Comments on Carey's Ramblings: JUDGE AND JURY

Lacey, you're a wonderful writer and I'm sure I'd ...

2008-01-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

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. :-)

India, your dedication is laudable! I'm sure you w...

2008-01-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

India, your dedication is laudable! I'm sure you won't be "the evil judge who ruined [my] chances."

Right? :-)

A good synopsis impresses me, too. They're rare! :...

2008-01-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

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.

I know. And the frightening thing was, it was suc...

2007-12-31T14:52:00.000-08:00

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.

Ha! I was definitely thinking about your synopsis ...

2007-12-31T14:34:00.000-08:00

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.

India, I agree with you. I had not realized how i...

2007-12-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

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.

And I have to add one other thing about judging. T...

2007-12-31T10:45:00.000-08:00

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.

That's interesting, Alice. Last year I entered the...

2007-12-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

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?

I volunteered to judge several times before I ente...

2007-12-30T22:28:00.000-08:00

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.

For the record, Courtney, I love your titles! Tess...

2007-12-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

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?

India, I'm judging YA. It's a blast, except I have...

2007-12-28T04:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Great post, India! I just want to applaud your co...

2007-12-27T06:57:00.000-08:00

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.

I definitely would've checked the formatting box f...

2007-12-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

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.

I was not so fortunate as you to get entry after e...

2007-12-26T11:02:00.000-08:00

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?

Great, great post India! Very insightful! And I wa...

2007-12-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

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!!!!!

Waves at CM. Off to work or would leave longer rep...

2007-12-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

Waves at CM. Off to work or would leave longer reply. Merry Christmas Eve to you!

Gillian, Happy Holidays! Hmm. Titles. Well, none o...

2007-12-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

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!

Oh, Gillian. You have just swamped me with waves ...

2007-12-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Merry Christmas, dear!I'm judging now too. I was s...

2007-12-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

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!" :)

Thanks for weighing in, Lenora! Actually, I don't ...

2007-12-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Interesting post. I had no idea how the judging fo...

2007-12-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

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 the input Alice, Renee and CM! And Merr...

2007-12-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

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.

Oh, and Merry Christmas.

2007-12-23T19:32:00.001-08:00

Oh, and Merry Christmas.

I would love it if someone told me "Hey, your char...

2007-12-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

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.

I'd give the poorly formatted on a higher score an...

2007-12-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

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.