Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Writing Magazine

With more than 4 million sales in her DCI Tom Douglas series, Rachel Abbott is one of the world’s most successful self-published writers. Here, so you can learn from her experience, she outlines what she got wrong when she started her self-publishing journey. Mistake number 1 Failing to define what success looks like to me. Publishing success means many different things to different people: • Commercial success – afocus on profit • Maximising number of readers • Critical acclaim • The simple joy of having published your book It doesn’t matter what drives you, provided you identify what it is. I thought that just getting my book out there was an accomplishment. But when I made those few sales I realised it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted it to…

There has been much angst of late about, in rapid succession, the news that Roald Dahl’s children’s novels are to be republished in ‘revised’ versions by changing or cutting material deemed unacceptable by sensitivity readers, and then that Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels are being updated to remove or replace offensive language, including racial slurs and references to the ethnicity of some characters. Examples include Augustus Gloop in Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory becoming ‘enormous’, when previously he was ‘fat’. More controversially, individual words haven’t just been changed, but entire passages completely rewritten. In Live and Let Die, James Bond goes to a nightclub in Harlem, and Fleming’s description of the audience panting and grunting like pigs at the trough has become Bond could sense the electric tension in…

Like so many authors, I’ve been writing since childhood, writes subscriber Jacqueline Harrett. Despite success with publishing non-fiction, I never thought I’d see a novel with my name on it. I joke that it has taken nearly sixty years, but, by the end of November 2022, I will have three novels traditionally published. All within the space of a year. The Nesting Place, published by Diamond Books UK, took shape during lockdown aided by feedback from James McCreet on the Crime Writing course. It’s a police procedural with a mystery at the core. When the body of Megan Pritchard is found in a field in the Vale of Glamorgan it looks like an accident. But DI Mandy Wilde is not convinced and is determined to find the truth. In the…

Writing two crime fiction series has introduced some variety into my writing, writes subscriber Dave Sivers. My Buckinghamshire-based detectives, Archer and Baines, had already built themselves a following when I had the idea for a much darker story that I didn’t think would quite fit the series. I also had a new character in my head demanding a book of his own. DI Nathan Quarrel made his debut in 2020 in In Ink, and the second in the series, In Ice, is now out in paperback and Kindle ebook. With six Archer and Baines and two crime fantasy novels also published, I now have ten novels and a little short story collection under my belt, and I’m absolutely loving my writing life, which also includes appearances at festivals and other…

• Read a lot and, if you’re targeting Mills & Boon, make sure you study the latest ones in the line/series for which you want to write, so you get an idea of the themes that are popular with editors and readers. • Write every day. Even if you have only half an hour, ringfence that time every single day until it becomes a habit. If you write 500 words a day, in six months you’ll have the first draft of a novel. • Experiment with different writing techniques. If you’re a planner, try writing into the mist, and see what happens. If you don’t like planning, give it a go. Try writing straight on to screen, or by hand, or dictating. • Craft books can be helpful. Susan Meier’s…

The Black Orchid Novella Award is an international contest for novellas that conform to the tradition of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mystery series. Which is to say, a mystery which focuses on the deductive skills of a sleuth. However, submissions must not use the actual character of Nero Wolfe, or any elements of the Wolfe ‘universe’, but should be original unpublished works of fiction. Stories need to be ‘traditional’ in style and involve a murder in which the killer is known to the victim. No explicit sex or violence. There should be engaging relationships between the characters and some element of wit. The setting can be anywhere in the world, past or present, though should capture something of the big city feel of the Wolfe novels (which are set in…

Calliope Calliope is a publishing app seeking to create ‘interactive, illustrated fiction’ – weekly short stories, flash fictions, novellas, every instalment introduced by a vibrant and interactive animation. It’s currently open to submissions of ‘high fantasy, operatic sci-fi, heart-stopping action.’ Submit short stories in any type of genre fiction, 2,000 to 4,000 words, flash fiction 100 to 1,000 words. All work will be published through the app as well as the social media sites. Payment: US$0.05 per word for ‘Exclusive First World Rights.’ swamp pink swamp pink publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction on a semi-monthly basis. Submit fiction and non-fiction, no more than 7,500 words; poetry, a set of 3 to 6 poems; flash fiction, 1 to 3 pieces, up to 1,500 words, and creative nonfiction in any form, up…

Speculative fiction magazine Three Lobed Burning Eye (3LBE) was founded in 1999 and is published online three time a year. Each issue contains four original stories, some of which have audio reading. Content can be read, or listened to, on the website. Stories should have ‘imagination in character, narrative and plot. We want to see something new and different’ say editors, who believe in ‘diverse characters and points of view’. Extreme horror, excessive descriptions of violence or gore, and erotica are not wanted although there can be ‘hotness’ in the context of a story. Flash fiction submissions should be under 1,000 words and short stories may be 1,001-7,500 words long although 2,000-5,000 words is preferred. If your piece is accepted you will have the option to record it yourself or…

Leading US speculative fiction publisher, Tor, has announced the creation of Bramble, a new imprint ‘dedicated to a wide array of romantic stories for the modern reader’. Tor Publishing Group President and Publisher Devi Pillai said, ‘With spice levels to suit all readers, with familiar tropes and uncharted territory, Bramble books will explore a love that’s tangled up, covered in thorns, and oh so sweet. Bramble is for everyone and everyone deserves a good love story.’ Pillai continued, ‘Bramble will be the destination for exceptional love stories of all kinds. Expanding into romance gives our team and our readers another chance to do what we do best: get obsessed! Plus, let’s be real, I just want to publish more books I love to read!’ Monique Patterson is VP, Editorial Director…

Most unusually, Adam Sisman, who published a biography of the celebrated espionage novelist John le Carré (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) in 2015, is to publish another biography of the author just eight years later, and three years after le Carré’s death, writes Gary Dalkin. Sisman earlier book, John le Carré: The Biography, was ‘officially authorised’, and in 2016 Sisman wrote in the Guardian that while the book was, ‘written with my subject’s cooperation, it would be disingenuous to pretend that there was no strain between us’. The strain being often over what to include in the book and what to omit. Now the new book, The Secret Life of John le Carré, to be published in October by Profile Books, promises to disclose material that Sisman was ‘obliged to withhold’…

“I never thought that I’d ever be sitting sipping coffee on a sun-bathed boulevard in Rome. And with the most gorgeous girl in the world – soon to be my wife! We’re so lucky. How are you feeling, darling?” said Benjamin, stretching out his hand to clasp hers. “Happy. Excited. But still a little anxious,” said Leila. “I don’t know. It all seems so surreal. I’d never have imagined it could lead to this – with a man from the other side. And actually marrying him! All thanks to music.” “Thanks to the Maestro, you mean, and the Unity Orchestra. It’s a good job he didn’t have to break the news to our families! He could also have incurred the wrath of Allah! Imagine him with my Mum. I was…

‘My novel, Hungry Ghosts, revolves around two families in 1940s Trinidad – an untamed time of violence and uncertainty on this island. Dalton Changoor and his young wife, Marlee, live on a large, isolated estate; Hans and Shweta Saroop live in a dilapidated barrack with their son, Krishna. They sleep on uncomfortable straw beddings and have cockroaches in their food bags. The story kicks off after Dalton suddenly vanishes and ransom notes start to arrive. But Marlee refuses to pay her husband’s ransom – she’s happy he’s gone. ‘The problem now? It seems he was involved in some nefarious activities and shadowy figures have appeared around the estate. Broken windows, dead animals, more ransom notes. So Marlee hires Hans to act as nightwatch. He suddenly finds himself sipping Ceylon tea…

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your April Star Interview, ‘Keeping it real,’ with Tina Baker. The piece itself couldn’t have been better titled given that I found Tina to be such a refreshingly real individual. Perhaps the most poignant comment for me, came towards the end of the interview when Tina advised not to stop or second guess yourself when writing. Her choice of words, ‘Just do it. Loads of it will be shit, so what? I make myself do a bit every day,’ really struck a chord and reminded me very much of the Hemingway quote about all first drafts being shit. Until recently, doubt had often plagued my thoughts and I had scrapped more first chapters than I cared to count in my search for perfection. However, over the…

SHARE YOUR SUCCESS To feature in subscribers’ news contact: tjackson@ warnersgroup.co.uk Subscribers’news I had been banging on about writing a book for years when my daughter bought me a subscription to Writing Magazine and told me to “get on with it”, writes subscriber Seamus Connolly. I realised I could follow the advice being given by the experts to begin to get the story and characters swirling around in my head down on paper. A number of years later and my first novel, Black is the Colour, was completed, self-published and available to the population. To say I was nervous was an understatement as I finally exposed my writing to the public. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the feedback and the reviews the novel has received so far. I even received…

The dramatic North East coastline provides the inspiration for my new novel, The Deal, writes subscriber Chris Ord. A dark folk horror set in Howick near Craster, the novel centres around the mysterious disappearance of a girl from a local orphanage, and a teenage boy’s search for the truth. The Deal is my fifth novel, and all of my books are set in my home county. I love Northumberland. It can be wild and unpredictable, and has a sense of danger, as well as space. It’s somewhere you can get lost and be on your own, and the sense of isolation and loneliness appeals to me. Atmosphere, mood and setting are key parts of my writing and there is nowhere better to inspire this.’ As well as the Northumberland landscape,…

In 2022, the Publishers’ Association attributed some of 2021’s five per cent rise in book sales to the social media platform TikTok. They even went as far as saying that sales for four out of every five young adult bestsellers in 2021 were because of the video platform and its BookTok hashtag. Understandably, traditional publishers are encouraging their authors to make use of the social media platform, and self-published authors are finding success through it too. What’s exciting many publishers and authors is there’s evidence that TikTok’s BookTok hashtag is breathing new life into an author’s backlist. In early 2020, the lifetime sales of US author Colleen Hoover’s books stood at 237,000 copies. But this jumped to over 2.3 million in less than eighteen months after several of her books…

Before becoming a writer, Natasha Lester, was the marketing manager for Maybelline cosmetics in Australia. Her first book took five years from when she began writing until the time it was published. ‘Over those years I had three children: a daughter in 2006, another daughter in 2008 and a son in 2010,’ Natasha says. She goes on to explain how having children made her a better writer. ‘It broadened my emotional range – Ifelt fear like I’d never known before at the idea of anything bad happening to my precious babies. It taught me discipline. When my first child was six months old, I realised I hadn’t written a single word in that time, and life could very easily continue that way if I let it. I made a pledge…

Inklings Press The editorial team at Inklings Press are going to publish yet another ‘Tales anthology’. Submissions are invited of stories about detectives solving murders, but with a twist. The team want tales of fantasy, S.F. and horror with a strong mystery or investigation theme. Keep stories to ‘around 5,000 words, but that’s not a hard limit.’ The deadline for submissions is 30 April. Payment is US$100 per story for first publication rights and will retain exclusivity for a period of one year. Details: email: theinklingspress@gmail.com website: www.inklingspress.com/home.html Three Ravens Publishing The editorial team at Three Ravens Publishing are asking for stories for the third Trailer Park anthology for a Halloween release. Give them ‘original creaturefeature, horror-comedy with the same feel as The Evil Dead ’. The heroes should be…

Like an old warhorse, I’m shocked to find I’ve now spent decades in the publishing industry that I enthusiastically joined in my early twenties. I’ve worked for smaller publishers as well as two of the ‘big five’ so have seen the acquisition process from all angles, and it doesn’t vary much. When I began in publishing, the assistant’s role was often to sift through the ‘slush pile’ of unsolicited manuscripts that would be sent directly to the publisher. Everyone lived in the hope of finding a diamond in the rough, particularly after Bloomsbury’s success with JK Rowling, whose Harry Potter series had been found in this way (after twelve publishers had rejected it). Those days are largely behind us, with most submissions coming through agents, but the winning formula remains…

I once sent out a book proposal, albeit to a publisher I had written for previously, and got acceptance by return. Great! But that is vanishingly unlikely to happen often. Usually, all writers must cast a good deal of bread on the waters to get a proportion of what they suggest accepted and inevitably some falls on stony ground (sorry, now I am really mixing my metaphors!). The ratio here is important and allows some planning, indeed some targeting. If you take note, you will soon know that on average say, half, one in five, ten or whatever of your suggestions result in commissions. This may vary for different genres depending on the nature of your work, but it allows you to plan regular activity that has a reasonable likelihood…

Have you heard the advice about there being no such thing as a wrong decision? I saw it online somewhere again the other day and wondered if it was true, especially when it came to writing. Writers are often their own harshest critics. They decide their work is no good and that can be a wrong decision. If you ever feel like this then please don’t delete what you’ve written. Leave it a while, then return and decide if deleting it is the right decision. When it comes to my writing, there are two things I’ve done, which looking back on, I might have said no to. The first was when I was a new writer and the group I belonged to were asked to contribute to an event in…

ASEF culture360 is a Singapore-based online platform managed by the Asia-Europe Foundation. They report on the arts, culture, and heritage of 51 countries from Asia and Europe, and are looking for writers to produce feature articles and interviews on an ongoing basis. They are looking for stories about all creative industries, as well as digital media and technology, heritage & museums; climate change and sustainability, education and professional development, cultural diplomacy and cultural relations, cultural policy development, and cultural mobility trends. To write for ASEF culture360 you must be a national of an ASEM country. You can see a full list here https://aseminfoboard. org/partners/. It includes the UK, the EU, many Asian countries and Australia. You should have previous experience of writing articles professionally. Articles must be written in a…

FIRST PLACE £200 Writing has been Terry’s passion for many years. His comedy material has been performed on British and German television and in The Treason Show stage show. His children’s book My Zombie Best Friend was published in 2017, and in 2020 he won the Green Stories for Young Readers Competition. His story, Police Pets – Mind Swap, was recently long-listed for the Writing Magazine Children’s Chapter Book Prize. When not writing you can find him reading, watching comedy and finding excuses not to go to the gym. This is Terry’s second short story win with Writing Magazine. Excerpt from WakelyExpress.com. Date: 18/2/23. Man Arrested in Local Stabbing Following a raid in the Pidmoor area of the city in the early hours of this morning, police have arrested a…

i've been writing since I was about been writing since I was about ten years old. I recall entering and winning an essay competition around that age, and reading the essay in front of my entire school! The ‘ positive reaction of the crowd fuelled in me a desire to keep writing. Later, I’d abandon writing for other artistic disciplines like drawing and musical instruments, but in college, I would be reunited with creative writing. That’s where I began to study it, see it as a craft, and acknowledge my talent in that area; mainly because English Literature and Creative Writing were the only classes where I received high grades. My advisor and I realized there was some talent there! ‘I changed my major from Athletic Training to English, with…

WHAT THE ACTUAL? Writers use acronyms all the time, but they are useless if your reader doesn’t know what they mean, a serious problem when the same combinations of letters are often used in multiple different specialisms to mean entirely different things. Case in point, while doing research for this month’s Writing Magazine I came across this phrase, ‘The imprint will begin publishing books this fall in hardcover, TPO, and trade paperback…’ (https://writ.rs/tortpo) But what is a TPO? Abbreviations. com offered 72 definitions, ranging from Total Power Output and Tree Preservation Order to Triple Pelvic Osteotomy and Temporary Protection Order via Temperature Programmed Oxidation and Thermos Plastic Olefin, but as I somehow doubt Tor’s new books are going to be published in any of those ‘formats’ I was none-thewiser (NTW).…

I remember enjoying my very first Writers’ Conference in 2005 – Winchester’s 25th anniversary, writes subscriber Trudie Ellen Thomas. I returned home with the ridiculously optimistic thought, that it had been a fantastically helpful weekend, but of course I wouldn’t need to attend the following year because I would be published! Ha! Many, many years later, I still go every June – and I still find those weekends fantastically helpful. Along the way I’ve had two agents, one who sadly passed away, and another who eventually just passed. I love writing short stories for adults, but also children’s Middle Grade. I’ll never stop trying to be the best writer I can be. Being a subscriber to Writing Magazine is part of that and attending writing festivals and signing up for…

Romantic novelist Kate Hardy recently celebrated the publication of her 100th novel for Mills & Boon, an outstanding achievement for an author contracted to this mega-selling publisher whose titles are read and adored all over the world. When I spoke to Kate, it soon became obvious she was destined to be a writer. ‘While I was very young, my mum used to make up stories for me,’ she explains. ‘Although I’m the only one in my family to be published, I think that if my mum had lived longer we’d have been a writing team. I’ve always written, starting as soon as I could hold a pencil. I wrote stories about ponies, outer space or ghosts in little notebooks, and for my sixth birthday I asked my parents to buy…

• When and where did your journey as an author begin? I started writing books when I was twelve. I wrote in my bedroom. Those were the days before mobile phones, so I had little to distract me. At school, I won a competition for one of the stories, and from that moment I decided I wanted to be an author. This took a lot more years, but I never gave up on my dream. • What is (or has been) your proudest moment as a writer? Every time a book comes out I’m proud. There’s something so exciting about seeing your name on a cover. But, as for my proudest moment: my novel Christmas in the Scottish Highlands, which was published in 2021, got to number seven in the…

The Bath Short Story Award 2023 The annual international short fiction contest has a first prize of £1,200. Now in its tenth year, The Bath Short Story Award is given annually for original, unpublished short fiction in any style or genre, up to 2,200 words. There are first, second and third prizes of £1,200, £300 and £100. The £100 Acorn Award is for an unpublished writer of fiction, and the local prize is £50 of book vouchers, donated by Mr B’s Emporium of Books in Bath. This year’s judge is Farhana Shaikh. The entry fee is £9 per story. The closing date is 24 April. Website: www.bathshortstoryaward.org/ 2023 Bloom Writing Contest Narrative short stories, essays and poetry are invited for the 2023 Bloom Writing Contest which is being organised by…

The E.H.P. Bernard Spring Poetry Prize 2023 This year’s contest is for poems on the theme of ‘Change’. To enter, send original, unpublished poems up to 400 words. The first prize is £100 plus a professionally produced poem video. There are second and third prizes of £75 and £50. The judge is Sarah Smith. The entry fee is £2 per poem. The closing date is 31 March. Website: www.tomneill.ltd/the-e-h-p-barnard-poetry-prize/ Indigo Spring Poetry Prize 2023 The Indigo Spring Poetry Prize from Indigo Dreams Publishing is an open competition for original, unpublished poems in any style or form, up to 40 lines. The prizes are £250, £100 and £50, plus magazine publication. The judge is Kitty Donnelly. The entry fees are £5 for one poem, £9 for two and £12 for three.…

Sitcom Mission 2023 Enter 15-minute comedy scripts with the potential to become a series. Sitcom Mission is a competition aimed at script development. Writers are invited to send in 15-minute comic scripts that include fresh, original characters and have the potential to become series. Finalists are showcased at an industry event and are seen by commissioners from UK broadcasters and production companies. The regular entry fee is £15. Other entry options including feedback are available. The closing date is 30 April. Website: www.comedy.co.uk/ sitcom_mission/ The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2023 The winner of the contest for women and non-binary playwrights will receive £12,000, a production and a published script. The Women’s Prize for Playwriting was founded by Ellie Keel and Paines Plough to rederess an historic imbalance: in 2018 only…

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is an independent and Canadian-owned publisher of contemporary trade fiction and nonfiction. Currently it’s open to submissions of literary fiction and literary nonfiction such as memoir, biography, history (especially Canadian and social history), public policy, politics, business and economics, true crime, self-help and well being. Supernatural, Canadiana and local interest, travel, sport, music and culture, city building and architecture, social science and popular science are also accepted. No poetry, or children’s and YA submissions. Fiction submissions must include the completed manuscript, a synopsis of one to three pages and a writer’s C.V. listing previous publications (if any), works in literary magazines/ journals, and relevant experience. For nonfiction proposals attach at least three sample chapters, a one-to-two-page description of the book and state why it is relevant…

I like giving and receiving books at Christmas time, notleast because I find they are something even I can wrap reasonably neatly. One book I received and have been reading recently is by a favourite author, the award-winning American mystery writer Timothy Hallinan. Curiously little known in the United Kingdom, he writes well and always delivers a page-turning experience. He is also unusually descriptive for a writer of what are essentially thrillers. For example, he has a character give a glass-endangering scream of outrage, he describes a room as being as charmless as a subway station and a woman as having eye makeup that would have to be removed with a jackhammer. A brief smile is described as something that turned on and off like a light. One of the…

After thirty years of working for silicon valley technology companies selling stuff about which he had little comprehension, John relocated to the Dordogne in France and now spends his time writing, taking photographs, playing in a band, and golfing. His attempts at speaking the language are about as successful as his mastery of a decent golf swing, but he’s not complaining as he knows that given time anything is possible! Having self-published a couple of novellas and been published in some short story anthologies, he is now working on his first major novel entitled The Justice League of Didcot, which, he constantly tells himself, will be ready for publication this year. Gambling when you can’t afford to lose is not for the faint-hearted. So when some students get together and…