- By Ink & Insights judge: Nic Tatano We all know that pretty much everything about writing talent is subjective. Everyone has picked up a bestseller and thought about tossing it through a window like Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook when he got fed up with Hemingway. And there’s the book that never…
Ink & Insights often gets feedback from contestants as soon as they receive their score sheets. Occasionally, Catherine will share a particularly enthusiastic thank-you note with the judges. In one recent instance, the contestant was just as effusive about the low scores as the high ones – and that prompted me to think about how…
- By Ink & Insights judge: Jessica de Bruyn For all of the participants of this year’s contest, first I want to congratulate you on what you have accomplished so far. We as readers, editors and writers ourselves know that it is not easy to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) and…
I think the discrepancies help demonstrate you’ve really made people think about your voice as a writer more than your technical craft, and that’s an important factor to me, and I hope, many other readers.
I look at judging as a coaching job. If I like the concept and the direction the story is going, but the writing is too loose, I try to encourage that writer to stay with it and work on the execution. (Click above to read more.)
What has been most helpful to me is thinking about judging in the same way that I do grading English literature essays. (Click above to read more.)
One of the things that I love most about publishing and one of the things that frustrates me is that there is no magic formula for creating a best-selling book. What will have one person riveted will have another putting the book down after chapter one and never picking it up again. This is one…
If judging books was a completely objective process, you could probably get computers to do it. (Click above to read more.)
Evaluating a manuscript is not an exact science. Although judges strive for total objectivity, no work of art will have the same effect on every person. The scoresheet breaks down all the many areas of novel-writing technique so that you can see your strengths and weaknesses, but you can't please everyone. One person may love the…
Doesn’t it drive you absolutely insane when somebody ruins something for you? Like when you watch a movie and you think it’s awesome—until someone points out that one flaw. “The music was so annoying!” “That one line was so cheesy.” “Elsa hair literally goes through her arm when she brushes it over her shoulder.” My…
