#HLS2017 Hook, Line, & Sinker Writing Challenge Round 2 Results Complete

A few notes before we get to the results: You may notice that the judges gave a number of submissions the boot this round. Here are some reasons why: many of our anglers are onto 125 words. That, believe it or not, is a pretty tall order – did your first 125 words stand out enough or generate enough curiosity from the fish to warrant reading more? In 125 words, the fish can detect a lot about how your work compares to others and are happy to decline your bait if there’s something shiny just a few inches away that catches their attention.

Here are specific reasons the judges may have given entries the boot for first lines or 125 words.

a) they were confused and had to re-read the submission too many times to understand it clearly
b) the premise was clear but may not be as ideal when compared toother entries for the target market (particularly in the case of PB)
c) For PBs, the work may have been written with too many words that don’t significantly move the plot or character forward (e.g. extraneous details, minor movements, heavy descriptions, etc.). See this Revision 911 for PBs article to help you identify what might have given your work the boot.
d) the voice AND the premise didn’t feel compelling enough when compared to other submissions. If your entry was weak on one but not the other, Carrot and Fire vouched for your entry, even when Tiger was happy to give the work the boot. Do not rest on your pebbles; get to work and make your bait as shiny as possible if your entry was HOOKED! when you proceed to the next round.

And that’s the thing, as writers, we must consider that there are many fish in the sea (agents, editors) but a whole lot more bait (competing manuscripts). Did you do enough to make your work compelling enough to stand out, be it, premise or voice or the mechanics of writing itself in those few lines that you submitted?

If your entry passed this round, we hope that if you received feedback on any of these things, you will revise as needed if you passed the round.  If you did not receive feedback for this round since we are trying to cover everyone at least once, then please review feedback we have given to others on Twitter and ask yourself the same things (for the format that you submitted for: PB, MG, YA, etc.). Polish as needed before you submit again.

For those of you who had entries that did not pass a round, we have an exciting announcement: one of the beautiful things about WFCAT.com free-tique challenges is we here at WFCAT believe in the power of revision BEFORE you submit to agents and editors or fish, for that matter. We will give you a chance to revise your work and re-enter the work that was booted. The catch is, you won’t be able to win a challenge prize since the entry had been booted before, but you will get results like everyone else.

We’re calling this a Bait Swap. If you want to submit a previously booted entry again – REVISED – you can do so if you do the following: First, you may not have more than two entries in play in  any given round at any time (regular cast, bonus cast, or bait swap cast).  To earn a  bait swap cast, you must via Twitter, send the judges a giphy of bait they might like better to @cynthealiu on Twitter. To find a giphy, go to giphy.com. If you don’t know how to tweet a giphy to @cynthealiu, seek out help from your friends or relatives, not our team. Unfortunately we are all so busy that lessons on giphy sharing and Twitter is not in our list of duties.

The judges love giphys as you may have noticed on Twitter already. Your giphy could be anything–a shiny coin? A tasty bug? Something that symbolizes your work? Whatever it is, make it good, and if you can make the fish bubble with gurgly laughter in their bowl, even better. Next, email the challenge email address, and title your email: BAIT SWAP, Entry Number, Format, Manuscript Title (e.g. Bait Swap, #99, MG, IF YOU GIVE A GOLDFISH A SECOND CHANCE). In the body of your email, tell us what you did and give the pooches enough info that verifies you did the Bait Swap. E.g. My username is X and I tweeted the fish a giphy of Y. Then paste in your revised version of the submission that was booted. (For  example, if your entry was booted on a first line, then re-do your first line. If you were booted on the first 125, then give us a revised 125 for that work, and so on and so forth.

When our pooches process your BAIT SWAP submission, they will let you know your entry # and it will begin with an S for SWAP.

Official Round 2 Results

Please note: If the entry # result is Bobbing, this means the entry had passed the previous round but we did not receive your the next submission before the deadline. Your line is still out and you may submit the next part of that entry whenever a round is open. We will process your submission in the round it is received.

Entry #	Format	Round Result
101	PB	Hooked!
102	PB	The boot. 🙁
103	YA	Hooked!
104	PB	Hooked!
105	CB	The boot. 🙁
106	MG	Hooked!
108	MG	Bobbing
109	MG	Hooked!
110	MG	Hooked!
111	PB	Hooked!
115	MG	Hooked!
118	PB	Hooked!
119	MG	The boot. 🙁
120	YA	Hooked!
121	YA	Hooked!
122	MG	Hooked!
124	PB	The boot. 🙁
125	MG	Hooked!
126	PB	The boot. 🙁
127	YA	Hooked!
128	PB	The boot. 🙁
129	PB	Hooked!
130	PB	The boot. 🙁
132	YA	The boot. 🙁
133	YA	Bobbing
134	MG	Hooked!
136	MG	Hooked!
138	PB	The boot. 🙁
139	PB	The boot. 🙁
140	PB	The boot. 🙁
141	MG	Hooked!
142	MG	The boot. 🙁
143	MG	Hooked!
144	PB	Hooked!
145	MG	Hooked!
146	MG	Bobbing
147	CB	The boot. 🙁
148	PB	Hooked!
149	MG	The boot. 🙁
150	PB	The boot. 🙁
151	PB	Hooked!
152	YA	Hooked!
154	PB	Hooked!
155	PB	The boot. 🙁
156	PB	Bobbing
157	PB	The boot. 🙁
159	CB	The boot. 🙁
160	PB	The boot. 🙁
164	CB	Hooked!
166	PB	Hooked!
167	YA	Hooked!
168	MG	Hooked!
169	PB	Hooked!
170	PB	Hooked!
171	PB	The boot. 🙁
172	CB	Hooked!
173	MG	Hooked!
175	YA	Hooked!
176	MG	Hooked!
177	PB	Bobbing
178	MG	Hooked!
179	YA	Hooked!
181	PB	The boot. 🙁
182	MG	Hooked!
185	YA	Hooked!
186	PB	Hooked!
188	PB	Hooked!
189	MG	Hooked!
190	PB	Bobbing
191	PB	Bobbing
192	PB	Bobbing
193	YA	Hooked!
194	PB	The boot. 🙁
196	YA	Hooked!
197	PB	The boot. 🙁
198	MG	Hooked!
199	PB	The boot. 🙁
200	PB	Hooked!
201	PB	Hooked!
204	PB	The boot. 🙁
205	YA	Hooked!
207	MG	Hooked!
209	PB	The boot. 🙁
210	CB	Hooked!
211	PB	The boot. 🙁
212	MG	Bobbing
213	PB	The boot. 🙁
214	YA	Hooked!
215	MG	Hooked!
216	PB	Hooked!
217	CB	Hooked!
219	MG	The boot. 🙁
220	PB	Hooked!
221	YA	Hooked!
222	YA	Hooked!
223	PB	Hooked!
224	PB	Hooked!
B123	PB	Hooked!
B158	PB	The boot. 🙁
B174	PB	Bobbing
B183	YA	Hooked!
B184	PB	Hooked!
B187	PB	Hooked!
B195	PB	The boot. 🙁
B202	PB	Hooked!
B203	PB	The boot. 🙁
B206	YA	Hooked!
B208	PB	Hooked!
B218	PB	Hooked!
225	YA	Hooked!
B226	PB	Hooked!
B227	YA	Hooked!
B228	PB	Hooked!
229	MG	Hooked!
230	PB	The boot. 🙁
231	 Unassigned	Unassigned
232	PB	Hooked!
233	MG	Hooked!
234	PB	Hooked!
235	PB	Hooked!
B236	PB	Hooked!
237	PB	Hooked!
238	PB	Hooked!
B239	YA	Hooked!
B240	MG	Hooked!
B241	PB	Hooked!
B242	PB	Hooked!
243	MG	Hooked!
B244	PB	Hooked!
B245	PB	Hooked!
B246	Ya	Hooked!
B247	YA	Hooked!
248	YA	Hooked!
B249	PB	Hooked!

250	MG	Hooked!
251	PB	Hooked!
252	PB	Hooked!
B253	PB	Hooked!
254	PB	Hooked!

Existing anglers, as of 11:59PM CST on 11/8/2017, Round 2 of the Hook, Line and Sinker Challenge closed. If you want to see your results in the Round 2 results, you must have submitted your work before the deadline.

If you entered Round 2 on time with a new work for the challenge, but you did not receive an entry number for that work, do not email Cynthea directly about it. Our deckhands are only using the submissions email address for submissions and inquiries. Cynthea’s email is reserved for everything BUT the HLS challenge, so the deckhands can get to your emails faster. Instead, please forward your on-time submission to the HLS email address and let our deckhands know they may have missed your submission. If you broke any rules, do not expect the deckhands to forgive you. For example, you may have subbed your submission AFTER midnight or titled your email incorrectly or screwed up one out of our 100 rules. The pups are doing all they can to keep things fair for everyone. If you messed something up and you know it, just wait until the next round opens and sub your submission correctly. (You can also ask for help on our Rules post before you make your submission and our Skippers will help answer your questions so you can sub correctly.)

Please note: Entry #s go with the work, not each submission you make, in case that’s unclear to any anglers. For example, when you submit a new manuscript called FLY-FISHING ISN’T FOR GOLDFISH and the deckhands call it #99 for example, the next time you submit an excerpt from that manuscript, #99 is its number and you will include that in the subject line of your email. That number is what tells you that FLY FISHING made it or didn’t make it. You can also use that # to find feedback on Twitter about it too, if we’ve posted any.

A clarification on Bonus Casts: If your bonus cast does not pass a round, you must complete a new bonus activity in the next round to have a new bonus cast in play. In other words, one bonus activity does not last you the entire challenge. You must complete a bonus activity every time you want a second entry in any given round.

Finally, DO NOT reply to old messages when submitting work for consideration by the fishes. Doing so will send your submission to another planet where the pooches may not see your email.

Submit a fresh email every time you are sending in something to a round for fishy judgment.

Happy fishing and thanks for helping to follow the rules so that our furry friends can manage this challenge as efficiently as possible!

The WFCAT Team