Weekly Wattpad Contests

Note From TimberWoolf

I think it's about time we all face and accept a harsh reality: I am not an authority on writing. It's one of those things in life where you know a lot about it, but you can't practice it.

I've been educated and practised in critically looking at film and theatre, and taking a holistic approach in evaluating dramatic arts. The pedagogy held the belief that if you know how and why it works, you can do that how and why too.

And it was true, to some extent. The films we've made have been nominated for multiple festivals and awards, we've received many actors' awards, and our set and production teams have received outstanding commendations and opportunities.

And how does that work? We read the books, we watch the films, we analyse them and learn from them. We build theories and, through trial and error, whittle them down to successes and failures.

And then, there's me. Ask me for a smidgeon of advice and I will smash you with a thesis. Ask me to emulate it and, unfortunately, the best I can provide is a poor approximation.

This is something I've learned late in my education. As an example, I absolutely love the topics I bring up as contest prompts, but I know I cannot write well or effectively for them. I am an academic writer; I love to do research and manipulate data and consider outliers as prime examples in order to prove my own opinions.

In fact, I've written a 10 000 word essay on South African liminality using only Cher's music as supporting evidence. Reasonably, this shouldn't have gone well, but it did, and that's because that's my talent when it comes to writing, even if, objectively, I understand how other types of writing should work in theory.

But also, consider this: I don't. There is no way that writing should work. As convincing an argument I could make that something should be a certain way, I could make an argument for exactly the opposite as well. I should be no authority on the craft, and my opinion is mine alone. I certainly am not an expert either – my own writing reflects that point. I know the kind of writing I love to read, but I cannot, for the life me, replicate it.

The point I'm trying to painstakingly make is this:

Any knowledge of any art is an archaeological assumption. The same way a historian looks at the remnants of a society long gone in order to piece together a story of a specific time and place, is the way that I look at a story and tell you why I think it works.

This source can be substantiated by research and supported by examples, but the historian wasn't there, cannot say for certain the surrounding circumstances cultivating events, just as I cannot declare the contextual providence in constructing literary masterpieces.

In the end of the day, it's my opinion and speculation.

I always (but not always successfully) attempt to make my reviews at least somewhat educational, to provide our consistent entrants with ideas and theories into crafting exceptional work. In this perspective, the winners are, in a way, case studies, and we're all students.

In order to bring you a more varied outlook on the craft of writing, considering my insistence that I am but a stumbling fool in a world of words, I've introduced the idea of Guest Judging, and, for the moment, I'm constructing contests around who I want my next guest judge to be and what I consider their area of expertise.

Additionally, this is an invitation to you, the entrants and readers, to participate when results are declared. Read winning stories, share your opinions on them in the results chapters, and let us educate each other with a communal effort to improve our craft in writing. Let us build a forum where we highlight the things we've loved from the week's entries.

Say, "Even though this person wasn't a winner, I think that the way they built their characters is really something to learn from."

Ask, "This week, I've tried to really focus on creating an unreliable narrator without it being obvious. What do you guys think?"

Really, let us engage, and look to ourselves and others as the authorities on writing. It's important to realise that you are the community, and you are reason we are all here. And, would it be so bad to learn something in the process?

Maybe a little disclaimer:

I do not own the Contests account, nor do I own this book. I receive nothing but friendship from participating as the judge. Both myself and Nadia from Contests work on making this community for no other reason than we believe it is a good, kind and ultimately communally beneficial structure.

In order for this to be true without fail, however, we need to appreciate the work that we build together (hence, our community projects every once in a while), and that should still be true even when we're competing.

Currently, things are going really well, and I see a lot of interaction from all the entrants. This is such a relief, because, as a judge, I cannot reasonably or reliably review each entry in critical detail, so I review only those I select as winners (which usually are the ones we can learn the most from, I think).

I apologise for the ramble, if that isn't what you're here for.

With great affection

The Great TimberWoolf in the Sky

(How's that for returning back to my roots? I can't remember the last time I presented myself that way.)