Making The Cut

Ever wondered why you didn’t make the cut and weren’t a finalist in a contest? There could be lots of reasons. You have no control over the quality of other people’s submissions. All you can do is make yours as strong, professional, and accessible as possible.

I wanted to share some things that help me decide when I am picking finalists for Writer Advice’s Flash Contests. While other contest judges might not agree or might add additional criteria, this is a starting point for making a good impression in a contest.  

Though there is no formula, here are some clues that you may be able to apply to your writing.

• Tell a story that will engage readers because of its honesty, originality, and specifics.
• Leave room for me to care and to empathize.
• Avoid self-pity.
• Tell an original story.
• Or turn a familiar story into an original one.
• Make every word count.
• Use memorable, accessible language.
• Be specific aka show—don’t tell.
• Expand the meaning beyond your own life if you can.
• Say something the reader has not heard before.

I’ve included some very short excerpts below, along with the reasons I liked them. Usually flash prose, whether fiction or memoir, will be outstanding because of its overall effect, but that effect comes from a series of moments that work. Below, I’ve explained why they work for me.

I’d love to know what you discovered here, what you agree with, and what additional insights you can offer, so feel free to leave comments. Thanks!

Short Excerpts I Loved:

“I have countless items of his I cannot discard — out of both love and respect: mugs, framed degrees, yearbooks, ties — even his old employee I.D. I’ve kept this collection close, as if throwing it away would somehow erase his existence.”    ~~AW

So like me, though my collection is filled with driver’s licenses, dishes, candlesticks, a 1940s office stapler, and hand-written cards. Loved the specifics and hers triggered thoughts of my own.

“My parents spoke their own language: a series of snorts, harrumphs and silences that communicated a deep-seated hatred that none of us children could translate.”  ~~DD

What a way to show an entire family dynamic in one sentence.

“Always in a suit, Mr. Knott has pin straight hair and an Adam’s apple that bobbles when he talks.”    ~~JV

Love the description—especially “bobbles.”

“My little brother immediately turned his nose up and that stiffened my resolve.” ~~RH

The author captures the essence of sibling rivalry in one sentence.

“ ‘It’s all right, mate,’ I said. Which was about as far from the truth as possible.”    ~~RS

I love the opposites—the juxtaposed yin and yang of life.

“Some of the letters melt away. Others fly into the air curling upward toward the blackboard.”      ~~VM

Shows a seizure described by the person experiencing it.

“…tossing out worries like pieces of banged up, mismatched luggage.”     ~~SV

Love the spirit here.

Other Excerpts That Will Stay With Me:

“These are the things I don’t want said at my funeral.”  ~~BP

This opening statement pulled me right in.

“I’ve just finished a master’s degree. I don’t have enough money to move back out of Boston.”    ~~CO

Strikes a chord with me. This is a problem for so many recent graduates and I already care about the narrator and want to help him.  

“We walk on, arm-in-arm, not speaking yet hearing explosions of time as they rip away the path beneath our feet.”     ~~JC

Hard to explain without the whole piece, but this gives an immediate story an eternal quality. Highlights the universality of the theme.

“I kicked a Nun and I Liked It.” ~~KF

This title that made me eager to read the story. The voice is already there.

“Don’t be loyal to this trauma. Don’t keep it close like a sadistic enemy…. Remember that I killed for you today. I killed for love.”   ~~LL

I love the power of what the narrator takes from the experience.

“Her husband was a lawyer in a white-shoe practice on Charleston’s tony Broad Street, she, a steel magnolia of the first magnitude and one of the highest-ranking people in our English Department.  “That man must think there are no women professors.” ~~PC

I like her cause and the way this lifts the memoir from a personal story to one with larger overtones.

“How many times did he pick the scab that was his memory?”    ~~SC

How many times have I done the same thing? The emotional truth is so strong.

“He seemed only half aware in class, yet when I asked for volunteers to read parts in Julius Caesar, he raised his hand to be the Soothsayer and scrunched his voice into a wail for ‘Beware the Ides of March!’ He pronounced it ID-EES, but no one corrected him.”        ~~SR

I empathize with the boy even more than the narrator. Touching.

If this makes your writing more effective, please write back and tell me what worked and why. Thanks!

—

Lynn Goodwin owns Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com. Her memoir, Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 came out in December. She’s written You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers and Talent, which was short-listed for a Literary Lightbox Award, won a bronze medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and was a finalist for a Sarton Women’s Book Award.

Goodwin’s work has appeared in Voices of Caregivers, Hip Mama, Dramatics Magazine, Inspire Me Today, The Sun, Good Housekeeping.com, Purple Clover.com and many other places. She is a reviewer and teacher at Story Circle Network, and she is an editor, writer and manuscript coach at Writer Advice.

NEVER TOO LATE: FROM WANNABE TO WIFE AT 62, B. Lynn Goodwin

How does a 62-year-old woman who’s never been married find happiness with a two-time widower seeking his third wife on . . . Craigslist!?

Does she throw caution to the wind and relinquish her freedom, or should she take a crash course in compromises? Author B. Lynn Goodwin tells all and more in Never Too Late. How she was attracted to Richard’s clear expectations, his honesty, and his incredible openness. She’d never met anyone like him. Would she recognize love if it knocked on her heart? And could an educated woman be happy moving into a blue-collar world? Whether you’ve been single forever, are trapped in an unhappy marriage, or you’re simply curious, you’ll find secrets to a happy marriage in Never Too Late.

” One by one, she confronts her doubts with openness and honesty in this memoir, relating it all with convincing clarity and a refreshing lack of sentimentality. This isn’t a conventional love story; rather, it’s a mature assessment of the pros and cons of having a relationship.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Very different from any love story you have ever read.” –Richard J. Smith, Ph.D., author of Life After Eighty,
Once Upon A Christmas, and Musings of an Old Man

“Never Too Late is an honest, insightful look at one of life’s greatest mysteries: the ever changing and ever challenging relationship between a man and a woman. This book is one you won’t want to miss!” –Mary Eileen Williams, Host of Feisty Side of Fifty, author of Land the Job You Love!: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50

“A vivid, engaging, and heart-warming tribute to that rare and wonderful thing: a late-in-life love.” –Susan Wittig Albert, Ph.D, author of Loving Eleanor and The General’s Women

“A book filled with grace and charm.” –Aline Soules, author of Meditation on Woman and Evening Sun

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