Judging WRiTE CLUB

June and July (as you may have noticed from the lack of regular blog posts) have been insanely busy months. Weddings, baptisms, doctor’s appointments, writing--and judging the dozens of anonymous entries sent in for DL Hammons’ WRiTE CLUB, in order to reach the ultimate 32 that would be posted.

The last was quite an experience. I told DL I was beginning to understand how an agent must feel--on a much smaller scale, of course. There were some truly stand-out pieces, and I’d get all excited, anxious to put them forward. But it was very, very hard to pick 32 to vote for. Some pieces were spectacularly unique, but very hard to read because of grammar errors. If I was an agent, would I look past those errors because the story had promise? (In this case, some I did, some I didn’t--it depended on the type of error and the quality of the voice.) Other pieces just weren’t my “cup of tea”, but the writing was decent. (Same thing--some of these I voted for, based on the quality of the voice.)

I even started getting agent-y pet-peeves: Why do so many pieces start with someone running? What’s with the random bad language? Overall, I found myself distanced from the ones that were most action-packed, because they rarely allowed an initial connection with the main character. With so much focus on what was happening (the blow-by-blow), I think it was very difficult for the authors to spotlight their unique voices. In fact, there were so many action-focused entries that I’m pretty sure every single one I didn’t vote for was in fact action. If you decided to write a more character-driven piece, you were already ahead of the pack in my book.

Here’s the catch, though--just as with agents, not everyone felt this way. I’d say the majority of the pieces I voted for made it through to the final 32, so there was a general consensus between the 10 judges. But there were one or two that I absolutely loved that didn’t make the cut. And there were one or two to which I felt completely indifferent which did make it.

The point being...: writing is a matter of taste. There is a certain level of quality that you need to reach, but quality and voice and style are three very different things. If you were one of the courageous souls who entered WRiTE CLUB and didn’t make that first cut, just keep writing. Keep developing your craft, because there is going to be someone out there who loves it.

And the next point is this: head over to DL Hammons’ blog and check out the entries that made it. Vote for them, cheer them on. And learn from what you like and don’t like about their work. Critiquing others’ work is one of the best things you can do to develop your ability to critique and analyze your own work.