Last week was competition week, well here at Meadow Cottage it was. Several big writing competitions close at the end of May and I was determined not to let those dates slip by without an entry. I have entered a novel, two short stories and for the first time a piece of flash fiction, sometimes called micro fiction. I revised this piece which I had written several years ago; there is a lot to be said for trawling through the short story folder and looking at the work with a fresh eye. Distance brings clarity and although there is often the kernel of a good story changes are necessary. Sometimes I think that the ‘voice’ in the story is wrong, I might alter the age of my protagonist, or add a contemporary touch. Just re-arranging the sentences and the structure can be enough. When you begin to have a body of short stories (almost enough for a collection) you need to check for repetition in style, or character and voice. It is easy write stories that have too strong a connection, themes in a collection can be appealing, nevertheless there needs to be sufficient variety to engage the reader; the most successful collections share this trait.
So what of the competitions? What can you expect from success, winning, being placed or commended? Winning a big competition such as the Bridport, Yeovil, Fish or Mslexia et al, will definitely impact on your writing career and may even hook you an agent and then a publisher. I don’t think I realised the importance of competitions for the writer until a few years ago. Being commended can be a little frustrating, but you can generally put that short story or novel into another competition. Competitions with an anthology are the best, because getting yourself into print is really gratifying. Entering on a regular basis can be quite expensive, so you need to set aside an ample budget for entries and rather like workshops and courses view competitions as part of your professional development. Being selected from a tough, competitive entry is gratifying and validating when so much of the achingly slow business of bringing writing to public attention is frustrating; competition success gives the writer the encouragement and incentive to keep going. Friends, who may know little about the writing world, suddenly prick up their ears and give you a bit of recognition too, which is cheering.
Below is a link to the guest blog (Bridport) by Ian Nettleton – a local Norwich author who was runner up in the Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award 2014, for his novel The Last Migration. The blog is well worth reading and an extract from the novel is available to read on the Bridport website.
https://www.bridportprize.org.uk/blog/just-when-you-think-you%E2%80%99ve-finished-ian-nettleton
Ian Nettleton lives in Norwich. He has worked as a carer, a book seller, a teacher of English in Prague, in a post room and, after completing a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the UEA, he now teaches creative writing at the Open University, the UEA, Wensum Lodge and Cinema City, Norwich. He has worked freelance for BBC TV as a writer/presenter (summarising classic novels in sixty seconds) and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book. The Last Migration was runner-up in the Bath Novel Award 2014. He is currently half way through a first draft of a novel about a boy whose father is an exorcist. Photo: Martin Figura
So what of the competitions? What can you expect from success, winning, being placed or commended? Winning a big competition such as the Bridport, Yeovil, Fish or Mslexia et al, will definitely impact on your writing career and may even hook you an agent and then a publisher. I don’t think I realised the importance of competitions for the writer until a few years ago. Being commended can be a little frustrating, but you can generally put that short story or novel into another competition. Competitions with an anthology are the best, because getting yourself into print is really gratifying. Entering on a regular basis can be quite expensive, so you need to set aside an ample budget for entries and rather like workshops and courses view competitions as part of your professional development. Being selected from a tough, competitive entry is gratifying and validating when so much of the achingly slow business of bringing writing to public attention is frustrating; competition success gives the writer the encouragement and incentive to keep going. Friends, who may know little about the writing world, suddenly prick up their ears and give you a bit of recognition too, which is cheering.
Below is a link to the guest blog (Bridport) by Ian Nettleton – a local Norwich author who was runner up in the Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award 2014, for his novel The Last Migration. The blog is well worth reading and an extract from the novel is available to read on the Bridport website.
https://www.bridportprize.org.uk/blog/just-when-you-think-you%E2%80%99ve-finished-ian-nettleton
Ian Nettleton lives in Norwich. He has worked as a carer, a book seller, a teacher of English in Prague, in a post room and, after completing a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the UEA, he now teaches creative writing at the Open University, the UEA, Wensum Lodge and Cinema City, Norwich. He has worked freelance for BBC TV as a writer/presenter (summarising classic novels in sixty seconds) and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book. The Last Migration was runner-up in the Bath Novel Award 2014. He is currently half way through a first draft of a novel about a boy whose father is an exorcist. Photo: Martin Figura
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