Let The Games Begin (Again)
The First Challenge of GWC '24
The Thrill Of The Hunt
Our valiant heroes have had one week to bask in the glow and terror of anticipation for the beginning of this competition.
Our final five, once again, are
, , , , and !They threw their names into the ring because they each want to grow as writers. It’s important to note that I’m not especially skilled or qualified to offer feedback, but I have a way of thinking about my writing and
, my intrepid co-judge, does indeed offer editing services professionally so she at least is qualified to opine on that!But what Sara and I have in common is being slightly farther along the Substack journey than these five are. Sara, as a distinguished alumna of GWC ‘23, has been through this gauntlet and it led to her publishing a massive serial, Remembrance, at
, which has just concluded. She knows what our competitors are about to go through. Me, I’ve published a serial or two, and I’ve judged this competition once before—so I have an idea of what kind of advice can help our final five grow in their writing.But the applications, the waiting, the preparing—it all leads to this. The unveiling of the First Challenge.
Some Ground Rules
Before we get to the unveiling, there are some ground rules to ensure our competitors are starting off on even footing. Please pay close attention to these rules to ensure you get full marks for your story.
This first challenge must be 2,000 words +/- 300 words. That is: your story must be between 1700 words and 2,300 words. No more and no less!
Please include the wordcount at the end of your story. e.g. (1,830 words)
Your story can not include characters featured in a previous story of the competition.
You must schedule the story to be published at 11:00pm April 10th American Eastern Time. If you are not in this time zone, please take care to ensure that it is scheduled to post at that time. I think this is an international competition for the first time, so this is very important. The time zone I am using is UTC-5, if that helps you search for it.
This is a new feature of GWC ‘24. Last year, competitors could post at any time in the window. This created some pressure to post first, and added perhaps an intimidation factor for the last to post, who could potentially see everyone’s stories before they’ve finished theirs. This way—everyone’s stories post at the same time, regardless of when they finish.
Please use the whole time to draft, edit, and polish.
In the post, please tag both judges: myself
(@gibberish) and Sara (@saradietz) so we are notified that your story is published.
The First Challenge
Competitors, the three challenges have been decided, and they are known only to myself and Sara, your intrepid judges for this journey. Let’s consider the first challenge:
Tropes have a purpose: they are common narrative tools that help communicate to readers ideas, dynamics, or situations that are instantly familiar (as seen through other media), but at the same time unfathomable (as never personally experienced). Great fiction can take seemingly basic tropes and hide them, giving them the appearance of something new, yet still giving readers all the things they know and love. This first challenge involves one such trope, but hidden in the simple instruction is a deceptive challenge: With such a limited wordcount, how can all the judging criteria be satisfied?
Your Challenge This Week: Write us a story depicting a chase scene! In any genre, help your readers forget “fight” or “freeze”—make them feel the urge to flee! Or, if not flight, then to give chase! Either way, take your readers on a journey that puts them on the run.
The trope of the “chase scene” is at once universal—we can all think of numerous examples off the top of our heads—yet simultaneously, unique and unrepeatable in every example. In 2,000 words or so, this challenge will push our competitors to take narrative control of the entire story in order to build a world and then travel at-speed through it, and dragging the readers along behind, willingly or not!
The Judging
Sara and I will read all five stories between the 10th and 13th, and the results will be published on the 13th—giving our competitors a bit of a breather before challenge two is announced.
Here’s a reminder of the categories by which each story will be assessed:
Craftsmanship: How well does your story flow? Does it have a beginning, middle, and end? Is there tension and release? A conflict and resolution? Is the story complete? Does it stand on its own? Have you taken care of both the structure and the style of the story, to make it uniquely yours? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Character: What do we learn about the characters? Do they have distinct personalities and voices? Are they motivated and invested? Do they have to make choices? Do they feel alive? Do we understand and relate to them? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Setting: Does the setting matter to the story? Does it enhance and compliment the characters and structure? Is the setting described, do the characters interact with it? How does the setting contribute to the overall story? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Grammar/Syntax/Structure: Do your word choices make sense? Do you pay attention to spelling, punctuation, structure? If you deviate from these—does it serve the story? Do you leverage your sentences and paragraphs and the full suite of tools offered by the English Language to enhance and serve the story? Sara Dietz will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Pacing: Do you adjust pacing to the story? Do you speed the readers up and slow them down? Does the pacing make sense for what is happening in the story? Can you make the reader sit on the edge of their seat in intense moments, or relax in calm ones? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Je ne sais quoi (JNSQ): Sara and I will each be able to offer one point for stories with that “I don’t know what”, that undefinable trait that makes us excited to keep reading. These will be offered sparingly, and to not receive a JNSQ point does not mean a story was bad, and it should be assumed that stories will NOT receive JNSQ points unless there is something truly and unexplainably remarkable about them. Sara and I will each judge this category out of one point, for a total of 2 points possible.
The maximum score for an entry in this competition is 27 out of 27 points.
Ladies and Gentlemen…
Put on your author hats! YOUR TIME STARTS NOW!
Good luck!
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Let's goooo
Holy cow. This should be fun! Godspeed to all the competitors! Pun intended.