WRITEALOT: Words with JAM

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Writing - competition - Words with Jam short story competition

Words with Jam is the ezine for writers and publishers and it's jam-packed with information, articles, interviews, humour and links. http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/

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:

http://jdsmith.moonfruit.com/

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.

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/

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…

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/samjordison

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.

http://authordebbieyoung.com/author/youngdebbie/

Monday, 26 August 2013

The 'Dark Side' - Interview with crimewriter Frances di Plino

I’m pleased to have Frances di Plino as my guest today. She is the author of the crime thrillers Bad Moon Rising and (just launched) Someday Never Comes, published by Crooked Cat Publishing. Both books feature DI Paolo Storey [I’ve got them on my Kindle and I’m looking forward to reading them - Nik] Frances di Plino is the pseudonym of columnist, editor, non-fiction author and writing tutor, Lorraine Mace. Writing as Frances di Plino gives her the opportunity to allow the dark side of her personality to surface and take control. As Lorraine Mace, she is a gentler creature, being humour columnist for Writing Magazine and a deputy editor of Words with JAM. She writes fiction for the women's magazine market, features and photo-features for monthly glossy magazines and is a writing competition judge for Writers' Forum. She is a fiction and non-fiction tutor for the Writers’ Bureau, and is the author of the Writers’ Bureau course, Marketing Your Book. She is also co-author, with Maureen Vincent-Northam, of The Writer's ABC Checklist (Accent Press).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Moon-Rising-Frances-Plino/dp/1908910402/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

NM. Tell me a little about DI Paolo Storey. It’s an interesting name. What’s his background?

FDP. Detective Inspector Paolo Storey owes his roots to my own Italian ancestry. My great-grandfather was an Italian immigrant to Britain in the late 1890s. He settled and married an English woman, but that Italian blood lives on in his descendants. So, when it came time to create my main character, I decided to give him a similar background to mine. His mother was Italian, but his father Scottish. He’s tenacious and uncompromising when it comes to his own conduct, but compassionate and understanding when dealing with others.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Someday-Never-Comes-Frances-Plino/dp/1909841137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377522242&sr=1-1

NM. The release of Someday Never Comes just occurred. Is this another Storey thriller to follow Bad Moon Rising?

FDP. It is. It’s the second in the series. The blurb on the cover reads as follows:
Has Detective Inspector Paolo Storey come up against a criminal he cannot defeat? Paolo is determined to shut down the syndicate flooding Bradchester’s streets with young prostitutes. When a child is murdered, Paolo becomes aware of a sinister network of abusers spread across Europe, and spanning all levels of society. But Joey, the shadowy leader of the gang, always seems to be one step ahead in the chase.
“dark and uncomfortably believable.” JJ Marsh, author of the Beatrice Stubbs Series

NM. What are you currently working on?

FDP. The third in the Detective Inspector Paolo Storey series, Call it Pretending. After the harrowing crimes in Someday Never Comes, Paolo is once again dealing with murder. This time it is a murderer with an agenda. He isn’t killing to feed any dark desires, as in Bad Moon Rising, but to get revenge on those he feels wronged him in the past.

NM. How long have you been writing? What influenced you to start?

FDP. I had my first short story published when I was twelve and then didn’t write another thing for (cough, cough number of) years. I started again in 2002 and had a short story published in a women’s magazine. That was enough to get me fired up and I decided to take the Writers Bureau comprehensive course. I’m glad I did because I learned how to write non-fiction and I’ve been a columnist and regular contributor to glossy magazines for over a decade. In 2007, I was appointed as a Writers Bureau tutor. I now run my own critique and mentoring service for writers.

NM. How do your family/friends feel about your writing?

FDP. My husband is ridiculously proud and a bit of a bore at social gatherings. If he’s on the other side of the room and I find people staring at me, I know he’s been leading with the line: did you know my wife is an author? My children just seem to accept that it’s what Mum does for a living. My sister amuses me. She reads my books and loves them, but won’t tell anyone I’m her sister. She sent me an email after reading Bad Moon Rising saying I need to wash my mind out with soap and water. So far, she’s only read the blurb for Someday Never Comes, but her response to that was that I needed therapy – followed by the question: when can I get my copy?

Frances/Lorraine

NM. Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

FDP. Doing exactly what I’m doing now, which is writing part of the day and providing writing services the rest of the time (critiques, author mentoring and teaching creative writing). I love my working life and wouldn’t change it. Well, maybe a small change. I’d love to see Paolo on television. A number of readers have said they think Bad Moon Rising would be perfect for the small screen.

NM. I believe you’re also writing outside the crime genre. Do you want to tell me about that?

FDP. Under my own name of Lorraine Mace, as mentioned above, I write mainly non-fiction, but I have my first children’s novel coming out in the USA next April. It was accepted by an American publisher and I’m really excited about it. I’d love to tell you more about it, but the publishers have asked me to keep the title and plot to myself for now as they want to make a big splash with it pre-launch. Maybe I could come back nearer the time? [Of course you can! – Nik]

NM. A tall order, I know, but what is your favourite book? And why?

FDP. Wow, only one? That’s so hard. If I’m pushed into a corner and have to choose, it would be Terry Pratchett’s The Night Watch. It is clever and funny, as well as showing every aspect of human nature. It has a cracking plot, the pace never lets up and the circular nature of the tale succeeds in a way few time travel stories actually do. Most of them leave unanswered questions or unresolved issues, but not this one.

NM. How do you cope with writing under two names? Is the division of work easy?

FDP. It’s interesting, to say the least. I find I sign off emails under the wrong name, which is fine with those who know I’m Frances di Plino and Lorraine Mace, but I have had a few replies from bewildered people wondering who this Frances person was and how she’d come to intercept a personal email addressed to Lorraine.

When sitting at my computer, it doesn’t matter which persona I am writing under. I get completely immersed in whatever I’m doing. Online, it’s a different matter. I confuse myself sometimes and once nearly thanked myself for retweeting one of my other persona’s tweets! That way madness lies.

NM. Where can readers find you?