JNC Writing Support Group
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@AuthorMN said in JNC Writing Support Group:
@Hylebos I just sent them an email, so hopefully I'll get some feedback.
What honestly surprised me though about some of the passing works is that a few of them had "Vol 1" in their titles. I honestly hope me not putting a "Vol 1" in the title of one of my entries was one of the reasons it failed, though I did try my best to make it a complete story in of itself with room for a sequel.I can't imagine that the Vol 1 thing would be a factor for your pass or failure. Even if you intentionally set out to write a one shot that definitively ended the story—like, the protagonist is both married (and dead), world on fire, populace slaughtered, etc.—if a judge really liked your submission, I'm sure they would be thinking in their mind, "How can I convince this author to rework their one shot into a longer running series?"
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@Hylebos
That's what I think too, but sometimes you just start asking yourself, "Could this one tiny thing have doomed my novel?" I guess there's no point in worrying about things further. Hopefully if I get feedback, I'll be able to revise my work(s) to the point where I can submit them in the next contest and they, hopefully, get past the 1st round. -
@AuthorMN said in JNC Writing Support Group:
@Hylebos
That's what I think too, but sometimes you just start asking yourself, "Could this one tiny thing have doomed my novel?" I guess there's no point in worrying about things further. Hopefully if I get feedback, I'll be able to revise my work(s) to the point where I can submit them in the next contest and they, hopefully, get past the 1st round.Hi there,
I suspect it wouldn’t be one tiny things but a collection of reasons (some in your control and some outside of it) that helped shape the decision. In some cases there may have been lots of a particular type of story or maybe there was a question about commerciality or something.
I’m not a judge but I’ve seen several people talking about losing whereas my experience from entering other competitions is that it more like didn’t progress this time.
At the end of the day only 18% of entries went through so there were probably a lot of reasons why some advanced and others didn’t.
I’ve also said on other threads that the very act of submitting is a win. I had a period where I didn’t submit anything for about 5-6 years. It didn’t make me a better (or worse) writer.
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Well, after looking at my story for the first time since submission, I see that it could really use a lot more work. But for me to even get a somewhat complete draft together of my first original work in just a few months was a bit of an accomplishment, and the process was pretty fun. Right now, I think I would like to get the story to the point that it is enjoyable for a few people to read.
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So I got some feedback. Turns out I focused too much on dialogue exchanges and apparently rushed the plots too quickly. Looks like I know where to improve, so I thank the judges for sharing their feedback.
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@AuthorMN said in JNC Writing Support Group:
Turns out I focused too much on dialogue exchanges
They'd never publish anything by Nisio Isin then :)
[Edit] Just got my own feedback, and I have to say I agree with it entirely, so there's no way I can complain about the judging!
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Congratulations for everyone that passed.
I did not pass and asked for the reason for the rejection. I got an answer, but the reason ( issues with the prose construction) is something I cannot really fix on my own without help from outside.
Just as promised I will upload my submission, probably at the end of the week. And since some of the commentors here have already published fanfics and the like, are there some website you would recommend where I can put it out for others to read? -
@Angelus
Ha ha, that is a good point.
Going back through my works, I do realize that a good chunk of them are dialogue heavy. I think the reason for that was due to both series largely being slice of life series, in other words, not a lot of action occurring. As for the other critique, I do agree that things were a bit rushed in one of my submissions, the other one though didn't feel as rushed to me, but that could just be me. -
In breaking news, there has been an additional text added taking the total to 85.
If you wrote "The Young Lady is the Substitute Harvest Goddess" you are now in the Google doc.
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I got my feedback too. Summing it up would be that it was:
- Too dark;
- No payout in the volume (main plot not touched after first 30 pages);
- Two timeskips were unearned/jarring;
- Submission felt like set-up plus two short stories
Sam read it himself, so given how busy the man is I really appreciate him taking time to pass on some feedback and constructive criticism. Thanks, @admin, I really do appreciate it.
I do have some ideas on what I can do to improve, and a lot of it comes down to the structure:
The first thing that jumps out is the 'main plot/30 pages' point. The concept in my head was a 5-volume story (maybe 4), each with their own arc. It made for a great intro/hook (I think...) but starting with the overall 5-volume story lead-in instead of volume 1 alone led to it being seen as the main plot of the submission, hence the feedback point about it not being touched. It's obvious now that it is pointed out to me.
This then touches in with the time skips. I think the solution is to start at the first time skip and use that as the basis for the main setting, then look backwards at what happened in either a flashback or as a dream. This will be very, very tricky to do competently. It is not a simple matter of just switching the two sections around. A lot will need to be either moved forward to the new starting point or cut entirely. Perhaps some of the cut content can be reintegrated as short stories afterwards.
Then the bit about it being too dark... this actually amuses me a bit because it was darker before I submitted it, and I actually removed/heavily edited those bits because I thought it was too dark to be accepted as it was. I guess there is still more to go. One dark aspect was mentioned as too semi-realistic which actually pleases me (I was going for realism with that) but I guess that actually worked against me.
I can definitely lighten this volume, but that does make me worry about future planned points (one volume, the third, is centred around the theme of acceptance of grief) and makes me think that no matter what I do the future story will be too dark for a 'light' novel contest.
Overall some great feedback that has already given me some ideas on what/how to improve, but it does make me concerned about how it may affect future plot developments.
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I got my feedback as well,
”The judge felt that the end of the volume did not provide a satisfying arc conclusion and wouldn't be enough to stand alone.”
The story was written to be part of a series and ended on a cliffhanger—that was the best I could do given the time constraints and the speed in which a write. In short (ha!), the criticism was valid, helpful, and was a kinder review of the work than my own.
I will polish what I have and continue the series. Perhaps I will find a more satisfying ending/stopping point.As a bonus, it appears that the judge made it to the very end of the story! I will ignore the possibility that they skipped to the end and bask in the satisfaction that someone read my story!
For anyone interested in reading or reviewing The Two Minds of Cassandra go here:
https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/7981/jnc-group-writing-review-thread-the-two-minds-of-cassandra
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@QuixoticHorizon, darkness and grief are two things I have to struggle to control in my writing.
In the novel I submitted, the darkest I got was the MC's first love getting ritually murdered the day after their first night together because she wasn't human, but in volume 2 which I'm writing now it was going off the scale a bit until I reined it back in.
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@Angelus
Well, I thought I might have pushed some boundaries concerning violence and such.
Though it might be good in the story -
I am such a goof!
When I got the rejection letter without comment, I read my story and thought “This is total garbage! What was I thinking!”
When I received the reviewer’s mild justification for rejecting the story, I reread the story again and thought, “Hey, this is pretty good. Maybe the ending could use a little work, but…”
It was just a few words from someone I don't even know—I can't believe I am this fragile!
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@jazzyjeoff
I think that by receiving a rejection, you had "100% negative reviews" and that influenced your opinion to make you look for the problems that "everyone was pointing out". With a proper answer from the reviewer, you can pay attention to the whole book again instead of only looking for issues.
Just a set of bad circumstances that made everything appear worse for a while. -
Feedback is like chocolate for authors. I’m luckily still alive in the competition but whatever happens in the next, I plan to take the feedback and grow.
Even (touching every piece of wood and paw raising cats in the vicinity) if I get through to the next round, I fully expect there to be lots of edits and improvements requested.
Although I do want to touch on the comments about dark elements. It wasn’t that dark was bad but that balance of elements still needed to be there.
At the end of the day, these are intended as commercial works and need to sell. You can certainly have dark concepts and bad things happen but it is how you present and balance these elements that is the tightrope.
And it is one that is very easy to stumble and fall off when crossing. I took scenes out (scenes I really liked) because of reader reaction while others I moved ‘off-page’. The bad things still happened but you didn’t get a detailed description of them - more of a reaction shot.
This isn’t the only way and you all know your stories but I suppose what I am saying is that if you love your story enough there will be a way to tell it - even if it is not exactly what you envisaged going in.
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@Damon-Cavalchini Congratulations on making it to the next round and wish you luck on the next! I look forward to reading your work wherever it winds up. (Just curious, can you imagine what a manga adaption of your novel might be like—I mean it has to be fun to at least think about).
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@jazzyjeoff said in JNC Writing Support Group:
@Damon-Cavalchini Congratulations on making it to the next round and wish you luck on the next! I look forward to reading your work wherever it winds up. (Just curious, can you imagine what a manga adaption of your novel might be like—I mean it has to be fun to at least think about).
Thank you. I was actually surprised as one of my entries had some dark stuff in it.
In terms of a manga - I can dream though I can’t draw.
I actually do have a fairly clear image of the characters in my head and there a few scenes I would love to see in manga format (simply so I can make a poster of them to go on my wall).
But I don’t dare hope for a manga. Getting published would be a dream come true.
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@Angelus said in JNC Writing Support Group:
@QuixoticHorizon, darkness and grief are two things I have to struggle to control in my writing.
In the novel I submitted, the darkest I got was the MC's first love getting ritually murdered the day after their first night together because she wasn't human, but in volume 2 which I'm writing now it was going off the scale a bit until I reined it back in.
I mean, it's nowhere near as dark as something like Overlord (or even Shield Hero... this volume at least!) but after talking with a friend I'm already getting a couple ideas for workarounds.
It's weird, but I feel proud for everyone who passed? I mean, I felt proud of what I wrote at the time of submission, and everyone who got through did better than I did, so I feel proud of all these people I've never spoken to or interacted with and have no idea who any of them are. Is that weird?
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@QuixoticHorizon said in JNC Writing Support Group:
@Angelus said in JNC Writing Support Group:
It's weird, but I feel proud for everyone who passed? I mean, I felt proud of what I wrote at the time of submission, and everyone who got through did better than I did, so I feel proud of all these people I've never spoken to or interacted with and have no idea who any of them are. Is that weird?
I hope not. We are building a great community here and I will be genuinely happy if someone from this forum wins.
Actually, I will be happy for whoever wins because it means there’s a chance for next year or in the future.
