Sean O'Faolain Winner and Finalists in New Issue of Southword

 

For your holiday reading pleasure, the new issue of Southword journal has just been published with the winner and finalists of the Sean O'Faolain short story contest which I was honoured to judge this year. (See the final results here). The winning story is Eddie by Nikita Neilin and in 2nd place, No Angel by Bernie McGill. I hope you enjoy them, and the four runners-up, as much as I did!

Sean O'Faolain Results - Winners, Shortlist, Longlist

I am delighted to finally be able to announce the full set of results of the 2010 Sean O'Faolain prize, which I awarded to the winner tonight in Cork - and unveil the longlist, which, as I said in an earlier post, really is a great achievement! (please excuse the odd layout, wanted to get this up quickly and the line breaks went haywire!)

The results are:

1^st prize, Eddie by Nikita Nelin

2^nd No Angel by Bernie McGill

Runners up

Ramon Shannon Cain

Big Bitchin' Cow Dave Wilson

The capital of Thailand Serge Shea

Sidetrack Judy Crozier

Highly Commended

Advice and Sandwiches P.G. O’Connor
Advice re Elephants Johathan Pinnock

Boa constrictor Analisa Raya-Flores

Ex-Boyfriend in Prison James Armour Young

Falling Elizabeth Baines
La Cumparsita at Paris Charles de Gaulle Claire King

Mamma Julia Gwynne

Man is Born to Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upwards Terese Svoboda

On the Night South Africa is Effectively Eliminated from the World Cup Liesl Jobson

Sleeping with the Brothers Karamazov Terre Ryan

Sparrow Nora Nadjarian

Afterlife Wes Lee

The Opposite of Fog Sara Kay Rupnik

The Tale End Susan Kim Campbell

We Call This Living; or, Ghosts Mac Barrett

You Would Feel Your Heart Fall Over Sarah Frost Mellor

 Shortlist (in order of story submission):

Advice and sandwiches P.G. O’Connor

No Angel Bernie McGill

Seeing Things Deena Linett

You would feel your heart fall over Sarah Frost Mellor

Red Flyer Tom Bryan

We Call This Living; or, Ghosts Mac Barrett

I Want You to Say It Alin Fenn

The opposite of fog Sara Kay Rupnik

Man is Born to Trouble as the sparks Fly Upwards Terese Svoboda

Falling Elizabeth Baines

Afterlife Wes Lee

Ex-Boyfriend in prison James Armour Young

Sparrow Nora Nadjarian

The Tale End Susan Kim Campbell

Eddie Nikita Nelin

Advice re elephants Johathan Pinnock

Sleeping with the Brothers Karamazov Terre Ryan

Sidetrack Judy Crozier

Big Bitchin' Cow Dave Wilson

Tarts Paul O’ Reilly

Mamma Julia Gwynne

The Capital of Thailand Serge Shea

Ramon Shannon Cain

On the Night South Africa is Effectively Eliminated from the World
Cup Liesl Jobson

La Cumparsita at Paris Charles de Gaulle Claire King

Boa Constrictor Analisa Raya-Flores

Longlist (in order of story submission)


Sunday Afternoon Drop-Off Sarah Shepherd
One of These Days Rachel J. Fenton
Advice and Sandwiches P.G. O’Connor
No Angel Bernie McGill
Tom, Aged 18 Annemarie Neary
Confessional Gail Francis
Wings David Hayden
The Aviary Chaiti Sen
Seeing Things Deena Linett
You would feel your heart fall over Sarah Frost Mellor
Three walnuts Frances Gapper
Night D. Shanahan
All that thinking Alison Wells
Who You love Owen Goodwyne
The X-ray Vision of Augustus Fletcher Christina Joyce Hauser
Red Flyer Tom Bryan
We Call This Living; or, Ghosts Mac Barrett
Filch Alison Wells
I want you to say it Alin Fenn
The Opposite of Fog Sara Kay Rupnik
MAN IS BORN TO TROUBLE AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARD Terese Svoboda
SWEET HEALER, GUIDE MY FOOTSTEPS Brian George
The girl and the house bear Kip Robisch
Falling Elizabeth Baines
Afterlife Wes Lee
Living Doll Pauline Masurel
Ex-boyfriend in Prison James Armour Young
Sparrow Nora Nadjarian
The tale end Susan Kim Campbell
Sitting ducks Kathleen Murray
Eddie Nikita Nelin
Advice re elephants Johathan Pinnock

Sleeping with the Brothers Karamazov Terre Ryan

One Way Out Mariad Whisker
Canyon Mary Volmer
Sidetrack Judy Crozier
Big Bitchin' Cow Dave Wilson
Tarts Paul O’ Reilly
Mamma Julia Gwynne
The last songs Benjamin Judge
The capital of thailand Serge Shea
A passage from imagination to reality Anna Delany
Old ma wichello Nicholas Rawlinson
Ramon Shannon Cain
Orchard Véronique Hyland
On the Night South Africa is Effectively Eliminated From the World Cup Liesl Jobson
La Cumparsita at Paris Charles de Gaulle Claire King
Boa constrictor Analisa Raya-Flores

Huge congratulations to everyone who entered, whether or not your name is here!

Guest blog post on Tomlit

First, just to let you know, I will be publishing the Sean O'Faolain prize longlist here on my blog after the winner has been announced, in 2 weeks.

Second, I am delighted to be a guest on the Tomlit blog today, talking about trust between a writer and a reader. I wrote this post, "It's All About Trust", a few months ago, it was interesting for me to re-read it given the 849 entries I just read for the S O'F! Here's a snippet:

I don't read to relax, not in that same way. I don't read to be entertained, to watch the story unfold. I read to become engaged with the story, to have it enter me, grip me and twist my insides. I want to be changed by what I have read. If it is all there for me, laid out in front of my eyes, where is my place inside this story or novel? What is the role of my imagination if everything is handed to me on a plate?

 Read the rest of the blog post.

Sean O'Faolain Short Story Prize shortlist

Apologies for leading you to expect a longlist, my fault, I'd misunderstood. But I am delighted to announce that the shortlist is now published, read it here. Congratulations to all!

Roundup of news

While we're all waiting for the Sean O'Faolain longlist to be published - soon, soon! - here's some news from me. First, I've just had an audio story accepted by the brand new audio magazine 4'33, which refers to roughly the minutes it takes to read a 1000 word story. The mag is looking for "edgy, engaging stories about modern life" of under 1000 words, and they've accepted me reading my flash story, Vegetable, Mineral, which was joint winner of the Biscuit Flash Fiction competition and a runner up in the PANK 1001 Awesome words comp last year (this year's comp now open) and will be published in PANK in September. It wasn't a story I'd ever read out before, it is mostly dialogue and I wasn't sure it would work. Anyway, the editor seemed to think it did, will let you know when it's available - do check out 4'33, it sounds (ha!) wonderful!

I've also got a new story, Einstein Plays Guitar, in the next issue of an excellent print mag A Capella Zoo, out soon.  Talking of lit mags that want your short stories, I had a request so I've turned my Ever-Growing List of UK & Irish lit mags into a PDF for you to enjoy offline. Click here and take it home. 115 mags and counting...

And if you think that since I don't have another 849 stories to read I'm just lazing around, painting my toenails, here's a heads-up of my events for September. Taking a deep breath:

Sept 1st: I'm sharing the bill at Word of Mouth at the Thunderbolt in Bristol at 8pm with songwriter Richard Burley. I'll be reading flash stories, he will be singing, and great fun will be had by all!

Sept 15th: There's Science in My Fiction... And Poetry, 7pm: Along with my science-loving writer friends Brian Clegg and Sue Guiney, I'm running a science-inspired fiction and poetry Open Mic night at the British Science Festival in Birmingham. Come along and read your sci-lit to win great prizes, including champagne and a subscription to Focus magazine - and much glory! It's free! Details here.

Sept 16th/19th: Frank O' Connor Short Story Festival, Cork, Ireland, Sept 16th 7.30pm: I'm delighted to be reading together with two excellent writers shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, Robin Black and Belle Boggs. I'll be warming up the crowd with some short shorts.... and then on Sept 19th I'll be presenting the Sean O'Faolain award to the winner just before the Frank O'Connor award is announced. Nailbiting stuff. The festival line-up is extraordinary: Claire Keegan, TC Boyle, Ben Greenman, Karen Russell, David Constantine, Tess Gallagher, Laura van den Berg, David Vann, Louis de Bernieres.... wow. Check out the brochure.

And yes... there is more.

Sept 23rd: I'm running a workshop on research-inspired fiction at Bristol University's Engage public engagement conference, looking at conveying research - and science in particular - to different audiences through fiction. I'm quite into that sort of thing, in case you hadn't noticed! I'll be talking about lots of my favourite science-inspired novels and stories, and we'll be doing a bit of writing too.

...and straight afterwards...

Sept 24th: An Electric Flash: My great friend Vanessa Gebbie and I are bringing the smallest of wonders to England's only Short Story Festival, Small Wonder, in Charleston. We will be talking about flash, reading flash stories and generally extolling the virtues of extreme brevity!

Looking further ahead, I've got some plans for a Bristol event for National Short Story Week...

and then in 2011 I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching an Arvon Foundation course on the short story together with the most fabulous Sarah Salway (who is up a mountain right now), at The Hurst! When Arvon asked me, I got quite emotional, because the two Arvon courses I went on were life-changing experiences. I only hope we can attempt to pass that on.  Our guest that week will be Jim Friel. It's going to be amazing.

Ok, so that's pretty much it. I'm quite exhausted just writing that, but immensely excited. It's ALL short stories, and some are even sci-lit. How lucky am I??! Hope to see some of you there, somewhere. Going to lie down now for a bit, save my energy.


ADDENDUM:

Two more bits of niceness: just got invited to read at the UK's first literary festival in a shed! (I have a very short story set in a shed, will try that one out).  And... my grant money from the Arts Council has just been paid in! Now I really have to get to work.

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.

Last chance to enter the Sean O'Faolain Short Story Competition

I'm about to stop my nagging, I truly am, but I wanted to make sure you all know that the deadline for the Sean O'Faolain Short Story Competition is approaching  - and has actually been extended for 2 more days due to the Irish Bank Holiday on Monday. Now, believe me, it's not that I don't have enough entries to read, they have been coming in daily...but I really want to read yours too! Here's a bit more from Munster Lit about the comp, to entice you:

 There are just a few days left to enter the Sean O'Faolain Short Story Competition. Date by date, we are ahead this year on last year in the number of entries we have received, but in deference to the fact that you have entered the competition before, you will be allowed a late email entry this year. Monday is a bank holiday in Ireland so we won't be able to  start wrapping up processing email entries until Tuesday August 3rd. You have until midnight August 2nd Alaska time (or before we get into the office Tuesday morning Irish time) to enter. The judge changes every year. Just to remind you what is at stake:

1st prize 1500 euro (US$1960 or £1250) at today's exchange rate and publication in Southword online, plus if you choose to come to Cork, Ireland to accept your prize we will provide hotel accommodation with breakfast, lunch, drinks, tapas for the five night duration of the short story festival (Wednesday September 15th to Sunday 19th. You will have VIP access to the literary stars...

2nd prize 500 euro and publication in Southword. 4 further prizes of 120 euro and publication in Southword.

Now, if you are concerned about the 3000-word limit, that you haven't got a story "long enough", let me calm your fears. 3000 words MAXIMUM and there is no minimum. Send in a story that perfectly fits its length, whether that be 200 words, 1500 words, or 2999 words (but not 3100 words, that one won't be eligible!). I have no quantity bias: grip me and I'm yours for as short or long as your story takes.

One more thing: please please check your story before you send it:

• for spelling & grammar
• for accidental duplication of pages
• to make sure it's not the copy that one of your writing group members wrote their critique on (yes, that has happened!)
• to make sure it doesn't have your name on it anywhere

So, for the last time, I say: Wow me!

Oxfam Bookfest Readathon & More About Reading

This is me taking part in the Oxfam Bookfest 24-hour Readathon at Oxfam Books in Marylebone High Street in London last Monday. I don't normally like pictures of me at all, but I like this one, taken by the Oxfam photographer - an action shot! I read for 20 minutes - I had thought I'd read 3 flash stories and then realised I would need rather more than that so ended up reading 9. They seemed to go down well, I think, despite the traffic noise in the background and the general hubbub in the shop, and it was a real honour to be involved.

An added bonus was when I discovered that the reader after me was Kate Mosse, founder of the Orange Prize. I risked missing my bus back to Bristol to stay and hear her read, and then accosted her afterwards to thank her personally and tell her how being commended for the Orange Award for New Writers last year changed my life. It really did. She was lovely, gave me a hug - and was kind enough to mention me in her article about the Readathon in today's Guardian Review!

Talking about reading, I am in the thick of reading entries for the Sean O'Faolain short story competition (deadline July 31st, 3000 words max, no minimum, get your entries in now). It is quite a daunting task but certainly has taught me a thing or two about what it takes for a short story to grab me. As an illustration, I picked up the new Granta magazine today and intended to just flip through it before settling down. But I read the opening paragraph of the first story, Missing Out by Leila Aboulela and it was as if the story grabbed me by the throat. I had this overpowering physical sensation that I just couldn't stop reading. It was amazing, this had never happened to me quite like that. I kept reading and there was never any point at which the writer allowed me to stop. Just wonderful. 

I thought about this afterwards. What is it about words on a page that can actually compel the reader physically? I mean, the whole magazine is printed in the same font, the layout looks the same, but this particular arrangement of letters seized me somehow. This happens to me very very rarely and what I think I can put my finger on is that Aboulela threw me right into the action - no explanation, no preamble, no introduction, just two characters, a mother and a son, in the midst of doing what they were doing - and this is what drew me so far in in just that opening paragraph that I felt I was already inside the story and simply had to know what happened. The plot was also something that intrigued me, otherwise I am sure I wouldn't have continued. 

Of course, this experience is utterly subjective. I am certain that other people wouldn't have been grabbed in this way. Sadly, this has happened to me only extremely infrequently with all the short stories I have read this year, a number that has probably topped 300 so far, and with perhaps another 300 or more to go. So many writers seem to feel the need to introduce, set the scene, but the risk here is that your reader, who doesn't actually need to read this story, won't have the patience to wait for the action to start. Should you take that risk? 

My preference - and once again I say that I can only speak for myself - is for stories that don't do this. I prefer not to know, to preserve that sense of mystery that will keep me reading. I like to be made to think, "Ah, who is this? What's happening here?" rather than to find it all out at once. But there is a fine line between intriguing mystery and utter confusion - you need to drip-feed the reader enough so as not to cross over that line. I might make it through a page without really knowing exactly what is going on, but I might not be prepared to go for a 2nd page in this state - unless the voice telling the story is so completely irresistible!

So, no real "rules" there for writing a short story to please everyone! Just a few thoughts that came up for me as I plough on with my Mammoth Year of Short Story Reading. I'm incredibly lucky, I am the sole judge of the Sean O'Faolain short story competition which means I get to pick only the stories I love, the ones that grab me. I have definitely found several already, and looking forward to more - of any length up to 3000 words! (Do stick to the max word limit, stories that go over this limit won't be considered.)  Looking forwarding to being delighted by your entry - in an entirely anonymous way, of course!