Quantum shorts competition 2017

I'm honoured to once again be on the judging panel for the excellent Quantum Shorts competition alongside Brian Greene, oh my! So, what do you need to do to win? Well:

You have from now until 1st December 2017 to send us a story up to 1000 words long. We challenge you to open your imagination to the strange ways of quantum particles and anticipate a new era of quantum technology

There is much inspiration for your stories on the website, do check it out - looking forward to reading your quantum flashes!

Short story talk...

I've been asked to waffle on about short stories quite a lot recently, I thought I'd share it all with you - first, here are a blue-tinged me and Kirsty Logan at Fictions Of Every Kind in Leeds in November, talking about short stories and writing:



Next, I was honored to be interviewed over at The Short Story, here's a snippet:

How has the editing process informed your own work?
 
What an interesting question! First, I have to say that it’s far easier to spot things in someone else’s work than it is in your own. What I do when I offer suggestions on someone else’s story is to remember to come at it from within what the writer wants to do, not how I would write that story.

And this week the wonderful folk at the Bristol Short Story Prize, for whom I am a judge this year, asked me a few more questions:

What influence do you think doing a PhD has had on your writing?

As a short story writer – and now also a poet – while I loved what I was doing, no-one was really waiting for me to do anything, by which I mean, I imposed my own deadlines, motivated myself. I didn’t have an agent chivvying me, for example. So the main reason for me to undertake a PhD in Creative Writing was to have a framework, to get gently yet firmly chivvied!  

You may discover that I disagree with myself in these interviews - any thoughts on your own writing processes, what competitions mean to you? Please do share in the comments!

Making choices - Bare Fiction & Smokelong

I'm thrilled that the winners of the Bare Fiction short story competition - which I co-judged with Rachel Tresize - have now been announced, congrats to:

 

1st Prize (£500):

David McGrath, Ger Sheen and the Satanists (UK)

 

2nd Prize (£200):

Allie Rogers, Trout Quintet (UK)

 

3rd Prize (£100):

Anne Corlett, The Clay Baby (UK)

 

Highly Commended x 2 (£25):

Roy Marshall, Late (UK) chosen by Tania Hershman
Jenni Lawson, The Present (UK) chosen by Rachel Trezise

 

Shortlisted (in no particular order):

Paul Nicholas, The Clock (UK)
Annalisa Crawford, 133 Steps (UK)
Frances Gapper, Broken Thing (UK)
Tamara Jones, Dead Daffodils (UK)
Joanna Walsh, Enzo Ponza (UK)
Hannah Gildea, And Still the Sea is Salt (Portland, OR)
Jack Cooke, Still Life (UK)
Penny Simpson, Winter Solstice (UK)
Melanie Whipman, Dissolving (UK)
Paddy Doherty, The Lonely Gene (Spain)
Rachel Cather, Life of a Wasp (Belgium)

If you're interested in how the process worked, you can read our judges' reports here >> 

Also, I've now picked the flash story that will be published in Smokelong Quarterly under my guest editorship and the author of the story has been informed - there were over 100 submissions, thank you to all those of you who sent your work! I'll let you know when the story is published, I hope you'll like it as much as I do!

Lit Works First Page Writing Prize

Delighted to be involved in this:

We're accepting submissions! 

We’re accepting entries for the Literature Works First Page Writing Prize. We are seeking superb opening pages of unpublished novels (and a 150 word synopsis) from promising writers around the country. We’re looking for openings of a novel that make us want to read on, for that compelling first page of a novel that captures the imagination! Proceeds will support our Grassroots Literature fund, providing small grants for reading and writing activity across South West England. Please read our competition documents for submission guidelines and rules.

The Prizes
1st Prize – £1500 and a free reading of the first three chapters of the entry by a literary agent, who will provide an A4 single-page feedback on the submission
 2nd Prize – £350

 3rd Prize – £150

To Enter
Please read our guidelines sheet carefully. All entries should be accompanied by a completed cover sheet.

 Please send entries to: Literature Works First Page Writing Prize, Peninsula Arts, Plymouth University, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake’s Circus, PLYMOUTH, PL4 8AA The entry fee is £5, payable in pounds sterling, for first entry; £3 thereafter for subsequent entries. The closing date for the competition is 30 September 2013.

The Judges

Sarah Duncan is a novelist and screenwriter whose most recent novel, Kissing Mr Wrong, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year. Her novels are published in fourteen countries around the world including the USA, France and Germany. Sarah is the Royal Literary Fund fellow at the University of Bath and has taught the Fiction Writing Workshop for the University of Bristol for the past eight years. Find out more at www.sarahduncan.co.uk

 Tania Hershman likes it short, very short. Her new collection, My Mother Was An Upright Piano (Tangent Books, 2012) contains 56 tiny fictions, and her work has been published widely in print and online and broadcast on BBC Radio. She is writer-in-residence in the Science Faculty at Bristol University and editor of The Short Review. Find out more at www.taniahershman.com

Christopher Wakling’s six acclaimed novels include What I Did, The Devil’s Mask, and On Cape Three Points. Born in 1970, he read English at Oxford, then worked as a farm hand, teacher and lawyer, before turning to writing full time in 2001. As well as writing fiction, Christopher is a travel writer for The Independent. He is also the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Bristol University and has tutored many creative writing courses for The Arvon Foundation, The Faber Academy, and Curtis Brown Creative.

The Agent

Clare Wallace joined the Darley Anderson Agency in January 2011. As the Head of Rights, she negotiates deals for translation rights all around the world for all the Agency’s authors. Clare represents authors both in the UK and the US including Kim Slater, Polly Ho-Yen, Adam Perrott and illustrators Jon Holder, Loretta Schauer and Pete Williamson. Clare graduated with a first from a BA in Creative Writing and Cultural Studies at Bath Spa University and went on to gain a distinction on the MA in Creative Writing.

Click here for more information.

Spread the Word Writing Prize

Once again, I am getting judgemental - I am honoured to be one of the judges for the brand new Spread the Word Writing Prize, run by those excellent folk at Spread the Word, the literature development agency in London. Here are the details - only open to London residents, I'm afraid! But you do have up to 8000 words to play with, with NO MINIMUM. (I bet you guessed I might mention that...) Deadline July 15th. Surprise and delight us...

The Spread the Word Writing Prize 2013

We are delighted to announce the Spread the Word Writing Prize 2013.  Short Fiction is a form we are excited about - we feel it has growing appeal and an audience that’s ripe for development. You’ll have up to 8000 words to move, excite, enthrall and inspire us on the theme of ‘ Ritual’. We’re ready to see the best of what London writers have to offer. So get writing! Download Full Prize Rules here.

Download the Entry Form and a Cultural Diversity Monitoring Form

Closing Date for entries is midday, Monday 15 July 2013.

Judges
Bidisha is a writer, critic and BBC TV and radio broadcaster. She writes for a wide range of international publications and has judged numerous prizes. She specializes in the arts and culture, social justice issues and international affairs; and is the author of two novels. Her fifth book is out next year.

Tania Hershman is the author of two story collections: My Mother Was An Upright Piano: Fictions (Tangent Books, 2012), a collection of 56 very short fictions, and The White Road and Other Stories (Salt, 2008; commended, 2009 Orange Award for New Writers.) She is Writer the ditor of the online journal The Short Review. Her website is www.taniahershman.com

Sue Lawther is the Director of Spread the Word. She has worked in arts and education for over 20 years. As a Creative Director at Creative Partnerships Sue worked with hundreds of artists and schools to develop creative programmes and was executive producer of The Container by Clare Bayley, which won a Fringe First at the 2007 Edinburgh festival and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.

Courttia Newland Novelist, short story writer, playwright and editor. His latest novel The Gospel According to Cane, was published by Telegram in early 2013. Short story collections include Music for the Off-Key and A Book of Blues. He has edited many anthologies, most recently co-editing Tell Tales 4: The Global Village (2009).

My judging process or How I read 849 Stories in Two Months

I've finished the judging for the Sean O'Faolain short story competition, sent my decision in on Monday. The longlist will be announced next week, I'll let you know when it's posted. In the meantime, I thought I'd reflect on how it was for me, what I learned as a reader and as a writer.

849 stories. No sifters, no first readers. Just me. I'd heard from previous judges that I should pace myself otherwise I could be overwhelmed! So I did. And although I was getting 100 or so stories at a time - and two large parcels in the post of about 100 printed stories each - I remained mostly calm. It's a joy and a privilege, first to be asked to pick only what I love, and second to have hundreds of writers entrust me with your stories. I don't take that lightly. I've done it myself, many times. You do send out a small piece of you whenever you submit anything. I took that responsibility very seriously.

I am not, of course, going to mention individual stories, nothing like that. But I thought it might be useful - for me and for others - to talk about what it was like to be the sole judge. Of course, each judge is different, each short story competition is different, and most will have readers and only pass on a long- or short-list to the final judge.

What I tried to do when opening or picking up each new story for the first read was to say to the story: "Wow me. Show me what you've got!" and be completely open. At the beginning, as I read the first 100, I was quite nervous. What if I didn't find a single story that I liked? I mean, really, I'm very picky, I read lots and lots of short stories, all the time, and I know what a great story feels like, what it does to you. I was going to settle for nothing less than that physical jolt of a fantastic short story, that slap in the face, that sensation that you simply can't read anything else, you have to stop and digest what you've just read.

As I read, stories started making it into the Maybe pile. These were stories that stood out for various reasons: beautiful use of language, strong character voices that I could hear as I read, unique settings or situations, utterly bizarre plots I felt I had to read again!

The ones that didn't make it into the Maybe pile were those that tended to take a long time to get to any action, to explain too much to me, to overdo it on the background information, to not have a "voice" so that I couldn't hear the character, or to use very flowery language which I felt got in the way rather than enhanced the story. Stories that didn't make the Maybe pile were those that felt as though I'd read them before, somewhere, that they were familiar, too familiar, in terms of storyline or characters.  

Very very few stories made it straight into the Yes pile, and those were the ones that on first read gave me that jolt. No doubt about it. They shook me up. They had everything that, for this reader, makes a great and winning story.

After reading a few hundred of the earliest entries, I had quite a few Maybes and one or two Yesses and so I was feeling far less nervous. I had stories I liked, loved even, and from that point on, while also saying to each story "Wow me", I was also reading with a slightly different eye. As more stories went into the Maybe pile and I realised I had "enough" stories that I liked, I think that I was tougher on the later stories. I asked slightly more of them, I said to them "So, how are you better than the ones I already like?" And as I got closer and closer to the last of the entries, this probably became more exacerbated, as I imagine it would for anybody.

I don't believe that this meant I gave less consideration to the later-submitted entries. Every story got equal consideration. But it is an inevitable part of a process like this. One way to completely avoid this might have been to wait until all the entries were in and then read them in random order, unrelated to when they were submitted. But that would have meant reading 849 stories in one week - and that would have been impossible!

However, on second read, things changed. I was going back and re-reading the Maybes, and the earlier entries were now being read in light of the later entries! So the process was balanced out. Several Maybes were moved to the No pile, and then I had my longlist, and it includes stories that were sent all throughout the entry period.

I then began the next stage, reading the few Yesses and the Maybes again and assigning each a score. This seemed to me to be the only way to try and narrow the list down. I didn't have a very elaborate scoring system, it was more of a gut reaction to each story. And on second read, not all the Yesses stayed in the Yes pile. I was looking for a story that gave up more of itself with every read - a story that has layers, that remains fabulous even when you know how it ends. This, for me, is the mark of a great story. There were several I had adored on first read but on second read, the magic, the jolt, just wasn't there. 

Anyway, narrowing it down was incredibly hard. All the longlisted stories wowed and delighted me in some way. All of them. Really, getting onto my longlist was the major achievement because it meant that a story leapt out at me from amongst hundreds. 

So, what made the move from longlist to shortlist? Much of it was down to those extremely difficult aspects of a story: beginnings and endings. In a few instances, stories had quite slow beginnings, they took too long, in my opinion, to get to the action. Once they got there, the story was great, but they needed a bit more revision. In other cases, endings let a story down. The story had gripped me, the voice was great, but I'd felt that the ending didn't satisfy me, didn't give me any kind of jolt. 

And what of the winners? Well, that was really really hard. In the end, all I could do was go with my gut feeling. It was so close, between all of the top stories. But the 1st and 2nd placed stories were the ones that brought me to tears as I read them again and again, they just had that power. I felt that they addressed so many themes so well and concisely, without labouring a point, and there was really nothing in there that wasn't in the service of the story, nothing extraneous. They both used language beautifully, with rhythm. And they had an oddness that I found very appealing but they were completely consistent within the odd worlds they created. 

I am sure that a different judge would have picked different winners. Maybe a similar longlist, I don't know, but I chose a winner that I felt really reflected my personal short story tastes, what I love to read. You'll get to read all six top stories in the next issue of Southword, so you can judge for yourself!

Is there anything you - and I - can take from this as writers? Well, here's the big one: to catch the eye of a judge - or a sifter - you have to do just that. Be eye-catching. Be DIFFERENT. But, and here's the hard thing, not gratuitously different. Not whizz-bang-let-off-fireworks different. Being different can be very very quiet. Being different can mean tackling the same theme - love and relationships, family dynamics, etc... - in a way that only you can do in your writing. Catch the judge's eye with your love for language. Or with a character who has such a distinctive voice from the first line that the reader is dying to find out more about him and what happens to him. 

Does a story submitted to a competition have to be different from one submitted to a literary journal? Now that's a very good question. It's been floated that there are "winning stories", that a competition winner is somehow more polished, better crafted. Well, I can only speak for myself but in the three comps I've judged this year, I wasn't interested in polish and craft. I'd far rather read a slightly messy and somewhat confusing story that took risks than a very neat story that plays it safe. 

I think, reading back over this blog post, that in fact none of it is very useful! I can't generalise much about anything. I still know what I love to read and what I don't. But there is never any way of knowing what a competition judge loves to read. As I mentioned a few months ago, I definitely don't love only the kinds of stories I write. 

So, in conclusion: write only what you want to write. Write only what you have to write. If you get longlisted, well that means you caught the judge's eye. If you don't that means that the judge liked other kinds of stories. Don't be disheartened. Send it out again. I'm happy to be back to doing that myself. I just sent 6 stories in to 2 flash fiction competitions. Will my experience as a judge help when they fail to get anywhere? I'm not sure, it will still sting. But I'll just send them out again.

Interview with Ann Weisgarber, one of the judges of the Waterstone's Perfectly Formed Short Story Competition

I "met" the lovely Ann Weisgarber on that earth-shattering day last April when I woke up to discover that The White Road and Other Stories had been commended by the judges of the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers. Trembling somewhat, I wrote a blog post about it in which I mentioned the shortlist, which included Ann's book, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree. And up pops Ann in the comment box with a lovely comment! Turns out Ann was going for the Orange "double: her book was in the running not just for the Award for New Writers but for the Orange Prize for Fiction too, not bad going! I was somewhat in awe...

We stayed in touch and finally met in the flesh at the awards ceremony. I blogged about what a disappointing experience the ceremony was, especially for short story writers. But meeting Ann, her husband, and her publisher, Will Atkins from Pan Macmillan New Writing, were the highlights, it's a shame we couldn't spend more time talking in an atmosphere slightly less like a disco!

Ann's novel is so wonderful, the extremely moving story of Rachel, a young black woman who is struggling to keep her family alive in the badlands South Dakota in 1917, that I asked if I could interview her. We have been chatting for a few months about creativity etc... and she is also one of the judges of the Waterstone's Perfectly Formed short story competition - which closes on July 1st! - so running the interview now seemed like ideal timing.




Tania: You said to me in a recent email that "revision is fun for me since I'm not creative.  Coming up with a story line is agony since I just don't know what event should next happen.  Once I have that down, then I can explore emotions.  Dialogue is the most fun for me, and is my flash fiction.  I love short pithy lines.  When one or two pop out on the page, my heart soars." If you don't think you are creative, then how would you define "creative"?

Ann: For me, "creative" belongs to those writers who make up places that don't exist or tell stories about events that never happened.  Your "North Cold" is my idea of creative.  You developed a character and had him give warmth to a cold city by placing a metal ball on a windowsill.  I never would have thought of anything so original.  I had to close your book for a few days to let my mind settle after reading that story as well as others in your The White Road.

I have to start with real places.  I discover small events that actually happened and then try to show those events through the eyes of characters.  That calls for imagination, yes, but I start with an event handed to me.  That applies to my characters as well.  I need photographs of real people.  I need to read diaries or newspaper articles.  I can't spin a story without grounded facts.

There's one other thing behind my inability to describe myself as creative.  When I was a kid, a teacher -- a Catholic nun -- stated with complete certainty that only God was creative.  Humans were not, case closed.  I've not forgotten that.  Every time the creative issue is raised, I hear her thundering voice and see her narrowed eyes.  I don't believe her now, but I'm not taking any chances.  If the nun's purpose was to strike the fear of God in a little kid's heart, she accomplished her mission.  I have a good imagination, but others are creative.

T: thank you for your brilliant answer. Much much food for thought. In Judaism, there is an idea that we are all created in God's image so that means we are all creators, in our own way. I hate what that nun said to you, the ramifications it had. But...what you did so wonderfully in Rachel DuPree is to fully inhabit your characters, imagine and create their voices, their lives. Is that not a creative act, regardless of how it started? I can't use real life, real facts, I wish I could.

Also, another question: it does seem that there are at least two "types" of fiction writer, those how make it all - or most of it - up, and those who write "thinly veiled autobiography" or perhaps, in your case, biography. Do you think these should all fall under the same heading of fiction? Readers seem to get very confused - what is memoir, what's "real", and what is "fiction". Is there a distinction? Does it matter?

A: Now for your question (I'm stalling here).  This is a tough one. The idea of "thinly veiled autobiography" as fiction has me thinking.  I suppose it comes down to balance.  If a story's foundation is autobiographical, but an equal portion is not based on the truth, then it works as fiction.  But if the great majority of the story is true, I don't see it as fiction.  If it's 50/50, well, I really don't know.  Maybe we need a new label such as mixed non-fiction/fiction.  In any case, authors need to be honest about their work.  Come right out and say that it's a mix.  Why do people feel they have to cover their work?

In the case of my novel, the towns actually exist and I did use some real historical figures.  However, most of these figures were seen through the eyes of my characters.  The one exception was the scene where my main character met Ida B. Wells.  I imagined this meeting and it was not based on an actual event.  Was it possible these two could have come together?  I believe so.  Both lived in Chicago at the same time and Wells did speak before groups.  Did it happen?  No.  My main character never existed.  She was inspired by a photograph I found.  I didn't have a name, date, or any information about her.  I took that photograph and gave her a life.  I consider the novel 90% fiction and 10% non-fiction.    

The mix of fiction and non-fiction is confusing for readers.  So often authors say their fiction is based on their grandmothers' or distant relatives' real lives.  Such claims lead readers to believe the entire story is true.  Memoir claims to be true and yet, who can remember all the details such as the color of a bedspread or every word of a conversation?  Perhaps we are coming to a point where books require Author's Notes to explain away the confusion.  It's never good when readers feel manipulated or cheated.  Authors, regardless of genre, have a responsibility to readers.  Honesty about one's work is one of those responsibilities. 

T: thank you, very interesting! Even more proof, to me, of how creative you are! For me, I don't care about "truth", it's subjective. I am more interested in the quality of the writing and the telling of the story. I do tend to read books that are labelled "fiction", but don't question beyond that how much is true. As a reader, I don't care.

Your book is, to me, a great counter-argument to the old "write what you know" adage. Did you ever consider that readers might question how you, a white woman, could write from the point of view of a black woman? Did you worry about this? Your book has been very well received, especially by the Orange Prize judges! But what feedback have you had from readers?

A:I'm so enjoying our conversations... It's interesting that you don't worry about the truth behind fiction.  I had guessed the opposite since you have a science background.  It's great that you let go of labels and read for the joy of reading.  I just finished Mantel's Wolf Hall and believed every word of it.  I also marveled at the sheer size of it.

Now for your last question.  I did worry about assuming the voice of a black woman and for a long time I didn't tell anyone about this project.  When I finally gathered the courage to take an creative writing workshop, the instructor told me I had no business writing this story.  I ignored that since publication was not my goal.  I simply wanted to see if I could write a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  I didn't want to write about my life (boring), and I wanted to learn about someone else's point of view.  It was hard work, but fun. 

I worried equally about my Indian characters.  Indians are often misunderstood even today, and some resent the old-fashioned portrayals of being warriors with tomahawks.  Also, the word "squaw" is derogatory.  I worried about using it but had to keep with the times.  Based on my research, I tried to present one of the characters as a modern Indian who dreamed of going to California and did not want to be a nurse. 

For the most part, black readers have accepted Rachel DuPree and tell me they appreciate a different story about black Americans.  Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, graciously wrote a lovely quote for the upcoming U.S. edition.  This validated the book, and I'm most grateful to her.  My U.S. editor asked several Native Americans authors for quotes but we didn't hear from them.  I'm trying to not read anything into that.  

T: what's the book you are working on now? Just a few hints!

A:The next novel takes place in 1900 in Galveston, Texas, an island about a mile from the mainland.  The story revolves around a college-educated woman who marries a dairy farmer.  The story begins two months before the 1900 Storm, a historical hurricane that killed over 6,000 people.    

T: With the announcement of the recent Orange shortlists etc... there's this discussion again about the merits of women-only prizes. Do you have any response to this? What did your Orange short- and long-listings do for you?

A:To better answer this question, I looked at today’s New York Times Book Review.  Twelve novels or short story collections were reviewed in this May 16, 2010 edition.  Eight of those books were written by men.  I looked at today’s book review section of The Houston Chronicle.  Two novels were reviewed and both were written by men.  I understand this is not a fair sample but it does give pause.  Until books written by women receive the acknowledgment they deserve, the Orange Prize is the one competition that celebrates women writers and their books. 

The short- and long-listings resulted in reviews for The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, something that hadn’t happened before.  I’m convinced the publication deal with Viking in the U.S. happened only because of the listings.  Best of all, Will Atkins, my editor, and his remarkable team at Macmillan New Writing received well-earned international praise and recognition for daring to publish an unagented debut author. 

T: And finally, I wanted to tie this in with you being one of the judges of the Waterstone's Perfectly Formed short story competition. What does your "perfectly formed short story" look like?

A: I don’t write short stories, but I’m a reader and admirer of the form.  I particularly like short stories that are narrow in topic but rich in character development.  Short story writers must get to the heart of the matter quickly.  Once into the conflict, they can take the reader deeper into the psychology of their characters.  I love that moment when I think "the mood has shifted, something has changed."  Since the beginning of the story is often fresh in the minds of readers, I admire writers who end their stories with a nod, subtle or overt, to the beginning.      

I think you'll agree that there is so much food for thought here, about fiction and biography, about women-only prizes, about writing "what you know"...and when you read The Personal History of Rachel DuPree you will be in no doubt about Ann's astonishing creative talents. I can't wait to read her second book. Don't forget to enter the Waterstone's Perfectly Formed short story competition!

2010 Bristol Short Story Prize Longlist

The 2010 Bristol Short Story Prize longlist has just been announced! I am one of the judges of this year's prize, but we weren't involved in picking the longlist. Our deliberations were, of course, all carried out anonymously. The longlist is here, nice to see some familiar names and meet new ones!

What I love to read is not always the same as what I love to write

When I'm thinking about submitting a short story to a competition, I always try and find something the judge of the competition has written, as if that will give me an idea whether she or he will choose my story for glory! However, now that I'm honoured to be on the other "side" as one of the final judges for the Brit Awards (now closed), the Bristol Short Story Prize (get your entry in before March 31st!), and the sole judge reading all the entries for the Sean O'Faolain prize (just opened), I realised something: what I love to read is often very different from the sorts of things I love to write. I thought this might be useful for those of you who are entering.

I read a short story collection per month for review for The Short Review, and, after 2 1/2 years, I can see that if you look at my reviews, you would have a hard time pinpointing what exactly it is in a short story that thrills me. I have been bowled over by science fiction and thrilled by the highly experimental, deeply moved by realist stories, and blown away by tiny flash fictions and much longer stories. If you really want to get an idea of what I love to read, check out my latest review, of Janice Galloway's extraordinary and category-defying Collected Stories, and at the bottom is a list of all the reviews I have written.

So, to sum up: I can't sum up, and I am very glad about that. Yes, I love the very short, but I will also gladly be won over by a short story nudging the word limit if it justifies its length and each word is necessary. I am grabbed by characters with strong voices that jump off the page, but also by much quieter stories. Not much has to happen to impress me. It's not about plot. It's not about sudden twists, the dead rising, major revalations.

So, this is probably singularly unhelpful if you thought I might give you a hint as to what you "should" submit. My one criteria is this: I want to read a story that only you could write. All the story collections I have loved have struck me hard as being something that, yes, may have originally taken inspiration from previous greats, as we all do, but this author told their stories the only way they could. So here's my Great Advice: just send me a story only you could have written. No more and no less than that.

Cinnamon and Aesthetica

Nice news to wake up to: Cinnamon Press has accepted my flash story, Straight Up, for their microfiction anthology. This same story was the European winner of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association's short story comp last year (you can listen to it here), and was just commended in Aesthetica magazine's's Creative Works comp.

It's always funny/weird to win something, to in some way "beat" other writers - a horrible attitude, I don't think that way - and you think it's subjective, it's the whims of the judge, which it is, to some extent. But then when one story does well in various places, you think, well, it must have "something" that is quantifiable in some way. But what? Who knows? I certainly don't. If I did, I would damn well try and keep doing it!

Anyhow, a day of warm and fuzzy feelings, and an outing shortly to buy myself clothes appropriate to this weather... 15 years in Israel has left me utterly unprepared for a British winter. (Yes, an excuse to shop.... did you spot that?!) Congrats to my fellow microfiction anthologees, I look forward to reading the book.


PS For those of you who have problems reading my blog posts/comments because of the colours, I highly recommend the Firefox browser,  which enables you to ignore the colours on any site and set your own, whatever is easier for you to read. Firefox has a lot of other benefits too...

Catching up part 1: competitions

I have loads to write about but let me start by saying..

The Bristol Short Story Prize is now officially open - too all writers worldwide!
3000 words maximum - no minimum length, deadline 31st March, seven pounds per story. Prizes: 1st-£500 plus £150 Waterstone’s Gift Card, 2nd -£350 plus £100 Waterstone’s Gift Card, 3rd -£200 plus £100 Waterstone’s Gift Card. Each of the 17 remaining shortlisted finalists will receive a cheque for £50.

I am one of the judges but it is all strictly anonymous, so please send your entry in - the earlier the better. Also: the max word count is 3000 but there is no minimum and I have it on good authority that this is really true. No need to bump your story up to 2999 words, just send in a great story, and, for me at least, it doesn't matter how long or short it is.

I am also one of the judges for the Brit Writers Awards which are also open now, deadline extended to Feb 26 2010. As it sounds, this is an award for Britain-based writers only. Check the website for more details. Short stories (minimum 1,000 and maximum 5,000 words), there are other categories too, so check out the website. For an admin fee of 10.95 pounds, you can submit as many entries as you like!

Short story competitions: a judge tells us exactly what she wants

I am extremely impressed by Women Rule Writer's post on the Sean O'Failian Short Story Prize, which she is judging this year. Entering short story competitions is a fraught undertaking, for me at least, involving much work. First, who are the judges? Google them, see what they write, then try and think if I have something "similar". Or perhaps they like to read stuff that isn't what they write. Should I send two very different stories? But wait - does the judge read all the entries? What if there are First Readers, and I don't know who they are, don't know what they like. (Tear hair out.) And what about the word limit - should I only send a story that is exactly that length? What about short shorts? Will they just toss those? (Often at this point I bombard the competition organizer with emails to try and ascertain what their views are about stories much shorter than the max length. Can't fail to suspect that this bombardment might harm my chances, even if the comp is being judged blind.)

Anyhow, WRW has spared me this agony. As she says:

This is a very honest and open competition: there is no team of first readers, the judge reads EVERY story. That is rare, and it means your story has an equal chance with every other story submitted. You are only going to be subject to one person’s taste (mine) so here’s a helping hand. These are some of the things that I’ll be looking for in entries:

• A distinctive tone or voice to the story. I often dislike straightforward narratives unless the language is beautiful.

• I have a weakness for stylish, first person narratives.

• Innovative, considered writing. The language used is equally as important to my enjoyment of a story as the ‘what happens’.

... For the rest of her list of likes and dislikes, read the rest of the post.

My friend Vanessa has also been blogging about what she looks for when judging various competitions, you can read her post about the Cadenza comp here and about the Fish One Page short story prize here. Thank you, WRW and Vanessa, for your honesty and transparency about the process, may this encourage more judges - it would be to their advantage, too, I imagine, because WRW , having stated her personal preferences, should receive more of the kinds of stories she likes. I hope she will keep us updated.