Guest blog for Womagwriter: why being determined is essential for a writer

So excited today to see my short story Back on Track in the Summer Special of The People's Friend.  I have been trying on and off for nearly 20 years to get a story accepted here and it is great to finally achieve this.  Tenacity is essential for a writer.

And if you want to find out more about getting short stories published, I am honoured to have written a guest post for the brilliant, inspirational Womagwriter Blog - an essential resource for anyone wanting to write fiction for the magazine market.  Click here to find out more about the process from submitting my story to People's Friend to the publication date over a year later. https://womagwriter.blogspot.com/2019/05/guest-post-by-womagwriter-jane-ayres.html

How to win a short story competiton

Subject matters?
You’ve posted off the final draft of your short story to yet another writing competition, paying attention to all the ingredients you know judges look for - like structure, plot, pacing, characterisation, dialogue, and language.  But how important is your choice of subject? Will it engage your readers - or alienate them?  What themes do you intend to explore in your story? And what part does subjectivity play in the decision-making process?  After all, writing competition judges are human beings, aren’t they?........(click link for rest of article) http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/2014/01/subject-matters-how-to-win-short-story.html

This is the start of my article about winning short story competitions, in the current issue of the excellent Words with JAM - packed with useful info for writers.  If you want to check it out, here is the link
http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/2014/01/subject-matters-how-to-win-short-story.html


Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/words-with-jam-how-to-make-time-for.html

Short stories, novels and emotional engagement

I recently had a conversation with another writer about short stories versus longer forms, such as novels.  I enjoy reading and writing both.  But if I am honest, I do find it difficult to remember short stories that I have read, even though I would say that it is my favourite form to write (especially flash fiction). Is it because a short story gives us less time to get to know the characters and to make an emotional connection?  For me, memory and emotional engagement go hand in hand. In a novel we have time to develop a relationship with the characters. And if we fall in love with them, we won't want to leave.  We care about them.

Writing a novel is a huge emotional commitment - and a time consuming one.  It's a big task, in every sense.

And it made me think  - am I basically a lazy writer? Okay, so I have completed and published over 30 novels for children and teenagers, the biggest being only 35,000 words.  I don't think in epic forms.  I'm sure I would really struggle with 100,000 words.  When I write a short story it naturally takes around 1000 words.  I love the brevity of the form, and the discipline. The skill and joy of flash fiction, where you may have only 100 or 200 words to tell a tale, is a challenge I find highly satisfying.  Every word counts.  Every word has to earn a place in the story.

I'm currently reading The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis and am fascinated by the way she manages to take us inside the minds of her characters so quickly, and to leave the reader asking questions.

As a writer/reader/both, do you have a favourite form?  And is your preferred reading form the same as your favourite writing form?

Related post: http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/does-size-matter-lydia-davis-wins-man.html

Does Size Matter?: Lydia Davis wins Man Booker Prize

I recently wrote a post called Does Size Matter, which reflected on whether or not readers measure a book's value by it's size.   A recent Smashwords survey  asserts that readers tend to prefer longer books. So I was interested to read the following:

"Lydia Davis, the shortest of all short story writers, whose works can be as brief as a single sentence, has won the fifth Man Booker International Prize."  Check out the links below for the full report.  I was intrigued enough to download her short story collection to find out more, as I have always been fascinated by short forms in which every single word has to account for itself. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/worlds-most-concise-short-story-writer-lydia-davis-wins-booker-international-prize-2013-8627388.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/22/entertainment-us-books-manbooker-lydiada-idUSBRE94L16020130522

If, like me, you enjoy the challenge of flash fiction, you might want to have a go at this competition to write a story in 100 words.  I'm about to send off my entry now.   Good luck!

http://www.kent.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/reading_and_literacy/100_words_competition.aspx

PS - closing date May 31st!

Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/reading-bigger-books.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/readers-does-size-matter.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-business-of-writing-part-2-elusive.html

Johnny Depp, Kylie and The Truth about Cats

If anyone fancies a quick, fun read, I've got a short story over at Female First. Should appeal to cat lovers!

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/coming-home-279789.html

Related post:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/cats-and-book-reviews.html

Rescue Me

Today you'll find one of my stories over at e-zine Female First.  It's called Rescue Me.

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/jane-ayres-276335.html

Note for writers: Female First is looking for story and poetry submissions.  They don't pay a fee but it can be useful exposure for your work and add to your cv.  You can add a small bio but can't, unfortunately, include links to your books or blogs and at present it's quite hard to find the stories unless you know where to locate them! (which is a shame).  They are listed under Entertainment/Book Reviews, then scroll down to Get Published.  And they also want book reviews. Link for writers is
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/short+stories%2C+artwork%2C+poems-227976.html

Thirty three

Two posts today, because earlier I managed to run for 33 minutes without stopping, and I am thrilled about this, because it is a first for me.  Previously, I couldn't manage more than 20 minutes before I gave in to my heavy legs.  I never was very good at pushing through the pain barrier and challenging myself.  But today, I did it and it makes me realise that I AM capable and that I can push myself further.  This is a good lesson for me and I hope to apply it to other aspects of my life, including my writing.  

When I run, I count.  Counting is useful when you are having an anxiety attack and when you can't sleep.  It's a handy meditative tool.  Therapy.  And this reminded me of a story I wrote some time ago, in which counting is an integral part of the structure.

I'm a genre writer and this is where I have achieved most of my writing success in commercial terms.  However, I also have a stack of short stories on a range of topics, some of which have been published, many in small press magazines,  and some have not.  

Treading Water was first published in a wonderful small press literary magazine called QWF (Quality Women's Fiction) which gave me so many opportunities and support and encouragement with my writing.  I revised the story, which is only 950 words long,  it won the Folkestone Literary Festival short story competition in 2008, (I had 2 stories shortlisted, amazingly) and it was later published in the Folkstone Anthology in 2010. 

It has an additional  poignancy for me now, having lost both my dearly loved parents to cancer within a six month period. 

Having achieved my 33 minutes today I have decided to share Treading Water on my blog and you can find it here. 
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/p/short-stories.html

Selling short stories - a new opportunity

For those of you who enjoy writing short stories you might find this new venture of interest:

Launching in early 2013, cutalongstory (CUT) represents a major new opportunity for writers.

CUT offers a no-cost method of launching new stories, promoting them to a huge audience of potential readers – and with the author getting paid every time a story is downloaded.

CUT is dedicated to offering the most compelling selection of short stories ever assembled: a global back-catalogue of classics together with stories from contemporary authors both new and established.

CUT is the creation of a team of people who share a special vision for the short story and we invite you to join us.

To register your interest visit: www.cutalongstory.com

For more info go to

http://www.nawe.co.uk/DB/nawe-news/sell-your-short-stories.html

I've signed up to find out more.  

Costa Coffee short story contest

For the first time in years, I have entered a writing contest.  It's the new Costa Coffee Short Story Award and it's free to enter.  Closing date 7th September for an unpublished short tale up to 4000 words.  Open to any writers and judged anonymously.  What can you lose?

For info go to www.costabookawards.com