothing pleases him). A lot of you did a passable job of it, and many of you impressed–we’ve got a group of smarties here! For those entries that passed, the next question is, will those entries make it through 125 words or will Tiger and the crew deliver a king-sized boot to you instead?


When you submit to the next round, please be sure to read the rules about how to make your next submission! Pay close attention to subject lines, bonus cast rules, and so on, and help the pooches keep our judges organized!

Round 1 Results

101 PB Hooked!

102 PB Hooked!

103 YA Hooked!

104 PB Hooked!

105 CB Hooked!

106 MG Hooked!

107 YA The boot.

#HLS2017 ROUND 2 OPEN until Wed 11/8/2017 @11:59 PM CST, New Anglers enter anytime

Existing Anglers who passed the last round, please read the Official Rules about how to make your next submission.

This round will close at the date and time (CENTRAL) listed in the title of this post.

New anglers can enter anytime as long as the entire challenge is still going, even if you miss this round. READ THE OFFICIAL RULES before you cast your first line! Failure to follow the rules could result in an automatic sinking of your ship. Please make this easy for our skippers and deckhands!

Please help us make this even more fun by letting others know what’s going on and inviting them to join in on the competition! This is also your chance to earn bonus casts by sharing the fishy love.

The more fishing there is, the bigger the frenzy, and the more likely our judges will hang around to offer free feedback and see what’s worth nibbling on!

#HLS2017 is the official hashtag for this challenge.

Good luck, everyone! Happy fishing!

#HLS2017 – Hook, Line, & Sinker Writing Challenge ROUND 1 Results In Progress

Hello Anglers,

As of 11:59PM CST on 11/1/2017, Round 1 of the Hook, Line and Sinker Challenge is closed. While our crew ponders results, please take this time to shiny up your next submission in case your entry gets the boot, instead of a bite! You may cast a new line when Round 2 opens. We expect this round to be open to current anglers with entries in play after official results for Round 1 are complete. Do NOT ask us when this will be. Our entire team is working as quickly as possible to make sure the judges get a good whiff of every entry we’ve received.

Also, our deckhands and skippers are closely monitoring timestamps on your submissions so if you have a feeling your submission did not make it into this Round 1 because you pulled the trigger at 12:01am, do not fret, it will be given an entry # in Round 2, unless you’ve broken some other rule that might give the fish a reason to snap your line.

If you have earned a bonus cast, and you are dying to use it, you can only use it after you receive results from Round 1 if you had any work in Round 1. This helps ensure that no angler is casting more than two entries at a time per round. The worst thing you can do to fish is overfeed them. We would like to keep our judges alive, if at all possible.

If you are entirely new to the challenge, you may submit your entry now and it will be automatically rolled into Round 2.  Read the rules on how to submit your entry.

Thanks to everyone for your participation in this fishing frenzy! The entire team is hoping you’ll catch the big one! We know writing for publication is not only a competitive game, but also one that requires tons of patience, so we appreciate all you are doing to follow the rules and point out your questions using comments here on this site so everyone else can also see the answers.

Writing for children and teens is also an industry that we hope continues to include the spirit of giving and giving back,  so thank you for spreading the word to your fellow fishing friends and keeping that spirit alive. We really appreciate it!

Happy fishing,

The WFCAT.com team

#HLS2017 – Hook, Line, & Sinker ROUND 1 OPEN until Wed 11/1/2017 @11:59 PM CST

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, read the Official Rules.

Once you’ve got that all figured out, cast your first line! Failure to follow the rules could result in an automatic sinking of your ship. Please make this easy for our skippers and deckhands!

Round 1 will close at the date and time (CENTRAL) listed in the title of this post.

New entrants can enter anytime though as long as the entire challenge is still going, even if you miss Round 1.

Anything can happen in this game, so step up to the dock with your gear and get going!

Please help us make this even more fun by letting others know what’s going on and inviting them to join in on the competition! This is also your chance to earn bonus casts by sharing the fishy love.

The more fishing there is, the bigger the frenzy, and the more likely our judges will hang around to see what’s worth nibbling on!

#HLS2017 is the official hashtag for this challenge.

Good luck, everyone! Happy fishing!

 

#HLS2017 – Hook, Line, & Sinker ROUND 1 OPEN until Wed 11/1/2017 @11:59 CST

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, read the Official Rules.

Once you’ve got that all figured out, cast your first line! Failure to follow the rules could result in an automatic sinking of your ship. Please make this easy for our skippers and deckhands!

Round 1 will close at the date and time (CENTRAL) listed in the title of this post.

New entrants can enter anytime though as long as the entire challenge is still going, even if you miss Round 1.

Anything can happen in this game, so step up to the dock with your gear and get going!

Please help us make this even more fun by letting others know what’s going on and inviting them to join in on the competition! This is also your chance to earn bonus casts by sharing the fishy love.

The more fishing there is, the bigger the frenzy, and the more likely our judges will hang around to see what’s worth nibbling on!

#HLS2017 is the official hashtag for this challenge.

Good luck, everyone! Happy fishing!

 

Hook, Line, and Sinker Challenge Rules #HLS2017

Welcome to the Hook, Line and Sinker Challenge: #HLS2017!

PLEASE READ THE RULES IN FULL BEFORE SUBMITTING. FAILURE TO COMPLY MAY RESULT IN AUTOMATIC SINKING OF YOUR SHIP AND ALL OF ITS CREW MEMBERS.

The Hook, Line, and Sinker (HLS) Challenge is open to all (ages 18+). Eligible submissions must come from your children’s or teen FICTION work (board books and early readers excluded) and should not already be published or under contract. Got it? NEW WORKS ONLY. YOUR WORK CAN BE UNDER CONSIDERATION BY AN EDITOR OR AGENT BUT YOU MUST ALREADY HAVE PLANS FOR A REVISION. In other words, if you do not plan to revise your work, DO NOT ENTER #HLS2017. Please let people who really want to improve their manuscripts get a shot at winning!

OBJECTIVES OF THE CHALLENGE

Be the first to catch the big one in your fishing category.

The categories

Picture Book (PB)
Chapter Book / Middle Grade Novel (CB/MG)
Young Adult (YA)

THE PRIZES

Anonymous free feedback during the challenge if your work is chosen by our slimy judges to discuss. This last year, our team has grown and joining us will be our our skippers (a glamorous bunch of WFCAT.com interns), our deckhands – the pooches – Kissy (who we already know from our last big #RLGL) and his pooch pal Shaun, with Captain Cynthea Liu at the helm. But just remember: it’s the fish you need to win over–Hook, Line, and Sinker!
Again all feedback will be anonymous, meaning your work will not be identified as yours. We will use entry numbers instead like past RLGL challenges.
If you catch the big one, you get the GLORY of winning, which is pretty much priceless (we all know that) AND your winning work will receive a free 30-minute phone consult from the Captain herself.
Let’s also not forget that agent referrals are always a possibility as well. Impress the fish and you might just hook yourself an agent!

HOW THE CHALLENGE WORKS

To catch the big one, you must cast your line and weather whatever challenge is thrown at you.

Your “first submission” (or cast, as we call it) will be the first line of your manuscript (This is your hook!) before a round deadline. You will receive an entry number that identifies this work as yours.
Next is your line. If you pass the round, your second submission for the work should be your first 125 words before the next round deadline (including your first line). 
Official round results will be posted after the closing of each round here on wfcat.com, generally within 24 to 48 hours of a round closing.
If you pass the round, give us more line! Your third submission for the work should be your first 250 words (including your first line and first 125 words). Just more line to catch that fish!
If you pass the round, your fourth submissions for the work should be your last line ONLY. This is the sinker! Yes just the last line of your entire manuscript. It better be good!
Make it through 4 rounds of submission with a single work and you’ve caught the big one unless there are other anglers who are right there with you distracting your big fish. In the event a tie, fishing continues through a series of challenges set up by our esteemed judges.
If your entry doesn’t pass a round, cast again by starting over with a different work. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF I MISS OR DON’T PASS A ROUND?

If you miss a round because you were too busy polishing up your boat or had to run back to the dock to refuel, do not worry, you can still keep your line out and send in your submission during any round deadline you can make. You may fall behind but anything can happen with other anglers: lines snap, stormy weather, giant sea monsters take down ships. Do not let missing a round deter you from keeping your line out.
If your work does not pass a round, you simply start over and cast a new line with a new work in the next round you can make.

NOTE: Only one submission per round at a time, unless you have done something special to earn BONUS CASTS per round (see below under BONUS CAST RULES for more info about that).

Ready to submit? Here’s how:

1) Please make sure you title your emails correctly in the SUBJECT LINE of your emails, not the body of the email. DO NOT ATTACH WORK. Paste it in. Do not attempt to format your work in the email. The crew is great at reading emails in hieroglyphics, even underwater. 

2) Email your first line to INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS. Title the email (IN THE SUBJECT LINE) with the following “First Line, book type (i.e., PB, ER, CB, MG, YA), and manuscript title to help our skippers and deckhands keep track, like so (First Line, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker).

3) After the deadline for each round has passed, wait patiently as our fishy judges review your entry and give you an entry number for the work. Your entry number is unique for your work and will be used to conceal your identity when results are revealed or commentary is provided. We do not know when the judges will deliver results for each round, but it will probably occur within the first 24-48 hours after a round deadline.

4)  Feel free to follow Cynthea’s Twitter for all the action, conversation, feedback, and commentary that happens during the challenge and subscribe to the WFCAT youtube channel if the Captain and her crew have sage words for you by video. Doing either will earn you a bonus cast too (see see below for more info on that). The hashtag for this challenge is #HLS2017 if that helps you. You will not receive email notifications about the rounds because we don’t want to flood people’s inboxes for those who are not playing. Keep in mind, all official round results will appear on WFCAT.com home page.  Again, Do NOT inquire about your entry until official round results have been posted for your round on WFCAT.com.

Refresh the page and look for your round and your X by your entry #.  Check to see which column of the official results chart it is in, and Go back to start to cast a new line as instructed OR advance to the next round.

If your FIRST LINE entry was sent back to dock, you start over with a NEW work if you so wish). You will title your email in the SUBJECT LINE: First line, Format, Manuscript title as you did before. DO NOT include your old entry # anywhere. Those are unique to each work. That # dies. You will get a new one.  
If you passed the FIRST LINE, you will title your next submission with the entry number you received for that work. Your new subject line will read like this. : FIRST 125, Entry Number, Format, Manuscript Title, like so …(FIRST 125, #75, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker).
If you make it past the first 125, then you title the next email subject like so  (FIRST 250, #75, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker.)
If you make it to the fourth round, (LAST LINE, #75, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker)
After that, we will help you with email subjects in the event of a tie to keep things organized.

5) After a round closes, our crew will open a new round with a new round deadline.

6) Play continues until an angler has caught the big one for their category for the prize AND the final round for the entire challenge has been announced and completed. If you enter after an angler has already won in your category, you may still enter out of curiosity to see how far you can get and also for feedback on that entry.

7) You should plan to send something off prior to each deadline so you can keep up with your competition. However, you may not send extra stuff in advance of round deadlines, meaning don’t send in 250 words when you haven’t even passed the first 125 words yet. If you fall behind in a round though; don’t worry, anglers will get sent back to dock at any point during the challenge.

BONUS CAST RULES

Is the fishing just not exciting enough for you with just one fishing line in the water at a time? You can earn a bonus cast! That’s right, a bonus cast allows you to have two entries (two different works) in a round, instead of two. There is no limit to the # of bonus casts you can earn throughout the challenge. So if your bonus cast doesn’t pass a round, do something else in the list below and earn another bonus cast for the next round. Here’s what you can do to earn a bonus cast. These must be done during the challenge so if you’ve already done any of the following, that won’t count. But there’s plenty of options to choose from so there’s something for everyone.

Retweet or share info about the challenge to your followers and be sure to reply to us in that tweet using @cynthealiu and the hashtag #HLS2017
Share a first line that you submitted to the contest and reply that line to @cynthealiu and use the hashtag #HLS2017
Subscribe to the WFCAT Youtube channel
Follow @Cynthealiu on Twitter and any of the skipper interns @Christiana_May and @MissultraJamie for challenge announcements
Follow and Like Cynthea Liu’s Facebook Author Page
Subscribe to the WFCAT.com email list (scroll to bottom of page)

Once you’ve done any of these things during the challenge, make sure we know about it when you email us the FIRST LINE of your Bonus Cast submission.

In the subject line you will put BONUS this time and the rest is the same as a regular cast. For example: BONUS, FIRST LINE, PB, If You Give A Goldfish a Cracker
You must let us know in the body of your email what you did to earn that bonus cast in a way that we can verify – for example, my username is X and I just subscribed to the WFCAT youtube channel or I followed Y’s twitter account. or I just retweeted today’s Twitter post with @cynthealiu in the reply, and my twitter username is X. 
Then wait for your entry #. This number will weirdly begin with the letter B, which you may then use for subsequent rounds if the entry makes it through rounds!
If your bonus cast submission flops like a fish out of water, no worries, do something else on the list in the next round whenever you want a bonus cast. There is no limit to the # of bonus casts you earn.

One last thing!

All anglers, by submitting their work, must agree to The Solemn Critiquee Oath.

The Solemn Critiquee Oath

I shall not shed a single tear upon receiving any feedback from the judges
I shall remember I am receiving opinions from three slimy coated, but gorgeous fish, and that is all.
I shall not take any comments personally as the marine world can be quite flaky.
I shall allow the fish the opportunity to nibble my ms endlessly if they so wish.

Now are you ready?

Yes?

Terrific. Look for any open round announcement on WFCAT.com (look for a round date that has not expired) and cast your line before the deadline. If you just missed a deadline and the challenge is still going on, another round will pop up soon. Remember: Check the latest HLS postings on Twitter and the WFCAT.com (refresh the website) for round openings, closings, results and updates.  Follow the submission rules, make any round deadline, and you’re in. 

IF YOU DO NOT SEE ANY #HLS2017 posts on wfcat.com at all, first refresh the homepage. If that doesn’t work, chances are the Challenge has not begun yet. Subscribe to the WFCAT.com free-tique list to receive the Official Announcement that the #HLS2017 challenge has begun. That email will be the first notice anyone will get that the challenge is officially open. BE SURE YOU CONFIRM YOUR SUBSCRIPTION in your inbox, and do not worry, your email subscription will not be result in tons of email. The Captain mainly uses the wfcat.com email list for free-tique announcements and major things related to WFCAT.com. The most emails you might received is 3 or 4, a YEAR.

Happy trolling! *but please, no actual trolls allowed.*

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