You still have 10 days to send off your competition short story!
Categories comprise a 2500 word Short Story Category on any theme, a
Shorter Story Category for stories up to 1000 words and a Shortest Story
Category for stories up to 250 words.
Overall Prize Pot £1500
1st prize in each category - £300
2nd prize in each category - £100
3rd prize in each category - £50
5 runners up in each category will be published in our Short Story
Anthology (of which they will receive a copy), and awarded £10. All winners and runners up will receive a printed copy of our Short Story
Anthology (inclusion optional*).
Categories
Short Story Category - for stories up to 2500 words
Shorter Story Category - for stories up to 1000 words
Shortest Story Category - for stories up to 250 words
Closing Date
31st October 2014
Entry fee
1 story - £6, 2 stories - £10, 3 stories - £14, each additional story -
£4
Submission &
rules
Go to:
Results
All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place stories will be published in February
2015.
Winners will each receive a printed copy.
Short Story Judge (up to 2500 words): Emma Darwin
Emma Darwin is a novelist and short story writer. She was born in London
and brought up there, with interludes in Manhattan and Brussels. After an
education which involved a lot of history, a lot of reading and a degree in
Drama and Theatre Arts, she worked in academic publishing for a while. Despite
being diverted into a photographic darkroom for a few years she wrote her way
towards becoming a full-time writer. Her first novel The Mathematics of Love
was published in 2006. It was short-and long-listed for various prizes,
including the Commonwealth Writers' Best First Book, and translated into many
languages. Her second novel, A Secret Alchemy, was published in November
2008 and reached the bestseller lists. Along the way she acquired first an
MPhil and now a PhD in Creative Writing, enough novels in manuscript to prop up
several table legs, and a Bridport and other prizes for her short stories. Emma
is also an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing for the Open University, and
a senior editor with Writer's Workshop, and has appeared at numerous literary
festivals.
Shorter Story Judge (up to 1000 words): Sam Jordison
Sam Jordison is a hugely talented, bright, young writer. He was
co-editor of the bestselling Crap Towns and the follow-up book - Crap
Towns 2 - as well as writing four solo titles. He writes a regular books
column for The Guardian, and is the founder of Galley Beggar Press.
Here's what Sam looks for in a short story:
What makes a short story stand out from all the others?
I wish I could answer this more sensibly, but the truth is that there is
no formula. What makes a story stand out? Good writing. What is good writing? I
wish I could tell you. I think there has to be a lot of craft. You have to know
that each word is where it should be, and each sentence has been carefully
thought out. But beyond that… The mysteries of art…
Two of your favourite short stories (famous or otherwise)?
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. Big Two
Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway. They’re probably the best short stories
I’ve read. Everyone who wants to write short stories should look at them, try
to understand what he’s doing, and just as importantly, what he doesn’t do.
Learn from them. But don’t imitate them. That wouldn’t work…
What are the two most common mistakes you see?
I don’t know if I can answer that. Everyone makes their own mistakes.
Dialogue is possibly the hardest thing to get right. I also quite often advise
people not to explain too much. They shouldn’t have to spell out the lesson in
the story. The story should do that for itself, if it’s working… Generally.
But, I’m always wary about laying down rules. Lots of the stories I like break
them, after all…
Shortest Story Judge (max 250 words): Debbie Young
The English author, journalist and blogger Debbie Young has a special
interest in short stories and flash fiction. Her short fiction has been
published most recently in the National Flash Fiction Day's 2014 anthology Eating My Words and in
its online journal FlashFlood, and in her own collection Quick Change
(2014). She is also a reviewer for Vine Leaves
Literary Journal which focuses on the vignette. Debbie is Commissioning Editor
of the Alliance of Independent Authors' Self-publishing
Advice Blog and co-author of its campaigning guidebook, Opening Up To Indie
Authors and the author of the popular marketing handbook for indie authors, Sell
Your Books! Debbie has an honours degree in English
and Related Literature from the University of York, where she specialised in
19th and 20th century fiction. She now writes full-time.
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