by Susan Boltz
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
(Proverbs 25:11 NKJV)
Recently, I received a note in the mail:
Dear Sue,
I wanted to thank you for writing the story about the grocery store. A friend stuck it in front of my face and said, “Read this.” I’m glad I did. It’s made a difference in my life, and I wanted you to know that. ~ Woodridge Superintendent of Schools
Wow! I never expected that and saved the note. This is why I write—to make a difference in someone’s life. I’m sure that’s why you do it, too. Apples of gold in settings of silver pretty much sums up the “wow” factor.
Defining the “wow” factor is not easy, but we all know it when we stumble across it. For me, the “wow” is the piece of writing I’m so glad I read that I’ll read it again. There might be one point that gives an answer to a problem or quandary. It might be incredible beauty that transfixes. Sometimes it hands me something I didn’t even know I needed, like a good laugh. It illuminates the place I reside like the noonday sun. Some might call it an epiphany.
I’ve never had any “wow” writing happen in my world unless I asked God for it. “Please Lord, help me write the message you’ve given, so the words will make a difference for someone. Make my offering like apples of gold in settings of silver.” And anytime I had “wow” happen, God’s fingerprints were all over it. Whenever I read something amazing, I wonder what that author prays.
For the contests at St. Davids Christian Writers’ Conference, we’re hoping for “WOW” in the following ways in each category:
• In devotions and nonfiction, it’s a great hook and a great takeaway shining crystal clear. When Scripture is used, it should be the light that leads.
• In novel beginnings and children’s, it’s the first line that pulls you into a great story that you can’t stop reading and excellent characters that make us want to follow their example.
• In flash fiction, it’s a complete story in which every word is absolutely essential. Give us the clean-scraped core of a story with a surprise or twist ending.
• In serious poetry, it’s imagery, crisp diction, specific detail, economy of language, as well as original insight. As our friend Shirley Stevens often said, “Specific is terrific.”
• In light verse, it’s clever and precise rhyme, a scenario we can identify with, and a sense of playfulness that amuses and entertains through word play, irony, and/or a twist at the end.
• In humor, it’s making people laugh—not at pain, but at absurdity, irony, our own foibles and their comic consequences at times.
Think I know a great deal about writing in different genres? Wrong. I’ve heard the judges say these things, and I copied much of this phrasing from the category descriptions in the rules. Every year, I’ve witnessed what wins first place in the contests. Editors, publishers, agents, and our contest judges are searching for the “wow” factor. I hope, now armed with this information, you can add it your contest entries this year.
See you in June!
Susan Boltz, Contest Committee Coordinator
sdcwcontest@gmail.com