Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: Writing Magazine

Showing posts with label Writing Magazine. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Writing Magazine. Show all posts

Friday, July 15, 2016

Competition Monthly with Francesca Burgess

Welcome back to Francesca Burgess with another in her very helpful series about writing competitions. Have you entered any lately?

How can you make a good impression with your competition entry? Although not all competitions

stipulate a writing font and size, it's a good idea to stick with something easily legible, like Arial or Times New Roman size 12. Anything that makes it hard to read isn't going to warm the judge to your story. Apart from which, it doesn't look very professional. If you're entering by post, don't use old yellowed paper you've found at the back of the cupboard, or coloured sheets. Neat, white paper is the order of the day.

One of the competitions this month is for a story written only in dialogue. It sounds like quite a challenge to convey all the necessary information in that manner. However, if you happen to have the August copy of Writing Magazine, take a look at page 62 for a good example of this kind of story.

Good luck, everybody.

Writing Magazine 1,000 Word Short Story Competition

Theme: Open. 1,000 words

Prize: £200 plus publication in Writing Magazine. Runner up £50 plus online publication

Competition deadline: 15 August 2016

Entry: £5 / £3 for subscribers

The Creative Competitor Historical Fiction Writing Competition 2016

Theme: Use the picture of the horse and carriage provided for inspiration. 1,200 words max.

Prize: £500 / £300 / £200 / £100

Competition deadline: 30 August 2016

Entry: £3.50

Park Publications Article Competition 2016

Theme: 'My Writing Day', 1,000 – 1,500 words

Prize: £50 / £25 / £15

Competition deadline: 31 August 2016

Entry: £3

1,000 Word Challenge

Theme: Open with the line provided.

Prize: £100 / £50 / £25

Competition deadline: 31 August 2016

Entry: £5

SaveAs Writers' Group Competition

Theme: Rebellion. 3,000 words

Prize: £100 / £50 / £25

Competition deadline: 31 August 2016

Entry: £4

The Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Competition

Theme: Open. 300 – 3,000 words

Prize: $2,000 + publication / $500 / $300

Competition deadline: 31 August 2016

Entry: $16

Books Ireland Short Story Competition 2016

Theme: Open. 2,600 words max.

Prize: €400 + writing course at the Irish Writing Centre + publication / €200 / €100

Competition deadline: 31 August 2016

Entry: €10

Writing Magazine Love Story Competition

Theme: 1,500 - 1,700 words

Prize: £200 plus publication in Writing Magazine. Runner up £50 plus online publication

Competition deadline: 14 September 2016

Entry: £5 / £3 for subscribers

Bartleby Snopes Eighth Annual Dialogue Only Competition

Theme: Dialogue only. Under 2,000 words

Prize: $300 / $100 / $50 / $30 / $20

Competition deadline: 15 September 2016

Entry: $10

Mslexia Children's Novel Competition

Theme: First 3,000 words of a children's or YA novel at least 15,000 words long

Prize: £5,000

Competition deadline: 19 September 2016

Entry: £25

Caledonia Novel Award

Theme: Adult or YA. For unpublished or self published authors

Prize: £1,000

Competition deadline: 1 November 2016

Entry: £20

About Francesca:

Francesca Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a number of competitions including Twyford Writers, Winchester Writers' Conference, Chorley and District Writers' Circle, Flash a Famous Phrase, Meridian Writing and Writing Magazine. Her shortlisted entry for The People's Friend serial competition is due to be published soon. She's had stories published in magazines worldwide and in three anthologies, including Diamonds and Pearls and 100 Stories for Haiti. She is a member of the RNA New Writers' Scheme.

Write Minds Blog

Thank you, Francesca! Good luck to anyone entering competitions this month.

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

COMPETITION MONTHLY

Its competition time again with Francesca Burgess

During my research this month, I found quite a few competitions that claimed non-prizewinning, shortlisted entries would be printed online or in an anthology. One even stated that all entrants automatically agreed to their story being published. I immediately discounted these. Unless there is some other benefit, like promoting your work, raising your profile or supporting a charity (I've done the latter two), I wouldn't recommend anyone entering these competitions. You won't be able to submit the story elsewhere so you'll never make any money out of it. Often you have to examine the rules quite closely to find out what happens to the entries, but it's worth doing.

Good luck, everyone.

Writing Magazine 750 Word Short Story Competition

Theme: Open

Prize: 1^st £200, 2^nd £50. Both will be published in Writing Magazine

Competition deadline: 14 April 2016

Entry: £3 subscribers, £5 others

The Novella Award 2016

Theme: Open, 20,000 – 40,000 word novellas, plus 500 word max synopsis

Prize: £1,000 plus publication with Sandstone Press

Competition deadline: 29 April 2016

Entry: £17

Bristol Short Story Prize

Theme: Open, 4,000 words max

Prize: 1^st £1,000, 2^nd£700, 3^rd 400, plus 17 prizes of £100, and all published in the anthology

Competition deadline: 30 April 2016

Entry: £8

The Writers' Bureau Flash Fiction Competition

Theme: Open, 500 words max

Prize: 1^st £300, 2^nd £200, 3^rd 100 plus Writers' Bureau course for all winners.

Competition deadline: 30 April 2016

Entry: £5, £10 for 3 entries.

Writers' Festival First Three Pages Competition

Theme: Opening 3 pages of novel plus 600 word max synopsis

Prize: Editorial meeting with Little Brown to discuss the entry, either at London office or by telephone.

Competition deadline: 13^th May 2016

Entry: £8

Writing Magazine Paranormal Short Story Competition

Theme: ghosts, vampires, werewolves, spooky happenings, aliens etc, 1,500 – 1,700 words

Prize: 1^st £200 and published in magazine, 2^nd £50 and published online.

Competition deadline: 16 May 2016

Entry: £3 subscribers, £5 others.

Swansea & District Writers' Circle Horror Anthology Competition

Theme: Horror / Psychological Thriller. Short stories 1,800 – 2,000 (plus related comps for scripts and poems).

Prize: 1^st £150, 2^nd £50 plus publication in anthology

Competition deadline: 20 May 2016

Entry: £6

Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller

Theme: Open, adult novels only, at least 80,000 words, unpublished authors. Submit 10,000 words plus synopsis.

Prize: £50,000 publishing deal

Competition deadline: 31 May

Entry: Free

Francesca Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a number of competitions including Twyford Writers, Winchester Writers' Conference, Chorley and District Writers' Circle, Flash a Famous Phrase, Meridian Writing, People's Friend and Writing Magazine. She's had stories published in magazines worldwide and in three anthologies, including Diamonds and Pearls and 100 Stories for Haiti. She is a member of the RNA New Writers' Scheme.

Twitter

Thank you, Francesca.

Remember, if you have any success we would love to hear from you. Don’t forget to let us know about any competitions you might be organising.

The RNA blog is brought to you by Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you’d like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

COMPETITION MONTHLY

Time to welcome back Francesca Burgess for the Competition Monthly Feature

In my first competition monthly, back in October, I mentioned the importance of reading the rules. Looking through some competitions recently, I realised there is another aspect to this, and that is to make sure you qualify, not just your work. Often you have to be a certain age, gender, ethnic group or to hail from a particular area of the UK. There are also competitions that have a separate prize if you live in a certain area, especially if it's connected to a festival.I've seen a competition where you have to be over forty, another for under twenty-fives. Sometimes comps require you to be unpublished, others the opposite.

Two of the competitions featured here have requirements. The Mslexia comp is only open to women (sorry to the men reading this!). The BBC Short Story Award asks for entrants to have a history of publication in creative writing. I would assume this includes short stories.

Buona Fortuna!

Closing soon Felix Dennis Creative Writing Competition

Theme: 'For All Time', up to 2,000 words.

Prize: 1^st £1,000, 2^nd £300

Competition deadline: 22 February 2016

Entry: Free

BBC National Short Story Award

Theme: Open, up to 8,000 words

Prize: 1^st £15,000, 2^nd £3,000, 3 runner-up prizes of £500

Competition deadline: 11 March 2016

Entry: Free

Mslexia Short Story Competition

Theme: Open up to 2,000 words

Prize: 1^st £2,000, 2^nd £500, 3^rd £250, 3 runner-up prizes of £100

Competition deadline: 14 Mar 2016

Entry: £10

Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition

Theme: Open, up to 1,500 words

Prize: 1^st £800, at least 2 runner-up prizes of £100

Competition deadline: 31 March 2016

Entry: £10

Evesham Festival of Words Short Story Competition

Theme: 'An extra day', up to 2,500 words

Prize: 1^st £100

Competition deadline: 31 March 2016

Entry: £5

The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition

Theme: Ghost story between 1,000 and 7,000 words.

Prize: 1^st £500, 2^nd £250, 3^rd £100, 3^rd £100

Competition Deadline: 31 March 2016

Entry: £8

Short Fiction Journal Short Story Prize

Theme: Open, up to 6,000 words

Prize: 1^st £500, 2^nd £100

Competition Deadline: 31 Mar 2016

Entry: £7

About Francesca:

Francesca Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a number of competitions including Twyford Writers, Winchester Writers' Conference, Chorley and District Writers' Circle, , Flash a Famous Phrase, Meridian Writing, People's Friend and those run by Writers' News and Writing Magazine. She's had stories published in magazines worldwide and in three anthologies, including Diamonds and Pearls. She is a member of the RNA New Writers' Scheme.

https://twitter.com/FCapaldiBurgess

Blog: https://writemindswriteplace.wordpress.com/

Thank you, Francesca!

Don’t forget to let us know about your competition successes plus any comps you are organising.

The RNA blog is brought to you by Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you’d like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Friday, December 11, 2015

COMPETITION MONTHLY

Welcome back to Francesca Burgess with the latest in her Competition Monthly series.

First of all I am delighted to tell you that a couple of weeks ago I was shortlisted for The People's Friend Serial Writing Competition. It was something a little different for me so it just shows that sometimes you should chance writing outside the box. Writer Helen Yendall was the winner and I look forward to reading her story when it's published.

This month I'd like to mention record keeping. I'm certain I'd have got into a right mess with my submissions without my spreadsheets. I used to add the competition entries to the sheet for my magazine subs, but I recently created a new spreadsheet especially for the comps, which I have found much more useful. These are in date order. I also keep a paper system. This is an exercise book set out by story, which allows me to see exactly where each of them has been sent. It's also handy when your laptop crashes and you can't reload your spreadsheets. (Yes, it happened to me!)

There are a couple of unusual competitions this month. One has a writing retreat in Iceland as a prize (I've always longed to go there) and another is about points of view. Good luck!

**Closing soon** Iceland Writers' Retreat Northern Lights Competition

Theme: 'Northern Lights', up to 500 words.

Prize: Writing retreat in Rykjavik worth £1,500, including flights, 13-17 April 2016

Competition deadline: 3 January 2016

Entry: free

Writing Magazine Annual Open Short Story Competition

Theme: Open, 1,500 – 1,700 words

Prize: 1^st £200 plus publication in magazine. 2^nd £50 plus publication online

Competition deadline: 14 January 2016

Entry: £3 subscribers, £5 others

Grist Point of View Competition

Theme: Writing in one of five points of view: 'I', 'You', 'He', 'She' or 'It'. Maximum 5,000 words or 40 lines of poetry

Prize: 1^st £500, 2^nd £250, 3^rd £125 and publication

Competition deadline: 31 January 2016

Entry: £5

Artificium fiction competitions

Competition for short stories:

Theme: Open, 2,000 – 8,000 words

Prize: 1^st £300, prize pot to be shared between 1 – 4 runners up

Competition deadline: 5 February 2016

Entry: £5

'In Brief' Competition:

Theme: Open, can include flash fiction and poetry, 500 – 1,000 words

Prize: 1^st £150, prize pot to be shared between 1 – 4 runners up

Competition deadline: 5 February 2016

Entry: £5

Exeter Writers Short Story Competition

Theme: Open, except children's. 3,000 word maximum.

Prize: 1^st £500, 2^nd £250, 3^rd £100, Prize for Devon writer £100

Competition Deadline: 28 February 2016

Entry: £6

Bath Novel Awards

Theme: Open, any genre including Y/A but not children's.

Prize: 1^st £2,000, 2^nd Consultancy report from Cornerstones and follow up session

Competition Deadline: 10 April 2016

Entry: £22

About Francesca:

Francesca Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a number of competitions including Twyford Writers, Winchester Writers' Conference, Chorley and District Writers' Circle, Flash a Famous Phrase, Meridian Writing, People's Friend and those run by Writers' News and Writing Magazine. She's had stories published in magazines worldwide and in three anthologies, including Diamonds and Pearls. She's been a member of the RNA New Writers' Scheme for five years.

Thank you, Francesca!

Don’t forget to let us know about your competition successes plus any comps you are organising.

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you’d like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

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Romantic Novelists' Association

We work to enhance and promote the various types of romantic and historical fiction, to encourage good writing in all its many varieties, to learn more about our craft and help readers enjoy it.

Romantic Fiction covers an enormous range, from short stories through category romance and much of women's fiction, to the classics. The nature of romantic fiction means that most of these novels are written and read by women. The RNA, however, boasts a number of very successful male authors amongst their membership.