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Congratulations to My Wulf Pack Writers Group Member David Hankins, Winner of Writers of the Future, Vol. 39!

David Hankins, Wulf Pack Writers’ “Keeper of Records” and Winner of Writers of the Future, Vol. 39.

I created the Super Secrets of Writing resource, the free Super Secrets year-long Workshop & Challenge, and the Wulf Pack Writers Group to help struggling writers succeed in getting professionally published. We focus on Writers of the Future and other respected markets to build careers. We’ve had seven alumni win Writers of the Future, become published finalists, or both! Now, there’s EIGHT in three-and-a-half years since I started this crazy experiment. David Hankins is our latest!

Thousands enter their stories every quarter to try to win the largest talent search for speculative fiction writers in the world! Over $30,000 is spent on each winner by the time they are paid prize and publication money and all the goodies that follow. They are flown to Hollywood for an expense paid trip from anywhere in the world. The win includes their stay at a luxurious Hollywood hotel, a week-long workshop with top writers and industry leaders, and a gala and award ceremony that many call ‘The Oscars of science fiction and fantasy.’ Way to go, David!

I share his own words on his writer journey, unsolicited and posted to Discord today as we congratulated him on winning Writers of the Future (and congratulated our Wulf Pack Writers’ other Finalist, Brandon Case. So close, Brandon! Next Q is you!)

Heeere’s David! And what he wrote about his journey to that Hollywood stage!

(Shared with permission.)

David Hankins

——————

Thank you! You, the Super Secrets, and the Wulf Pack are the only reason I grew from enthusiastic amateur to award-winning author (wow, that title feels strange!). I’ve told you this but thought I’d share with the group:

18 months. That’s how long I’ve been entering Writers of the Future. I found Moon’s Super Secrets on the WotF forum after my first entry in March 2021. That story earned an HM, but Moon kindly declined my request to join his annual challenge. Need an SHM or above, buddy.

Oh, really? Challenge accepted.

I dug into the Super Secrets, read the thread (120 pages at that point), applied myself through smart practice, wrote six KYDs in 30 days, and took Moon’s KYD Masterclass. My first published story came out of that Masterclass.?‍??

That paid KYD Masterclass granted access to the Wulf Pack, which changed my writing forever. You are my writing family. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts.

I got another HM then an SHM and joined Moon’s Vol39 annual challenge.

Challenge completed. ?

I was humbled when Moon asked me to be Keeper of Records.

More smart practice, attended Moon’s Winning Stories Masterclass at Fyrecon-online (Attend Fyrecon! It’s amazing!), and I started to find my writer’s voice. Humor, described by many as the hardest voice to write well. Unlikely to win WotF.

I got another HM. Not a step back, just a reminder. Write fresh, don’t revise and resubmit.

January 2022 was pivotal. DreamForge accepted my first story. I had my last working day in the Army (meaning my heart committed itself completely to writing, though my mind yelled ‘get a real job!’). Jody Lynn Nye (a humorist) became WotF coordinating judge.

I found my voice, my passion. Snarky, funny, heartfelt. I wrote my winner. Moon and the Wulf Pack helped polish it, I submitted, and moved to the next story. That one sold. And the next.

Winners are made here. Professionals are made here.

!! GO WULF PACK !!

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“Flow State: Release the Kraken Within You” Super Secrets Masterclass SOLD OUT Fist Time Taught!

This Flow State masterclass is a new workshop in my Super Secrets of Writing series. I taught it as a webinar this year as a donation to DreamForge magazine’s Kickstarter, and that one sold out at 50 participants! I’m so happy about that. Last year’s webinar sold out at 50 as well, helping DreamForge keep their fires lit. This year, it actually helped DreamForge move to a new level–paying writers seven cents a word for their stories. That’s a respectable rate! And DreamForge produces a magazine filled with brilliant stories and gorgeous art. I do hope you’ll check them out at DreamForge Magazine!

I teach the 4-hour masterclasses to help writers advance their professional skill levels so they can create work that sells and gets published. This one teaches the best-kept secret of bestselling writers. Writing in Flow will transform your writing. And I teach you how to do it.

Sign up for my Wulf Pack Club Letter and you’ll never miss one of my workshops again. Well, if you hurry. Whenever I announce them, they quickly SELL OUT!

You’re still here? Hop on over to my Super Secrets page, scroll down to the bottom, and you’ll find the box to sign up for the Wulf Pack Club. It’s free! Click HERE.

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Salt Lake FanX 2022 Author Guest: Wulf Moon

Wulf Moon, Salt Lake FanX 2022 Author Guest

It’s official! I’ve been invited to be a guest author at FanX Salt Lake, one of the largest multi-genre pop culture expos held in the world! Attendance usually exceeds 100,000 per convention, so this is the largest event that I’ve been invited to speak at and conduct my writing workshops at in my career. I’ll also have a booth in the exhibitor hall with a TOP SECRET release I’m debuting at FanX! Plus, I’ll be kicking off my SUPER SECRETS of Writing Kickstarter! And I’ll have books to sign, prizes to give away, a free writing workshop, and more!

Who’s going? Sept. 22nd-24th, 2022. Make your plans, mark your calendar, and come see me at my panels, workshop, or FanX exhibit hall booth. I’d love to see you there!

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Wulf Moon To Be an Author Guest at the FanX Salt Lake Convention!

Event Dates: September 22-24, 2022

FanX is a multi-genre pop culture expo held every year in Salt Lake City. It’s one of the largest fan events in the world, with annual attendance ranging around 100,000 attendees. Some of the biggest stars in writing, acting, and illustrating are invited as special guests to this event, and I’m truly honored to be invited. I look forward to speaking on writing panels, signing my books for fans, and visiting with science fiction and fantasy fans at my dealer table.

Since the convention programming needs some information from me for their programming and website, I thought I’d post it here. That way, you get to see it as well!

If you’ll be attending FanX, please stop by my dealer table, or visit with me after a panel. I’d love to meet you. I hope to see you get your geek on and meet you there!

Wulf Moon FanX Website Biography

Wulf Moon is a bestselling writer, award-winning writing instructor, professional voice-over actor, and freelance editor. He wrote his first science fiction story when he was fifteen. It won the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and became his first professional sale in Science World.

Moon has won over forty awards in writing and just as many in public speaking and marketing. A sample of these include: Star Trek Strange New Worlds Contest; Critters Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story of 2018, of 2019, of 2020; Best Author of 2019, of 2020, of 2021; Best Writers’ Workshop of 2019, of 2020, of 2021; and the Writers of the Future Contest.

Moon’s stories have appeared in numerous publications including Writers of the Future, Best of Deep Magic 2, Future Science Fiction Digest, Best of Third Flatiron, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2, and DreamForge. He writes a series on the craft of writing for DreamForge magazine.

Wulf Moon is also a professional voice-over actor and has produced works for Hugo Award winners and bestselling authors like Mike Resnick, Jeff Wheeler, and Will McIntosh. Moon is podcast director at the internationally focused science fiction magazine Future Science Fiction Digest.

Moon’s online writers’ resource has won industry awards and has had over 800,000 views. In the past three years, seven from his year-long Super Secrets of Writing Workshops have been published in Writers of the Future, one also winning the Mike Resnick Memorial Award for Short Fiction from a story originally created in Moon’s workshop. Dozens of formerly unpublished writers attribute his teachings as the key ingredient that led them to publishing success. His Super Secrets of Writing will be published this winter by Mark Leslie’s Stark Publishing Solutions.

You can find Moon on Facebook at Wulf.Moon.94, on Twitter @WulfMoon1, and on his website TheSuperSecrets.com. Why not “Join the Wulf Pack!” by signing up for his free club where you can win cool monthly prize drawings. It’s only a click away at http://thesupersecrets.com/

Moon hopes to meet you at his dealer table or at one of his panels at FanX!

Wulf Moon Publicity Photo

Project 1: Most Relevant to Attendees

Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS of Writing: How to Write a Howling Good Story

Project 2 A

Writers of the Future, Vol. 35

Project 2 B

My story “Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler” in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Illustration by Alice Wang.

Award winning illustration by Alice Wang

Project 3

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2

My Story: “Seventh Heaven”

Project 4

Featured Story of 2021 in DreamForge magazine

Project 5

Sample illustrations of Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS of Writing Articles in DreamForge Magazine

Project 6

Best of Deep Magic 2 Story by Wulf Moon: “Muzik Man”

Project 7

Future Science Fiction Digest: Podcast Director This issue also reprinted “Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler”

Project 8

Mike Resnick Memorial Tribute Podcast Narrated by Wulf Moon

Project 9

Strange Beasties anthology. “Best of the Month” by Wulf Moon.

Strange Beasties Anthology cover featuring “Beast of the Month”

Project 10

Some of the international Critters Readers’ Choice Awards I’ve won. 2500 readers from around the world vote for their favorites in the industry each year.

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“Sophies Parisian Stationery and Parfumerie Magnifique” Podcast, Narrated by Wulf Moon

Here’s a present for all of you! The award-winning 24-hour story I wrote at Writers of the Future, published in THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE by Third Flatiron. I was hired to do the voice-over. Free to listen, just click the link!

Here’s the review in SFCrowsnest: “‘Sophie’s Parisian Stationery & Parfumerie Magnifique’ by Wulf Moon was damn good, too. Machines have killed most humans but one bad guy left, with a shotgun, moseys into Hollywood and attacks the AI run shops and entertainment venues that are still there. All they want is to please customers. An original idea and well-handled.”

Come hear what I sweat bullets to write under the gun in Hollywood in twenty-four hours!

CLICK HERE TO GO THERE!

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Wulf Moon Wins SIX Critters Readers’ Choice Awards!

As posted to my Facebook account on January 18, 2022:

Two cool things happened yesterday! The Wolf Moon rose bright in the night’s sky, and the shiny 2021 Critters Readers’ Choice Awards were announced! Each year, 2500 from around the world vote in forty-one publishing categories for works published in the prior year. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for their excellent works! I’m happy to announce I won in SIX categories:

1. Best Author: Wulf Moon

2. Best Positive Future Story: “Shaken, Not Stirred” in DreamForge magazine.

3. Best All Other Short Story: “Sophies Parisian Stationery and Parfumerie Magnifique” in the anthology THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE by Third Flatiron Publishing.

4. Best Nonfiction Article: “Character Agency: I Need a Hero!” in DreamForge magazine.

5. Best Writers’ Workshop: Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS

6. Best Writers’ Resource: Wulf Moon’s SUPER SECRETS

In addition, “Shaken, Not Stirred” took Second Place in Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story.

Many thanks are in order. Thank you to Andrew Burt and Critters dot org for sponsoring a contest that focuses their awards on the readers’ choices. Your contest is aptly named!

My deep appreciation goes to publishers Scot and Jane Noel for making “Shaken, Not Stirred” not only free to read, but also the featured story on their DreamForge Anvil website for 2021. Such visibility truly helps! Thank you for publishing my Super Secrets of Writing articles in every issue of DreamForge Anvil as well!

Heartfelt thanks go to publisher Juli Rew of Third Flatiron Publishing, who chose “Sophies Parisian Stationery and Parfumerie Magnifique”–my 24-hour story from the Writers of the Future Workshop–as the “anchoring story” of her anthology. And thanks to reviewer Eamonn Murphy at SFcrowsnest for reporting that the story was “damn good” and “an original idea and well-handled.”

Special thanks go to Fyrecon for inviting me to their convention last year as a master guest, and for featuring four of my Super Secrets master workshops as part of their programming. And I will always be grateful to Writers of the Future for creating a forum for writers to share their knowledge, which is where the Super Secrets began. Congratulations to Writers of the Future for winning Best Writers’ Forum! And to David Farland, my mentor. He would have been so happy to know the anthology he edited, Writers of the Future Vol. 37, won Best Anthology. He took great pride in that anthology.

Finally, my greatest thanks and happy howls go to the Wulf Pack–my workshop and fan club members that have supported me in my publishing endeavors. And to all of you that read my work, that supported my workshops, that voted in the awards, or just took the time to read this post. You’re on my friends’ list for a reason. It means “you’re one of my kind.”

THANK YOU, FRIENDS!

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

Wulf Moon’s Critters Readers’ Choice Awards for 2021

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“Sophies Parisian Stationery…” Receives Top Reviews!

My story set on Hollywood Boulevard, “Sophie’s Parisian Stationery and Parfumerie Magnifique” in the anthology THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE received a top review in SFcrowsnest magazine! “Damn good” and “An original idea and well-handled.” You can read the review by clicking on the link below, and you can vote for it in the Critters Readers’ Poll under Other Short Stories through January 14, 2022. I’m also nominated in the Author and Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story categories, but this was the story I wrote in the Writers of the Future workshop in 24 hours! “The fact that a fully professional story was the result is impressive…”–Tangent Online

Click here to read the SFcrowsnest review!
Click HERE to vote for this story in the Critters Readers’ Choice Awards
Click HERE to order your copy!
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Writing Mentors and How to Find Them

Here I am with my mentee Brittany Rainsdon at Hollywood!

Brittainy Rainsdon was an aspiring writer with no prior sales before she joined my Super Secrets of Writing Workshop that I conduct for free in the Writers of the Future Forum. After reading her writing sample, I could see she was a good writer, and I took her under my wing and worked with her for the next couple of years on virtually every story she wrote. When I found out she was only sending her stories to the Writers of the Future Contest–the largest talent search for new speculative fiction writers in the world–I gave her some straight talk and said she also needed to send stories to other markets. Brittany listened.

The first place she sent one to was Deep Magic magazine. It sold! Her first respectable sale! What’s more, it was also reprinted in Best of Deep Magic Anthology Two. Brittany topped that by becoming a published finalist in Writers of the Future Volume 37, and followed that the next quarter by becoming a winner in Writers of the Future Volume 38! Brittany had always been a good writer, she simply needed guidance to reach that next level. That’s what mentors do–they help their mentees level up by guiding them with knowledge and experience that they learned through years of study and training.

How does one find a good mentor? This podcast reveals how Brittany found hers. And then we share various methods to help others find a mentor that can help them level up. Mentoring is a time-honored system of sharing knowledge and training with those less experienced, yet it’s rarely discussed in writing books and workshops.

This podcast will change that. And I’ve just been commissioned to write a Super Secrets of Writing article on mentoring for DreamForge Anvil magazine. In the meantime, why not give our interview in Hollywood a listen?

CLICK HERE TO ENJOY OUR PODCAST ON THE BENEFIT OF MENTORS
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KYD: Kill Your Darlings

My latest Super Secrets of Writing article in DreamForge Anvil magazine!

KYD or Kill Your Darlings is a writing exercise I developed to win writing contests and craft potent vignettes used to build winning stories. I taught it to members of my Super Secrets Workshop, and had them practice the exercise at least once a month. Amazing–some would say miraculous–results followed. Almost all of the writers were unpublished when they began, but their writing transformed. Workshop members ended up either becoming a Finalist in the international Writers of the Future Contest, winning the Contest (four to date), winning the Mike Resnick Memorial Award for New Writers, or achieving their first professional sales in magazines and anthologies.

The editor of DreamForge Anvil magazine was so impressed with the results in my workshop, he commissioned me to write an article on the subject. Here’s his introduction to the article:

Stephen King said it best. “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” We need to be ruthless with our work— every word we write is not sacred. Get your words on the page, but be sure to go back in and give them a cold hard stare, knife in hand.

It’s free to read at the DreamForge website. Improve your writing by clicking HERE!

This article gives the basics you need to craft leaner, meaner stories. If you’d like to learn the actual exercise to transform your writing, you need the workshop I teach on it! I’m conducting a virtual KYD: Kill Your Darlings Exercise master workshop at Fyrecon Online this year! Here’s the details:

My KYD master workshop!

KYD: The Kill Your Darlings Exercise

5 Hour Live Online Master Workshop for $119
(includes Whole Conference general admission to Fyrecon Online , a $60 value!)
Class is limited to 20 students
November 21, 2021, 11:00 AM to 3:50 PM Mountain Time at Fyrecon 5

Twenty-five years ago, I developed a writing exercise to help me win what was likely the largest international flash fiction contest ever held. The contest was the brainchild of Dan Hurley, famous as the Sixty Second Novelist. For one year, writers from around the world submitted their 250-word flash stories each week, and professional judges awarded prizes for first, second, and third place. 500 to 700 writers entered each week. At the end of the year, twelve professionals judged the 52 first place winners for the grand prize.

Two of my first place winners placed in the Top 10. One of those took Grand Prize, earning me the title of Writer of the Year. Number One … out of some 30,000 total entries.

This is the system I developed to help me win that contest. I call it “Kill Your Darlings.” Many writers I coach say it’s the #1 reason they obtained their first pro sales, made it into Best of the Year anthologies, and were finalists and winners in major writing contests like Writers of the Future. The first place story that won the Mike Resnick Memorial Award? That was crafted from a KYD.

The system works.

Want to shave years off your learning curve? If you take this workshop, I can teach you how.

“Wrangling your first professional short story sale is a lot like catching a fish with your bare hands. Sure, it can be done, but you’re going to need to know the secrets unless you want splash around like a fool for an embarrassingly long time.

Moon promised me that if I put in the work he gave me, I’d reduce my time to publication. His KYD exercise has helped me move from not even sniffing a sale, to winning the Mike Resnick Memorial award.

Moon is not just a keeper of (super) secrets. He is a keeper of promises.”–Z.T. Bright, author

CLICK HERE NOW TO LEARN MORE AND REGISTER before November 21st, 2021!

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My Writers of the Future 24-Hour Story Published in THINGS WITH FEATHERS: Stories of Hope

Preorder Now! Anthology release on October 15, 2021

I sold my Writers of the Future Workshop 24-hour story to a pro-pay anthology! In case you don’t know this famous WotF exercise, author Tim Powers walks around the Hollywood classroom with a top hat pulling out cool items you write a story on in–you guessed it–24 hours. Yeah, I’m the lucky dog that got handed a blank 3×5 card, both sides white, for my story prompt. Talk about a challenge! I’ve been so busy since returning from the workshop, I never bought out the time to touch the story up and send it to a market. I know, bad boy! But the right pro-paying anthology appeared, and I knew this story could hit the mark. Boom. Sold first time out!

This story explores relationships between sentient buildings along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It will be published by Third Flatiron Publishing and the anthology’s title is THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE. In both trade paperback and Kindle version on October 15th, 2021. Free to read to those with Kindle Unlimited.

My short story’s title? “Sophie’s Parisian Stationery & Parfumerie Magnifique.”

Click HERE to order! Merci beaucoup!

  • Wulf Moon accepting the Writers of the Future award at the Hollywood gala.