Questions and Suggestions

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Oh yeah, that happens to me sometimes. And that's a good idea ... I can't remember if we already have a topic for that ... or maybe it was in another group. Hmm, well I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Taylor]

Could I possibly start an image-based short story contest? Similar to the other contest, but the prompt is an image I find on the Internet.

[[deleted user]]

That's a cool idea. I would enter one of those.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Sure ... image-based prompts are fun. :)

[Elliott]

I think Annie was planning on having the weekly contests be a rotation, so maybe it'd be better if you were in that rotation? I feel like we have so few people entering contests as it is, that it'd be better to have on contest going. But you could use an image prompt for the weekly contests we have going now...

That's just my opinion, I'm not strongly against having another contest going, and I love the idea of image based prompts I just feel like having one a week tends to work pretty well.

[Annemarie, hi]

I love that idea too. Maybe every other story contest can be image based? I think that would be better for getting people entering and in the long run.

[Elliott]

Ooh, yeah! That'd be cool! So that way there's a nice balance between the two without one overtaking the other.

[Taylor]

@Lav
Wait. Isn't the current contest system run for two weeks? Maybe mine can work the same way, but be staggered with the other.

[Annemarie, hi]

Right now, not a lot of people enter the contest. It's not anyone's fault it's just a matter of it being a lot to ask to write a story. So, obviously one hundered people won't enter.

That being said, if there were two separate contest then it would be spread even more thin. Some people might enter one and other people might enter another, but if there is one then everyone can just enter the same one. Contests in general are a lot to handle, and another one just seems too redundant.

But, to compromise (and I like the idea) I think a picture prompt every other contest would work out nicely and it is the best of both worlds.

[Isaac]

I would totally enter the contests if I was a) creative and b) able to write something that didn't make me cringe.

But that's just my problem. I don't know about the rest of the group.

[Elliott]

Oh, maybe it is two weeks. If people start entering it sooner, we could probably shorten it to a week. I feel like we used to do a week and it worked pretty well. But right now people aren't entering very quickly. I think we just need to be careful about the amount of contests we have running and letting one person dominate a contest. Like, I love your idea and I hope we do what Annie said and have every other contest be image based. But I think we want the judging to rotate so different people can have a chance to judge and we get different tastes and viewpoints for prompts.

[Isaac]

I'm totally all for different prompts, personally. My other problem is I have a hard time being inspired by a single word or something. Quotes, words, pictures, music, etc.-- I think it's a good idea.

[Annemarie, hi]

Right now, the contest are every ten days. I dunno, me and Acacia were thinking of making them every month... I feel like a week is definitively too short.

[Elliott]

It's hard for me to write a story in a week. I'm usually busy and I need time to think of an idea or whatever.

Oh, Emily, I love the idea of having musical prompts as well. That'd be really fun!

[Taylor]

The issue with having one person dominate the contests is why I'm bringing this up in the first place. Please don't be offended by this, but this group has a tendency to form cliques and having a clique member judge a contest carries a natural bias. That's why I suggested that I take charge in that -- I'm not biased toward any particular set of people and I'd look objectively at the writing submitted.

Plus, I have a lot of cool pics. :D

[Annemarie, hi]

I think most people are unbiased. I also think mixing up judges, after this contest will help it remaind unbiased. People in this group are mature, and they can handle judging contests.

I think it's best to keep one contest for the reasons I stated above. I really think two contests is too much.

[Isaac]

Mixing up judges seems to the best way to keep bias, if any, out.

[Taylor]

@Annie

Says the girl who is judging the contest. Of course you'll say you're unbiased. Rme.

And I don't think it's too much. So we'll have to agree to disagree on that. Hey, here's an idea. Leave it up to group members to decide, instead of just assuming what they want.

[Annemarie, hi]

Taylor [formerly Timothy] wrote: "@Annie

Says the girl who is judging the contest. Of course you'll say you're unbiased. Rme.

And I don't think it's too much. So we'll have to agree to disagree on that. Hey, here's an idea. Leave..."

But... the next week Samantha Anne is judging. This is my last time judging for a while. I already said there were going to be rotations in judges. I didn't mean to confuse you.

Like I said. The only modification on your idea is that instead of two contests there will be one with of course different judges. Every other week will be a picture prompt. I think that is a fair compromise. Good, good.

Also. Think about it this way. We could not just let everyone hold their own story contest. That would get crazy really fast. I mean, if you're that passionate about it, just create your own group :)

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Taylor [formerly Timothy] wrote: "@Annie

Says the girl who is judging the contest. Of course you'll say you're unbiased. Rme.

And I don't think it's too much. So we'll have to agree to disagree on that. Hey, here's an idea. Leave..."

First of all ... Yeah, Annie is judging this week but it's not like she judges every week. Several different group members have hosted contests and we're open to people judging if they want to. We just have to keep it organized so that we don't have a billion contests going on at once.

And as Annie suggested, I think it would be a fine idea to do a picture prompt every other week or something along those lines.

[Taylor]

Sorry guys…I guess I'm just sensitive because it seems to be a common theme that my suggestions are turned down by one or two moderators, and then their word is made law. It's not what I'm accustomed to in other groups.

I understand other people will be judging. I'm happy for that. That will remove a lot of bias. I was merely indicating that it doesn't hold any water for someone to say, "I am unbiased." Doesn't that seem a little silly?

I'm glad picture prompts will be implemented. I personally like the idea of two contests running at once, but it is evident that nothing I can say will help because the mods have made up their minds.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Well, we're just trying to keep things running smoothly here. So, we're going to continue to only have one contest running at a time, but we will work in the picture prompts.

[Sum]

I like the picture prompt idea, too. Like people mentioned before, I think it would be better to let the story contests build a little momentum before holding two at once.

[Taylor]

Understandable. I don't see the contest building much momentum, though. People usually leave groups after being ignored for long enough.

[Sum]

Perdone? Who's being ignored? I will go shower them with attention. Well maybe not. But I'll say hi.

[Taylor]

I just notice that we get lots of new members, but they don't usually stick around. That is partially because they don't TAKE the chance to break in, but also that they don't GET much of a chance. Because there are hundreds of topics, and most everyone is already in a conversation.

I dunno…it's a challenge faced with all groups…I just haven't noticed as much struggle out there as I have here.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Or it could be that those people just don't get on Goodreads that often. I mean, a bunch of people in this group are on here every single day, but it's not unusual that someone will join a site/forum and just not check it 24/7. And yes, there are a lot of conversations in this group, seeing as it's been around for like four years and that can't really be helped, but we do of course welcome new people.

[Sum]

I wasn't active for a while the first time I got on this group. It's only recently that I started commenting on more discussions, and the only things I've seen are nice, friendly people who like laughing and books.

Maybe those people just haven't tried breaking the ice. It's true that it can be hard at first because of its size, but that's what the New People discussion is for, right? To get to know the newer members.

(Haha that turned out more ramble-y than expected.)

[Maria [the clockwork creeps on useless lives], Butts butts]

I think that people getting "ignored" is just a consequence of having such a large group. I stopped coming on here because I got so overwhelmed with the amount of people and conversations.

However, I do think we give people the chance. Yes, we are a little cliquey, but if people try to join conversations we won't just ignore what they are saying. But if they have a hard time jumping in on any conversation, this may not be the group for them just because it is so large.

[Taylor]

Well, let's ask Blueturtles, because I felt like she was ignored a lot in the beginning.

BT?

[Isaac]

Okay, I'm going to throw my two-cents in.

When I first joined, I talked some and everyone was really friendly and I got in pretty fast. I commented so much I don't doubt that I'm in a clique. That's just because I was always so active. This group has to warm up a little and if you come back enough you eventually join our family tree full of incest and shady parentage.

Then there was the time I was inactive for pretty much eight months. When I came back, I felt really out of it and I got so overwhelmed that I just stopped talking, like Maria was talking about. I was close to deleting my account because I felt I just wasn't part of the group anymore because I didn't know what anyone was talking about because I missed so much. I went inactive again a few months later and I just now got back in.

With that being said, yes, we have cliques. The only reason a person would be ignored is if they commented once a month or something. If you come back like every other day and talk where the bulk of conversations, then you get adopted into the WWAC family pretty soon.

I hate that it makes us sound like a bunch of elite snobs, but I don't how else to describe it. We're not elite snobs; we just are more warmed up to certain people than others. Just like in real life: you're going to talk and mess around with your friends a lot more than a newcomer at first because you don't know them. If you and the newcomer have regular conversations, they'll become a part of your friend group pretty fast.

[Elliott]

Yeah, I agree with Emily.

[Taylor]

So, we have a book suggestions topic, yes? Well, I have an idea that is similar, but a improved.

The way it works is that people suggest books based off of requests. For example, I'm reading a fantastic cyberpunk/fractured fairy tale called Cinder. And I want to find more books like it. So I post the title, brief synopsis, and aspects of it I enjoyed, and someone else who has read the book or is familiar with the premise can direct me to other books that are similar in genre or style.

Does that make sense?

[Annemarie, hi]

Yeah not like a specific discussion for the book but a general "What Should I Read" topic right?

[Elliott]

I'd like a What Should I Read topic. Or people could start posting things like that in the topic we already have, if they want.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Taylor [formerly Timothy] wrote: "So, we have a book suggestions topic, yes? Well, I have an idea that is similar, but a improved.

The way it works is that people suggest books based off of requests. For example, I'm reading a fan..."

Sounds like a good idea to me. (Also Cinder is an awesome book, yo.)

[Taylor]

@Lav
That works. I mean, it's been two weeks since anyone has touched the old topic, and it's full of books I'm not interested in reading anyway. This way, people can actually get suggestions they're interested in.

[Taylor]

@Brigid
It's a marvelous book. It has one of the most confident narrative voices I've read in ages.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Taylor [formerly Timothy] wrote: "@Brigid
It's a marvelous book. It has one of the most confident narrative voices I've read in ages."

Definitely one of the most original fairytale retellings I've read. And I loved the narrative voice, too. I plan to read the sequel pretty soon, which I've been told is also super good. :]

[Isaac]

I need to read Cinder.

[Annemarie, hi]

I actually think a seperate topic would be fine. Like called "what should I read next" maybe?

[Sum]

Emily wrote: "I need to read Cinder."

Me toooo

[Maria [the clockwork creeps on useless lives], Butts butts]

I think that's an awesome idea.

[Taylor]

@Emily & Salmon

Definitely. The world she creates is imagined very vividly, and the word choice blows my mind.

[Elliott]

Annie wrote: "I actually think a seperate topic would be fine. Like called "what should I read next" maybe?"

Yeah, that'd be cool.

[Isaac]

DO IT

Wait, I'm not a mod, don't listen to me.

[Josephine]

Hello everyone,

I've got a question:

Have you guys published a book once or twice? Because I don't know how to do it and where to start?

Hope you'll respond soon

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Hi Josephine! It depends on what kind of publishing you're interested in. If you're interested in self-publishing I would recommend you look into CreateSpace or Lulu; in my opinion those are the most trustworthy self-publishing platforms there are. Don't submit to vanity publishers and avoid any publishers that require a fee for publishing your work.

If you're interested in so-called "traditional" publishing––that is, getting published through a publisher (i.e. HarperCollins, Random House, etc.) then there are some hurdles you have to get over since you have to go through the submission process. (Mind you, I'm not saying the self-publishing process doesn't have hurdles, because it does, it's just that you don't have to go through submissions. However, going through the pain of the submission process might be more worth it in the long run, at least if you ask me.) Anyway, that process usually begins with trying to find a literary agent. Most big-name publishers will not accept work from unagented writers. To get an agent, you first need to put together a query letter (which is quite a process in itself, so I recommend researching that). You then have to submit that letter to agents who represent your genre (I recommend using QueryTracker or AgentQuery to find agents). If you spark an agent's interest, he/she might request part or all of your manuscript, and then will accept/reject you from there. If an agent offers you representation, they then have to go through the process of submitting to publishers and seeing if any of them want to publish your work. So ... yeah. This process can take a few years, and you'll have to go through a ton of rejection, so be prepared. Although like I said, it could ultimately be more worth it.

In either case, you want your manuscript to be in very good condition. That means that you've revised it multiple times, and typically more than three (honest) people have taken a look at it and given you feedback.

Hopefully that helps somewhat. If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask.

[Taylor]

Also, I would but a book titled Writer's Market. Most authors find their agents through that book, and I personally have connected with a few noteworthy people through it. (Actually, one of the agents who rejected me is now a good friend who I consulted for advice on traditional publishing back when that was a focus in my life.)

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Oh yeah, Writer's Market is quite helpful. You just have to make sure you get the most up-to-date version.