Dangerous Liaisons

Every year, Fiction Feedback sponsors a national competition with Chorley & District Writers’ Circle, with which I’m personally involved. The shortlist has now been decided and I have to say, the process is very exciting. The competition, on the theme of 'dangerous liasions', garnered over 50 entries and it was great fun reading all those wonderful stories. A lovely labour, too, with quite a generous word limit of 3,000 words.

If there hadn’t been a theme, I honestly don’t know how we’d have created a shortlist that didn't comprise at least three quarters of the stories sent in. There were some fabulous stories: moving, exciting, original, humorous, and all beautifully written. However, a lot had obviously been entered simply because their authors had them ready to send and try their luck at the next comp, and they weren’t geared to the theme. The connection was weak, tenuous or even non-existent. So they missed out. It’s a sadness to see so many terrific stories fall by the judging wayside, but as I say it made our job easier.

I won’t publicise the shortlist here as the final judging has to be made anonymously, but watch this space once the prizes have been decided.

Meanwhile, if you’re considering entering a writing competition, and it has a theme, do be aware that it’s there to make the judges’ lives easier (as well as more pleasurable, ‘dangerous liaisons’ was mined in all kind of fascinating ways). Crafting your story tightly around the theme will increase your chances of a prize maybe more than you’d realised.

The Word is the place this Saturday

Looks like The Book Show at Luton on the 22^nd that I mentioned in a previous post has been cancelled. Perhaps that £90 ticket price was a bit too hefty?

A better bet should be The Word festival at Astley Hall in Chorley, Lancashire this Saturday, 22nd September. Big draws include short story expert Clare Massey and Kerry Wilkinson, the guy who sold so many books on Amazon (250,000 downloads in six months) that he attracted a six-book deal from Macmillan. For many writers, that’s a dream come true, so I’ll be going along to mingle and network and also to find out the secret of his success – and report back for Fiction Feedback.

I think there are just one or two tickets left (at a reasonable £20, including lunch) if you want to join me.

http://the-word.org.uk/

http://thelancashireword.eventbrite.co.uk/

The 3 Things That Make My Head Buzz Today

Blog-time again. Lots to say, little time as usual.

First, editing novels is a joy but it can also be a very long, dark tunnel from which I wonder if I’ll ever emerge. That’s not to do with the style of the writing (well, OK, a bit) but with the immersion that’s required to make a cracking job of it. Wrinkly finger-ends are the least of it. Frazzled brain is what concerns me; it’s very important when editing to keep fresh, and this means having breaks between passes. (That’s right, you don’t edit in just one go; you have at least two edits of the full thing and sometimes, depending on the density and complexity of the work, rather more.) And that means the tunnel seems to get longer and the light at the end never grows larger than a pinprick. Oh well. I’m still enjoying it and I’m more satisfied than ever that my current author is going to get a very good job. That’s what it’s about.

Second, reviewing unpublished writing is also a joy – especially when it’s good. When the novel’s not so good, and you suspect that the writer has never read a novel themselves, let alone attended a writing course or seminar, it can be torture. We get very few like that at Fiction Feedback for which I’m eternally grateful. So many of our authors write books that, with a little help, deserve publication.

Which brings me to item three. We are looking at an association with a new ebook publishing company that launches next year. They’re adopting a new style of business, yet they are traditional publishers in the sense that authors pay nothing for editing, marketing, production and distribution, and are rewarded with royalties. A high percentage, too. So there might, there, be some good news for our authors, especially in the genre of crime which will be their main focus. And in which, coincidentally, we get most submissions.

Back to editing for me. Enjoy the Bank Holiday: if the weather is as lousy where you are as it is here – I can’t see through the window pane, the rain drops have formed one amorphous splatter – then maybe a good book calls.