It's that time of year again. No, I'm not referring to the last minute holiday crush at the mall. I'm speaking of what many of us would like to get from Santa this year -a golden-hearted Golden Heart judge to bring us Christmas come July. But here's the thing. WE are judging the Golden Heart. And this is a responsibility that has already cost me sleep.
Yesterday, my entries arrived for judging. With light head and pounding heart I ripped into my Fed-Ex box. What treasures awaited me? Five Historicals. None recognizable. Whew! At least I didn't receive a friend's entry and have to decide whether to throw a friend back into the sea of unpredictable judges or try to set my own biases aside and judge her manuscript myself. I faced the simple task of judging the manuscripts of unknown writers. Piece of cake, right? After reading and rereading the judging guidelines, I sat down with a glass of chardonnay and my first manuscript.
And let me tell you, it was fabulous! But...after reading the entire entry, I was bewildered as to how to score it. I'm going to go ahead and discuss these issues without giving any information that could possibly identify the story. Also, I've already entered my score so our discussion won't change that. But I think it's a good topic and I'm interested in other's input.
First entry: The writing is wonderful and fresh and more than that, it sucks me right into the story. The characters have wonderful depth. The dialogue sparkles. A smooth, beautiful, exciting read. But there are a few problems.
The first problem is that the font appears to be less than 12 point and it is TNR. The chapters begin one on top of the other - not even with extra spaces much less on a new page. Now the judging guidelines tell me what to do about this. Ignore it. Okay, I can do that.
Next problem. Point of view slips more than a few times. Hmm. This is pretty minor. I don't necessarily feel I HAVE to subtract for this.
Next problem. The opening is very exciting and sets the tone for a great read. Unfortunately, there is simply no reason that I can discern why the hero takes the action he does in the opening. Hmm.
I toss and turn most of the night deciding on my score.
This morning, I see patients in the office and make hospital rounds. Shop. Come home. Sit down with a cup of Java and my next entry. I immediately worry that it's not fair to drink coffee while reading one entry and wine while reading another. Won't this affect my mindset? Beads of sweat are now popping out on my brow like Christmas cookies from neighborhood ovens. I can't switch to Chardonnay, however, I am on call.
Now this next manuscript is perfectly formatted. Okay, I'm not supposed to care. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit I appreciate the author using Courier and starting chapters on a new page. I mean, these are long entries, and we are to read ALL the pages before scoring. The writing is wonderful, smooth and fresh. Now I am beginning to think my own entry won't have a shot because my pile of reads is so good. Yes, I know I'm in another category, but apparently, everyone else is a better writer than I am! I chew my nails and get back to work, shunting aside my own feelings of inadequacy.
From start to finish this story seems perfect...from format to flow, all motivations in place, ends on a hook, all show and no tell. Lush. But....I am bored the entire read because the character's just don't draw me in and the story line itself is totally predictable. Oh, damn.
So which of these two entries got a higher score? Or did they both get the same score? I'll never tell. And I remind myself and you all that we are not to score entries against one another, but rather against some other subjective standard.
But I will say that this judging thing is HARD. It's hard because I want to get it right. I know what it takes to write and rewrite the entry, to print it and proof it and package it and mail it and to hope hope hope your judge will be fair (and okay, maybe a smidge generous). And it's hard because this is not just another contest. This is the Golden Heart.
Wishing you all Happy Holidays and fabulous reading as we struggle to do the right thing.
26 comments:
Great post, Amy! I'll tell you how I plan to judge my entries. My rule is that if I get an entry that I think MUST final--as in, it will be a travesty if it does not--it gets a 9. No wussy 8.6 or 8.8 or any of that stuff. It gets a nine.
A 7 corresponds to an entry where I think, "This is not an entry that should final, but I can imagine other people disagreeing, and if four of them do, I don't think it would be a shame if this one finaled."
5 and 6 for everything where I think that it's seriously lacking in one major area--either writing craft, or story line, or something like that.
And finally, I wouldn't give below that unless I thought the author didn't take the contest seriously.
I do think it would bother me if a writer used a font smaller than 12 point font, and didn't include chapter breaks on a new page. I would seriously consider checking the "not formatted correctly" box on that one. Because what you're describing is not proper manuscript formatting.
I'd give the poorly formatted on a higher score anyway. It's much easier for an editor to fix formatting than to fix something that is boring.
I would love it if someone told me "Hey, your characters don't draw me in and your plot sucks." At least I'd know where to begin in trying to fix things. :)
Have fun judging. Maybe this coming year I'll get my act together and finally become a member of RWA.
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
Thanks for the input Alice, Renee and CM! And Merry Christmas or other holiday greeting (you choose) back at ya!
That's the sad thing. I'd love to give feedback for the GH (and to receive it). I'd especially love to steer that obviously gifted writer in the direction of some good critique partners. Not sure I have much to offer the author of the second manuscript since technically, she (or he) is perfect.
Interesting post. I had no idea how the judging for the GH worked. How do you get to be a judge? I'm sure I'll find out if I go on over to the RWA website so you don't have to tell me.
It sounds like you are being very conscientious and fair, India. I'm sure these authors are lucky to have you as a judge.
The dilemma of technically perfect but boring versus slightly rough yet fresh seems a tough one. I know I have to care about the characters to keep reading a book. If the author doesn't achieve that I might score down.
Good luck, and happy holidays!
Thanks for weighing in, Lenora! Actually, I don't mind answering because others may want to know as well. As far as I know, the only requirement to be a Golden Heart Judge is to be an RWA member and to volunteer. Last year I judged, and I was not even a PRO at the time.
This year, RWA sent a request out to all the PRO members asking for volunteers.
I also wanted to mention to Renee that you do not have to be a member of RWA to enter the Golden Heart. As long as you have a complete manuscript you may enter.
Merry Christmas, dear!
I'm judging now too. I was so awed, holding those manuscripts. What a responsibility!
I'm not even considering formatting unless it's atrocious.
The biggest thing to hit home with me so far is "Damn, what an immediate impact the title makes!" (No, I'm not giving or subtracting there either.) The second thing I thought was "Damn, I'd better get a WAY better title before I submit!" :)
Oh, Gillian. You have just swamped me with waves of fear!
I SUCK at titles. I suck so badly. I just tried to randomly come up with something--anything--that didn't suck too badly.
And now I know someone is going to ding me for it. I just have to not think about this contest at all.
Gillian, Happy Holidays! Hmm. Titles.
Well, none of my entries have titles that have influenced me. So I am assuming some of yours must have had awesome titles for you to even notice. What category are you judging?
I changed the title of Twist of Fate for the Golden Heart. Just another example of obsessing over minutiae on my part. I didn't change the title for impact, however. I wanted a fresh title since my submission has been visible in a number of contests - but mostly because I know if I do pull off a final (everyone cross their legs!), I'll be a nervous wreck worrying that an editor may request and RWA might accidentally send the old Twist of Fate from last year.
Dumb, yet optimistic!
Waves at CM. Off to work or would leave longer reply. Merry Christmas Eve to you!
Great, great post India! Very insightful! And I was doing such a good job not thinking about the GH...:-). I haven't received entries to judge yet, but I'm sure they're on their way. Right, they're on their way?
Merry Christmas!!!!!
I was not so fortunate as you to get entry after entry that dazzled me, though I did get one brilliant entry that I think will be in the finals with Twist. I was surprised by the impact of the title as well - it didn't change how I scored the entry, but it did change the order in which I read them. CM, I'll come up with a title for you - it's my specialty, just ask Lindsey and Tessa!
It's interesting that you changed Twist's title for the GH - I googled the names of all my entries (not that I found anything), but seeing a bunch of contest wins/finals might have influenced how I voted on an entry (likely in a good way.)
Did you get any author names on your entries?
I definitely would've checked the formatting box for an entry like the first one you described, India. Sounds to me like someone was trying to cram more story than was allowed into her page limit, and that's tantamount to cheating, IMO. In many of the contests I've entered and/or judged, that particular kind of rules dodge would result in disqualification.
Maybe the entrant was just completely ignorant of proper manuscript formatting, and if so, I agree with Alice that fixing fonts and page breaks is easier than turning a boring read into a compelling one. But when all the formatting "mistakes" happen to fall in a certain direction -- cramming more words into the same number of pages -- I'm naturally suspicious. :-)
This reminds me how glad I am that I've sworn off contests -- entering them as well as judging them. :-) I remember spending 3 *days* on just one critique for a chapter contest last year. It was the lowest score I'd ever given, and I just didn't feel right until I could find at least 3 genuinely positive things to say about the story.
Great post, India! I just want to applaud your conscientious attitude toward judging. I'm not judging or entering this year, and I'm really, really glad.
I wouldn't count down too much on formatting. Perhaps the person is trying to "cheat", but perhaps she is just clueless. I was like that once - I entered my then-WIP in a contest in a different genre several years ago, when I was just basically writing in a vacuum and knew nothing about nothing. I think I single-spaced, submitted three chapters in the middle of the book (because I hadn't written the beginning yet, heh. Which is a good clue I didn't know how to find a story's beginning.)... anyway, there were plenty of reasons why that book and entry went nowhere, but my formatting idiocy wasn't intentional. I just had no clue.
India, I'm judging YA. It's a blast, except I have one story that I honestly don't think is a romance. Really good writing, but not a romance. So I'm going back to read it--again--before I make that call.
CM, your titles couldn't be worse than mine. And your writing will be wonderful, so no worries.
For the record, Courtney, I love your titles!
Tessa, my goal is to be like you. Ineligible for the Golden Heart!
Lynne, you are right. It is so difficult to know if those errors were intentional. So I'll give the benefit of the doubt. I'm finding the Golden Heart to be so difficult, in part, because I cannot give feedback or explain my scores or point out the positives. It's frustrating! Great to have you stop by, BTW. Long time no see.
Sara, where have you been hiding? Glad to see you! I've not only had names...I've even gotten one cover page with name, address, phone and email! I s'pose that could disqualify the entry. But I'm chalking it up as a mistake and misunderstanding.
Gillian, next year I think I'll offer to judge YA. Seems like fun.
Merry Christmas, Darcy! Did you get the packets yet?
I volunteered to judge several times before I entered the Golden Heart for the first time and was consistantly ignored. When I entered the Golden Heart judging was manditory.
That's interesting, Alice. Last year I entered the Golden Heart and signed up to judge because the rules stipulated that in the event the maximum number or entries was exceeded, those who had not volunteered to judge would have their entries dropped first.
This year, I signed up to judge before I entered, in response to a Pro invitation. Apparently some other pros have volunteered to judge but have not been used. So I'm not sure what the system for selection of judges might be.
I think any RWA member is eligible, but how they prioritize who is selected is a bit of a mystery. Sort of like the GH final judging.
I was surprised to see the Wet Noodlers' post that suggested three different editors judge the finalists for each category and their rankings are averaged to determine the winner.
Does anyone know how GH preliminary judges are determined? I'm guessing PAN members are used when available and possibly publication outside the romance genre is considered. Judging in previous years or finalling in previous years? Anybody know about this?
And I have to add one other thing about judging. The Synopsis.
After completing reading all my manuscripts, I decided that the synopsis does count more for me than I initially supposed.
The truth is that the synopsis is where I am able to see if motivations are sound, the complexity and craft of the story, and the author's professionalism.
The majority of my entries had a weak synopsis. One or two pages which told me little to nothing, or a lot of rambling pages. Pages which suggested the author had not bothered to put time in on this required element.
Then I read one that was as carefully crafted as the entry, and I was impressed by the complexity of both the characters and the storyline. It took my score for that entrant up a full point. It pays to be professional.
India, I agree with you. I had not realized how important the synopsis would be in my judging--I think, in part, because I hadn't realized how bad they could get. I thought that mine sucked, but in retrospect, even the one that was the "worst" was pretty decent. Motivations, conflict, black moment, resolution--not particularly laden with voice, and rather matter of fact, but it took care of business.
I was really shocked at how many entries failed to take care of that business in a reasonable manner. A synopsis can move a score up or down by a point and a half, in my experience. That's easily the difference between finaling and not finaling.
Ha! I was definitely thinking about your synopsis and mine and others, where we have struggled not just to clarify motivations, but to really convey voice. To make it pop. And I just have to say, after this, that if the writer did just what you said - took care of business - even if it read like a book report, I would applaud.
I know. And the frightening thing was, it was such a HUGE amount of work getting even my "worst" synopsis to the point where it just took care of business!
I think if I had to go back and give myself advice, I would tell me to grant myself more pages for the synopsis.
A good synopsis impresses me, too. They're rare! :-) Most of the ones I've read have rambled all over the place and covered few of the key points of the story. I think the worst one I ever saw was about four pages long and mentioned nearly TWENTY characters by name. We learned almost nothing about the three main characters and their motivations, but by golly, we knew the name of the stable boy, the upstairs maid, the neighbor's cat, and pretty much every living creature that got as much as a mention in the whole 400-page novel.
India, your dedication is laudable! I'm sure you won't be "the evil judge who ruined [my] chances."
Right? :-)
Lacey, you're a wonderful writer and I'm sure I'd give you a wonderful score! As for ruining chances for aspiring authors, that's not my bag, baby. :-)
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