Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Writing Magazine

If you’re a writer, there’s no resting on your laurels. Keeping up-to-snuff is one of the joys of being part of the writing world – no matter whether you’re at the beginning of your writing journey or you’re an experienced writer with a slew of publications to your name, there’s always something new to learn. This month we’re delighted to introduce a new series on Advanced Creative Writing Techniques from James McCreet. As regular readers know, McCreet is a rigorous critic with a deep understanding of the technical aspects of how to make words work, and this series will provide food for thought for anyone interested in honing their skills. Having said that, here at WM we’re great believers in writing for the love of it – and in writing…

Most of the time I’m about as mystical as a brick, but when it comes to writing suddenly the world is imbued with higher truths. One of these truths, at least in my experience, is that stories come from a place deep inside us, way below the conscious voice, with its fears and worries and rationalisations, and that the very best writing happens when we learn to access them at will. I can’t just explain how to do this. There’s no substitution for time and effort and many, many, too many hours writing, writing, doing nothing but writing, until you are able to put your fingers on the keyboard and jack straight in. At least that’s how it’s been for me. But there are some tricks to evading the sentinels…

STAR LETTER IN A WORLD OF THEIR OWN I’ve just read an amusing book called 1000 Unforgettable Senior Moments by Tom…uh…Friedman. It contains excerpts from people at all walks of life. Whereby I thought I might be going senile, I realise that among writers, artists and composers, absent-mindedness is a common phenomenon. This apparently is due to their 100% absorption with their ongoing inspired work. I’m impressed with this explanation and will now view my quirky and forgetful behaviour as devotion to my cause and a natural part of the writing process. LINDA KETTLE Portsmouth, Hants The star letter each month earns a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2024, courtesy of Bloomsbury. Write to letters@writersnews.co.uk. ‘For years I would tell people who wanted to be writers that the…

Kerry-Ann Bentley graduated with a First-class degree in English and United States Literature from the University of Essex. Then she earned her Masters in Caribbean Literature and its Diasporas from Goldsmiths, University of London. Her agenting career began in 2020, in the New York office of Janklow & Nesbit. Since then, she’s moved to The Good Literary Agency, a social enterprise agency based in Bristol, which supports under-represented writers of colour, disability, LGBTQ+, working class and those who feel under-represented by the mainstream publishing industry. Kerry-Ann’s clients include Koushik Banerjea, Charlie Castelletti, Cailin Hargreaves, Dr Leanne Levers, Karla Neblett, Gemma Weekes, and Alex Wheatle. What first led you to becoming a literary agent? I knew I wanted to become a literary agent after a summer internship in New York City…

My Cornerstones editor provided me with the perfect blend of enthusiasm and constructive criticism. My first book, A Quiet Death In Italy, went on to win a three-book deal with Constable, an imprint of Little, Brown. No literary consultancy can guarantee you will get published, but Cornerstones clearly have the calibre to help you get there.– Tom Benjamin, Last Testament in Bologna (Constable, 2024) Cornerstones is the world’s leading transatlantic literary consultancy, offering a range of services to bring your book to the next level. Our editorial packages include: industry-style reader’s reports, one-to-one mentoring, final-stage copy-editing and proofreading, and our intensive Edit Your Novel masterclass online course. +44 (0) 1308 897374 www.cornerstones.co.uk…

Anthology Nature Writing Competition 2024 The international Anthology Nature Writing Competition is inviting entries of original, unpublished writing on the natural world. Each essay must be no longer than 1,500 words. The winner will receive €500 and their piece will be published in Anthology. The entry fee is €15. The closing date is 30 September. Website: https://anthology-magazine.com/awards/nature-competition/ The Moth Nature Writing Prize 2024 The competition is for writing that explores the writer’s relationship with the natural world This year’s Moth Nature Writing Prize, from The Moth literary journal, will be judged by Cal Flyn and given to a piece of writing that combines exceptional literary merit with the writer’s exploration of the natural world and their relationship to it. There is a first prize of €1,000 and a week at…

The Midway The Midway publishes prose and poetry which ‘aims to complicate and question the boundaries of genre, binary, and perspective.’ Open to free submissions between 1 January and 31 May and Tip Jar submissions year round. Submit original prose, poetry and mixed genre work. Website: https://midwayjournal.com The Common The Common’s editorial team seek ‘stories, essays, poems, and dispatches that embody a strong sense of place.’ The Common Online publishes original content four times per week. They’re open to submissions of ‘stories, essays, poetry, and translations from 1 March to 1 June, and 1 September to 1 December. Payment for dispatches is ‘US$100 honorarium per dispatch.’ Fiction, nonfiction, translations, and poetry pay US$200 honorarium per prose piece, and US$40 per poem. Website: www.thecommononline.org Onyx Publications Onyx Publications has an on-line…

The Orange & Bee The Orange & Bee is a quarterly international digital magazine published on Substack and edited and presented by Carina Bissett, in the US, and Nike Sulway, in Australia, writes Gary Dalkin. The duo publish original short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the traditions of international folklore. They have a strong focus on fairy tales, though they also ‘dabble’ in other forms of folklore, such as fables, myths, and legends. The name of the magazine is adapted from a seventeenth-century literary fairy tale, L’Oranger et l’Abeille, first published by Madame d’Aulnoy, reputedly the person who coined the term fairy tales (contes de fées) in 1697. The title will be open to submissions for issue 3 from 1-14 August (closing midnight, Australian Eastern…

BBC tech pieces Senior reporter Thomas Germain is looking to commission ‘occasional’ technology features for the BBC’s online platforms. His favourite pieces make mundane things interesting and ‘unpack the systems we use everyday’. The weirder and more fun the better, and while he will consider them, he prefers to stay away from business stories. Payment is 40-45p per word. Pitch him via X/Twitter @thomasgermain GD Fit & Well Ruth Gaukrodger, fitness editor at London-based website Fit & Well is open to pitches all year long, writes Gary Dalkin. There are periods each month though when she is particularly looking to commission, so check her X/Twitter account to see the best time: @RGaukrodger Fit & Well is aimed at a general readership, regardless of age, gender and fitness levels, with content…

When people learn I’m an author they often say to me, ‘you must have so many ideas’ and I do, but most of those ideas are lost to an email folder, lazily entitled ‘story related’, and never to see the light of day. So, what’s the alchemy that turns an initial idea into a novel that an editor and their colleagues want to publish? The answer is probably different from every author and indeed for each book that they write, but the chemistry behind The Library of Lost Love was a series of reactions, of chance happenings, in which Nora Ephron’s maxim that ‘everything is copy’ turned an idea into a partial manuscript that, almost eighteen months after the first spark, would grab the attention of a very special publisher…

Creative non-fiction is about using the craft of fiction to create compelling stories from the raw material of real life, and one of the tools in the fiction-writer’s toolkit is making the most of settings. One obvious way fiction writers do this is in pathetic fallacy, where the outer world reflects the mood of the character or intensifies the action. How many sad girls have gazed out on the world through windows streaming with rain? How many pursuits and conflicts have been played out against roaring thunderstorms, and why do the lights never work when the detectives go searching through a perfectly ordinary suburban house or flat? In creative non-fiction, you can’t make up the weather – you can be creative with the way you tell the story, but not…

SUNDAYS I can hear him outside my door. Grumbling. Moving around. Waiting. Even though it’s so early it is still dark outside. I always get up early on Sundays. I don’t want to waste a second. I pull my bed out enough to squeeze round the end, and I wee in the corner. Then I open the window to let out some of the smell, and push the bed back. He kicks the door to let me know he knows. But he won’t do anything. Not on a Sunday. Sunday is Mum’s day. He knows if he tries anything he won’t get no dinner. Roast chicken. Yorkshire Pudding. Peas and carrots. Stuffing and gravy. And trifle. Mum’s special trifle, with loads of fruit and jelly and custard and Dream Topping…

1. When and where did your journey as an author begin? I’ve always loved writing, but for years I never considered becoming an author. My career as a beauty industry journalist and market researcher meant I was always filing copy, where facts and figures were my forte. But in 2008 I signed up for a course entitled Writing a Mass Market Novel. At the end of it, I even dared to dream of finishing a novel myself. 2. What is, or has been, your proudest moment as a writer? My proudest moment was when I was signed by Bookouture and they published my first book The Girl Across the Wire Fence. They had been my dream publisher for so long, and I was thrilled to see my book in print…

• Tell us about Nora. Nora and the Map of Mayhem is a comedy for 8-12 year-olds about a rebellious, anarchic great-grandmother called Nora who has a secret history as a Monster Hunter. When Nora’s nemesis, Ripclaw, comes looking for her, Nora and her great-grandkids are swept away on a hair-raising adventure, dodging ruthless pirates and battling snot-slinging sea monsters in their quest to find an ancient and extremely powerful treasure. Nora was inspired by my own grandma; she’s always had a bit of a rebellious streak, but as she’s grown older, she’s become even more mischievous. Nora is an exaggerated version of her, accentuating all the parts about her that make me laugh the most. Whilst writing, I constantly pushed myself to increase the comedy and subvert expectations: Nora…

BOOK FESTIVAL FALLOUT Four literary festivals have recently cut their ties with the investment management company Baillie Gifford after coming under pressure over its connections with both the fossil fuel industry and Israel, writes Gary Dalkin. BG is best known in the book world for sponsoring the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, one of the most generous literary prizes in the world. It has also been heavily involved in supporting literary festivals, but in the last few weeks the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Hay Festival, the Borders Book Festival and Cheltenham Literature Festival all ended their relationships with the company. Allan Little, chair of the Edinburgh festival’s board was reported in The Scotsman as saying, ‘Activists in Fossil Free Books and Art Workers…

Scottish Association of Writers Summer Competitions 2024 The Westerwood Short Story Competition is inviting entries of original, unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 3,000 words. The prizes are £100, £50 and £25, and the judge is Douglas Bruton. The James Muir Poetry Competition is inviting entries of original, unpublished poems up to 40 lines. The prizes are £100, £50 and £25, and the judge is Gail Anderson. The entry fee is £7 per poem or short story. The closing date is 24 August. Website: www.scottishassociationofwriters.com/summer-competitions-2024/ Walking Together For the Walking Together competition from walk listen create, enter flash stories and poems up to 250 words. Winning stories and poems will be published in an illustrated chapbook anthology by Sampson Low Publishers and showcased during Sound Walk September 2024. One winner…

Serendipity Just launched, Serendipity is a new worldwide ‘digital first’ romance imprint from Legend Times, writes Gary Dalkin. The editorial team are looking for all types of romance stories from heart-warmingly cozy and ‘delightfully sweet’ to ‘tantalizingly very spicy’. The latter are promised to offer ‘a plot that focusses largely on the character’s physical, as well as emotional, connection.’ The only romance subgenre they aren’t currently needing is ‘romantasy’. Serendipity is open to unagented submissions, which you can make using the contact form at: www.serendipityfiction.com/contact-us, or send by email to info@serendipityfiction.com. Include a detailed synopsis, noting if your novel has a happy ending, then add a list of any included romance tropes and a few comparison titles or authors in the genre. Attach the first three chapters of your manuscript…

The current controversy over investment management company Baillie Gifford’s sponsorship of a range of literary festivals is a reminder that the relationship between art and patronage has always been an uneasy one. There would be no Taj Mahal or Sistine Chapel if the artists of the past had not been prepared to swallow some of their qualms about working for despotic rulers. Julius II, who commissioned the Sistine Chapel took his name from the decidedly ungodly (and pagan) Julius Caesar and was known as the Fearsome Pope. To the best of my knowledge no one at Baillie Gifford has assassinated any Borgias but their supposed lack of investment purity has seen them driven from their support of both the Hay and Edinburgh literary festivals as well as other smaller ones.…

The wait is always torture. Days pass at a crawl and anxious dreams fill your nights. It’s wholly self-inflicted – you could stop it at any time – but instead you find yourself back at your computer, heart stuttering in your throat, furious with yourself for getting so worked up once again, pressing the refresh key in a state of near panic until it finally appears. That’s right, it’s feedback from your writing workshop. Time to find out what people think about your latest attempt at a short story. Groups like this are a rite of passage for most wannabe authors. They’re often the first situation where you show your work to someone who didn’t either birth you or share your bed. They can be online or in person, run…

The following exercise should help you to develop a spark of interest into a short synopsis for a novel. I’ve done it too, to help you along. 1. Take time to read your favourite newspaper or magazine – save the article that resonates most with you. NC ‘My parents had a car for their dog’. 2. After you’ve found an article, go about your day in your usual way. As you do, consider why the article resonated and something in your own life that you might wish to explore. NC I love dogs, I found the headline humorous and intriguing. I’m currently interested in autism. 3. Once you’ve found something to explore, hold it in mind as you continue with your day. What happens in your day that might give you a location…

Anyone labouring under the misconceptions that sagas are a ‘soft’ form of fiction needs to encounter the marvellous Rosie Goodwin. Rosie’s latest book, Our Fair Lily, is the first of her new Flower Girls trilogy and on the cover there’s a pretty picture of a beautiful young woman. Inside, though, the reader will encounter a tangled tale of trials and tribulations involving class schisms, hidden illegitimate children, the struggle to survive in the wake of a mining disaster and more before the story reaches a happy ending. ‘It was my last editor who came up with the idea – girls with flower names – and I thought it was a bit twee!’ exclaims Rosie, cheerfully adding, ‘I can be brutal to my poor girls! But she said, just do your…

Do you remember what I said about dreaming time? We should sit and stare into space at least once a day. Daydreaming is good for you. Ideas arrive when you’re not concentrating on anything else. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, sends out an email once a week to anyone who has bought his book and registers their interest. A while ago one of his messages said that the reason people get good ideas in the shower is because it’s the only time during the day when most people are away from screens long enough to think clearly. This confirms what I’ve said about dreaming time. Thinking clearly, that is concentrating on what you want to, or need to, is similar to daydreaming because doing either produces ideas. It also…

NOT HEARD OF… TIL NOW Just wanted to pat myself on the back for finally finding a publisher for my pet project: a book about Essex Authors (Famous Essex Authors writes subscriber Dee Gordon. Although I have had seventeen non fiction books published (mostly local history about Essex and the East End of London), for some reason the publishers that knew me were wary of the idea of Essex and ‘Literature’ … pretty insulting, I thought! This one was definitely something that I personally wanted to see published – as a fan of Essex, of books, and of authors and how they work, what motivates them, why they write, their writing journeys, and successes. We have had a lot of successful writers in Essex, dating back to the 17th century,…

I’m currently reading the novel Heartburn by the brilliantly talented Nora Ephron (screenwriter of When Harry met Sally, amongst other notable films), and it’s raised in my mind the blurring of fact and fiction, and how to navigate a path for an author. Heartburn is based on elements of Ephron’s life, which she later described thus: ‘It’s been nearly 25 years since my second marriage ended, and 22 since I finished writing Heartburn, which is often referred to as a thinly disguised novel.’ Ephron was aware that many events in her life, or those of her friends, would go within the ‘Use This Someday’ file and made no excuses for this. A successful author is something of a magpie when it comes to characters, emotions or situations that they observe…

Arthur C. Clarke shortlist The shortlist for the 38th Arthur C. Clarke Award, given annually for the best speculative fiction novel published in the UK in the previous year, has been announced as: Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah; The Ten Percent Thief, Lavanya Lakshminarayan; In Ascension, Martin MacInnes; The Mountain In The Sea, Ray Nayler; Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh; Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, Isabel Waidner. The winner, who will receive an award of £2,024, will be announced on 24 July. GD Accolade for Caleb Azumah Nelson Thirty-year-old British-Ghanaian author Caleb Azumah Nelson has been awarded the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers – the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2024 – for his novel Small Worlds (Viking, Penguin Random House UK), writes Gary Dalkin.…

The Caledonia Novel Award 2025 The Caledonia Novel Award is an international prize given for the best novel manuscript in any genre for adults and young adults. All entries must be original novel manuscripts at least 50,000 words long by unpublished or self-published writers. Enter the first 20 pages and a 200-word synopsis. Longlisted writers will be invited to submit their full manuscript by the beginning of December. The first prize is £1,500. There is a second prize of £500 and a special prize of a free place on a creative writing course at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre for the best novel from the UK and Ireland. The judge is Alice Lutyens from Curtis Brown. The entry fee is £28 per novel manuscript. A number of sponsored places are…

Edinburgh True Flash Award 2024 The brand new award is for creative non-fiction, autofiction, memoir and other true stories. The Edinburgh True Flash Award from Scottish Arts Trust is inviting entries of original, unpublished work up to 250 words. There is a first prize of £300 and the winner and at least two other highly commended pieces will be published in the 2025 Scottish Arts Trust Story Awards anthology. The judge is Meg Pokrass. The entry fee is £10 per story. The closing date is 31 August. Website: www.scottishartstrust.org/true-flash…

The Lost Poetry Club The Lost Poetry Club podcast calls itself an audible zine, writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon. Authors are encouraged to send their own recordings and performances ‘for a fully collaborative experience.’ The team want the bizarre, the horrifying, and the what-ifs in the genres of S.F., slipstream, weird fiction, near-future, retellings, folk-tales, fantasy, magical realism, surrealism, cosmic horror, personal stories and more. Submit short stories, scripts, non-fiction up to 15 mins or 1,800 to 3,000 words; poetry and flash fiction keep to 5 mins or 500 words. For songs and music ‘or other stuff’: up to 10 mins. There are given monthly themes, but they are not compulsory. Submit by email and use the ‘current theme’ or ‘no theme’ as the email subject line. Save written work as a…

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 OPEN SHORT STORY FRIENDSHIP 30th July is International Friendship Day, so send us stories in any style or genre between 1,500 and 1,700 words where friendship of some kind is a key element. The winner will receive £200 and publication in the February issue of Writing Magazine, and the runner-up will receive £50 and online publication. The entry fee is £7.50/£6 for subscribers, and the closing date is 15 September. Ref code: WRO/August24/friendship £250 TO BE WON OPEN POETRY HUMOUR Make us laugh by sending your comic verse – wit, satire, wordplay, slapstick, anything as long as it tickles our funnybone and it’s no longer than 40 lines. There’s…