Shawn's Writing News

Writing Competitions: How to Win

At the end of our second short story competition, I put together these guidelines based on comments from our readers and administrators about what makes them want to recommend – or throw out – a competition entry. Some of these points may seems obvious but it really is worth checking your entry to see how it measures up.

Practical Things

Read the competition rules before you start, when you finish, and once more as you prepare to send in your entry. Keep a competition check-list, and as you parcel up your precious work refer to the list at every move – format, word-count, required cover-sheet information, closing date, fee, who is the cheque to be made out to? Please do this – we all make a lot more administration errors than we ever know about. Why waste the hours you have put into your work by sending it to the wrong address, misdirecting the cheque or missing the closing date? And don’t expect the readers to make an exception for you because your story is so good – if the entry breaches the rules, it will probably be sidelined by an administrator before it gets to the readers so your brilliance won’t be discovered.

Don’t trust your computer’s spelling and grammar check. We’ve all heard those hilarious stories – ‘I mis-spelled Gabriel and my computer corrected it to Garfield’, ‘it’s turned burglar into bugger,’ etc. It will give the readers a laugh but not a big enough laugh for your story to win the competition. And if you don’t know how to handle punctuation and capitalization, find out. If you let the computer do it for you, it won’t do it well enough. Readers might take on a story that needs correction but it has to be exceptionally good for them to make those kind of allowances. Why set extra obstacles to your progress?

Don’t use fancy fonts, complicated formats or great new gizmos you’ve just downloaded. Whether you are sending paper or e-copy, the easiest format for most people to handle is a Word document (the file tag should be .doc or .rtf) on standard A4 paper with automatic (not hard) returns at line-ends. Anything else makes extra work and risks annoying (or at worst defeating) the competition administrators.

Creative and Style Points

Look long and hard at your title and first paragraph. Readers have a huge pile of work to consider and although they try to look at each one with equal enthusiasm, it’s hard to stay fresh. All our readers speak with delight of those moments when they start a new story and the opening startles them awake. It’s neat, smooth and original, it entices them to read on…. Is your opening that special?

Now look at the ending. It might be happy, it might be tragic or it might point to untold events in an imagined future but it must leave an impression. Don’t let the story just tail off – the reader will get to the end and instantly forget it.

Try to avoid telling the reader too much. Find a way of getting characters and events to unfold your ideas for you. It is much more fun for readers if you lay a path for them to make their own discoveries. Remember that old line from schooldays – don’t tell me, show me.

Introduce a question in the reader’s mind as soon as you can. It doesn’t have to be as obvious as the ‘whodunit’ of a murder mystery but there must be something to suggest that the reader will discover a treasure if they read on.

Read the direct speech of your characters aloud. Ask yourself if those people would really talk like that. Many stories are rejected because the writer has forced the characters to spool out information in an unnatural way. Make sure you have set out the dialogue in a logical and consistent way. For example, if you start out using double quotes for speech and italics for thought, keep it like that. Changing half way confuses the reader and infuriates the typesetter.

Ask yourself what is unique about your story. If there is nothing in the plot, the characters, the setting or the language itself that you believe is new, you can bet there won’t be anything the judges haven’t seen 50 times over.

If your word-count is near the maximum for the competition, look for opportunities to edit. Where two stories are being compared, the shorter, more tightly edited one is likely to be chosen.

Make sure you know why you are writing the story. It may not have a plot but it must have a point. If you know the point, it will be easier to see where you have wandered off the track. Cut irrelevant paragraphs and keep it clean and focused.

Avoid bashing on about the big topic of the moment unless you really have something new to say or an unusual angle on the topic.

Finally, don’t send work that doesn’t impress you. When you’ve finished your story, put it away for a few weeks then get it out and pretend you’ve never seen it before. Read it because you want to enjoy a good read. If you don’t enjoy it, the judges probably won’t. Be really honest with yourself about this. When you read your work you will either get a sinking feeling and start praying for blind luck (you aren’t going to win) or you will get excited butterflies, thinking this really is a special piece of work (you may well be going to win). If you get the sinking feeling, do yourself a favour. Ask yourself – and your best friends if they are honest – do you lack confidence in yourself or do you have doubts because there are faults in the work? If you suspect it is the latter, do take the time to re-think and re-write. When that cheque and/or that offer of publication come your way, you will be so glad you did.

Now, write that winning story and send it in.

Why not send your next entry to us at Earlyworks Press? We usually have poetry and short fiction competitions running and we set occasional specialist genre competitions and web-based challenges. We are story addicts and we are looking forward to a good read!

About the Author

Kay Green is editor and competition administrator at Earlyworks Press.

Writer, editor and English teacher, Kay Green is a lifelong lover of story in all its forms. Her collection ‘Jung’s People’ was first published by Elastic Press and is now available through Circaidy Gregory Press

Earlyworks Press is also a club for the promotion of independent writers and illustrators. The club has an online forum for developing stories and poetry and ‘enclaves’ around the UK where like-minded writers get together for workshopping and discussion, and to organise book fairs and other activities.

Introduction about the Creative Writing competition in India, August 2009

2012 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market (Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market) $16.45 The Most Trusted Guide to the World of Children’s Publishing If you write or illustrate for young readers with the hope of getting published, the 2012 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market is the trusted resource you need. For more than 20 years, CWIM has been the definitive publishing guide for anyone who seeks to write or illustrate for kids and young adults. Inside you’ll find more than 7…

Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why, 2nd Edition $4.30 Want to publish your book?Learn how–it’s easier than you think!Charismatic authors and literary agents Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman have successfully sold hundreds of titles and learned–through trial and error–how to write a flawless book proposal that publishers can’t resist. Now you can benefit from their hard work and publishing savvy. In this new edition, they offer guidance and ad…

Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days $2.41 What Can You Accomplish in 30 Days?If you make time to write and put away all of your excuses, could you stay on track and finish your novel in only a month? With a structured plan and a focused goal, yes, you can!Using a combination of flexible weekly schedules, focused instruction, and detailed worksheets, author Victoria Schmidt leads you through a proven 30-day novel-writing system without the…

Final Draft AV2 $129.99 FINAL DRAFT AV SCRIPTWRITING – SOFTWARE…

Final Draft Audio Video $179.00 Final Draft AV fills a niche that Final Draft’s screenwriting software ignored: creation of two-column audio-video scripts and audio-only scripts for radio. Television news writers, segment producers, and ad writers usually create scripts with video in the left column and audio in the right column. Writers who don’t have access to a professional scriptwriting system like Basys or Avstar usual…

Scriptwriter’s Suite $359.00 …

Poetry Writing $12.99 Guide students through the process of writing poetry. Inspire them with creative project ideas. Use templates and frames to help them get started. Share their results in ways that promote pride and a sense of accomplishment.

Cursive Writing Activities $12.99 Cursive Writing Activities is designed to help students master important handwriting skills. The book provides a variety of activities that allow students to practice letter formations as well as real world skills such as simple sentences, paragraph writing, creative writing, and everyday writing. Anyone using these instructional and fun worksheets will gain the confidence needed to keep his or her handwriting legible and free of mistakes.Activities include: writing letters and numbers, answering questions with written responses, completing creative writing activities, practicing writing with word games, and more.

Monster Truck Racing and Freestyle Competitions Tickets $7 “Buy Tickets for Monster Truck Racing and Freestyle Competitions are available. Ticketliquidator.com gets you in!”

Creative Awakenings $24.95 Create Your Own Dream Journal Inspirational Projects and Step-by-Step Collage Techniques Begin your own creative journey with an overview of the intention-setting process and instruction on how to start a Book-of-Dreams Journal in Creative Awakenings. Be introduced to twelve artists who went through the process themselves. See firsthand how these contributors used the intention-setting process to realize their own dreams. Learn through over 200 colored images and inspirational artwork in addition to several step-by-step mixed-media techniques . Use the interactive bonus deck of tear-out prompt cards to help set your own intentions and record the process in your own journal.

Beginning Writing $10.99 Give emergent writers the practice they need as they progress from the scribbling stage to writing paragraphs. This book features a variety of activities for the different phases of writing, as well as writing samples from actual emergent writers.The activities target standards in these areas: the writing process conventions in writing writing using graphic methods to describe high frequency vocabulary complete sentences

Writing Workshop $24.99 Writing Workshop is designed for busy teachers who are seeking a comprehensive resource for teaching the writing process. persuasive, expository, narrative, and poetry writing lessons student samples writing rubrics graphic organizers language use and convention lessons writing process lessons assessment checklist daily writing exercises homework suggestions portfolio instructions bulletin board ideas writing enrichment activities

Beautiful Dreamer $21 It has everything; familial hatreds, great love, romance and failed relationships, attempts by the character to change patterns of life -in fact all the ingredients of a page -turner. It is written in a highly charged poetic style and is full of fine imagistic writing and It should be published both because of all the above and because it is an individual experience which has universal significance. – By Siobhan Campbell, Tutor on M A Creative Writing Course Kingston UniversityDescriptionMad? Sad? Or Bad? the truth about Alzheimer’s Disease.After a lifetime of coping with a very difficult – and sometimes nasty – mother, Patricia now faces her parent’s decline and impending death. As she guided her mother through family history, she tries to unravel what has always ailed the older woman.The story moves through darkness, to understanding and to skeletons in the cupboard. And ultimately to love.But Patricia reaches a mind- blowing conclusion about what she believes to lie behind old age dementia. About the AuthorPamela spent most of her working life bringing up four children and doing casual jobs.. she took a degree in English and at a local university and then taught in Adult Education and became a Market Research Interviewer. When her work dwindled in the Recession of the 1990s, she tried for a while to run her own private Adult Education business. She has always wanted to write and began in her twenties. She has broadcast her own talk on the radio, published some short stories and articles, and had prizes in a few writing competitions. Pamela lives in The Royal Borough of Kingston UponThames.Book Extract’….And she’s got a perfect figure, you know.’ For the first time I am listening to what the nurse is saying about my eighty-eight year-old Mother. ‘I like her,’ she had begun. What’s all this? I asked myself. My mother’s never

Behold Faith and Other Stories $9.99 In sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic, even violent, contexts, the characters in this first collection of fifteen stories struggle to fathom the present complexities and circumstances of their lives. Here are ordinary people trying to come to grips with the implications of where they’ve been and prepare themselves for where they’re headed. Here are a butcher contemplating the show business dreams of his young assistant; an elementary school teacher dealing with the violent aftermath of her husband’s infidelity; a young man driving to make up with his pregnant girlfriend caught in this year’s Blizzard of the Century; a minister reconsidering his vocation as he races through the aisles of a grocery store; a minor league baseball mascot trying desperately to salvage his love life and the dignity and hope of his city; a young boy, anxious to impress his father, losing a finger to an axe; and a high school football player simultaneously confused and awed by his own mystical visions. All these stories seek to interrogate and render in genuine and unflinching ways the nature of doubt, delusion, disillusion and, surprisingly, the potentially rescuing powers of faith and grace. They are, above all, honest and compassionate stories. Here is a writer you can trust; here are people you have known.Tom Noyes teaches creative writing at Indiana State University. His stories have been published in a number of journals and magazines, including American Literary Review, Ascent, and High Plains Literary Review. His work has been a finalist in a number of competitions, including the Flannery O’Connor Award, the Breadloaf Prize, and the Sandstone Prize. Three of his stories have been nominatedfor Pushcart Prizes.

Behold Faith and Other Stories $1.99 In sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic, even violent, contexts, the characters in this first collection of fifteen stories struggle to fathom the present complexities and circumstances of their lives. Here are ordinary people trying to come to grips with the implications of where they’ve been and prepare themselves for where they’re headed. Here are a butcher contemplating the show business dreams of his young assistant; an elementary school teacher dealing with the violent aftermath of her husband’s infidelity; a young man driving to make up with his pregnant girlfriend caught in this year’s Blizzard of the Century; a minister reconsidering his vocation as he races through the aisles of a grocery store; a minor league baseball mascot trying desperately to salvage his love life and the dignity and hope of his city; a young boy, anxious to impress his father, losing a finger to an axe; and a high school football player simultaneously confused and awed by his own mystical visions. All these stories seek to interrogate and render in genuine and unflinching ways the nature of doubt, delusion, disillusion and, surprisingly, the potentially rescuing powers of faith and grace. They are, above all, honest and compassionate stories. Here is a writer you can trust; here are people you have known.Tom Noyes teaches creative writing at Indiana State University. His stories have been published in a number of journals and magazines, including American Literary Review, Ascent, and High Plains Literary Review. His work has been a finalist in a number of competitions, including the Flannery O’Connor Award, the Breadloaf Prize, and the Sandstone Prize. Three of his stories have been nominatedfor Pushcart Prizes.

Best Tales, Stories, and Adventures: From Monroe County Fifth Graders $10.93 AuthorHouse is headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana. We are proud to be the leading provider of publishing and marketing services for authors around the world. We employ hundreds of dedicated professionals at our headquarters and offices located in Indianapolis and abroad in the United Kingdom. Through an exclusive AuthorCentric Publishing Process, our authors control their creative process of crafting their books, by taking advantage of our knowledge of the publishing industry to allow them to reach their publishing goals. AuthorHouse titles are available at more than 25,000 retail outlets worldwide, including Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.AuthorHouse is proud of developing opportunities for all aspiring authors through community action believing that this contributes value to the community. Accordingly, AuthorHouse has sponsored a writing competition for fifth graders in Monroe County, Indiana schools. Our hope is that this competition inspires young writers and creates increased literacy awareness in our community. The winning stories were selected by each school’s committee based on the following criteria: creativity, effort, storyline structure, and sentence structure. All young authors with the most notable stories will receive a complimentary copy of the published book. In addition, their schools; libraries and the local public libraries will receive a complimentary copy of these works. AuthorHouse is excited to have offered this opportunity to the youth in our community.We look forward with anticipation to future writing competitions.

Competitions in Scotland: Scottish Awards, Sports Competitions in Scotland, James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Scottish Rally Championship $23.09 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Scottish Awards, Sports Competitions in Scotland, James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Scottish Rally Championship, the Gathering 2009, Bruadar Scottish Men’s Championship, Ayr Gold Cup, List of Winners of the Edinburgh Arrow, Scottish Politician of the Year, Scottish Derby, Rugby League Conference Scotland Division, Cowal Highland Gathering, Scots Trad Music Awards, Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland, Scottish Champion Hurdle, School Debating in Scotland, James Scott Prize Lectureship, Scottish Women’s Curling Championship, Scottish Chess Championship, Future Champion Novices’ Chase, Glasgow Stakes, Northern Meeting, Stage Awards for Acting Excellence, Champion Beer of Scotland, Mungo Park Medal, 1951 Scottish Grand Prix, Grand Match, Inverness Highland Games, Crieff Highland Games, Davitt Shield, Fintray Hillclimb, Miss Scotland, Northern League (Ice Hockey, 1966-1982), Bafta Scotland, Keith Medal, Scottish National League, Scottish Men’s National League, Scottish Premier Hockey League, Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize, Creative Writing Competition. Excerpt: Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain’s oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, United Kingdom, the prizes were founded by Mrs Janet Coutts Black in memory of her late husband, James Tait Black, a partner in the publishing house of A

Peach Red And The Empty Road $20.6 DescriptionThis is the story of Peter McFarlane’s journey back from the brink of madness, following years of sexual abuse. His childhood was blighted with this secret and cynical disease, and his life became filled with hidden remnants of fear, affecting all relationships and colouring all experiences. Unconscious memories of abuse were awakened, due to the trauma of a car crash, and he met Dr Christian Langford who became his psychiatrist. Hearing from Peter about some of the recalled incidents, psychogenic amnesia was diagnosed, where the pain of remembering is so great that, for survival, a person finds it necessary to forget. Young Peter had grown up with only a few friends on the remote and sparsely populated Scottish island he loves, discovering his homosexuality when he was still very young. In the course of his therapy, Langford discovered that Peter was also suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, induced by post traumatic stress. The full extent of his mental health problem was revealed, and Peter’s doctor was challenged to find a working cure that would give him back sufficient elements of his fractured life with which he could begin to piece together the stolen years of his life.About the AuthorRon McLachlan was born in 1951, and now lives and writes in Wemyss Bay, a small coastal town in the west of Scotland. Ron has published a trilogy of novels, and has won, or been shortlisted, in a number of international, national, and local short story competitions. He has written another novel entitled The Saviour, and, in 2005, began a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, in New Jersey. As a child, he suffered years of abuse that led ultimately to years of therapy. “All my life,” he says, “I have just been trying to survive.”