Writing - competition - First person short story

Writing in the first person isn’t for every author. Some can’t handle it, while others only ever write using that point of view. If you’re drawn to this perspective, then there’s a free short story competition you can enter.

Holland Park Press has set a short story competition which takes inspiration from Arthur Rimbaud’s famous declaration ‘Je est un autre’ – ‘I is another’.

They want a story in the first person about someone who is not you but which concerns a subject close to year heart. The storyline should really matter to you but it should not be autobiographical. It should have a strong theme such as betrayal, sorrow, lust, jealousy or revenge.

Word-length:  under 2,000 words.

Closing date:  31 August 2015

They suggest you take your inspiration from:
Cathedral by Raymond CarverNotes on Time by Laura Del-RivoDevelopment by Karen Jennings

Prize

The author of the winning short story will receive £200 and the winning short story and runners-up will be published in their online magazine. The winner and runners-up will be announced at an awards ceremony in central London.

They accept stories from anywhere in the world but submissions have to comply with these guidelines:

The short story has to be written in English

• Translations are not accepted
• The short story should be 2000 words or less
• The short story must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been previously awarded or published
• You can only send in one short story per entrant
• They only accept electronic (email) submissions

Submission

E-mail them: submissions@hollandparkpress.co.uk

They will only process entries that follow the guidelines below:

• The short story must be attached as a single Microsoft Word file
• The Word file has to be named as follows: ddmmyy_firstnamesurname_another.doc, where ddmmyy is the date on which you send the email, first name and surname are your names.
• ‘I is Another’ must appear in the subject line of the email
• The body of the email should contain your contact details
• Please do not add your name or contact details to the Word file attachment that contains your story

Website details:

http://hollandparkpress.co.uk/magazine_detail.php?magazine_id=348&language=English

Good luck!

Storyteller's Seven - Tom Rizzo

Tom Rizzo kindly asked me to answers seven questions for his regular Tuesday spot on his blog - Story Teller’s Seven

 

 

 

 

That interview is here:

 

http://www.tomrizzo.com/storytellers-7-nik-morton-prolific-and-creative/

 

Now,  I reckoned I should return the favour, so these were my seven questions.

 1.            Heroes and Rogues looks like a fascinating book, judging by the entries on your website. You obviously had great fun collecting and writing the varied articles. I’d like to add it to my collection. When is it appearing on Amazon and elsewhere?

TR: I did have great fun putting that together. I find characters from frontier America as fascinating as fictional characters. At the moment Heroes & Rogues is available only from my website as an incentive to sign up for a newsletter. But, I'm in the process of expanding it with additional snapshot profiles. Then I'll make it available on Amazon in digital form, and replace the newsletter "incentive" with something else. 

2.           Whereabouts in Great Britain did you live – and for how long? Any memories of your stay? (I know: that’s sort of 3 questions in one!)

TR: I lived in Southwest England, the Cotswolds for four years--Gloucestershire County. I have lots of memories of my time there. At the time, there were no freeways; the country had just started to build its first one--the M1, I think. Before I had a car, I used to hitchhike quite a bit and met the most interesting characters. It was an educational experience.  One night, in the rain, I hitched a ride with a lorry (truck) driver. While we were sliding and bouncing along, I asked him what he was transporting. "Explosives, mate." I rode the rest of the way with my fist curled around the door handle in case I had to manage a quick escape.

 

 

 3.           Your western Last Stand at Bitter Creek features a black officer, David Webster. I’ve come across very few black main characters in westerns – DM Harrison’s The Buffalo Soldier, Frank Roderus’ The Outsider, Brian Garfield’s Tripwire, and the Cash Laramie adventures featuring Gideon Miles spring to mind... What prompted you to use a black protagonist?

TR: I learned that about 190,000 or so black soldiers served in the Union Army and Union Navy, but still endured discrimination and segregation, even though they made significant contributions in the war and put their lives on the line as much as anyone else. The army was reluctant to commission black officers, which numbered between 90 and 120. The Lincoln administration initially worried that recruiting black troops would alienate border states and give them a reason to secede. The idea of a black soldier serving as a Union spy intrigued me. Making him an integral part of the plot, and equipping him with skills perhaps not normally associated with black soldiers, I think, gave the story a broader appeal. At least that was my intent.

4.           Can you describe where you’re going with your latest book?

TR: I'm in the process of outlining the next novel, which will feature both Bonner and Webster. I had such good feedback on both, I wanted to create a storyline where they'll be paired again, this time in search of another stolen treasure. 

 

5.       You’re keen on the importance of research and have warned about the danger of doing too much. Have you now evolved a method of handling research so it doesn’t take over timewise, and have you any fascinating nugget that has jumped out recently?

TR: Too much research, of course, sucks the time from actual storytelling. But the research I did for Last Stand At Bitter Creek was important because it enabled me to get a solid sense of time and place for the last half of the 19th century. Since I have the "background" information in place, most of my research involves connecting the dots, so to speak, in terms of the actual character and events that parallel the time frame I use for my story. 

 

6.            Okay, you're in a small café, huddling with three of your favorite writers (living or dead). One specializes in Westerns; another in Thrillers; the third in Short Stories. Who would they be, and what one – and different – question would you ask each of them?

TR:  Raymond Carver who, in his day, revitalized American short story telling. Carver focused on ordinary people who find themselves in ordinary - and sometimes bizarre - emotional conflicts. My question: "In what ways does real life reflect the untidy endings you write about in your stories?"  

Louis L'Amour -- because (1) the way he was able to bring the characters and the landscape of the American frontier to life, and (2) for his passion at treating the Western as history. I'd ask: "What role, and in what ways, did the American frontier shape the American character?"

David Morrell -- I'd ask him, "As backgrounding for your stories, you've become a private pilot, been trained in firearms, hostage negotiation, executive protection, expert driving strategies, assuming identities, and other things. Obviously, this all helps in creating reality in storytelling. But what advice would you give to a writer who has neither the time nor money to learn such things, but wants to write as compelling a story as you do?"

 7.            How would you finish this statement: "I bet my readers didn't know (this about me) …”?

TR: I once had lunch with Elvis Presley's manager, Col. Tom Parker, in Las Vegas.

Thanks, Tom.