Submitting Pieces for Competition

monkey_lady69

Hi all,

So I think I've only posted once before, but I am fairly new to writing. I have been writing since I was a child but stopped for a few years then rediscovered my passion for it this year after joining a writing class.

Well the class is now over; and I have been writing non-stop since it finished. Working on small pieces of fiction while working on one very long piece that I hope will become a novel.

For practise, and story ideas, I have been reading submission guides for comps, writing stories, and if I think its good enough I've been submitting them. Its not to win or for the prizes, but for feedback, for the publishing opportunity and for practise as my writing will only improve if I keep writing.

Has anyone else done it this way and gotten some decent results for themselves, or found that their writing has improved? I'm trying to write as much as possible; it's a dream of mine to be published in some form and not just online which is another reason I'm trying so hard and I intend to enrol in a follow on course in October. Would anyone else have any other ideas or experiences they could share?

Thanks
Caroline

Carol

Start small and work up.

A published writer said, it's hard to be a small fish in a big pond with bigger fish, so start in a smaller pond and when you're big enough (have more experience, successes basically) then move up into the big pond where you won't have such a struggle.

You could start here with the One Word Challenge competition on here each month. Quite a few writers have gone on to get these short stories published by rewriting, or developing them to a longer length.

monkey_lady69

I thought short pieces and flash fiction was small

And I was doing some stuff on wordpress but then someone one another forum said that using wordpress for my work, no matter how short was a bad idea because if its published online, then no-one else would want it.

heather

I think Carol means small in terms of the competitions you are entering.
The 'big' prestigious ones will have thousands of entries and your chances of doing well are much smaller than with a smaller comp.

Erewash Writers (run by our very own dora) does a variety of comps including ones for new writers. http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/

The trouble with entering comps for feedback is that you will only know how far your story got in the comp, not why. And the majority of stories won't get a mention. So it has some uses but may not help that much to begin with. Some comps offer paid-for critiques as part of the comp and that might be more useful, but can be expensive.

And your friend is right about publishing work online in any form - for most comps/magazines that will then be ineligible for entry/publication.

sallyj

I agree with the above advice about entering smaller competitions, these are usually ones with smaller prizes. A shortlisting or win in one of these would be a real confidence boost for you. The monthly competition in Writers' Forum offers a critique service which may not be too expensive if you only do it for one story initially.

Liz

I was very lucky and serendipitously my first writing tutor on a course of creative writing at a local college was Crysse Morrison, who used to write in Writing Magazine. She told me I was a poet, then I realised I wanted to write for children, and when a friend asked me if I'd like to look through Bath University's handbook of courses and choose one while she was trying another, I found one by a professional children's poet. He sent my poems off with his to editors and lo and behold I was published.

I went to several courses with him - and have never seen another children's writing poet course ever! What luck!

I've since done an MA in writing for children. To pass an MA you have to be writing at publishing standard.

So i would say that along with writing, learning still and forever is crucial, and it sounds like you know that.

So my advice is - see if there is a course in your area by someone in the industry writing NOW. You learn a lot more. And get contacts.

The writing competitions in WM are very good. If you are a subscriber I think some are free. (Maybe all?)

Any competition is good for practising writing and keeps you going, but if it was me I'd be aiming as high as possible, reading as high as possible, because I think that's the way you get good.

danfango

Competitions are great for encouraging you to write to a deadline and I find it useful practice in terms of editing a story down to fit a specific word count. So the discipline side of competitions is good. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the size of the pond - i.e. how prestigious a competition is - as the one thing about competitions is that it's impossible to predict what the judge(s) is/are looking for. Having said that the odds will be against you if you enter Bridport or the BBC Short Story Prize, purely due to the number of entries involved and the fact that you'll be competing against people who make their living from writing.

I'd recommend concentrating on competitions where you can read previous winning entries, either online or by buying their anthology. This will give you an insight into the kind of story they tend to go for, and if you're honest with yourself you can decide whether or not you are writing at that level. Of course, nothing is guaranteed - I've been entering the Bristol Prize competition for the last eight years with exactly that approach and I'm yet to even reach the longlist!

Don't be afraid to submit to writing journals, too, although the same advice about getting to know them before submitting applies. Quite often you will get an impersonal "No thanks" as a rejection, but some editors will take a moment to give some feedback and this can be equal to or better than the advice you might pay for from a competition that offers a critique. In my experience competition critiques are often tick-sheets that might focus your efforts on a particular area (e.g. dialogue or the way you begin your story), but don't offer any in-depth guidance.

A follow-on course is a good idea, and also look out for workshops near you (perhaps as part of a local literary festival). These can range from a few hours to a couple of days and the prices vary wildly. You don't get the kind of immersion you get with a longer course, but even if you just pick up one or two gems or a new way of approaching a specific aspect of your writing it will be worth it.

Good luck!

Jen

I entered a local writing competition last yr that was advertisied on here! I didn't seen any adverts anywhere else. And after writing one rubbish story and then trying again and getting stuck and wrote it and one!
I've entered one or two other competitions but I was lucky to win this one after finally deciding to take my writing seriously.
The only advice I can give from my limited experience is to find small competitions as you are more likely to get listed I think rather than say Bridport prize that may have a lot of entries.
Also if it's a theme try and find a different angle. I had this advice from somewhere: mindmap the theme to come up with various ideas. Write anything and everything down.
Practice makes perfect and like you said it's not so much about winning. For me it's about actually finishing something! I since joined the writers' group that was running the competition and I've finished another piece for a internal, no prize, competition. I won a voucher for a writing course but I'm not doing it yet.
I did a writing course years ago (I keep forgetting) but it didn't help. Futurelearn have a free course which was more helpful than the course I paid for. This is because my tutor never really told me if my work was any good and gave me the impression that it wasn't.
I submitted to Writers' Forum (ages ago I've now rewritten the story again) and got good feedback, ( nothing from Writing Magazine).
Just keep going. I'm hoping my success wasn't a one-off.

Jen

I thought short pieces and flash fiction was small

And I was doing some stuff on wordpress but then someone one another forum said that using wordpress for my work, no matter how short was a bad idea because if its published online, then no-one else would want it.

I wondered this myself so thanks for that

Phots Moll

I use writing competitions as story prompts and I've occasionally got useful feedback, a prize or ended up with a story I've later sold to a magazine.

On my blog I regularly post links to free to enter writing competitions. Obviously these can attract a lot of entries if there's a decent prize but you don't lose anything by having a try and might find the experience worthwhile in some way. http://patsy-collins.blogspot.co.uk

Here's an article I wrote on the subject. http://www.kishboo.co.uk/issue_2/article_7.php

dora

If you're looking for writing competitions you could give this one a go

http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2015-summer-loving-themed-short-story-competition-with-andrew-campbell-kearsey.html

It's free entry and you can experiment with trying to write to a theme.


Or there's this one, which is £3.00 per entry/£2.50 for multiples

http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2015-open-short-story-
competition-with-simon-whaley.html

Erewash Writers' Group also hold a New Writer comp. All entrants can opt to receive a free critique. Here is details of the 2015 comp. Their 2016 New Writer comp closes in June 2016 (details yet to be announced)
http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2015-new-writer-comp.html

Good luck with your writing.

monkey_lady69

Thank you all for that. I have looked at erewash before, plus a few other ones mentioned in writing magazine and writers forum. I really got into a flash fiction comp in Writing Magazine last month only to realise after I polished it that I had missed the deadline lol. I also found an online FF thing called less than 100 words which gives you a theme and I found it quite fun to try and do 100 words with a one or two word theme.

I am going to try to keep learning as I go; there is a follow on course for the CW course I did earlier this year which is open for enrolment from August (I intend to sign up even though my baby is due in November lol).

Sorry, its funny someone should mention Future Learn as I am signed up to that too

I have subscribed to two magazines, I have been reading and writing consistently, I have the Writers and Artists Handbook 2016 that I am going to really comb through. I think I am about as committed as I can be with a small family and apart time job. I guess I just need to keep writing and submitting and hopefully something comes out of it.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will go look at the one word challenge.

Are there any decent horror themed magazines around? I've been googling but can only find sci-fi and fanfic type things....

Thanks everyone
Caroline

Jen

There's Dark Tales, I've never submitted but I have bought two magazines and it's good stuff. Good luck! I always wanted to write and as soon as I decided to push myself I entered two competitions and won one. I feel a bit stuck at the moment, my writing never seems good enough. I've read a lot of books but you learn more when you just keep writing.
I really admire your drive and persistence and wish I could sustain mine and not get let down by my worries that my writing is terrible.
Let us know how your writing is getting on. I like to write horror too. If I find any other markets I'll let you know.
I have a problem with rewriting and get put off. Maybe I'll get over it. Maybe I just need a big kick.

Webbo

Just in case you don't know MonkeyLady (nice name!), the October issue of Writing Magazine, out on 3 Sept, will have details of about 200 competitions to enter, between October this year and June 2016, so should be a good source of leads.

dora

Thanks Webbo