So, I got my score sheets from the Emerald City Opener in the mail two days ago. I still haven't been able to bring myself to look at the inline comments, partly because I'm chicken and partly because I've changed the first seven pages so much, I'll probably laugh at my own writing.
My scores averaged out to 85%, or a solid B, but one of the judges scores definitely seem out-of-whack compared to the others, as shown below:
Characterization: 3, 5, 5
Plot: 3, 5, 5
Situation: 3, 5, 4
Conflict: 2, 4, 5
Dialogue and Narrative: 3.5, 5, 5
Writing Techniques: 3.5, 4, 5
Mechanics: 5, 5, 5
Overall Appeal: 3, 4, 5
It's hard not to look at the first judge's score and suspect that she either just didn't get my story or that I drew the sourpuss judge who never gives anyone a 5. (Although I did get all 5's in Mechanics. I guess the frustrated high school English teacher in me has something to be grateful for!)
On the bright side, two of the three published authors who read my work liked it pretty darn well. And it's been improved since then. Although I'm probably going to rewrite that first scene from the ground up, anyway, to layer in a little more internal/external conflict for my heroine (which is the point I really suffered on, especially with the first judge). I'm not changing the overall mechanics of the scene, but I feel like I've revised it so many times and still haven't managed to make it really sing, it's time to scrap it and start over.
So, that's the upshot of my first contest. I'm glad I did it. In a couple of weeks, I should know about the second contest, the Golden Rose. I'll report when I hear!
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3 comments:
Did they not have discrepancy judging? The low-scoring judge's numbers were 30% lower than the other two. It seeme like I always get one judge whose scores are outliers like that, so I try to enter contests where they'll bring in someone else to rejudge the manuscript. It sounds like you ARE doing things right, and this one person just didn't get it, for whatever reason.
Lynne asked:
Did they not have discrepancy judging?
Apparently not. I doubt they had enough judges for that. I'll bet they had a LOT of entries, too.
You're right, though, a greater than 30% differential is dramatic and there's a part of me that thinks when there's that much discrepancy, the contest coordinating body ought to scrutinize the outlying score and get the judge to justify why her scores are so much different (whether lower or higher) and/or ask that judge to reconsider their initial scores.
Either way, I got what I wanted out of this contest. I know that I'm writing something that's pretty darned good that, with some tweaks, someone somewhere might actually want to publish! That feels pretty darned good.
Those high scores DO speak volumes. :-) I hope there's good, helpful stuff in the comments, too.
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