Valkyrie

I was going to ask who else has "All Star" playing in their head now

I wanted to clarify what Cole meant by use of passive voice in PT Prompt 75. He's going for more of a passive style or pace vs using actual passive voice. From a grammatical point of view, the example he gave is actually using past perfect. An example of passive voice would be "The book was read by him." vs active voice "He read the book." Using the active voice is generally preferred, but passive voice has its place. Same with past perfect. While it can get clunky if used too often, sometimes it's necessary in order make the story clear. I could get a lot more in depth with both topics, but that's the basic gist of it.

We'll be updating the submission guidelines due to a few things that have come up this time around. I'll add this to my list of items to discuss and add.

You write better in your second language than a lot of people do in their first Me, stressed?

A couple of questions that come up for discussion frequently here are “How long should I make my chapters?” and “How long should my story be?”. The truth is, there is no right answer. My response would be, “Long enough to tell what you want to tell.” It’s a bit of a glib response, but I’m going to go more in-depth in this blog post. In terms of the anthology, there is a right answer. It needs to be between 1,000 and 25,000 words. So how do you decide if your story is going to be a 1k short or a 25k novella? I would say a lot of that decision comes down to personal preference and writing style. Some writers have difficulty constraining themselves to only 25k words, while others are quite comfortable in the 4-6k range. A 1k word story needs to pack a punch and have every word count, since the story is being told is so short. Short doesn’t mean bad or unfinished—I’ve read some phenomenal flash fiction pieces in the 1k range—so don’t skip reading those stories because of the low word count. Those 1k stories are a great way to work on descriptive writing and character sketches. Conversely, if you’re going to write 25k words, make sure what’s going on the page is relevant and interesting. Is every scene necessary to the story, or are there infodumps and scenes that don’t move the story forward? Not every reader likes reading stories that long in one go, so something to consider is breaking up a story that length into chapters. While it helps keep the reader engaged, it’s certainly not a requirement. Good writing itself keeps the reader engaged, regardless of story or chapter length. So, readers, don’t be intimidated by the lengthy word count. You might find yourself sucked right into the story and reach the end before you remember you just read 25k words. Now back to the first question “How long should I make my chapters?”. Again, there is no right answer or magic number when it comes to chapter length. It needs to be long enough to accomplish what you want for that particular point in the story, whether it’s 2k, 4k, 6k, etc. It’s a good idea to try and be consistent with chapter length, but that doesn’t mean it’s not ok to have some variation. Personally, I like chapters in the 2-4k word range, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a longer, well-written chapter, especially if it’s at crucial point in the story. So, how does all this relate to the anthology? Write to your strengths and personal style. Don’t worry about the word count as much as telling a good story. The word count only matters if it’s below 1k or above 25k. There is still plenty of time to write a short story and get it sent to the proof team. We are very close to making our twenty story goal, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop there! Over twenty would be icing on the cake!

There's still time to send submissions to the proof team! Stories can be as short as 1k words, so if you're on the fence about participating, then start writing! I'm still aiming for 20 stories for our 20th anniversary, so let's do our best to thank Myr and the other site staff for so many wonderful years.

I'll be adding this to the Anthology 101 FAQs, so hopefully it won't be an issue in the future.

The issue here is with the file being saved as an ".odt" or "open document text". I edited half of an entire novel once for someone who used the .odt format and it converted all the changes to permanent So I essentially had to edit it twice. Lesson learned! Sorry, with how swamped I am at the moment, I didn't even think to mention it. Always convert .odt to Word documents, otherwise it doesn't save the changes properly, as you discovered. It took me forever to figure out what the problem was when I edited that novel.

Yes, finding good, long-term editors can be extremely difficult, but it's wonderful when you develop a good working relationship with someone. I have two beta readers who I've worked with for years, and while we've developed close friendships, neither one are afraid to tell it like it is when it comes to my writing. That's great advice about how to find a good beta reader. Giving only praise teaches authors nothing. There needs to be a balance between telling what they're doing well and what needs improvement. I think most authors, unless being professionally published, probably don't use a separate proofreader. I will do a final proofread for some of the authors I edit for, but most of the time, the initial edit suffices. The anthology is different, because we want to ensure at least a basic quality of writing to represent the site, so ensuring works are as clean as possible makes sense. That's a good point about Grammarly and Ginger and other such sites. While definitely imperfect, they should catch the major things.

Yes! Excellent advice! It's a good idea to check out examples of stories someone has edited and even stories they have written, if they're also an author. I would check out stories they have edited from multiple authors, because ultimately it's up to the author to accept or reject any editing changes. An editor can only do so much with poorly-written stories. If their own work is riddled with errors, then it's probably a good idea to keep searching. It's definitely okay to use the 'reject change' button. Sometimes a grammatical error may be done on purpose, especially if it's in dialogue or first person narrative. Some things are stylistic also, as not everyone follows Chicago Style guidelines. That's a very good point. Good editors do not re-write stories, and if you work with one that does, then hit that 'reject changes' button and move on to another editor. A good editor will help make the story better and help the author grow as a writer. I've been lucky to work with some very good editors who have taught me a lot. I've always been a very clean writer, and strong technically, so I don't usually see a lot of red with my edits. I had a story edited by someone once and was returned with almost the entire thing covered in red. It was a perfect example of editing gone amok. There were a few good suggestions among all that red, but otherwise, there was a lot of unnecessary changes and it was essentially rewritten in that editor's style. So it's a good idea to be familiar enough with writing 'rules' to know when you're getting good advice and when you're not. If your Spidey-sense is tingling, then it's probably a good idea to go with a different editor. I didn't address beta readers in the blog post, but a good beta reader is just as valuable as a good editor. IMO, there is definitely overlap, since I believe good editing includes beta reading. Beta readers aren't looking at the technical aspect, but more story content, continuity, and flow. Finding a team that includes both an editor and a beta reader is good idea for all authors, especially newer ones, because that's how you learn and grow your craft.

Proofreading vs Editing No, it’s not a writing smackdown, but two different parts of the writing process that go hand-in-hand. Since the proof team is working in overdrive at the moment, I thought it would be a good time to rehash the role we play and the difference between a proofread and an edit. Editing is an in-depth process that looks at all aspects of the story. So in addition to punctuation, spelling, grammar, language-usage, and the technical aspects of writing, a good edit includes looking at continuity errors, plausibility, author voice, and the overall story arc. It can be a lengthy process, depending on the editor, author, and amount of revision needed. Proofreading is the final step before the story goes live. So once an author’s editing and beta reading team have dissected the story and the author has put it back together, then it’s always a good idea to give the story a final proofread to catch anything that might have been missed. When the proof team completes a proof on an anthology story, we are looking for spelling errors, misused words, incorrect grammar, and punctuation. Even the best editors sometimes miss things, so our job is to catch those mistakes and make the story as clean as possible. There’s a great discussion going on right now in the Anthology Discussion Thread in the Writer’s Club about editing experiences, scary or otherwise. I’ve received some memorable comments from editors, and one of the most memorable was when I was told to “Get your head out of your ass, stop writing like Jane Austen, and start writing like Valkyrie again!”. Let’s hear your most memorable comments from your editors. Finally, I’d like to re-feature a blog post about the proof team members. It’s a sometimes thankless job, but we have a wonderful team who work hard behind the scenes to make the anthologies the best they can be. I’d like to extend a special thank you to @cia for stepping in and helping out this year. Another great reason to participate in the anthology is the possibility of having GA's editing guru herself take a look at your work. It's a learning opportunity to definitely take advantage of. We’ve received a lot of stories so far, and I hope they keep coming in! Let’s get to that twenty mark I set earlier! https://gayauthors.org/blogs/entry/19795-meet-the-anthology-proof-team/

Very well-deserved!

I just had the issue where it looked like Aaron's original screenshot when I clicked on Parker Owens new chapter. HP laptop, Chrome browser. I just tried another story... looks like the issue is when I click on any story.

I've actually climbed a few ranks I noticed it a while ago, but thought maybe @Myr tweaked the requirements. I used to be at 10, I think.

I had the same issue. All browsers on an HP laptop with Windows 10. It's resolved now.

It's not easy to feature only one character in a story, but you did a great job. Sometimes less is more, and you nailed the desperation and tragedy the protagonist is experiencing. Thanks for tackling a difficult subject with a difficult prompt.

There's still time! Especially if you're like me and wait until the last minute The proof team is very busy at the moment, which is great! Keep those stories coming in! I want to get at least close to our 20 story goal.

I hope the bear wasn't too destructive! My BFF had her car broken into by a black bear on one of her camping trips

I spent last weekend out in the country with my BFF for her family reunion. It’s been an annual tradition for us for over ten years now, and I look forward to it every year. It’s an absolutely idyllic setting, surrounded by farmland and mountains sporting all kinds of greenery. There’s no wi-fi, and cell phone signals are spotty, at best. We sleep in a tent on a hill next to the main house and talk most of the night over a campfire, underneath a clear sky filled with stars never seen in suburbia. A lot of the people who attend like to play games, so we also spent a lot of time playing a game where we had to create sentences based on a prompt by using a limited number of words we selected from a box. We also played glow-in-the-dark cornhole, which is insanely difficult, but also a ton of fun! So where do prompts fit into all of this? Well, first, I’m totally buying that game we played, so I’m sure I’ll be featuring some prompts in the future based on it. Second, my BFF’s nephew is an aspiring writer, and we had an amazing talk about writing. We talked about story ideas, stories/books we like to read, and the more technical aspects of writing. It was wonderful to chat with someone so enthusiastic about writing. We also talked a bit about writing prompts, so I am featuring two technical prompts today – one from me, and one from him. PT Prompt #71 Write a short story featuring only one character. No secondary characters at all. You might drop them in the woods and see how they fare, or come up with your own idea, but only one character is allowed. PT Prompt #72 Write a short story with no dialogue. @W_L decided to take up the challenge of PT Prompt #70 last week. If you haven’t read it, I recommend checking it out! https://gayauthors.org/story/w_l/wls-prompts-short-stories/1

Last week, I gave my perspective on the anthology and why I write so many stories for them. This week, we get a different perspective from @Carlos Hazday. Carlos shares his beginning as a writer and also gives some great advice about marketing. Carlos Hazday After joining Gay Authors in July 2013, my membership lagged unused until I became active a year later. A newbie with zero writing experience, I gained confidence slaving over weekly prompts for a bit. Maybe not actually slaved since I was writing funny stuff readers responded well to. I got cocky. Then I tried writing something for Chain Reaction, the Winter 2014 Anthology, and met Cia. Her reputation preceded her and was well deserved. Very politely, as is her way, she trashed Allah’s Revenge. But only after telling me how dystopian stories were a favorite genre. I probably ruined it for her. My short story deserved multiple chapters and more detail. But hey, I didn’t know better. I screamed, I pulled my hair, I called her names, readers came to my defense… But you know what? Whatever it was she said was right. It did not sink in immediately, but when it did, it stuck with me and helped me improve. I learned to limit the scope of short stories and focus on the essentials. Cia’s an overachiever, as much as my character CJ, and like him juggles plenty of responsibilities. The fact she found time to read what I wrote and gave me thoughtful feedback was surprising. Since then I’ve realized she, and other long-time members make an effort to read and comment on anthology entries. So do a lot of regular members. That brings me to the main thrust of this blog: Marketing. Newer authors often bemoan their stories receiving limited views, reactions, and comments, while most established authors seem to create a buzz if they publish a dinner menu. Totally unfair, right? Not in my opinion. Those well-received stories usually follow a list of previous works that captured readers’ imagination. It did not happen overnight. But no matter how well-written something might be, if people don’t read your work, fame and fortune may pass you by. Okay, nothing that drastic but I’m certain all of us would enjoy a few more interactions with followers. That’s where an Anthology submission can help. Yes, it’s an opportunity to try something new, characters, style, setting, and a chance to get feedback from people who may not normally comment on what they read. But above all, your Anthology entry will get you eyes. More people seeing your name and your story means more potential fans. GA’s Marketing Department (LMAO) is doing its part by publicizing the project. Time for you to do yours. If you write it, they will read it.

Carlos and northie both posted great answers, but I'm happy to help you through the process once you're ready to post. It's the same as posting a regular story; the only difference, as Carlos stated, is that you will leave it unpublished. An admin will move it into the correct category and then publish it once the anthology goes live. Feel free to send me your story for proofing any time, along with any questions you might have.

I liked this a lot. I totally relate to Mark's struggles with food and exercise. Great idea to have them meet over music. I found the Jurassic Park line absolutely hysterical I think the only problem with this prompt response is that you are going to have readers clamoring for more. I think you have the beginning of a great story here. I'm so happy my prompt inspired you. Thank you for sharing this!

It works now.

@W_L I get an error message when I clicked on the link. Says story not found. Is it unpublished?

Great! I'll check it out now.