Competitions to Enter in February

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CWA Debut Dagger, CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition, Exeter Writers Short Story Competition, Fiction Factory Short Story Competition, Fish Flash Fiction Prize, Flash 500 Short Story Competition, Kelpies Prizes for Writing and Illustration, National Flash Fiction Day Micro-Fiction Competition Story, Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition, Spotlight First Novel Competition, Spread the Word's Life Writing Prize, Writers & Artists Yearbook Short Story Competition

 

 

Here is my picture of Jane Austen’s tiny writing desk at the Jane Austen House Museum at Chawton to inspire you.

Unagented writers yet to publish a full-length work could receive £1,500 an Arvon Course and mentoring in Spread the Word’s Life Writing Prize 2020. Send up to 5,000 words which may be a complete work or the beginning of a longer piece. In addition to the first prize, two highly commended writers will receive £500 and a mentor. The competition is free to enter, and the closing date February 3rd. Details: http://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/projects/life-writing-prize/   (Please refer to entry rules, since this writing must reflect ‘someone’s own life journey or references…and is not fiction.’)

Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition for a 2,00-word story. Free entry, but you must register on http://www.writersandartists.co.uk Prize: Arvon residential writing course worth £1,000, plus publication. Deadline 13 February. Details: http://www.writersand-artists.co.uk/competitions

Spotlight First Novel Competition for a one-page synopsis plus the first page of an unpublished novel. Prize: mentoring package and website showcase. Entry fee: £16. Closing date: 14 February. Details: http://www.adventuresinfiction.co.uk

National Flash Fiction Day Micro-fiction Competition Story: up to three unpublished flashes of 100 words. Deadline 15 February. Entry fee: £2; £3.75 for two; £5.25 for three. Prizes: £100; £50; £25. Details: http://www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/index.php/competition

CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition, for stories up to 3,500 word, fitting Margery Allingham’s definition of a mystery story*. Prizes: £500, two passes to CrimeFest. Entry Fee: £12. Closing date: 29 February. Details: http://www.thecwa.co.uk/ShortStory/rules.html (*Note: “Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.”)

CWA Debut Dagger Award for crime novels. Submit 3,000 words, plus 1,000 word synopsis. Prizes: £500. Entry fee: £36. Closing date: 29 February. Details: http://www.thecwa.co.uk

Exeter Writers Short Story Competition. 3,000 words. Entry fee: £7. Prizes: £700; £250; £100, plus £100 prize for writers in Devon. Details: http://www.exeterwriters.org.uk/p/competitions.html

Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition for stories up to 2,000 words. Entry fee: £10. Prizes: £1,000; £500; £250; Deadline: 28 February. Details: http://www.storyawards.org

Fiction Factory Short Story Competition, maximum 3,000 words. (No children’s/YA stories) Entry fee: £6 (with optional critique £10). Prizes: £150; £50; £25; publication. Deadline 28 February. Details: fiction-factory.biz

Fish Flash Fiction Prize, maximum 300 words. Entry fee: 14 Euros for one; 8 Euros for subsequent entries. Prizes: 1,000 Euros; 300 Euros; online writing course; publication. Deadline 28 February. Details: http://www.fishpublishing.com/flash-fiction-contest.

Flash 500 Short Story Competition, 1,000-3,000 words. Prizes: £500; £200; £100. Entry fee: £7 for one story, £12 for two; £16 for three; £20 for four, plus optional critiques. Deadline: 28 February. Details: http://www.flash500.com

Kelpies Prizes for Writing and Illustration – Novel for children. Send the first five chapters plus synopsis: 11000-3000 words using a given sentence start. Writers must be Scottish and aged 18+. Prize: £1,000; mentoring; publishing contract with Floris Books; writing retreat or Picture Hooks 2020 Conference ticket.Deadline: 28 February. Details: discoverkelpies.co.uk

Please remember to check all details before entry in case we’ve misinterpreted or misread anything.

There’s plenty of potential here to let those imaginations run free – and I thought the Margery Allingham definition really helpful for almost all kinds of fiction writing…

Sanditon – ‘I must not depend upon being ever very blooming again’

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Andrew Davies, Another Lady, Georgette Heyer, Marie Dobbs, Mr Woodhouse, Sanditon

In rereading Jane Austen, we are able to experience something of that age of elegance which too often eludes us in the twentieth century. We are unrepentant about this form of escapism and turn to her six novels for relaxation… Like Mr Woodhouse, we enjoy the company of these old friends best; and though we prefer their actual company to secondhand discussions and speculations about them, anything concerning them will always hold a fascination for us…. writes Another Lady AKA Marie Dobbs.

In her An Apology from the Collaborator, included at the end of Jane Austen’s Sanditon completed by Another Lady published in 1975, Marie Dobbs admits that she offers her version for our sheer enjoyment, aware that Jane Austen’s language, integrity and meticulous technique cannot be faithfully copied.

She was too hard on herself. Marie Dobbs’ completed Sanditon is peppered with delightful passages poking fun at human vanity and folly, which feel as though they could be written by Jane Austen herself. The Miss Beauforts… were certainly no longer content to remain on their balcony now these two personable young men were to be perceived strolling about admiring the Sanditon views. Indeed, they felt a definite obligation to improve the landscape for them immediately by dotting graceful feminine silhouettes wherever they be most visible. The very next day Miss Letitia carried her easel out of doors and began moving it from sand to shingle, from hill to Terrace with tireless and unselfish activity. No concern for completing her own sketches interfered with her sense of duty to adorn whatever vista might require her presence.

There is some splendid Austen-ish dialogue too, as in this speech from Reginald Catton, one of the only two on-stage characters added by Marie Dobbs: ‘So that was Miss Denham! Predatory female – Sidney warned me. He said I would not be in the least danger from anyone else – could handle all the Miss Beauforts with ease – but Miss Denham would be hanging about me forever if once she caught sight of my barouche. I told the groom to keep it well out of sight in the stables.’ 

Reginald Catton may also remind fans of Georgette Heyer of her comic young men about town, such as Ferdy Fakenham in Friday’s Child. Marie Dobbs makes the hero Sidney Parker resemble the witty, charming, teasing Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey, but in his unassuming kind-heartedness there are echoes of Georgette Heyer’s endearing Freddy in Cotillion. The later developments of the plot come close to Heyer regency romances too – no problem for those of us who love both authors, as we must suspect Marie Dobbs did  – but perhaps some literary critics might argue that Jane Austen was intending to take a different and sharper line.

It’s difficult not to feel disappointment that Andrew Davies’ recent television adaptation of Sanditon didn’t follow the story and tone of the Another Lady/Marie Dobbs completed version. In the eleven chapters Jane Austen wrote before illness stopped her in March 1817, she set up everything we love in her other novels and Marie Dobbs fulfils the sparkling early promise with grace, respect and humour. Added to this we have in Sanditon a merciless satire of hypochondriacs and medical quackery, speaking to us all the more poignantly when we remember that Jane Austen was only four months away from her death on 18th July.

But as the ever-so-sensible heroine Charlotte says to the would-be seducer Sir Edward who has read more sentimental novels than agreed with him: ‘our taste in novels is not at all the same.’ Nor is our taste in television adaptations all the same, and this is probably a very good thing.

Rejection – The Fairy Story

With Hilary Mantel’s latest book due in the spring, and all those New Year Resolutions about writing, and re-writing, more, this blog of mine from 2015 seemed worth re-visiting.  Maggie.

ninevoices

You’re at the kitchen table, drooping over yet another rejected story. In her basket, Ruby, the cocker spaniel, looks expectant, head twitching and nose up. Then the door bell rings. She must have sensed a visitor. Anyway, she’s at the door ahead of you.

‘Hi, Ruby! I’ve come, as promised.’

The visitor sweeps past you into the kitchen while you remain, frozen, on the doormat. It is Hilary bloody Mantel, isn’t it? Are you going to scream? Faint? Wake up from a dream? And how does this world-renowned woman know your dog?

By now Hilary’s in the kitchen. She picks up your crumpled story, unearths a pencil from her bag, and starts scribbling all over it. ‘Just make me a coffee,’ she says, giving Ruby an absent-minded pat. ‘Instant will be fine, but make it strong.’

You’re in a trance as you boil the kettle. This wonderful writer is sitting…

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Competitions to Enter in January

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Arundel Festival Theatre Trail Writing Competition, Bath Flash Fiction and Novella Award, Fish Short Memoir Contest, Kent & Sussex Open Poetry Competition, Lancashire Writers' Group Open Writing Competition, Lucy Cavendish Fiction Award, Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing, Plymouth Writers' Group Open Writing Competition, Retreat West First Chapter Competition

If you’re anything like ninevoices, one of your New Year’s Resolutions will have been to write more and to enter more competitions, especially those that might give feedback. Skipper would definitely approve. So it’s time to put on those reading specs and scrutinise the opportunities below:

You’ll need to be quick, as the deadline is to day, but The Exeter Novel Prize is looking for the first 10,000 words of a novel not under contract, together with a 500 word synopsis. Any genre except children’s. Prizes: £500, with five £100 runners-up. Entry fee is: £18 – but for £100 they will give you a 1-page report on your entry. Details can be found at: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk

The Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize for unpublished female authors over 21 to win expert guidance and support from publishing agent Peters Fraser Dunlop, plus a cash prize of £1,500. Deadline: 17 January. Entry fee: £12. Details: http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/fictionprize

The Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing. Short stories with food and drink themes, up to 2,500 words. (Plenty of inspiration from the last couple of weeks!) Judges Stephen Fry and Pru Leith. Prizes: £10,000, 3x£250. Entry fee: £10. Closing date: 13 January. Details: http://www.mogfordprize.co.uk/

Bath Flash Fiction Novella in Flash Award for flash fiction and novellas between 6,000 and 18,000 words. Prizes: £300, 2 x £100. Entry fee: £16. Deadline: 20 January. Details: http://bathflashfictionaward.com/

Retreat West First Chapter Competition for the first chapter of a novel up to 3,500 words. Prizes: Critique and review. Entry fee: £10. Closing date: 26  January. Details: http://www.retreatwest.co.uk

Arundel Festival Theatre Trail Writing Competition for short plays, 30-40 minutes. Prizes: £250, £150 for each shortlisted play, performance. Free entry – what do you have to lose? Closing date: 31 January. Details: http://www.dripaction.com

Fish Short Memoir Contest for personal non-fiction up to 4,000 words. Prizes: 1,000 Euros, publication; a week at Casa Ana Writers retreat in Andalucia and 300 Euros travel expenses. Entry fee: 17 Euros. Closing date: 31 January. Details: http://www.fishpublishing.com

Kent & Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition for poems up to 40 lines. Prizes: £1,000, £300, £100, 4 x £50. Entry fee: £5; 3 or more £4 each. Closing date: 31 January. Details: http://www.kentandsussexpoetry.com

Lancashire Authors’ Association Flash Fiction Competition for a story in exactly 100 words. Prizes: £150. Entry fee: £2, £5 for three. Closing date 31 January. Details: http://www.lancashireauthorsassociation.co.uk

Plymouth Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition for  short stories of 1,000-1,500 words. Prizes: £250, £50, anthology publication for top five. Entry fee: £5. Closing date: 31 January. Details: http://plymouthwritersgroup.co.uk

As always, please check all entry details before submitting. Remember those New Year Resolutions and, good luck!

Make a resolution

At ninevoices’ annual Christmas lunch we make writing resolutions for the coming year. Well, resolutions, like rules, are made to be broken as we find the following year.
However, that said, we shouldn’t be discouraged to start again. If your aim is to enter writing competitions in 2020, and perhaps you had a go at our 2019 Summer Competition, may we pass on some thoughts?
We settled down on a November day to discuss the stories that had received the most votes from our individual readings. Skipper was there as an impartial observer. What he learnt was that we did not agree. It has been said before we have varied reactions and likes.
The overwhelming consensus, however, was that we are lucky to belong to a group. Simple inconsistencies, spelling and grammar mistakes and typos are seized upon by our sharp-eyed colleagues.
So if you are setting out on the writer’s lonely path, we would persuade you to find the company of others to work with you. These others, and here we are unanimous, do not include your family and close friends.
A Happy New Year and good luck with your writing in 2020.