Things I Learned As A 2015 Aurealis Judge

I was a judge for the 2015 Aurealis Awards and it was a fantastic experience.  Assuming there are no conflicts, I will be putting up my hand to be a judge again this year. I really enjoyed judging the horror category and would be happy to judge it again, however I’d also really love to try a different category as well. Fantasy novels, for example.

I learned A LOT as a judge. I highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about a career in publishing, in any capacity. Unfortunately I think most of these lessons are best learned by actually being a judge and will be hard for me to pass on to you through a blog post. However I am going to do my very best.

I’ll start with the smaller things and work my way up to the bigger, more complicated lessons.

Firstly, if you are publishing an anthology, having a table of contents at the start is VITAL. It is almost-but-not-quite as vital in a novel. Trying to skip through anthologies to find specific stories without a working index actually made me a cry a few times. Having a judge in tears before they even start reading your story because the e-book hasn’t been formatted properly is not a good start. If I didn’t have to read those stories (EG: if I was reading for pleasure) I wouldn’t have read them at all.

Secondly, when reading a novel or story, emotional connection is the biggest thing you're looking for. You want to feel. Something, anything. Ideally I want to connect with the characters, but just being surprised or pleased or uneasy... anything at all, as long as you are generating some kind of intended emotion in me. Please note I said ‘intended’. A few authors got very low scores because I was disgusted by misogynistic portrayals of women, indelicate, unsympathetic portrayals of incest and bestiality, or just general bigotry. Don’t be that writer.

(And don’t come bitching to me that I scored stories low just because of bestiality, etc. Some of the incest and bestiality stories got high scores, because they were well written and sympathetic. Also, that’s one of those sentences I never planned to write, but here we are.)

Thirdly, novels and shorts are judged on really different criteria. If a story is under 2k, I'm looking at ideas, but the moment it gets longer than that, I am really looking to connect with the characters.

And style is more important than both of those things.

A writer's priority over 2k should be:

1. Style

2. Character

3. Ideas

And under 2k:

1. Style

2. Ideas

3. Character

Some people write amazing short stories and SHIT novels for this reason. And visa versa.

Fourthly, you learn a lot more from reading shit writing than you do from reading the 5 start books. One of my friends was bemoaning his lack of short-listing this year and I suggested he sign up to judge this year. He said he ‘learned by reading the winners’ and I wanted to shake him a little bit (okay, a lot). You learn by reading the losers.

I read 115 short stories, 33 novellas and 13 novels and ranked all of them between 1 and 5 stars. Being able to articulate what made something a 1, 2 or 3 start story was much, much more valuable than being able to say what I loved about the 5 star books. And the difference between the 4 and 5 star books was so important too. Seeing what pushed a story from ‘good’ to ‘amazing’ was the kind of knowledge I should have had to pay for.

Also, I could also accurately judge a stories rating within the first page. Sometimes the score dropped, if it had a weak ending, but if a story started weakly, it never salvaged itself. I said this to an editor who has been in the business for years, and she said she can tell within a paragraph if a novel will be any good, which doesn’t surprise me at all.

Maybe you are screaming that is unfair right now, but I’m telling you it isn’t. 161 stories and not a single one with a crappy opening page managed to change my mind. NOT A SINGLE ONE. So when I say ‘style’ should be your priority, I really mean it. You want to be easy to read, evocative and have a skilled use of language.

Fourthly, there is a lot more competition in the Australian market than I realised. I only rated five stories five stars, but there were a hell of a lot of four star stories. There are plenty of brilliant writers in Australia, producing breathtaking stories. I was continually wowed. Thankfully people read a lot faster than they write, so there’s plenty of pie for everyone. However you should be reading contemporary works and you should be reading widely, if you want to stay on top of the market.

If you read the hammy best seller (*coughfiftyshadesofgreycough*) and think ‘I can do better than that’, you’re in for a rude shock. Being an Aurealis Judge made me realise just how much I have to step up my game if I want to play with the boy boys (and girls). I have to stop wallowing around in my giant ego and keep improving my craft.

Lastly, don’t go to lunch with an agent the same week as the finalist are announced if two of her clients were in the novel category and there was no shortlist announced. People are going to be butthurt where books are concerned. Writing is personal, for agents, editors AND authors.

I caught a hell of a lot of (good natured) shit about the lack of shortlist in the horror novel category. I still think it was the right call, however in saying that, I am saying the other novels in the horror category this year were not up to standard to be shortlisted. Australia is a small writing community and that means there are 12 authors out there who are not my biggest fans right now. (Actually Trent cast shade on the lack of short list in his acceptance speech, so it might still be 13.)

Tread carefully on other people’s egos. Saying no sucks sometimes. But saying no is another one of those lessons you have to learn.

I may be ambitious and try and write a post on writing style next week. Or I may go back to my Characters series. Both are on the table. Remember to comment here or email me if you have something in particular you would like me to do a blog series on.

Branding And Career - Part Three: Your Perfect Working Day

Branding And Career - Part Three: Your Perfect Working Day.

In part one I discussed your branding and in part two, I discussed your target audience. Part three is going to focus on you, and what you really want, because it’s very difficult to get somewhere if you have no idea where you’re going. You may think we already covered this when we talked about your career path. However you could become a best seller and still be completely miserable. Or better yet, you could not become a best seller, and be really happy and content with your life, because you are doing what you love.

This exercise was first given to me by Wonderdog, who’s been a good friend of mine for close to 10 years now. Apparently he got it from his Life Coach, because he’s the sort of guy who has a Life Coach.

The aim is to think about what you really want to do. Not in the grand scheme of things, but day to day. Because as much as we love the idea of seeing ourselves on the bestseller list, or doing interviews, or receiving fan mail, those are all temporary things. A few minutes a week, a few hours a month, if we are lucky. And quite frankly, no one wants to do those things 12 hours a day anyway.

So what do you want to do 12 hours a day? What is going to make you really happy, on an average, boring, typical day in your life?

Your Perfect Working Day.

This exercise assumes three things. Firstly, that money isn’t an issue. Secondly, that you still have to work anyway. Thirdly, that you have sorted out all your shit. However you may not even realise what that shit is until you start this exercise.

Plan for this exercise to be at least 1000 words, or more than four pages. It can be as long as you like, but if you aren’t close to 1000 words, you’re probably not being detailed enough.

You are going to write down your perfect working day. However you are going to start from the instant you wake up to the moment you fall asleep for the night and you are going to include everything in between.

- Where do you live? What town and country? Describe your house in intimate detail, particularly your workspace if you work from home.

- Who do you live with? How do you interact with them? When do you interact with them? What sort of interactions do you have?

- When do you wake up? How do you spent that first important hour of the day? When do you go to bed? When do you exercise? Do housework? Answer correspondence? What is your commute like if you have one?

- What food do you eat? Do you cook it yourself? Does your spouse cook it? Do you have a personal chef? How is it different to your current diet?

- What sort of work are you doing? Does it involve collaboration? Who are you working with? Who are your mentors? How are you interacting with clients or fans?

- Where do your hobbies fit in? Recreation? Volunteering? Giving back? What do you do to relax and have fun during the day? What is giving you joy?

When you’ve finished, look through and think about what you left out. Are you watching 3 hours of TV in the evenings, but in your perfect day you’re not watching any TV at all? Is your spouse out of the picture because they secretly make you miserable? Are you living in the city in your perfect day, but in reality you live in the country?

When I wrote mine, I was surprised how much focus I put on sustainable living. Gardening. Composting. Keeping chickens. Eating food I had grown myself. I didn’t realise how important that was to me, and how much I wanted it to be a focus in my life. I also put ‘watching movies’ as a part of my plan in the evening. It made me realise I don’t have to feel guilty every time I am watching TV—it is something I consider valuable and entertaining enough to be a part of my perfect day. Four hours of youtube was not on my perfect day though, so now I use antisocial to block youtube and facebook during the day, so I can focus on things that matter to me.

 You will probably find this plan is deeply personal to you and you won’t want to share it with everyone. I am pretty open with the world about many things, but even I would hesitate to share my Perfect Working Day with the whole world.

When you write it, do so with the intention to show no one. So you really can be honest with yourself about what will make you happy. Maybe you will realise you hate writing, but love promoting and you’ll give up the idea of being an author and set up a business promoting authors. Maybe you’ll realise you hate promoting and love writing, and instead give up the idea of being an indie author and focus all your energy on breaking into traditional publishing. Maybe you’ll realise you hate your spouse and want to live in another city. In which case, please don’t show your spouse this blog post when you tell them you are leaving.

Most of all, I hope this exercise will show you you don’t need to be a billionaire best seller to be happy. And that being a billionaire best seller would probably have very little effect on your perfect day. I also hope you use it to make your current, less-than-perfect days a little closer to you ideal. Small steps can make a huge difference to your overall happiness.

I don’t have a hobby farm yet, but I can see my passion fruit plant blooming on the fence right now in my previously barren yard. Small things add up.

Is it worth entering writing competitions?

There are three primary benefits from winning writing competitions:

1. Prize money

2. Accolades

3. Brand promotion

There may be some others, such as networking or supporting a cause, however the big three are the same across the board. However many competitions require a fee to enter and it is a game of skill, not chance. There are also several pitfalls you should be aware of.

A prestigious competition with a big prize that is open to everyone, published or unpublished, is going to have a lot of entrants. You could be competing with authors who have been published for thirty years, who are reasonably big names. Not to mention everyone else with a story and a daydream.

If the entry fee is moderately high, that money may be better spent elsewhere. Such as more niche competitions—ones specific to your genre, location or publication status.

You also need to be highly aware of the contract you are signing by entering the competition. If the story is going to be published—and usually it will be—where? And what rights are they asking for? Be aware some competitions may ask for rights even if you don’t win.

Some competitions appear to just be a money making scam. The entry fee is $10 and the prize is $500. If 1000 people enter, that’s $9, 500 in profits for... what? Pointing to a story and handing the writer $500.

I personally prefer competitions that don’t have entry fees. However I am also aware that there will be a lot more entrants in those competitions, because entry fees are a hassle and off putting to a lot of other authors too.

So let’s assume the competition is legitimate. The entry fee is reasonable, there is good promotion for the winner and a decent prize. You’ll have stiff competition, but you know the win would be great for your career. What else should you consider?

First, read as many of the past winners and runners up as possible. Think about why you think they won and, realistically, if your writing is up to that standard. If all the other winners are literary, do you really think your dystopian steampunk elves novella is a likely first prize contender?

It’s also worth researching the judges. Be aware of who you are trying to impress. Every judge thinks they are impartial, but none of them are.  The judge who posted the homophobic rant on her blog is not going to score the lesbian romance story very highly, no matter how great your style is.

Some people seem to have a knack for competitions and they work as a massive boon to their careers. If you are one of those people, competitions are a worthwhile investment. However there are some people who think publishing revolves around them, and without impressive wins in your query letter, you won’t find an agent. Don’t be that person.

My biggest tip for entering competitions? Follow the guidelines. You don’t want to be disqualified before the race has even begun. Because you won’t get your $15 back and you could have spent it on getting ‘Anti Social’ instead.

Good Behaviour

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:

- Beware of what you put online.

Writers often want feedback on their writing and the internet is a fantastic resource for this. It’s also a place where people can share opinions, express themselves and explore new elements with relative safety. However once something is on the internet, it’s pretty much forever.

Some people will post their entire novel online—only to find copies of that early draft still cropping up years after they thought they deleted it. I’ve had writers tell me something became impossible to sell, because of this, and there are rumours of manuscripts (usually short stories) being stolen and plagiarized.

You should also be wary of what opinions you express online. Having a webpage that is dedicated to certain alternative cultures may scare a publisher away. It’s not wise to advertise your swingers club if you want to write children’s books, for example. And as with recent new stories about employees/employers and controversial facebook photos, drunken puke shots can hurt your reputation. As can rants, tirades and heat-of-the-moment retaliation to bad reviews or trolls.

How we chose to conduct ourselves online is personal and our own business, but it is still a public domain. My personal guidelines are as follows:

1. If someone hurts my feelings or makes me mad, I wait at least two hours before responding. Preferably 24. Likewise, even minor updates are sat on for two hours, just so I can make sure those ‘hilarious’ jokes are still funny after the moment has passed.

2. I never post a full work online. Even when I am emailing people work for feedback—there is only one person in my life who gets full novels. My rule of thumb is no more than 10% in public and no more than 50% to friends or critique partners.

Just remember, you can never ever take it back when it’s online. If you don’t want your children, grandmother and boss to see it, keep it offline.