Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Writing Magazine

Your writing starts with you. That’s the message of this month’s Writing Magazine – and it’s something we believe in with a passion. For all but the most jaded and cynical hacks-for-hire, writing is a creative pursuit and for many of us, the pure joy in creative self-expression is its own reward – though of course we’re also delighted when it leads to publication, prizes, recognition and above all, the understanding that all those hours of scribbling and effort have been validated. You are the source of your best ideas; only you can write like you – your individual ideas and experiences are what gives your writing its unique flavour. So if any of this chimes with you – and, if you’re a writer, how could it not? – turn…

Christmas is on the horizon. Have you bought any presents yet? Did you buy anyone a jigsaw puzzle? Or are you expecting to receive one? Even if the answer to both questions is no, I’d like you to consider how a jigsaw is like a story or novel. No, I’ve not lost the plot, but your fictional plot could be considered to be similar to a jigsaw. For starters, all the pieces have to fit together until after a lot of fiddling about, and stressing over what goes where, you end up with a whole picture, story or novel. Actually, it could be any piece of writing. You could include articles and poems. Personally, I am not a fan of jigsaws and have been known to try to force a…

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER? Is it possible to write a novel that is aimed at both teens and adults? asks subscriber Paul Wreyford. Well, that’s what I’ve done. Writers are told to target a specific market and readership, but I just wanted to write a book that would make a good read – whatever the age of the reader. Why do we need to put every book in an age bracket? When Henry VIII Came to Dinner aims to make history accessible and fun to both young adults… and adults young at heart. It was inspired by that age-old question: who would you invite to dinner if you could choose anyone who has ever lived? In my book, a teenager and his father welcome Henry VIII, Napoleon, Shakespeare, Churchill, et…

This month’s story, ‘William Wilson’ by Edgar Allan Poe is a complex one, open to a variety of interpretations. I’m not going to try to tell you what the correct interpretation is, but rather to look at the ways the intrigue of the story is built up and what we can learn from it. As always, you’ll benefit most from this masterclass if you read the story yourself: https://poestories.com/read/williamwilson The premise of the story is interesting. We have two characters both called by the same name, with the same date of birth and similar appearance. And, what’s more, they both turn up at the same boarding school on the same day. What are the chances? In the first few paragraphs we join ‘William Wilson’, our narrator, approaching his death and…

Laura Macdougall began her publishing career with Hodder & Stoughton, working with authors such as David Nicholls and Stephen King, before changing roles and becoming a literary agent. She joined Tibor Jones and Associates before moving to United Agents in 2017. Laura is a former judge of the Green Carnation Prize, launched to celebrate fiction written by LGBT writers, and in 2019 she won the Romantic Novelist’s Association’s inaugural Inclusion Award for her work supporting diversity and inclusion in publishing. In 2017, she was one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars and later shortlisted for their Agent of the Year award in 2022. Authors she represents include Jeremy Atheron Lin, Hayley Campbell, Margot Douaihy, Harper Ford, Jess Phillips, Joelle Taylor, and Sophie Ward. You switched from publishing to becoming a literary…

DYSLEXIA-FRIENDLY PUBLISHING Founded by Dr Alistair Sims, who is himself dyslexic, Books on the Hill Press is the only publisher in the UK to exclusively publish books for people with dyslexia, writes Gary Dalkin. The books have wider line spacing and a bigger font, and are left-aligned, not justified. Now the small independent company, which was formed three years ago, is behind a new range of novellas by authors normally associated with only the biggest publishing houses, including Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe’s Skirmish) and Peter James (The Stamp of a Criminal), as well as forthcoming titles by Lee Child and Karin Slaughter. BOTHP already has dyslexia-friendly editions of works by such authors as Thana Niveau, James Bennett, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Garth Nix, alongside reprints of classic titles by Arthur Conan Doyle…

The Happiful Poetry Prize 2025 The free-entry competition is for poems that explore mental health and wellbeing. Happiful magazine is published to challenge the stigma around mental health and to promote a healthier, happier and more sustainable socciety. Its poetry contest is inviting entries of original, unpublished poems up to 25 lines that explore mental health and wellbeing in relatable, original, empowering ways. The winner will receive £100 and four shortlisted poets will each get £25 book tokens. All five winners will be published in Happiful 96. Entry is free. One entry per person. Submit a poem and a short biography. The closing date is 18 November. Website: https://happiful.com/enter-the-happiful-poety-prize-2025 Arts Richmond Poetry Prize 2025 The Arts Richmond Poetry Prize will be judged by Roger McGough, and invites entries of original,…

The George Eliot Fellowship Essay Prize 2024 Win a £500 prize for a paper on the author’s life and work. The George Eliot Foundation is inviting entries of original, unpublished essays no longer than 4,000 words. The winning author will receive £500 and their paper will be published in the 2025 George Eliot Review. They will also receive honorary membership of the Foundation. The closing date is 12 December. Website: https://victorianist.wordpress.com/2024/07/26/the-george-eliot-fellowship-essay-prize The Tom Grass Spirit of Adventure Prize 2025 The new prize commemorates adventurer, writer and entrepreneur Tom Glass, who died this year. Entries are invited of prose fiction or non-fiction by emerging writers (ie, unpublished or with no more than one major publication credit) up to 3,000 words that captures sense of adventure. The winner will receive £1,000 and…

Written Backwards Written Backwards is an independent publisher of unique books. Currently closed to novel submissions, the team seek stories for their anthology, Silent Nightmares, opening for submissions in December, 2024. The team want stories of dark holiday horrors. Editors Chuck Palahniuk and Michael Bailey want ‘haunting stories, no more than 5,000 words, to be told on the longest night of the year.’ PDRLS Payment is US$0.10 per word Details: email: silentnightmares@nettirw.com; website: https://nettirw.com/2024/09/05/silent-nightmares-open-submission-call/ Raconteur Press Raconteur Press loves the pulps of the early SF era, and seek authors to provide entertaining short stories for their many anthologies, writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon. Guidelines for stories for all the anthologies are a word limit of 5,000 to 8,000 words, and most genres are acceptable ‘as long as the story fits the concept,…

The New Media Writing Prize 2024-5 The prize for digital storytelling is inviting entries for this year’s awards. The New Media Writing Prize is awarded annually for interactive new media writing – storytelling that is created specifically to be consumed via a PC or Mac, or a handheld device (ie tablet or smartphone) or online. Entries may be fiction or non-fiction, including novels, short stories, poems, documentaries, or transmedia works. Interactivity must be a key component and the judges will be looking for innovative use of digital media to create an involving narrative. This year’s award is in the following categories: • The Chris Meade Memorial UK New Media Writing Prize: £1,000 • The Opening Up Award: £500 • The Digital Journalism Award: £500 and free membership of the FIPP…

www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions Writing Competitions, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications Ltd, West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH WIN! £775 IN CASH PRIZES & PUBLICATION £25O TO BE WON OPEN FUNNY SITUATION What kind of comic capers will you conjure in this month’s competition? Anything goes, from slapstick to sitcom, as long as you make us laugh and your story is between 1,500 and 1,700 words. The winner will receive £200 and the runner up, £50 and the winning entries will be published in the June 2025 issue of Writing Magazine. The entry fee is £7.50/£6 subscribers. The closing date is 15 January. Ref code: WRO/December24/funnysituation POETRY SONNET The ever-popular classical sonnet form is your challenge in this month’s contest – if it’s good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for Writing Magazine!…

A tilt, a jolt – the box is lifted.Angel shouts, ‘It’s time! Wake up!’The others stretch and shake off slumber.Snowflake grumbles. Bauble tuts. A Handmade mutters, tired and bitter,golden glitter long since shed –replaced by flaking Pritt Stick patches,fading paper, ragged edged. Silk wings atingle with excitement,Angel stares up from the box.She sees the tree, its needled branchesleading up to her top spot. The Lights are first to take position,proudly coiling round and round.Then next is Tinsel, deftly threadedin and out and up and down. She knows she’ll be the crowning glory,placed up high – the final piece.At last, a hand comes in and lifts herup to take her usual seat. But to her shock, all of a sudden,without reverence or care,she’s roughly shoved onto a mid branch.‘Hey,’ she calls,…

One of the signs that your writing is becoming more advanced, more proficient, is that you have a voice. This semi-mythical, near-ineffable quality is often seen as an important part of a writer’s development. It is impatiently sought. It is ardently yearned for. But what is it? How do you get it? And do you need it? Voice is not to be confused with style. A writer may adopt any number of styles according to the type of story they want to tell while their voice remains the same. Very occasionally, the voice is also the style (see Kurt Vonnegut). A voice, rather, is the individual writer’s prose DNA. It is all of their learning and reading and experience and practice and feedback distilled into a distinctive manner. In this…

HERMIT CRAB STORIES AND ESSAYS Unlike other crab species, hermit crabs don’t have hard shells, so they borrow empty seashells to protect their bodies, changing up as they grow bigger and need more room. Like the creatures they are named after, hermit crab stories and essays don’t inhabit the normal narrative structures but borrow other templates that are easily recognisable from everyday life, such as a user manual, a recipe, a set of instructions, an official letter or a product recall notification. A famous example of a hermit crab story, versions of which have been around for more than a hundred years, takes the form of a newspaper small ad – ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ You can use this technique for the true stories of memoir too, as…

Three things I know about my Uncle Jack.He is kind, he tarmacs roads, and he has half a thumb.That half-thumb surprises me every time.It makes me blink,even when I think that I am ready for it.I wonder whether he forgets about it tooand startles himself every morningwhen he squeezes his toothpasteor blows his nose.Mum says that it is rude to starebut he never seems to mind.He just waggles it at me and winks. I was shocked when my school photo came back gappy.I forgot to remember that I had lost my front teeth.Swallowed them with my cornflakes.No one tried to find them.Not even the fairies seemed bothered.New ones grew.Another surprise.They must be someone else’s.They are much too big for my face.Mum says that I will grow into them,but she said…

Today I Found Out Today I found Out is a popular US website whose editorial team are always looking for new writers who can pen interesting factual articles on a wide range of subjects, writes Gary Dalkin. They have sections on animals, entertainment, history, language, people, science, myths, ‘this day in history’ and ‘miscellaneous’ for anything that doesn’t fit anywhere Editor Daven Hiskey and his extensive team require articles that are accurate, factual, educational and entertaining. Plagiarism will be checked for, and submissions must not be available elsewhere online, though reprints of articles from books, magazines or newspapers will be considered so long as you have the rights to republish online. Successful stories will illustrate an interesting fact, historical event, scientific discovery, etc. while offering an engrossing read about something…

The Malahat Review The Malahat Review welcomes submissions of poetry, three to five poems (up to 10 pages max) short fiction, (up to 4,000 words,) or one to three shorter fictions of up to 750 words each and creative nonfiction, up to 5,000 words or one to three pieces of up to 1,000 words each. Payment CAN$70 per published page plus a one-year print subscription and two copies. Website: https://web.uvic.ca/malahat/ Solarpunk Magazine Solarpunk Magazine invites stories, between 1,500 and 3,000 words; non-fiction, 1,000 to 2,000 words, and up to five poems. Payment is standard SFA US$.08 per word for fiction, US$40 per poem, US$75 for nonfiction, via PayPal. Website: https://solarpunkmagazine.com/ River Styx All submissions will be considered for both the print and the online magazine. Submit fiction in the form…

Bard Books Bard Books is an independent publisher ‘devoted to voices on the page that demand to be heard.’ The team publish novels, short stories collections, novellas, chapbooks and non-fiction collections of creative nonfiction, essays on literature, art, culture, music, philosophy, nature, etc. and more; biography, memoir, melange; critical studies, and poetry collections. Submit full-length works or chapbooks: collections of stories, poems, or essays. The print and online LitMag is open to submissions of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Payment is discussed with the contract but they do ‘negotiate a modest advance.’ PDRLS Website: www.bardbooks.com Picket Fire Press Picket Fire Press is a new publishing house seeking works of exceptional literary quality. Currently the team are accepting full literary novel manuscripts. They do not publish genre work but do consider…

Discoveries 2025 The writer development programme from The Women’s Prize Trust is inviting entries from aspiring women novelists. Discoveries is a development programme aimed at discovering talented and original new female writing voices in the UK and Ireland. It is run as a partnership between The Women’s Prize Trust, Audible, Curtis Brown literary agency and Curtis Brown Creative. Prizes will be given for novel manuscripts by unpublished writers in any adult genre. Submit the first 10,000 words and a synopsis between 500 and 1,000 words. Novel manuscripts do not have to be completed. The winner will be offered representation by Curtis Brown and £5,000. Shortlisted writers will be offered a mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent and a free place on a six week Curtis Brown Creative online course.…

Bourbon Penn Bourbon Penn is a US speculative fiction magazine available to read free online, or to purchase in ebook and paperback format, writes Gary Dalkin. Editor Erik Secker and his team are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. They want genre or speculative stories, and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal. Above all though, they want character, saying, ‘for us, stories live and die by their characters’. They want fully drawn characters ‘who surprise us with their honesty, complexity, and contradictions’. In addition, Bourbon Penn wants the mysterious, stories that make the reader ask, ‘what the hell is going on?’, then deliver a compelling answer. They want action, suspenseful plotting and…

Christmas is a time of contrasts, with piety, subtlety and a sense of peace on one hand; parties, pantos and commercialism on the other. The entries in our Christmas Poetry Competition reflected these contrasts, and there was a vast array of subject matter including the natural world in winter, Santa in various moods, Christmas trees and decorations, Nativity plays with angels and shepherds. There were cards, gifts, wrapping and ribbons; turkeys, pudding and chocolate; fairy lights, hangovers and elves. Apart from the range of contents, there were poems in a wide selection of forms, with free verse, couplets, sonnets, a kyrielle, acrostics and ballads, to name just a few. Every entry was read with interest, and only one or two really didn’t seem to have anything to say, so the…

STAR LETTER WRITE IN AND FIND OUT! Every month when WM lands on my mat, I tell myself I’m going to enter one of the contests. And then I see the same names coming up on the winners’ lists and ask myself if I’m wasting my time. What have they got that I haven’t? Or have I? There’s only one way to find out! Now waiting for the next issue… VALERIE FISH Whittlesey, Cambs The star letter each month earns a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2025, courtesy of Bloomsbury. Write to letters@writersnews.co.uk. JARGON BUSTER I couldn’t agree more with Jo Roberts (Letters, WM Oct) with regard to how some authors use language. I too have struggled to understand some vocabulary when reading novels, especially where the author…

Daddy has a new secretary called Yvonne and she has fair hair and red lipstick and black eye lashes and she is slim and wears short skirts and I like her – and she bought me a toy shop and now I can play buying and selling and the shop has tiny jars and scales and a cash register and a card machine but I have to have batteries to make it swallow my special cash card and spit it out again and my battery is always running out and my Daddy says I must eat batteries, but I DON’T, and they cost a lot and the new secretary thought Daddy was going to hit me but he didn’t and the new secretary looks like a photograph of how my…

1. When and where did your journey as an author begin? It was in 2008 when my very first novel Reversing over Liberace was picked up by an American epublisher. I’d like to say it was all plain sailing from there. But it wasn’t, of course, because it rarely is in the world of writing. 2. What are (or have been) your proudest moments as a writer? Perhaps winning five RoNAs (the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Awards), each one in a different genre, because that has been fantastic. Plus I’ve got the awards on a shelf, so when I’m having one of my why-am-I-even-trying-to-do-this moments, I can look at them and remind myself that I can actually write. I do have to dust them, mind you. 3. Who or what is…

Q I have a character who is a retired police officer who has been left a blood-stained veil by her grandmother in her will, asking the police officer to get a DNA result on who the blood belongs to as this blood belonged to her biological father, only revealed on her death bed. So this would be the officer’s grandfather. Would a retired police officer have any short cuts to getting this done or would this only be done by paying an agency to test? Also would DNA still be present in blood stains after 80+ years? Caroline Watt via email A A retired officer wouldn’t be able to have the blood tested officially through police forensics. That doesn’t mean to say that they wouldn’t have a contact who could…

Professional-standard pacing is a crucial element in a good book and hugely affects how much a reader enjoys a story. It comes from an author’s in-depth knowledge of their book as they’ll have assessed the weight of each scene and will balance the book so that each carries the right impact. Too slow on the more minor scenes and they run the risk of page-turning slowing down to a halt. Too fast, and tension might be lost as the reader races to keep up or loses interest as the impact of heightened scenes lessen with repetition. Understanding this balance will significantly affect the texture of the narrative. By effectively triaging scenes within a book, giving them different priorities, you can learn to assess each one. Just as in real life,…

Broken Sleep Books Broken Sleep Books is a niche press – a working-class, small, innovative press, which publishes a range of poetry and prose, from a range of writers, writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon. The editorial team’s aim is to increase access to the arts especially for those who have problems ‘engaging with creativity; because of their socioeconomic status’. They encourage more working-class, LGBTQ+, and POC writers to submit. Read the guidelines carefully and follow their submission windows in order to get the book in front of the correct person. The team enjoy a variety of genres and styles and will also accept previously published work in a collection, but not be more than 50% of the full work. Submit poetry collections of 40+ pages, poetry pamphlets of 15 to 40 pages,…

Anthology Short Story Competition 2025 The international Anthology Short Story Competition is inviting entries of original, unpublished short stories no longer than 1,500 words. The winner will receive €1,000 and their story will be published in Anthology. There are second and third prizes of €250 and €150. The entry fee is €15 up to 31 March and then €18. The closing date is 31 July. Website: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/short-story-competition/ The Edinburgh Short Story Award 2025 The Edinburgh Short Story Award is an international competition that is run by Scottish Arts Trust. The Short Story Award is given for original, unpublished short fiction under 2,000 words. The prizes are £3,000, £500 and £250. There are also prizes given for the Isobel Lodge Award for the best story by an unpublished writer resident in…

The Rubery Book Award 2025 The annual international prize is for books by indie and self-published writers and independent presses. The winner of the book of the year category will receive £2,000, with £200 for each category winner. All entries must be books that were either independently or self published. Authors and publishers may enter. Printed books and ebooks are both accepted, and there are no publication date restrictions. The categories are fiction, young adult, children’s, biographies, non-fiction, self-help, cookery, poetry, photography. The 2025 judges are Paul McDonald and R.M. Francis. The entry fee for one book is £45/$70/€60/$90CAD/NZ$110. The closing date is 31 March 2025. Website: www.ruberybookaward.com…

Hope after Helene In the days after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of Appalachia, award-winning South Carolina author Hope Clark wrote in her newsletter: ‘One of the best ways to ease your frustrations is to watch the world. … I have spent the last two afternoons attempting to work on a laptop against the wall in a tiny coffee shop in Chapin, SC. Sometimes people recognize me. At other times I am invisible. I am amazed at how people think nobody hears them when they sit at a table with a cup of coffee. … A teenager talked about her car running out of gas, and her boyfriend stealing something out of a convenience store. At the same time, another teen talks to a guy about downloading a video to learn…

As the brown doe drank from the icy riverand the black bear slumbered in its dark den;as the red fox padded across the white fieldand the tall oak creaked against the cold wind;while the dark sky, dotted with stars and galaxies,held the world spinning in a spiraling solar system,wearied and soiled fingers tucked wee onesunder cool sheets and heavy blankets.Energetic toes squirmed and slender fingersclutched stuffed furry animals close to their hearts.Santa’s story, known by heart, needed no retelling,but the other one did: the baby in swaddling clothes,whose bed was a rough-hewn manger,and the lowing cows and softly bleating sheep,and the hymns of resplendent angels,and the stunned shepherds, and the bright starbreaking into the vacant, Stygian sky,and the sagacious kings, lords from the East.With the door cracked slightly ajar,the night…