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
Showing posts with label short story competition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short story competition. Show all posts
Friday, 31 January 2014
Sunday, 23 December 2012
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
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
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