Women Only Writing Competitions
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Writing on February 24, 2011
Where are all the male writers hiding?
The writers’ events I’ve been to recently seem to be dominated by the fairer sex. At the Martin Davies Novel Writing Day there were around a dozen participants but only one of them was male. At the writers group I attend, women outnumber men by nearly 3 to 1 and in the Birmingham Chapter of the Romantic Novelists Association we have just one man (but maybe that is to be expected!).
And judging by the email addresses of the subscribers to this blog, 95 % of them are women and most of the comments left are from ladies too.
I pointed out this imbalance in the sexes to my husband and he suggested that maybe all the male writers are actually writing and producing best-sellers, rather than sitting around talking about writing or surfing the blogosphere.
He could have a point. We women get caught up in the social aspects of writing whereas our male counterparts actually knuckle down and get on with it.
So as we seem to be all girls together, here are some suggestions for women only competitions to get you inspired and writing:
- The Glass Woman is a fiction competition for stories of between 50 and 5,000 words. The theme is open but the subject must be of significance to women. No entry fee and the closing date is March 21st. First prize is $500 plus there are runners-up prizes. Previous winning entries plus full details are here.
- The Baptist Times are running a women’s writing competition for non-fiction. There are 3 categories each with a prize of £100; Spirituality, Cultural Comment and Faith & Life. The judges are looking for writing that’s stylish, insightful and powerful. No entry fee, word limit is 1,000 and closing date is 4th April. Full details here.
- The Grey Hen Poetry competition is open only to women over 60. Closing date is 30th April 2011, £3 entry fee and £100 first prize. Full details here.
If you’re already a published novelist then there’s always the Orange Prize for Fiction.
Oh, and if you’re a man reading this – please leave a comment and make yourself known (or use the box on the right to sign-up to receive my blog posts by email – that way you’ll never miss one!)
Storytelling
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events on February 21, 2011
Last week I went to an adult (no, not that sort of adult!) storytelling event at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Birmingham. The place was bursting at the seams with people of all ages keen to enjoy an evening of live entertainment. It was all very informal with the tellers (if that’s the right word) taking it in turns to stand up and spin their yarns. Every story was unique and every teller extremely polished, whilst still retaining a freshness and friendliness within their performance. We heard stories of stealing from corpses, mind-reading and chopping the feet off a dead body. Without microphones, props or costumes we were transported to other worlds by the power of the teller’s language and a few dramatic gestures.
Storytelling is a traditional art that is making comeback. I first heard about it through a friend of mine, Sophie Snell, who is a professional storyteller. She tells her tales at a whole range of events and venues as well as going into schools to work with children. Sophie gave up her career as a management consultant when her children came along and, after attending a storytelling event, decided that storytelling was what she wanted to do. She started attending training sessions and workshops and the rest, as they say, is history.
If you fancy going along to an event in the Midlands have a look at the Traditional Arts Team website.
What struck me about the storytellers was their precise use of language which enabled the listeners to immediately conjure up a wonderful accurate image. Words like nice, quite and sort of were conspicuous by their absence. Storytellers have to grab the attention of an audience and hold it for 10 or 15 minutes. If a listener’s mind drifts for just a few seconds he loses his place in the story and can’t re-read the page as he might in a book.
As a writer I already read aloud my finished pieces and this enables me to spot any clumsy language or word repetition. I wonder if standing in front of the mirror and telling my story to a pretend audience might help me conjure up more colourful imagery as well as pick up on any dull bits in the narrative where the reader is likely to get bored and switch off.
I think I might try it – when the house is empty!
Paper Lanterns by Christine Coleman
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books on February 17, 2011
Paper Lanterns by Christine Coleman is a self-published novel and the first I’ve ever read. I may be naive (and I admit
to knowing nothing about publishing) but I was expecting something amateurish, lacking in editing and with a cheap feel to it.
How wrong can you be! Paper Lanterns looks and feels like any professionally published paperback and, most importantly, it is a great read.
Christine was inspired by the discovery of a bundle of love letters written in China in the 1920s by two different women to the same man. The story is one of family secrets and the impact of their revelation. The narrative flicks between England and China in the 1930s, 1970s and 2008. Christine handles this complex structure without a hiccup.
Christine’s first novel, The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society, was published traditionally by Transita in 2005. Unfortunately, Transita are no longer publishing fiction and hence, Christine’s decision to publish her second book via NovelPress. NovelPress was formed by a group of writers, including Christine, who met on the Creative Writing M.A. at Nottingham Trent University in the late 90s and Paper Lanterns is the first book they’ve produced.
Both of Christine’s books are available via her website www.christinecoleman.net.
Reading Paper Lanterns raised two points in my mind:
- If someone who had a successful first novel published, can’t get their next book into print the traditional way – what hope is there for the rest of us who have yet to break into print at all? The growth of ebooks is making it easier for anyone to make their work available to the public but, for me, reading my work on a screen just wouldn’t have the same excitement as handling a book with my name on the cover.
- Paper Lanterns was inspired by a legacy of letters. Today we communicate via email and text. As current technology becomes obsolete these missives will disappear into the skip along with the computers and mobiles that generated and received them. Similarly, many of us take more photos than ever before but often they remain as digital images on disks that may be unreadable to future generations. Technology is making life easier today but will we be leaving anything of our lives behind us when we are gone?
Writing Serials for Women’s Magazines Course
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Writing on February 14, 2011
Joanna Barnden is running a one-day course on writing serials for the women’s magazine market on April 7th in Derby. Joanna has had many stories and serials published and is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association.
I have attended 2 of her previous courses and as well as being extremely informative, they are stimulating and enjoyable. Joanna provides a friendly atmosphere and high quality refreshments throughout the day plus a home-cooked lunch (with pudding!).
Here is the course content (in Joanna’s own words):
Derby – Thursday April 7th 2011, 9.30 am – 4.30 pm
Editors love a good serial – one rich with interesting characters, bursting with tensions, rustling with mystery, and written with pace and flair. One, in short, that will keep their readers coming back for more. They are always on the lookout for new writers and, indeed, Women’s Weekly say that their serial slot receives the fewest submissions, so your odds of getting published are higher – if you get it right!
Now here is a one-day workshop that can help you do just that, covering:
What makes a good serial – To start off, we will look at the core attributes of all serials, at popular genres and at what the market is looking for right now.
Creating a cast list – This is a vital and much overlooked element of a successful serial. It’s your characters that give your story colour, detail, life and, very importantly in a longer work – variety. We’ll look at how to create a believable and exciting set of people for your serial.
Plotting – The strength and depth of your plot will determine the success of your serial. It’s the single biggest shift from short pieces and a serious challenge over stories of up to 60,000 words. We’ll look at how to create plots and subplots and how to intertwine them effectively.
Viewpoint – Longer serials are usually told from more than one viewpoint but this can be tricky to balance. We’ll look at how to successfully get into the heads of multiple characters.
Writing the submission – Your first episode and plot summary are your tools for selling your serial to an editor. We’ll look at how to get them right and get you into print week after week…
Cost: £90 including full home-cooked lunch (about half what you’ll make on just one episode).
Joanna points out on her website that much of the teaching will also be applicable to the sister craft of writing a novel.
For those who don’t live within reach of Derby, Joanna hopes to roll the course out across the country later in the year.
To request more information or to reserve a place – go to Joanna’s website www.joannabarnden.co.uk.
I’ve booked my place (as a birthday present from my husband) and am looking forward to picking up some useful tips. Hope to see some of you there!
Ideas for Writers Available Here!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Resources, Writing on February 10, 2011
Where do you get your ideas from?
That must be the question most often asked of writers and the most difficult to answer. We all know that story and character ideas are all around in us our daily life – overheard conversations, a couple arguing in the street or 2 teenagers in hoodies following an old lady.
But ideas tend to be like buses – 3 come along in a row or, no matter how long you wait, not one puts in an appearance.
If you’re suffering an ideas drought here are a few ‘ideas factories’ to kick-start your imagination:
- Sally & Cally’s Short Story Ideas Generator – this will give you a random character, setting and conflict/situation
- The Brainstormer – this is a little bit like an on-line roulette wheel. Click on the ‘Random’ button to spin the wheel and generate a conflict, adjective and person/place/thing.
- The Writers’ Idea Store in Writers’ Forum magazine – this monthly feature by Paula Williams discusses where to find ideas and also incorporates a Fiction Square. The square includes 6 each of characters, conflicts, weather, setting and objects. Roll a dice once for each of these categories in order to determine which should be in your next story.
- The Writer’s Block – this is a block-shaped book that contains ideas and story prompts on every page. It’s well worth dipping into if you’re scratching your head for something to write about.
- Sign up for the free e-newsletter produced by www.ideasforwriters.co.uk – you will receive story prompts and ideas for historical anniversaries to write about.
- Creative Writing Prompts has 346 prompts to get your pen moving.
There is no copyright on ideas. This means that it’s acceptable to re-write a well-known story such as a fairy-tale or legend. Try writing The Frog Prince from the point of view of the frog rather than the princess or modernise Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by giving the heroine a job as a housekeeper to a group of brothers living in a large house inherited from their parents.
So now you’ve no excuse for not writing. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike – use the suggestions above to create your own!
Remember – Writers Write! (they don’t just sit around and think about it).
And the Winner is….
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on February 7, 2011
The winner in the prize draw for the set of 3 Stieg Larsson books is:
Helen lives in Dorset and writes part-time, mainly articles and reviews. Social history is a particular favourite topic. However, she has had success with short stories, having won two competitions. She is currently working on several projects, all at different stages, from early research to about to submit. Further information can be found on Helen’s website www.helenbaggott.co.uk.
Congratulations to Helen and thanks to every one who took part by signing up for an email subscription to this blog.
Here are a couple more ‘win a book’ competitions to have a go at if you’re feeling lucky:
How to Write a Novel
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Writing on February 3, 2011
As you may have gathered from reading this blog, short stories and articles are my ‘thing’. I find the prospect of
writing anything longer than about 3,000 words terrifying! I succeeded in NaNoWriMo 2009 but my 50,000 words were rambling and certainly nowhere near a coherent story.
Hence my decision to sign-up for Martin Davies’ Novel Writing Starter Kit.
Last Saturday was the big day and I came away thinking that writing a novel might actually be possible. Martin was very generous with his advice and here are the most important bits :
- Writing is a habit that gets easier the more you write. Decide when and where you are going to write. Don’t be too ambitious because that makes failure more likely. Sticking to 10 minutes, twice a week before bed is easier to maintain than trying to write for the whole of every Saturday afternoon. Remember that little bits, done regularly, will add up.
- Set a time limit for each writing session and don’t use that time to re-read or revise what has gone before. Don’t worry about the standard of your writing – just keep going.
- Write what you enjoy reading. You will have to live with this novel and its characters for months, maybe years, so it’s no good trying commercial chick-lit if you hate reading that genre.
- Don’t wait for a fantastic, original idea to drop into your lap. Most plots have been done many times over and it’s perfectly acceptable to re-tell an old tale or legend. Maybe set it in a different time period or tell it from a different point of view.
- People + Events = Change. This is the formula for a novel. Drop an event on your characters and watch as they react to the ripples and changes around them.
- Create a structure for your story. Include the main events plus the milestones that must happen to lead up to these events. This is your map for the journey ahead but remember, you can change this as you write and get to know your characters better.
- Only include subplots if they have a reason within the overall plot. For example they may give an insight into the character of your main protagonist or give necessary information to the reader.
- Know your setting but don’t go into reams of descriptions about the landscape. Feed small details to the reader and they will build their own images.
- Similarly with character descriptions, less can be more. Show your hero’s characteristics through action where possible.
- Don’t get bogged down by research. If you’re unsure of something when writing don’t stop the flow to find out, put a question mark and look it up later.
- Keep your first novel simple. You will gain confidence from finishing it, whether or not it is published, then you can move on to a more complex story/structure.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? Just stick to Martin’s mantra of ‘Writers Write!’ and you can’t go far wrong in turning yourself from ‘someone who likes the idea of writing a novel’ into ‘someone who has a completed novel under their belt’.
So, fired up with enthusiasm, I am now publicly setting myself the goal of writing a 30,000 word My Weekly pocket novel and I’m going to start by brainstorming some ideas…
My writing buddy, Helen Yendall, also attended Martin’s workshop – you can read her take on the day here.
P.S. Only one day left to enter my free prize draw!
Markets for 500 Word Stories
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on January 31, 2011
Not got much time for writing? Fancy trying something short and sharp? Have a look at these competitions for 500
word stories. But beware, just because they’re short it doesn’t mean they’re easy. It’s very difficult to get a beginning, middle and end, plus a bit of character development into 500 words.
- The Flash 500 Competition is a quarterly competition with an open theme, the next closing date is the 31st March and there is the option of receiving a critique on your story. Entry fee is £5 and there is a £250 first prize plus publication in Words with Jam
- Emerald Writing Workshops also run a quarterly competition with the next closing date being 28th February. The theme varies and the for the current competition the story must be set in an airport. Previous winning entries plus the judge’s comments are available on the website. Entry fee is 5 second class stamps for a total prize fund of £75.
- Spilling Ink Review have a flash fiction competition for stories up to 500 words in length. The closing date is 1st April 2011 and it is an open theme. Prizes are £250, £125 and £50 plus a free copy of their annual print anthology. Entry fee is £5
But if they all sound like too much hard work then take the easy option and enter my free prize draw instead.
Good Luck!
National Trust Poetry Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Poetry on January 28, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
The National Trust is calling for poems inspired by a special outdoor place for their Landlines Competition.
The prize is something money can’t buy – a special day with National Trust staff at either an outdoors location or behind the scenes at one of the NT properties in the winners’ chosen region. In addition the winners in each category will have their poem published in the autumn 2011 edition of National Trust Magazine. The winners and five runners-up will also receive a copy of Ode to the Countryside – the NT collection of poetry celebrating the British landscape.
The judge is the poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan. He says, “The open air, the layers of landscape, the endlessly changing weather and the way that buildings and places can evoke memory are all grist to the poet’s mill.”
So it should be easy to find plenty of inspiration to get you going!
There are two categories – ‘Under 16′ and ’16 and Over’. Only one poem per entrant is allowed and each poem should be no longer than 20 lines. There is no entry fee.
The closing date is 31 March 2011 and entry is by email or post. For full details of where to send your poems click here.
And don’t forget, there’s only a week to go before I draw the winner of the Stieg Larsson books. Details are here.
Brit Writers’ Awards 2011
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions on January 25, 2011
The Brit Writers’ Awards is a major competition with a massive £10,000 prize for the eventual winner and it’s principally aimed at unpublished writers. It promises a glittering awards ceremony for the finalists which will be attended by major publishing houses, celebrities and international media representatives.
The entries will be judged in 8 different categories:
- Poetry
- Short stories
- Novels
- Non-fiction
- Stories for children
- Songwriting
- Stage/screenplay
- Published writer of the year
Tempted by the size of the prize fund and the description of the awards ceremony I entered this competition last year (its inaugural year). I was disappointed with it on several counts:
- From the beginning I was sent emails trying to sell me tickets to the awards ceremony
- The closing date for entries was extended (which doesn’t seem fair to those of us who had worked and submitted to the original date)
- The announcement of the results was postponed more than once
- Postings on the Writers’ News Talkback Forum indicated that the awards ceremony was disappointing
When I saw the announcement of the 2011 awards I decided that my grumbles might just be down to teething problems in the competition’s first year and, since Writers’ News subscribers qualify for free entry, it might be worth giving it another go (especially since there is no set theme and therefore I could choose one of my existing stories to send in).
Then I read that Writers’ News/Writing Magazine have withdrawn their association with the Brit Writers’ Awards because they were ‘increasingly concerned at Brit Writers’ development into a financial operation’. apparently they have introduced something called ‘Your Book Your Way’, a paid scheme that helps authors self-publish but using partners approved of by Brit Writers. They are also behind the ‘Publishing Programme’ that offers 15 writers a year’s editorial development and guaranteed publication – at a cost of £1,795 per participant.
So now I’m not so sure about entering. Has anyone else any experience of this competition? Do you plan on entering this year?
The Brit Writers’ Awards are a big step up from my claim to fame this week – a letter in the Jan/Feb issue of Tesco Magazine and it wasn’t even the star letter so I didn’t get my hands on the prize of a weekend break in London. But if at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again – so I’ve just whizzed off another one to them. For some hints on writing letters for publication click here and for my free prize draw click here.
Sally Jenkins 