After all the crap with the CLW contest, I swore I wouldn’t be one of those complaining contest entrants, because I know how personally the judges take every comment.
HOWEVER:
I’ve gotten incredibly mixed scores in contests. People have hated my work, work which, in other contests, have earned me finalist placement. People have INCORRECTLY corrected my grammar (see my News page from this spring). But genereally, after a little while away fro the work, I am able to look at it critically and take SOMETHING from the comments, even if I disagree with the overall score. For instance, a manuscript of mine that has been a finalist in other contests, near a finalist in some, and has received several requests as well as offers from published authors to pitch it to their editors was recently trounced by someone that I know from experience as a contest coordinator to be a ridiculously lenient judge. And yet, I found merit in her critique and used her comments in revising said manuscript for the Golden heart this winter.
Yet I can’t find a single point of merit in my Emily package. I received them two days ago, and quickly scanned the scores, which were mystifying in themselves. I had three scoresheets, and one was marked “third judge”. Obviously, a discrepancy. The first two were graded (out of 155) 151 (pubbed), and 97 (PRO). The third judge scored 131. According to the Emily rules, a score discrepancy of 20 points where at least one score was 85% of total merited discrepancy. Theoretically, even my discrepancy scoring deserved discrepancy! (See, this is why you have a decent percentage decide discrepancy scoring, as in the TARA and Stiletto contest. there is going to be vairance. If we ended up with a double discrepancy in any of my contests, we scored again).
After a cool down period, I read my Emily scoresheets this evening. The 151 made one comment throughout the entire scoresheet: she thought my Em dashes should look like two hyphens rather than one long dash.
The 131 made no comments, which pisses me off to know end, mostly because I spent the last 3 months of my life begging judges daily to make comments).
The 97 drenched the freakin’ thing in comments, and by page eight (on the third attempt) I gave up trying to make heads or tails of them. I make it very very clear that the characters have a history, and yet in every situation where the heroine thinks something about the hero, the judge commented that she can’t possibly know that. I’ve never quite had that comment before. The heroine comments on the fact that the hero is driving her to do things she’s not wont to do, and the judge said that the heroine would have to do it more often for it to be believable. For what to be believable? That it’s something she doesn’t do???? The clueless comments go on an on (well, up until page eight, at least).
I *want* to get something out of a crit by a person who hated the story. there have been plenty who have. Abby Z isn’t such a huge fan, but I found her comments to be incredibly enlightening, useful and, at once entirely unlike Madame 97. Unfortunately, I think I caught this chick on a bad day. She didn’t get it. Not just “didn’t get it” the way we talk about people who aren’t into our style of story… but really. Didn’t. Get. It. Didn’t understand the text. Didn’t follow the prose. Couldn’t comprehend the sentences. Maybe she was on cold medicine. Maybe she was trying to read while cooking a souffle. Maybe it was the season finale of America’s Next Top Model. I usually get better advice from the people who don’t like it than the people who do (obviously, the people who do aren’t as interested in me making changes) but this one was basically useless. Which is a shame. Especially a shame because last year, my CP won this contest. Not finalled, not won her category, but won the grand prize, the top award, the whole kit and caboodle and manuscript critique from the editor, won won won.
And if she’s not a GH finalist for it this year I’m going on a rampage for sure.
I don’t like to rant about contests. I’ve done it before (see above), and it always comes across as sour grapes. Sour when you’ve lost, and even more sour when you’ve won and you are still complaining. I’ve gotten bad judges before. I’ve dealt with bad judges extensively. I’ve probably even been a bad judge a time or two, though I hope to God not! Am I little more indignant because this manuscript was so wholly mishandled? Perhaps. Unfortunately I’ve heard really good things about this contest — AND I’M NEVER ENTERING AGAIN.
I’m not doing regional contests this year, but if I were, I’d only enter these: TARA, Launching a STAR, Molly, Maggie and Jasmine. I’ve ALWAYS received excellent feedback from these contests, on finalling and non-finalling entries. That’s my rec, take it for what you will.
In other news, it appears I was NOT chosen as a GH judge. Um…. okay. More writing time for me, then.
Okay, back to getting my requests out.
And drunken Star Wars Monopoly.
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