If you’re a writer and you don’t know, then you should keep reading. You might be missing out on a lot of great information, a free writing course, and the opportunity to submit to a worthwhile writing contest. I have been submitting to the writers’ side of the contest for years, but just haven’t found that perfect story to win. But that just makes me want it that much more.
To me, this contest has value, because it is judged on the merit of the story, not the popularity of the author or series like most of the contests out there.
Now, on top of the contest, they also offer a free online workshop that I have taken and revisited many times over the last few years to refresh my knowledge of the basics.
It is a great refresher for a veteran author, or a way to learn the craft for the novice. The lessons taught by David Farland, Orson Scott Card, and Tim Powers are perfect to get you fired up and thinking about how to improve your skill in the craft of writing. If you followed the workshop and did the lessons, by the end of the course if you should have something suitable to submit to the writers of the Future Contest. It helped me personally to hone my skills and to continue getting Silver Honorable mentions when submitting to the quarterly contests.
They also host a forum for authors and Illustrators to learn and grow from their worldwide community. https://www.writersofthefuture.com/forum/
And if you’ve never heard it before, they offer a podcast where they interview industry experts such as Jody Lynn Nye, Brandon Sanderson, Todd McCafrrey, and more. https://www.writersofthefuture.com/podcast/
Ben, and myself were lucky enough to be interviewed by John Goodwin while out at the Superstars Writing Seminar a few weeks ago.
You can find our interview here:
And as a bonus
WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE VOLUME 39
One thing that I keep telling young authors that was an epiphany moment for me was to look at the market you are submitting to. If you want to get into a particular magazine or win a particular contest, one way to do that is to read what stories that won, and what is getting published by that particular publisher. The best way to do your research on the Writers of the Future is to check out their Anthology collections for the winners.
The next installment of amazing art and prose will be released to the public sometime in May. But, the folks at WotF are having a special cover reveal over zoom at 8 PM PST on March 1st that you can sign up for which will come with a few surprises.
Link to the event for people that would like to attend the cover reveal zoom event:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArcuytqj8uGNC4psMldYOJ3he9AMM9CNIO
Here are the preorder links (the Kindle and Amazon links will be live on Feb 27th):
Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/L-Ron-Hubbard-Presents-Writers/L-Ron-Hubbard/9781619867680?id=8748446917116
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/l-ron-hubbard-presents-writers-of-the-future-volume-39-l-ron-hubbard/1142955660?ean=9781619867680
Bookshop.org (to support Indie bookshops): https://bookshop.org/p/books/l-ron-hubbard-presents-writers-of-the-future-volume-39-the-best-new-sf-fantasy-of-the-year-samuel-parr/19699175?ean=9781619867680
To wrap things up, I hope that some young author out there takes advantage of what this contest and workshop has to offer. I’ve found it a valuable tool in my arsenal as an author and creator.
Keep your heads up and your Pens sharp
~Hillbilly~