By Susan Gable
In trying to come up with a topic for this blog that might appeal to a variety of folks, I stumbled onto the idea that maybe writers out there who enter contests might wonder what sometimes goes through a judge’s mind as they’re reading. (I know more than once I said, “WTF? What the HELL were you thinking?” when I got back MY contest entries and score sheets. LOL. I don’t know if I can actually answer those types of questions relating to contest judges, but maybe I can provide some insight into what I’m sometimes thinking.)
When it comes right down to it, it’s all about the characters and the stories for me. It’s really easy to judge the still-wet-behind-the-ears entries, the ones that head-hop, or tell and never show, or don’t know what a paragraph is. (No kidding, I once read an entry that was a 25 page paragraph. No paragraph breaks at all. That was painful to read.) Grammar and punctuation are our friends.
Once the craft basics are mastered, we get into the areas that are harder to define. (“It just didn’t work for me” is an excuse an editor/agent can use, but someone judging a contest has to be a lot more helpful than that.)
You do have to grab me in the first page or two. Show me an interesting set up. Show me conflict, or clue me in to the 
POTENTIAL for conflict. Let me know there’s a secret here. My new book, THE FAMILY PLAN, opens with my heroine showing up on the hero(whom she’s never met)’s doorstep on a secret mission of some sort. And right on the first page of the story, you find out she doesn’t think men are reliable. Conflict alert! On the next page, you see she wants to get what she came for (which turns out to be his sperm <G>) and get the hell out of dodge. Interesting character, situation that makes me ask questions – what’s she up to? What does she want? And the possibility of conflict with the hero. ‘ Cause of course you know he’s not going to want to give her what she wants.
Another thing I run into a lot in contest entries is characters behaving badly. And by that I mean, not logically, not consistent with what we know about “real” people. If you motivate it right, I’ll follow you and your characters anywhere. But if you don’t…you’re going to lose me when you have your characters behaving stupidly. You know, in the horror movies the woman goes into the creepy, dark basement wearing just her underwear and carrying a teddy bear for protection? Don’t do that! Make her put on her clothes, grab a weapon of some sort, and MOTIVATE her actions – if she’s going down there just because she heard a noise, she’s TSTL and deserves to get chopped up by Freddy. If she’s going down there because her sister/mother/father/best friend went down there, and she’s worried about said friend…now I’m with you.
But that applies to minor things, too. Common sense applies. Don’t have someone put a candy in an unconscious person’s mouth. Don’t make your hero run on a broken leg. (Unless you SHOW me something compelling to make it believable – as in, splint it or something — and he’s got good motivation. Trying to stay alive is usually good motivation. <G>) Don’t have your characters be ignorant of something they should reasonably know about.
You need to know and understand your characters well enough to know what “normal” behavior is for them. Cops are suspicious by nature, as are the fathers of teenage girls. Hair-stylists are going to notice everyone’s hair. A character who is a chef (like the hero in my upcoming book) is going to get really annoyed with you if you order food delivered to his restaurant/home from another restaurant. Migraines don’t vanish like magic. Characters holding the leashes of dogs copulating in the bushes will know something is going on with their animals. A medical person on the verge of escaping from her kidnappers probably wouldn’t stop on her way out the door to blow up the whole house and kill all the drug dealers passed out in the place. If your heroine shot the hero, chances are he’s going to hold a grudge for a really long time.
Everything has to make sense. As I said, if you motivate it properly, I will stick with you. But if it feels like you’re having certain things happen just because it suits your story, or it’s cute, and you haven’t really thought about it… THINK about it! If you find yourself trying to explain character behavior in the paragraph, that’s often a sign they’re doing something that deep down, you know they shouldn’t be. And you’re taking the easy way out.
Judges, like editors and agents, also have their own personal “ick” factors, or things that just rub them the wrong way. We’re all human. Readers are human, too. Sometimes you get irate fan mail because you touched a nerve in a reader. When I’m judging an entry, I try really hard not to let my own personal ick factors get in the way of my judging. Not all judges do that, though. Some of them will knock you down on the score because you dared to have a heroine drop an f-bomb. (Or whatever taboo you broke.) Often I will point it out, especially if I think it’s a marketing issue. (Dear writer, you’ve entered this ms as an Inspirational book, and your heroine is dropping f-bombs all over the place. Though it does seem to suit her character, you might want to rethink it — the inspirational publishers/lines aren’t going to be happy with it.)
Remember that characters should grow and change over the course of a book. They should learn something. So they certainly don’t have to be perfect at the beginning. (Or ever!) Perfect characters are boring! Plus…nobody’s perfect.
In the end, try to remember that judging a contest, like all reading experiences, is subjective! What annoys the snot out of one person is perfectly fine with another. This gets you ready for reader reactions. Judges are only human. We invest a lot of time in judging contest entries. (Most of us do, anyway.) It’s okay to be mad, sad, etc. when you read the comments. But come back to the comments later, after the sting has worn off, and take another look. Is there anything the judge said that might make the story better? Believe me, when I got some of my contest results back, I cried. And when I got my first set of line edits, I cried. LOL. So, it’s all part of the process. Making anything, including a story, stronger, is never an easy process.
Do you have any contest questions? Stories of judging horror? (I try never to be mean when I judge, but I do tend to be somewhat blunt, and that probably puts off some people.) Any other writing questions that maybe I can answer?
What’s your favorite writing contest and why?
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To read Susan’s bio and the story blurb for THE FAMILY PLAN, see yesterday’s post. To learn more about Susan and her books, please visit www.susangable.com.
Welcome to Susan!
Susan, I used to love entering the Unpublished Maggies, because the judge’s usually give thorough critiques rather than just filling out score sheets.
My story of horror judging isn’t really about my own writing, because the judge insulted OTHER contest entries while she was judging mine. This contest also had a written critique as part of the judging sheet, and my judge didn’t hold back saying why she thought elements of my story worked whereas she’d been reading similar stories where the writer seemed to think yadda yadda yadda. She insulted their heroes and heroine’s motivations and goals, etc. I think she was trying to be funny, but it didn’t come across that way – and it wasn’t even my story she was insulting.
So I guess you could say she was too blunt, LOL!
I generally don’t talk about stuff I’m judging. But I thought some examples might be helpful here. As a judge, I much prefer to write on the ms rather than just on the score sheet. It’s easier to SHOW a writer, here, see, this is where you’re in HIS head, now look, right here, you just jumped into HER head for one line, and now, we’re back in HIS head.
Two main points I want people to take away — judging is SUBJECTIVE. Each reader is going to take something different from your story, look at it in a different way. Think about what a judge says, and then decide for yourself if anything she says makes sense in a way that will make your story stronger.
And also — contest judges are human, too. LOL. You may disagree with everything the judge said, but just understand MOST (and I have to clarify because I don’t believe in advice that says everyone, always, no one, never, etc. g) judges give up a lot of time to judge contests, and they don’t do it to be mean or hurtful to other writers.
Great Post!
I had an interesting first time in the Golden Heart this year,
I finished a respectable “almost finalist” but learned ‘big-time’ about the diference in personal preference… I had one score of 2.0 and another of 9.0 ! The rest scored me in the 6.7 – 7.5 range so that gave me an idea of where my ms stood among the others.
Also, I judged the GH and found it quite difucult to “pick” a score for ms in a category I don’t write in so I fully understand the “personal” preference issues, and how a well written character or situation can draw in even the sceptical!
Hi Susan,
I just judged my first contest a few weeks ago that my chapter just had I confess I’ve never judged before the gave us some great training and guidelines, for the most part the entries I judged weren’t bad there were two that took me the longest rereading and then trying to find some nice things to say. I’d say that some of the entriesit may of been easier if I had more of the story, it was a great learning expoerence and the cordinator in my catogory told me that my partner who was judging the same entries we were on the same page only points apart and that I had a real sense of story so that made me feel like I was doing it right.
Having said all that I’m working towards enterying a contest myself scary lol
Kathy, given your spread of scores, you probably had that low score thrown out. But…I understand COMPLETELY! I got my Rita scores back: 9, 9, 7.7, 7.5, and a 5. HUH?? LOL. I probably only just missed out on finaling. Sigh.
Just goes to prove that we never “outgrow” going WTF? when it comes to contest judges. As long as we’re entering, we’re wondering. LOL.
Susan, I judge several romance contests a year, and I’ve had some doozies, too, and some that were so spectacular that it was only a matter of time until I could read the whole book in print. (I judged the first chapter of what turned out to be Anna Campbell’s CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, in the Suzannah years back and knew I was reading a future bestseller!)
Like you, I always try to be supportive and helpful. And I LOVED your line about not being able to simply say “this doesn’t work for me” because there have been many times I’ve felt that way, and then had to dig deep inside myself to figure out WHY it didn’t work for me. Which I hoped was helpful for the entrant, and I know helped to make me more in tune with my own thought processes and craft.
Anyway, lovely to see this topic, hear your insights, and see the discussion on writing contests, which was an important and inspiring part of my journey to publication.
Hi Susan,
Thanks for the information about contest judging. I wondered how scores could be from one end of the spectrum to another on the same manuscript. I like to hear that most judges are supportive of beginning writers.
(Somehow, I posted this in the wrong comments section. Glad I found it so I could paste it.)
Susan, thanks for your comments on contest judging. I have decided not to judge any more contests. I’m apparently too hard on the writers’ tender sensibilities. I spend HOURS on the entries and explain why I gave a low score in one category or another. Then I see the judging results and find out my score (the lowest) was thrown out. I can’t imagine what other judges are THINKING to give high scores to what in many cases shows NO attention to simple writing rules. At least skim one of the readily available tools like G-M-C. Publishing is a tough business, and judges aren’t doing writers a favor by acting like it’s the Special Olympics. Everyone gets a blue ribbon! The HOURS I have spent writing detailed critiques can be better used working on my projects.
Great article, Susan. Contests can be such a touchy subject, from both sides of the camp. I always try to respect and teach or suggest rather than be harsh or snide in my comments. I like to think I achieve that for the most part. One rule I adhere to: re-read my own comments before I send it off to the coordinator. How would I react to what I’ve commented on? Does it make sense? Another good rule of thumb: Don’t assume the author you’re judging is a veteran or knows all the so-called rules or lingo. Writing “too many POV shifts” to someone who doesn’t know what that is, won’t help them at all. When in doubt, I find it better to comment at an “over-information” level.
My favorite contest is the Hearts Through History one – cause that’s how I sold my book! 🙂
I notice that Carol says: I like to hear that most judges are supportive of beginning writers.
To me, the trouble starts with defining the word “supportive” as KIND. IMHO, too many judges “support” writers who need reality. They need suggestions of what to study. As I said, GMC, Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Deb Dixon. Dwight Swain. Magazines like RWR and Writers’ Digest.
The kindest critique – the one that really has useful information – might just be the hardest for a beginner to accept.
I’ve really cut back on my contest judging because to judge a poorly written entry well takes a ton of hard work, and I don’t like offering to judge if I can’t commit that time. Like Susan, I like to write directly on the manuscript. I don’t really like filling out score sheets. I prefer to write a critique that goes into greater detail about the areas I point out on the manuscript.
I think a judge can be fair and critical without being unkind…but it kinda depends on the contest entrant’s perspective of what she should be getting from the contest, as well. If it’s the first time she’s hearing that her baby is ugly, she might not take it too well. 🙂 For me, personally, the toughest comments (and by that I don’t mean harsh or rude comments, but valid criticism that, on first read, might sting) are often the most valuable when a writer sits down to re-work her manuscript. Learning how to absorb a contest critique is a valuable tool that can help the writer once she starts getting revision requests from agents and editors.
Hi Susan,
Excellent post! I enjoy judging contests as each time it teaches you what works, what doesn’t and why. And I agree, in judging, you take that extra step to understand why something works or not to explain it in a constructive way to an entrant.
My favorite contest story is one from which I entered. I received two judged entries back. One, from an unpublished author and all they wrote was, “Read it before.” ROFLOL Um . . . like, what the heck is that kind of comment? Obviously they didn’t like it. *G* The second judge ended up not only being published, but someone whose books I adore. Not only was I floored that she actually judged my entry, but wow, she took amazing time out to praise this book and tell me that I’d sell. 🙂
Contests always prove to be interesting regardless of what side you’re on. Enjoy your day, and I wish you every success on the release of, “The Family Plan!”
Diana
I don’t think “blowing smoke” is ever the way to go. A writer has to be willing to listen to and respond to constructive crits. None of us improve without those.
Lynette, I’m a HUGE fan of Deb Dixon’s GMC, and often recommend it to writers. Also, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I think between those two books, you can get an amazing writing education.
Diana, I’ve found that unpublished writers can be much harder judges than published authors. I think it’s because once we start working with editors, we understand a lot more that there aren’t the “hard and fast RULES” that unpubs seem to think there are. I’ve had contest judges zing me for changing POV in a scene. (Changing POV — NOT head-hpping. I’m talking one controled, well spelled-out change.) Guess what? My editor doesn’t care if I do that — as long as I do it WELL. There are some judges who will zing you for ANY introspection — and I’ve had my editor ADD introspection to scene, so it must be a big taboo. Its like when we’re first learning things, we take them totally to heart 100%, and then we learn later that there is some wiggle room.
Susan, sometimes your comments go to moderation. I’ll approve them as fast as I see them! 🙂
Deb Dixon’s GMC is great!!
I judge a lot, and I have won and finalled in contest. But I don’t enter as many because of the “WTF were they thinking” comments. Like highlighting every was/were, etc. mention, because “it’s passive.” On one contest, I had one judge who wrote that she judged a lot and she’d given me the highest mark she’d ever given an entry — and it was a low mark. I felt sorry for the writers whose entries she didn’t like.
I still like to judge. Sometimes I get the most heartfelt thank yous from the writers who I’d given the lowest marks, the ones that made me struggle to be honest in a helpful and encouraging way. That’s when something I said gave them an AHA moment, and they got how they should do it. That’s a terrific feeling.
I’m going to be at the store tomorrow, and I’ll look for The Family Plan.
Oh, Edie, do NOT get me started on PASSIVE. Was/were does not a passive sentence make. sigh. It’s when the object of the sentence is being acted upon instead of doing the action.
Ex:
The boy bounced the ball. (Active voice.)
The ball was bounced by the boy. (Passive voice – object of the sentence, ball, is being acted UPON, not doing the action.) Now, this sentence does have the telltale WAS. But that doesn’t mean all sentences with WAS (or other being verbs) are passive voice.
I’m a big believer that we have ALL the tools in the language available for us as writers. It’s OKAY to use an adverb sometimes. You just don’t want to go crazy with them. It’s OKAY to sometimes have sentences that are passive voice, and it’s OKAY to use am/are/is/was/were/be/been/being sometimes. It’s OKAY to shift POV midscene, it’s OKAY to TELL sometimes (just don’t make a habit of it!) and it’s OKAY to break some of the other crazy “rules” that contest judges like to spout at you.
Edie, thanks for wanting to look for The Family Plan – it won’t be out in stores until around July 13th. You can order it off eHarlequin.com now, and it will be available on Kindle on July 1st for those folks who Kindle.
Hey Susan!
Ah, what a subject. I’m currently on a hiatus from contest judging after judging way too many contests for several years in a row. I had to promise my kids I would take a vacation from everything but the RITA until at least 2011 because I spent so many hours judging, I ended up turning in my own books late.
But count me as another judge who prefers to write comments directly on the manuscript and who really doesn’t like judging score-sheets at all. My least favorite thing on a score-sheet? Being forced to identify my favorite thing about an entry. I’ve judged some really bad entries over the years, including some that have left me convinced English is not the author’s first language. Sometimes my favorite thing about an entry is its lovely, consistent margins. I much prefer to be allowed to encourage the author in a reality-based way instead.
Yes, it’s all very subjective, but that’s the nature of this business. Not everyone finds the same things charming or sexy or amusing or even frightening. So while one judge may be approaching your world from roughly the same perspective you are, another may come at it from another angle entirely. I think that’s why motivation is so supremely important. You can make me believe anything if you motivate it strongly and believably enough, and if you keep your characters behaving appropriately to that motivation.
Hi Susan!
I’ve judged a couple of contests, and for the most part really enjoyed it. I admit I had a few moments where I saw the other judges’ scores and could not figure out what planet they were from, that they gave this entry or that entry such a high score, and I agree that doesn’t do writers any favors.
But I did give as much detail and feedback as I possibly could; my comments ended up adding at least five pages to each three-chapter sample, and my scoresheets with comments ran to a couple of pages as well. I even added a disclaimer type thing on each where I emphasized my goal was to help, not to hurt, and that I hoped they saw my comments in that light.
But honestly? To me the worst thing about judging was not knowing what happened to the entrants! I did get an email forwarded to me from one contestant, thanking me, but I didn’t know if I was allowed to reply, so I didn’t. I regret that. But I also remember an entry I thought was excellent, well written and charming, but the completely wrong genre. I commented and judged it like any other entry, but was forced to give it low ratings on the genre-specific items on the scoresheet. I’d love to know what happened to that writer, if the comments were helpful, if she did get published in her genre.
And I did, through Google, find the author of one of my entries a few years later, and she was talking about revising the project I’d judged. So I hope that meant she’d taken my comments to heart and they’d helped her. But of course there’s no way to know, and again, I didn’t think I could contact her.
Overall, though, I like judging contests. As long as there aren’t too many entries!
Don’t enter me in the contest, please; I’ll buy Susan’s book. I just wanted to comment! 🙂
Stacia, you’re a doll. 🙂 I love it when I find the gems. As a general rule, I don’t sign my contest entries. Just because people can get really mad at you, and do some crazy things in this day and age. But when I find something I absolutely love, I’ll generally sign and provide my email addy so the writer can contact me. A year or so ago, I remember reading this amazing paranormal. Totally blew me away. When you can find those and offer those writers encouragement to stick with it, that’s always a big bonus.
I also put a disclaimer on my judged entries, empahsising that it’s my opinion only, and that I’m trying to be helpful.
Great tips, Susan! 🙂
Susan,
Guess I’m probably too late for this blog, but I wanted to thank you for detailing your perspective on judging contests.
My scores in five contests I’ve entered so far (including three Golden Heart) have been all over the place.
My only consolation on those has been that at least one judge liked the ms enough that it ‘could have been’ in the top quarter … if only the other judges had agreed. [My lowest scores have never been quite low enough for them to get tossed out and the standard deviation applied.]
My biggest problem is not having a category that truly fits my entry. But, stubbornly, I entered the catch-all category (novel with strong romantic elements) anyway, and essentially wasted my money and three months waiting on the scores.
Why did I do that? I suppose I had the fanciful notion that five judges would love my entry so much, they would suspend the rules / criteria and just hand me the prize. Ha.
No. Seriously. I needed to know that someone with experience in this industry liked my ms enough to give it a competitive score. Even if that was only one judge per contest.
Sometimes we can fuel a bit of momentum on very little praise, I’ve found.
Jeff
Thanks for the great discussion, everyone! Edie Ramer has won the copy of THE FAMILY PLAN. Edie, please look for an email from me in your in-box.
My next guest blogger is Harlequin American Romance author, Marin Thomas, July 20th. Hope to see you again then.
Terrific! Congrats, Edie!
Jeff, it takes courage to put our stuff out there — moreso when it doesn’t fit neatly into the preconcieved notions of what “XYZ” is “supposed” to be. I’m glad you were able to find some positives from your contest experiences!
Golden Heart is a tough contest. And since the judges don’t give any feedback, I look at it as a way of getting in front of an editor. If you think your entry fits the category and is good enough to get “up there” with the scoring, it’s a good way to bypass slush and get in front of an editor if you DO final. But otherwise…you don’t get anything really out of it.
Entering contests can have several goals, and it’s good to know what your goals are going in. Are you looking for feedback? That’s best for new writers, or established writers who are trying something new. Are you trying to bypass the slush and get in front of an editor or agent? Then you want to look for contests that offer agents/editors you want reading your material as the final judges. Are you trying to gather some “resume” stuff? Just trying to support your favorite chapter? Those are all valid reasons for entering a contest.
Good luck to all of you in the future!