Posts Tagged Multi-story

Multi-Story Increases Prize Pot

Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Short Story, Successes on May 3, 2012

Helen from Multi-Story.co.uk has been in touch to tell me that for their latest short story competition, the prize pot has been increased to £500 for the first prize. Second prize is £100 and third prize £50.

The competition has an open theme and a word limit of 2,500. So there’s lots of scope there for writing something new or maybe you’ve got a favourite story which hasn’t got a home yet…

The judge is Amelia Farrell who has written short stories and serials for over 30 years, under various pen names. Have a look at the website to see what she’ll be looking for in the winning entry. But be warned, she says, “… don’t mistake me for some old girl who’s only interested in romance and cosy crime!” So this might not be the place to send a Womag story.

Entry is £5 and closing date is 30th June 2012. See the website for full details. The website also has a page giving pointers on how to improve your chances when entering competitions. Much of it has been said before but it’s always useful to have it drummed home again – especially the ‘Dare to be Different’ motto. Judges have a lot of stories to read and are looking for something that stands out from the rest.

Talking of competitions, I was pleased recently to make the longlist of the Flashbang Crime Story competition. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the shortlist but it was good to know that I’d been in the top 25% of entries.

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MULTI-STORY.co.uk Short Story Competition

Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Short Story on March 5, 2012

Helen Foley has been in touch from MULTI-STORY.co.uk  to tell me about the current short story competition that is running on the site.

She says, “It is for an open-themed story of no more than fifteen hundred words, the entry fee is £5 for one story or £8 for two and the closing date is 30th April 2012. There are cash prizes of £300 for first place, £100 for second, £50 for third and the winning entries will be published on the site. The judge is the author, Jim Williams, whose ten novels, including the Booker Prize nominated Scherzo, have all been internationally published.”

Entry fees are payable via PayPal and submission is by email. Full details are on the website along with a few words from Jim about what his is looking for in the winning entry.

 He says, ‘A prize-winning entry will show a knowledge, and understanding, of what makes a short story work. I’ll be looking for a distinctive voice, sharply drawn characters and the best possible use of language. Any dialogue should be engaging and appropriate.’  

As well as being a successful author, Jim also has a brilliant sense of humour. Take a look at his blog post, Why I am Glad I’m a Writer and not a Plumber – I challenge you not to laugh! 

So maybe a slightly humourous story might be a winner in the competition…

It’s a nice prize pot so, Good Luck!

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5 Word Challenge – The Answer

Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Writing on January 18, 2012

The 5 word sentence, where each of the 5 words is identical is:

Water buffalo fighting

Image via Wikipedia

Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

The meaning is:

Buffalo buffalo (i.e. buffalo that live in Buffalo) buffalo (i.e a verb meaning to intimidate or fight) Buffalo buffalo (i.e. buffalo that live in Buffalo).

This is also explained here and a longer more complicated version is here.  One day this knowledge might make you the winner of a pub quiz!

Whilst we’re on the subject of short pieces of writing, here are a couple of flash fiction competitions:

  • Early Works Press are offering £75 first prize plus two runners-up prizes of £10 for a 100-word story. Entry is £3.50 and the closing date is 31/8/2012. Full details here.
  • Multi-Story want 600 words and offer prizes of £300, £100 and £50 for an entry fee of £5 (or £8 for 2 stories).  It’s an open theme and the closing date is 29th February 2012. Full details are here.
 

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