Dave Wolverton (aka David Farland) is a New York Times best-selling author, a Writers of the Future judge (and former Grand Prize winner), and an all-around great guy. When I won the Grand Prize in 2007, Dave was kind enough to sit with me for nearly an hour while he waited for a shuttle to the airport and answer (at length, bless him) my one burning question: “How do I not squander this?”

With the recent and untimely passing of KD Wentworth, the Writers of the Future preliminary judge (more on that soon), Dave Wolverton has been named the new preliminary judge for WOTF.

Having just completed judging for the first quarter of this year’s contest, and deep in the process of judging the second quarter, Dave has offered what he calls “Ten Reasons Why I’ll Quickly Reject Your Story”–a guide to what to avoid if you don’t want to get turfed from the WOTF before you’re even seriously considered.

As you know if you follow my blog, the Writers of the Future contest has been very, very good to me. And I know lots of people who enter the contest read this blog (there’s a reason my WOTF week recap is the most popular group of pages on the site). So if you’re still eligible for the contest and want to up your odds of winning READ AND TAKE TO HEART EVERYTHING DAVE TELLS YOU. He’s the first gatekeeper–you’d be wise to follow his advice (which is also just plain good writing advice, aside from the WOTF contest).

Dave sent this out today as part of his Kick in the Pants newsletter. Dave (and his newsletter) are a FONT of good advice, and if you want to improve your craft as a writer you owe it to yourself to sign up for this COMPLETELY FREE newsletter. I know–free? Shocking. This is the kind of advice people pay good money for.

Like I said: all-around great guy.

– S.