You be the judge: my intense experience of judging a writing competition

Just recently I was invited to judge a writing comp, probably because my short story made it into the RWA Little Gems Topaz anthology.

I thought, 'This can't be too hard' but I was wrong. What an intense experience. I did an initial read of the three entries allocated to me, jotting down comments along the way.

Of course, being a vainglorious would-be 'author', I initially compared the entries to my latest WIP and wondered why my work wasn't screaming up the bestseller list (maybe I need to finish a book first). The entries didn't come close to matching the literary genius of my brilliant work in progress!

But hang on! The memories of the negative feedback I'd recieved from comps entered over the past five years flooded back. I hesitantly opened my competitions folder and leafed through the judges comments on my MS, now in the drawer never to be opened.

Here's what one judge wrote: "The story has potential and it began well. I didn't care for the deck-hand bit (that kind of misunderstanding has been done to death). The hero came across as uncouth with his comment about the boat and totally unkind comment about her financial status. The whole scene between hero and heroine seemed contrived to generate a motiveless (to me) conflict."

Ouch. I can't tell you how much I loved my opening scene on the yacht until this judge slammed it onto the pavement and ground it to a pulp with the heel of her boot.

IN THE DRAWER CRUMMY SCENE! I HAVE NO TALENT! I'M A LOSER!

That judge gave me 37 out of a possible 63.

However, the two other judges awarded me 56 and 52, with the 56 judge commenting: "Setting, heroine setup is good, GMC is very solid for heroine."

OUT OF THE DRAWER AWARD-WINNING SCENE! MY MS IS BRILLIANT! I'M A STAR!

Because I've suffered heartache at the waspish pens of others, I waited another week before I re-read the three entries. And they weren't half bad. I tried to be fair with my comments and to point out the problems where I saw them. But I'm not going to dump on these entrants when I've only read a small portion of their stories and have no knowledge of their writing experience.

Being a judge is hard work, but the task was made easier after I put my ego in the drawer.

My brother-in-law is reading my MS

Mr Flyby (Spanner's sister's husband) kindly offered to read my ms (manuscript).

This is not as strange as it seems.

In the past, Flyby has flirted with romance writing - his short story was published in one of the Romance Writers of Australia Little Gems anthologies and in 2004 we went to an RWA conference together.

Afterwards we both stopped writing, but Flyby turned his back on the genre.

Now, he reads widely, writes a fine blog on light planes and keeps bees (he has other hobbies too numerous to mention).

OK, maybe it is strange to have your brother-in-law reading your romance novel.

Or could it be that Flyby is strange?

I decided he was the best person for the job. And so far, I've not been disappointed. He's given me some excellent tips on dialogue, pov and showing not telling. I am a bit worried about him reading the more explicit chapters. Embarrassed.

However, I will have a better story because of his wise advice.

There's still got a long way to go before I can honestly type THE END.

PS: Photo borrowed from the blog edited by Flyby - it's taken by pilot Darryl and shows the mist over Warragamba dam. It illustrates where I'm at with my MS, lost in the mist.