Barbara Pym – more please

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Barbara Pym, Finding a Voice, Short stories

In a radio talk recorded in February 1978 and transmitted on BBC Radio 3 in April, less than two years before she died, Barbara Pym described a favourite television quiz game, where panellists were asked to guess the authorship of certain passages read out to them. ‘There were no prizes for guessing, no moving belt or desirable objects passing before their eyes, just the pleasure and satisfaction of recognising the unmistakable voice of …  whoever it might be. I think that’s the kind of immortality most authors would want – to feel that their work would be immediately recognisable as having been written by them and by nobody else. But of course it’s a lot to ask for!’

It might be, but Barbara Pym’s voice is entirely and delightfully unmistakable; it’s unlike any other author, however longingly we search. There just isn’t enough of it for us readers – if only she’d written more! Blame her publishers who rejected her seventh novel An Unsuitable Attachment in 1963. Thank goodness she went on writing during the following fourteen years of rejection – though probably not as much as she might have done…

One of the joys of Barbara Pym’s novels is the way characters reappear. They are our old friends… Here in WRITINGS is a short story written as a light-hearted tribute to Barbara Pym featuring some of them:  Tread Softly in the Ladies.

 

 

 

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Competitions to Enter in December – and the beginning of January

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Arcadia Science Fiction Short Story Competition, Deborah Rogers Writers Award, Magic Oxygen Literary Prize, Ruth Rendell Short Story Competition, Short stories, Stephen E King, Templar Poetry Awards, The Mogford Prize, The Orwell Prize

H E Bates Short Story Competition. A maximum of 2,000 words on any subject. Prizes: £500; £100; £50. Entry fee £6. Deadline 4 December. Details: http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk/competition-rules

Amnesty International York Short Story Contest. Maximum 1,700 words on the theme of ‘Borders‘. Prizes: £50, plus signed novel and publication on Amnesty International York website. Deadline: 10 December. Details: yorkamenstyuk.blogspot.co.uk/p/competition.html

Deborah Rogers Writers Award. First 20,000-30,000 words of an unpublished novel by a debut author. Prizes: £10,000. Deadline: 15 December. Award is in memory of literary agent Deborah Rogers. Details: deborahrogers-foundation.org

Templar Poetry – Quarterly Portfolio Awards. 10-12-page portfolio. Entry fee: £12. Prize: publication. Deadline 18 December. Details: templarpoetry.com/pages/submissions-and-awards

Ruth Rendell Short Story Competition for flash fiction. Maximum 1,000 words. Prize: £1,000 plus commission of four further stories. Entry fee: £15. Deadline 22 December. Details: http://www.interactstrokesupport.org/news/ruth-rendell-short-story-competition-2017

Arcadia Science Fiction Short Story Competition. Short story of maximum 5,000 words. Rules: age 18-plus, no children’s stories or erotica. Entry fee: £5.50. Prize: percentage of anthology royalties. Deadline 31 December. Details: http://www.audioarcadia.com/science-fiction-competition

Magic Oxygen Literary Prize. Poem: maximum 50 lines. Short Story: maximum 4,000 words, excluding title. Rules: age 15-plus. Prizes: £1,000; £300, £100; 2x£50. Entry fee: £5. Details: http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk Entry fees contribute to the planting of trees in Africa.

The Mogford Prize for a 2,500 word story on the theme of food and drink. Prize: £10,000. Entry fee: £10.Deadline: 3 January. Details: http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/mogford prize

The Orwell Prize 2018 – for non-fiction: journalism, books, political writing. Entry is FREE. Prizes: £3,000 in each category. Deadline 11 January. Details: http://www.orwell-foundation.org

Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition for full-length novels, 30,000-80,000 words, suitable for readers aged 7-18. Prizes: Publication deal worth £10,000. All long-listed writers receive an editorial report. Entry fee: £15. Deadline: 18 December. Details: http://www.chickenhousebooks.com/submissions

Exeter Novel Prize for the first 10,000 words, including synopsis, of an unpublished manuscript by an author not currently represented. The winner will receive £500 plus a trophy. Five finalists will each get £75. Entry fee: £18. Deadline: 1 January. Details: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk (One of ninevoices made it to the final five last year, and has a rather splendid trophy to prove it, so it CAN be done)

One in Four new writer contest, run jointly by Trapeze, single parents’ charity Gingerbread and women’s lifestyle website The Pool are seeking a novel celebrating single parent families. Your first 5,000 words could earn a £10,000 publishing contract with Orion, plus three hours mentoring. CLOSING DATE IS 4 DECEMBER. Details: OneInFourSubmissions@orionbooks.co.uk

I could be wrong, but at such a busy time of year, surely these competitions will receive fewer entries than usual? Which might you a better chance of getting noticed?  So I suggest you follow Stephen King’s example, and keep entering these things until you get recognition.

Please remember to double-check all details.

Agents Don’t Like Your Work?

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Agents, Short stories

I’m spending a soggy morning studying scribbled comments on a story I read at a recent ninevoices’ gathering.

There was one description – of a workman on a ladder – that elicited so many opposing views (talk about a Celtic and Rangers match!) that I asked people write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the margin.

This was the result: (You know who you are, people!)

No. (with a suggested alternative)
Yes! (with two ticks)
No.
Yes! (underlined) plus the comment ‘For heaven’s sake do NOT (underlined) lose this.
Yes.
One abstention

My cat has just strolled over the page and deposited a muddy paw print on the contentious paragraph, which may suggest a further ‘no’, though she isn’t officially a member of our group.

HOWEVER – this demonstrates how differently we all view the written word. Had this been a group of agents considering a submission it might have resulted in three requests for the full manuscript.

I will sleep on what to do, though I’m quite attached to my description and do have a majority on my side.  If I ignore the cat…

Competitions to Enter in June

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Bridport Prize, Competitions, Poetry, Short stories

Not many competitions to enter in June – half-term, holidays, the silly-season – but there are some. They are modest by comparison with the major prizes on offer at other times of the year, but it’s worth remembering that will mean less entries to compete against.

Troubadour International Poetry Prize for original poems by adult writers in English and no longer than 45 lines. Closing date: 21 June. Entry fee £5. Prizes: £5,000; £1,000 and £500, with 20 £25 prizes and a £100 Troubadour restaurant gift voucher and bottle of champagne for entries from London and the South-East. Details: http://www.coffeehousepoetry.org/prizes

Erewash Writers’ Group New Writer Competition, for a story up to 3,000 words by new writers only. Prize: £40. Entry fee £3. Details from: erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2016-ewg-new-writer-competition.html

Words Magazine Short Story Competition. Up to 2,000 words on the theme of Christmas (Yes, I know – but magazines have long lead times!). Entry is FREE. Prizes: £50 and £25 plus, presumably, publication in the magazine. Deadline June 30. Details: http://www.words-mag.com

Henshaw Press Short Story Competition. Up to 2,000 words. Prizes: £100; £50; £25. Fee: £5. Details: henshawpress.co.uk

Please remember to check the websites for full details before entering.

And don’t forget that there are a handful of days left in May, if you’re tempted to have a go at the Bridport. I sent my novel entry in, experienced a glitch, but was given all kinds of help in sorting it out. They are truly lovely people. (Mind you, they’ll probably still give my book the thumbs down, but that’s writing for you!)

Six-Word Story Competition

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Competitions, Short stories

We would like to invite our readers to participate in a competition to write a six-word story based on the photograph above. Please put your submission in the ‘Comments’ section for this post. There is no entry fee, but a small prize of £10 will be sent to the winner. (No need to submit your details. We will ask for them if you’ve won.) The deadline is midnight Wednesday, 17th February 2016 and the winner will be chosen at the ninevoices meeting the following day.

To provide you with a bit of inspiration, this writer’s effort was:

“Just tell me straight.” “Not lyin’.”

No doubt you can do better.

Congratulations to Frances Hardinge

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Costa Book o the Year, Penshurst Village, Short stories

We’d like to add our congratulations to all the others Frances Hardinge has received on winning the Costa Book of the Year Award with The Lie Tree.

Apparently Frances was born and raised in Penshurst Village, ten minutes’ drive from ninevoices’ country. I wonder if she ever found inspiration for her other-wordly stories from the ancient tombstones in the churchyard of Penshurst Church? There is one there, embossed with flaming torches, which tells of two men, father and son, who died from the foul air in a well – one having gone down to try and rescue the other. The stone also commemorates the mother, who died within the year, no doubt of grief.

Apparently Frances started writing seriously after winning a short story competition in a magazine. Let that be an incentive to us all…

‘Delayed Reaction’

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Amersham, King's Cross, Short stories, Trains, writing groups, York

The latest publication by a writing group to adorn my shelves is Delayed Reaction, the work of the Just Write writing group from Amersham in Bucks. This collection of short stories is ingeniously put together: they all take place on the 15-08 train from King’s Cross to York, which comes to a halt because of a broken-down train ahead of it. It sits in the Cambridgeshire countryside for over an hour. The delay materially affects the lives of the protagonists of the 10 stories – some for the better, some …

They are free-standing stories but some characters appear in more than one.   Why is the Essex boy banker so agitated and so concerned with his briefcase? Why is the woman sitting opposite him so unhappy, and why does she ask his advice on how to commit fraud? What have the expensively clad businesswoman and the slatternly dressed woman in flip-flops got to say to each other? Will the 16-year-old schoolgirl finally change into the frilly pink dress she hates so much? Why for the young man could the delay be literally a matter of life and death?

Leave the last story to last, is my advice. Talk about a twist in the tail …

The writing group must have had a lot of fun at the meetings where they worked out how their characters interlocked!

Delayed Reaction is produced in aid of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. ISBN 978-0-9931222-2-4 RRP paperback £6-99 e-book £5-99   Go to http://www.delayedreaction.org.uk/ for purchase details and other details about the Just Write group.

My Christmas Tree is Planted…

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Magic Oxygen Literary Prize, Planting a Word Forest in Kenya ya, Short stories

Just heard from Magic Oxygen that they’ve received my entry into their short story competition and the (very modest) entry fee of £5 has been translated into a young tree in their WORD FOREST.

They will shortly send me GPS co-ordinates, in case I plan to grab a jet and make a visit. Maybe with a silver spade….though I guess it’s too late for that.

Please let me encourage others to follow my example. Apart from the good this is doing the environment, not to mention those cheerful-looking Kenyan schoolchildren, the first prize is £1,000.

Deadline is December 31st.

Win a Matador Self-Publishing Package

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Short stories, Take a Break

Get your novel published by Troubador’s Matador imprint with this exclusive Writer’s Magazine competition.
Troubador managing director, Jeremy Thompson, and Writing Magazine editor, Jonathan Telfer will select one winner, whose novel will be published and marketed by Matador with an initial print run of 300 copies.
To enter – WHICH IS FREE – you must have a novel of up to 100,000 words finished and ready for publication by the closing date of 31 December 2015.

Enter:

• Online at http://writ.rs.wmmatador
• send your extract (the first chapter (or up to 10,000 words) plus a synopsis of up to 300 words in a single document (doc, txt, pdf,odt) to: writingcourses@warnersgroup.co.uk
• by post: Matador Competition (Ref Code WMTROUB15) Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD

Rejection – The Fairy Story

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Hilary Mantel, Short stories

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’m here, as promised.’

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

By now Hilary’s in the kitchen. She picks up your story, takes 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.’

You’re in a trance as you boil the kettle. This wonderful writer is sitting at your kitchen table, biting savagely at the end of her pencil while she works through your story. How did this come about? You’ve nearly lost control of your bodily functions. The power of speech is certainly beyond you.

‘Right.’ She drops the pencil back in her bag and grabs the coffee mug before you spill it. ‘It wasn’t that bad a story,’ she says, knocking back the Gold Blend in one gulp. ‘Just needed some tweaking. My first drafts of Wolf Hall were real crap, believe me.’

She hands back the empty mug and heads for the door, Ruby at her heels. Then she’s gone, in a flash. You stare down the street. No sign of her. There’s not even a car or taxi in sight.

Ruby runs round the side of the house towards the garden through a shaft of sunlight, her flapping ears magnified by a trick of the light into giant golden fairy wings.

 

Okay – you were warned it was a fairy story – BUT wouldn’t we all agree that any story of ours rewritten by someone like Hilary Mantel would become fabulous? No story is without hope. We just have to keep rewriting…