Competitions to Enter in November

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Aeon Award, Against the Grain Poetry Press, Bath Children's Novel Award, black cats, Caledonian Novel Award, Cornerstones, Everything With Words Urban YA Competition, Fish Short Story Competition, Inktears Short Story Competition, Mother's Milk Books, Nanowrimo, Sylvia Plath, The White Review Poets Prize 2018

 

With Hallowe’en imminent, here is a spooky/lucky black cat for you. The chair on which Gizzy is conducting her radiator worship was purchased from an antique shop in Edenbridge, then humped laboriously back to the car park at the far end of the High Street. My plan was to recline in it for late afternoon reading of Jane Austen. Fat chance…

Everything With Words independent children’s publisher wants entries for its Urban YA Competition, for a debut novel set in today’s urban, multi-cultural Britain. The winner will receive £1,000, plus possible publication. Novels should be between 40,000 and 700,000 words and may be written by agented or unagented writers, but must be the author’s first novel for YA readers. Send novel and a 500-word summary, with “YA competition” in subject line. Closing date is 30 November and THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE, so what do you have to lose? Details: wwweverythingwithwords.com

The Against the Grain Poetry Press (which publishes three collections each year) is inviting original unpublished entries for its Poem Competition 2018. The winning entry will be submitted to the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, and will be awarded £100. There are second and third prizes of £50 and £25. Entry fee is £5 for two poems, or £10 for five poems. Closing date is 30 November. Details: atgcompetition@gmail.com

Indie press Mother’s Milk Books is inviting submissions of dark fairy tales for the fifth in the series of their popular annual anthology The Forgotten and The Fantastical. Stories should be up to 5,000 words and may be set in the present day or in any fantastical or sci-fi setting. Entry is free, but submitting writers are asked to buy a copy of one of the previous books in the series through the website and to include the invoice number with their submission. Each accepted author will be paid £20 and will receive a complimentary book and the chance to read at the book launch in Nottingham. Closing date 30 November. Details: submissions@mothersmilkbooks.com

Arkbound Short Story Competition for stories between 500 and 1,000 words on the theme of ‘time‘. Prizes: £100, £50, £25, 3 x £20. Entry fee: £3. Arkbound will sponsor entries from disadvantaged people. Closing date 1 November. Details: competitions@arkbound.com

Caledonia Novel Award for the first 20 pages, plus 200-word synopsis, of a novel by an unpublished writer. Prize: £1,000, plus trophy. Entry fee: £25. Closing date 1 November. Details: http://www.caledoniannovelaward

Fish Short Story Competition for stories up to 5,000 words. Prizes: 3,000 Euros for first; a week at Anam Cara Writer’s Retreat in West Cork, plus 300 Euros expenses for second; 300 Euros for third. Entry fee: 20 Euros for the first, 10 Euros thereafter. Closing date 30 November. Details: info@fishpublishing.com

Inktears Short Story Competition for stories between 1,000 and 3,500 words. Prizes: £1,000, £100, 4 x £25. Entry fee £7.50. Closing date 30 November. Details: http://www.inktears.com

Aeon Award for short stories up to 10,000 words ‘in any spec fic genre’.

Ely Amnesty Group Short Story Competition for stories up to 1,500 words on the theme of ‘hope’. Prizes: £50, publication. Entry fee: £5. Closing date

National Novel Writing Month is an annual internet-based creative writing project that takes place during November. Participants attempt to write a 50,000 word manuscript between 1 November and 30 November. Although there is no monetary prize, participants can get on-line support, pep-talks, and can even get involved in local events. This could be a brilliant way to get started on a new novel project.  Details: https://nanowrimo.org

Literary magazine The White Review is inviting entries for The White Review Poets Prize 2018. The winner will receive £1,700, expert professional advice and will be published in the Review. To enter, submit between five and ten pages of original and unpublished poetry. The entry fee is £12. Closing date 6 November. Details: http://www.thewhitereview.org.

As ever, let me remind you to check entry details with care before submitting in case I’ve got something wrong…!

And finally, to also remind you that even rejections give something positive back, is that brilliantly encouraging quote from Sylvia Plath:

 

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To Pay or Not to Pay (or How Much to Pay)

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Cornerstones, Curtis Brown, Daniel Goldsmith, feedback, Fish Publishing, Hilary Johnson, Manuscript submissions, mentoring, Novel, The CWA, The Literary Consultancy, The Romantic Novelists Association, Writers & Artists

I recently had this somewhat disconcerting exchange with a writer I met in a chat room:

Me: Do you belong to a writing group of any kind?

She: I am a published writer.

The writer in question then inundated me with copies of her (self-) published poems and stories. I didn’t have to read very far to conclude that, while I admired her self-confidence, she would have greatly benefited from feedback of some kind.

But this raises a question: How far should we go in seeking feedback and assessment before pursuing publication?  Agents and publishers are inundated with submissions and can rarely take the time to provide individualized comments along with their rejections. Writing groups such as our own ninevoices provide a wonderful forum for reaction, constructive criticism, advice and, at times, brainstorming. But after twelve years together we know each other well and have become as familiar with and protective of one another’s work as we are of our own. This is when we consider using paid manuscript assessment services for an ‘objective’ outside view.

There is a wide array of such services available. You can pay as little  as £100 for a detailed critique of your first 3000 words and a 1000 word synopsis to as much as £2,650 for twelve months/60,000 words mentoring with extra fees for each additional 1000 words. The critics/mentors are generally published authors or industry professionals and most of these claim working connections with agents and publishers.  In other words, pick the right assessment service and you could have a one-stop shop for unbiased, professional advice and, if your work is good enough, a foot in the oh-so-heavy-door to publication.

The problem, of course, is finding the right service for you. Will the person reading your manuscript understand what you’re trying to achieve? Will they appreciate your quirky style? Are they experienced in your genre? Members of ninevoices have had mixed experiences. Two found the assessments of their work truly constructive and professional. A third felt the reader had completely missed the point and, in the event, reclaimed some of what she had paid. And, of course, while ostensibly objective, some of these businesses can play on our eagerness for publication by soft-peddling criticism and encouraging us to use more of their services to whip our manuscripts into shape. I’ve yet to hear of any manuscript assessment service advising an aspiring writer to take up watercolours.

There are other (not always cheaper) ways of obtaining feedback outside the group setting: many competitions will provide a brief critique should you make the shortlist, or, for a small additional fee, for any entrant. Genre-specific associations such as the Crime Writer’s Association and the Romantic Novelists Association also offer services for aspirants.

And then, of course, there is the growing number of courses linked to literary agents or publishing houses. Curtis-Brown Creative, for example, offer a range of courses led by published authors both online and in their offices. According to their website 27 of their students have achieved major publishing deals. At £2990 for a six-month novel writing course, the cost is not dissimilar to a University course with the added benefit of exposure to agents.

For many of us, creative writing courses are where we began our writing journey.  But we continue to find genre-specific workshops, retreats and even longer courses useful. And we can return to our writing groups energized and inspired from having garnered a different perspective.

However we get it, most of us, including published writers, need and benefit from feedback. We’d love to hear how our readers go about getting it and whether they’ve found paid-for services useful and value for money

Some of the services researched (this list is not comprehensive and readers are encouraged to check carefully the details of each company’s services as they vary widely):

http://cornerstones.co.uk/uk/

http://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk.

http://www.thecwa.co.uk/debuts/manuscript-service/

http://www.danielgoldsmith.co.uk/

http://www.fishpublishing.com/editorial-services/critique-service/

http://www.hilaryjohnson.com/

https://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/

http://www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org/join/new_writers_scheme

https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/services/bespoke-mentoring

 

Taking Criticism

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Buzzfeed, Cornerstones, Jane Austen, workshop criticism

Cornerstones, the literary consultancy, recently sent us details of their revised website – and at the same time provided a link to a spoof on Buzzfeed about Jane Austen having some rather pompous workshop feedback on her draft of Pride and Prejudice.

This is essential reading for anyone who has stuck their head above the parapet and sought public criticism of their own work. One can only imagine her subsequent pithy comments to Cassandra about it…

Check it out:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/shannonreed/jane-austen-receives-feedback-from-tim-a-guy-in-her-mfa-work#.qrA936z90

 

A Writing Challenge

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Cornerstones, Lorna Longstaff

A couple of years back, Cornerstones launched a tempting competition: Send us your first 3 chapters to get the chance of being read by agent Lorna Longstaff. Inconveniently, they needed a completed ms (which I didn’t have) but it seemed a brilliant way to concentrate my mind, so I entered.

The good news was that I made a shortlist of 14 from over 1,000 submissions. The less good news was that I had twelve weeks to fatten three chapters into 90,000 words.

Reader, I managed it. But the book Laura Longstaff saw was very much a first draft and she said as much. A wasted opportunity.

With procrastination holding back progress on my current novel: DOUGLAS DODD’S WOMEN, setting myself a similar challenge seems the way forward. I am therefore publicly undertaking to increase my current word count of 29,815 to 85,000 by the 1st January. Something like ten weeks.

Wish me luck.

Longlisted

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Cornerstones, Longlisted

Congratulations to Sarah, our writer of fiction for children and teenagers – her novel ‘So Perfect On The Surface’ has been selected for the longlist in Cornerstones’ WowFactor 2013 competition.  The shortlist is to be announced on 30th May.

We are ever so proud of her, and the book is brilliant!

Credit: vanhookc at flickr