Tuesday top tip - try a non obvious POV

Sometimes calls for submissions, or competitions ask for work on a 'well worn' theme. It can be difficult to come up with something fresh, which stands out from the others, yet is still firmly on target. One idea is to try writing from a non obvious POV. Eg if you're writing about a wedding, your main character doesn't have to be one of the couple getting married. Romances don't have to be about a young woman meeting a young man for the first time and heading towards a happy ever after – there can be romance between couples who are older, or have been together for a long time, or who aren't going to stay together until death does them part. 

The idea of writing from a less obvious viewpoint is just one of many in my book A Year Of Ideas; 365 sets of writing prompts and exercises, which is available as a paperback and ebook. You can request it at your local library, buy online, order through a bookshop or read it with kindle unlimited.

This tip was brought to you by Patsy Collins. 

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do

Is it a new story?

One of the contributors to this blog contacted me recently with an interesting question –

If someone says "We do not accept stories that have already been published in other magazines, blogs, or websites"... what exactly does that mean? What if you used roughly the same story, but wrote it in a different way, or changed some of the details, language choices, etc?

Personally, I don't think changing the title, location and character names would be enough – that's something we might choose to do to make a story more suitable for a different market but, in my opinion, that would still be the same story.

I do think a complete rewrite might be possible. If the viewpoint character was changed for example, the events might be broadly similar, but those would impact on the character differently and therefore might create a very different story.

What do you think? Can you rewrite a story and submit it as something new? And if so, how far do you have to go?

(Just to be clear, we're only talking about rewriting our own work, not that of anyone else.) 

Womag news

The People's Friend are 'looking for shorter stories, 1000 words and 1200 words. All genres and from summer onwards!'

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Ruth for sharing the link to the latest On The Premises competition. They want short stories of between 1,000 and 5,000 words. The prompt is 'somewhere else*' and the prize $250.

And further thanks to Ruth for the link to the latest Irish Country Magazine short story competition. They want between 500 and 1,200 words, the theme is motherhood and the prize €200.

*Which is my excuse for using photos of places I've visited in this post.

My news

The third book in my cosy crime series is now available to pre order. 

My recent radio interview was fun! If you missed it and would like to listen, you can do that here.

Writing challenge

Thanks to Sarah Charmley who says -  Deadlines for writers has started its 12 stories in 12 months for this year (you can also write 12 poems). These challenges are free to enter, you get a prompt and a word count and a deadline which normally gives you 3 weeks. The deadline is only open for 24 hours. You comment on 4 other stories and hopefully 4 other writers comment on yours. It's a great way to get 12 stories or poems written this year. https://deadlinesforwriters.com 

If anyone has questions or suggestions they feel might make an interesting subject for discussion on the blog, feel free to let me know. I can either raise them anonymously, or you could create a guest post if you prefer.

Tuesday top tip - drink some water

 

Staying properly hydrated is very important for our health – and it's generally easier to write if we feel well.

Water is the cheapest way to stay hydrated and generally the easiest to obtain. It doesn't rot our teeth, make us fat, or give us a headache the next morning. So go and drink a glass RIGHT NOW! 

Still here? In that case, how about downloading this free short story collection?

This tip was brought to you by Patsy Collins.

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do.

Eleven free entry writing competitions!

It's the eleventh day  of Christmas today. As I'm rather short of pipers piping, here are 11 free to enter writing competitions for you. (I may have mentioned some of these competitions before – but I thought maybe people might have been too busy the last few weeks to do anything about them, or maybe become more determined to send out work this year, and so welcome a reminder.)

Free entry competition news

To win the Nine Dots prize you need to write 3,000 words on 'Is Data Failing us?' along with an outline of 1,000 words showing how you'd expand that into a short book. Actually, there's quite a bit more to it than that - but then the prize is $100,000 so I suppose they have to do something to keep the entries to a reasonable level.

There's probably not time to write anything new for the Bruntwood playwriting competition, but if you happen to have something ready you have a few days left to submit it and be in with a chance of winning the £20,000 prize.

The Jim Baen memorial short story competition is for a science fiction short story. The prize bundle includes paid publication.

And here's another short story competition, this time for horror, fantasy, or science fiction. The prize is $200.

The new media award is for fiction or non fiction to be viewed on electronic devices. The prize is £1,000.

Criminal Lines is a crime novel competition offering a £3,500 prize, plus agency representation.

The prize for the W&AYB short story competition is a place on an Arvon residential course.

This poetry competition has a top prize of $2,000.

If you fancy writing a mystery story of 15,000 to 20,000 this competition is for you. The prize is $1,000 and publication.

This competition is for those who've not professionally published a novel or more than three short stories. They want 'short' stories of up to 17,000 words - and I think they're supposed to be science fiction. The prize is $1,000.

Thanks to Marguerite who shared the details of Best's lateset competition (as a comment to a previous post). Here it is again in case anyone missed it -  Maximum 1200 words on a Valentine's theme by 20th January, 2025. Name, email address and phone no. to bestfiction@hearst.co.uk with 'Valentine's fiction 2025' in the subject title. The all rights issue does seem to be only the winners but do check.

My news

I'll be on Soundart Radio on Monday morning (10 - 12), talking to my friend Anne Rainbow about writing, travel* and probably other things too. There will also be a selection of songs which we like and feel tie in with my work, or our lives and writing in general.

Anne has a Facebook group associated with her show. If you'd like to join that you can post questions for her to ask me live on air (eeek!) You can find out about her other shows there. Her guests include artists of all descriptions.

*which is my excuse for sharing loads of photos from my trips.

My latest novel, the third in my cosy mystery series, is available to pre-order now.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you happiness, productivity and positivity in 2025. May the words flow and your typos be spotted before you click 'submit'.

Happy all the things!

This will be the last blog post until 2025 (unless there's exciting news which can't wait) so Solstice Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and best wishes for anything and everything else you may celebrate as one year ends and the next one starts.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on the writing year just gone, hopes and plans for next year, and (by far the most important) every terrible cracker joke and festive pun you come across.

My news

Two of my books are currently free to download. There's the short story collection A Clean Bill of Health, and romance novel Firestarter (there's a bit more heat in that one than in my other books!) If you enjoy them, or any of my other books, a review or rating on Amazon and/or Goodreads would be very much appreciated – it'd make me at least as happy as an extra slice of cake!

Over to you - and well done to one of us

In case you missed seeing the comment - Marguerite, who regularly contributes to this blog, has won the latest Best competition! 

Congratulations, Marguerite! It's lovely news that one of us has been successful.

Do you have any writing news?

Do you know any market news? Have you heard about any free to enter writing competitions? Or come across calls for submissions or other opportunities?

Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Still waiting to hear back on outstanding submissions? Do you have a question? Can you offer tips or encouragement to other writers?

Any other writing related news, questions and comments are also welcome and appreciated. As well as allowing us all to share information, help and encourage each other, comments show editors, competition organisers and others that the blog is read and will therefore be more likely to answer my questions, or provide information for me to share with you.

Feel free to use these photos as picture prompts. If you'd like written writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.

Free entry competition news.

The BBC national short story award is now open. Max word count 8,000. You have to be British and have a prior record of publication to enter - what qualifies is fully explained on the site. Top prize is £15,000. 

Tuesday top tip

Today's top tip - use your local library if you possibly can. If they're not used we might lose even more of them. 

Libraries are a valuable resource for many. Of course there are books and magazines, but they're also a warm, safe space where people are able to go without being expected to spend money.

If you visit your local library, what do you use it for?

This tip was brought to you by me, Patsy Collins. My books can be requested from libraries. There's no guarantee that requested books will be stocked, but it's worth asking. Some people have been successful and it makes me very happy to know those books are on the shelves where they may be discovered by new readers.

More competitions, writing course and an cover reveal

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Suzan who supplied the link to this short story competition. You do need to register to enter, but there's no charge. The prize is £150 plus publication.

If you're a playwright in the Portsmouth / Southampton area Google Bench Theatre Supernova for an interesting opportunity.

Free writing courses / retreats

Thanks to Vivienne Moles for telling me about this free winter writing sanctuary . She says she's done the summer version and 'They are good for getting the creative juices flowing'. It sounds like a kind of virtual writing retreat. I've signed up for it myself.

Vivienne also sent the link to this Future Learn Introduction to writing fiction. This one seems more like a workshop, as it offers 'feedback from your peers'. It might be quite basic, but that doesn't mean we couldn't either pick up something new, or be reminded of things we've forgotten.

My news

Today is the last day to get this ebook for free.

The third book in my cosy crime series is now finished and the proof copy ordered – and I can reveal the cover. I'll be sending ARCs in a few weeks, if you'd like to join my review team please let me know.

Tuesday Top Tip

Today's top tip is - read lots!

I hope we all realise it's important to read current issues of any magazines we wish to submit to, in order to get a feeling for the kind of thing readers want and expect. The same thing applies with books. Of course we don't always have to do what's expected, but it's helpful to know whether our idea is something fresh and new, or has already been done to death.

Some writers don't like to read while creating fresh stories as they worry they'll be too strongly influenced. The answer is to read outside your genre or market at those times. By reading widely  and thoughtfully, we'll learn a lot. If something stops you reading, or confuses or annoys us, we might want to work ot what the problem is so we can be sure to avoid it in our own writing.

There's a lot more to reading than research though. It broadens our vocabulary, introduces us to new ideas, gives us distance from our own writing (and worries) and is generally very enjoyable.

This tip was brought to you by Patsy Collins. Her short story collection Keep It In The Family is FREE to download until 7th December.

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do.

A littlun

Sorry, not much for you this week. Just a little competition and a small, but vitally important, example of British wildlife. I've been busy with 'stuff'. I expect you all know how much time 'stuff' takes up.

Free entry writing competition

Thanks to Fiona for telling me about The Welkin Mini. They want creative non-fiction of up to 100 words and offer a £50 prize.

Note – I've been contacted to say that comments aren't posting. Sorry about that. I don't know what the issue is, as I've not changed anything. Hopefully it's just a temporary glitch.

Tuesday top tip – reasons for rejection and how to avoid (some of) them.

Editors don't generally tell us why stories (or books, poems, essays etc) are rejected. Let's face it, they don't always even send a rejection, we often have to assume that after waiting until all hope has gone. Competition judges rarely tell people why their pieces didn't win.

Because of this, we often guess at the reason. We might analyse our work and make an assumption. If we've not yet had many, or any, acceptances or competition placings, or none for a while, we might conclude the story wasn't good enough, or we're not a good enough writer to get our work accepted / win prizes. Of course that's a possibility, but there are many other reasons for rejection or not winning. These include –

Not submitting correctly. If you don't send the work in the right format to the right place it most likely won't get considered. If you're asked for a Word doc attachment, or the text in the body of the email, or for a postal submission then do that – not assume they'll print it out themselves, or copy and paste into the format they want. Don't rely on someone in a different department sending it on to where it should have gone.

Wrong timing. If the competition is closed, or the magazine have already selected their Christmas stories before you've sent yours, then your work won't be considered.

Wrong material. Don't send poems if stories are wanted, 2,000 words if 600 are asked for, romance when horror was requested. If your work isn't something the publication prints, or it breaks competition rules, it won't be considered.

Careful reading of the submission guidelines / competition rules and double checking you've complied with everything will help avoid rejection for the above reasons.

Wrong tone. This is harder to get right, and more likely to apply to submissions than competition entries. Try reading a few pieces published in recent issues of the magazine, then yours – does it stand out for the wrong reasons?

There are other reasons for rejection we have little control over. The main one being that our work won't be the editor / judge's only option. However good the entries, there can only be one winner. Magazines can only publish a limited number of pieces, even if they get ten times as many perfectly good submissions. There used to be many more markets and there was never a problem getting them filled with work worth publishing. Now there are at least as many writers competing for a far smaller number of opportunities. Of course some good writing will have to be rejected. The reasons might seem, or even be, arbitrary. That same piece might get a different response elsewhere.

My first ever magazine publication was a failed competition entry. Back when reasons were given I was told the editor loved my latest submission, but had just accepted one with a similar plot detail so didn't feel able to take it (I later read that other story and although it was very different, I saw her point - and I later sold the story to another mag). One story was rejected as 'predictable' and accepted elsewhere with the comment 'great twist' even though I hadn't changed a single word.

As I said in my last post, a story which didn't make the cut for the weekly edition of a magazine was accepted for the annual. Presumably it would have been good enough for the weekly, there just wasn't space for it.

Now that reasons are rarely given for rejection, when I get a no, or the competition results are announced without my name appearing, I read the story again. It's easier to spot weaknesses at that point! If I see a way to improve it then I make the change(s) before submitting elsewhere. Often I'll need to make other changes to suit the requirements of the new competition or potential market. Sometimes I submit elsewhere with no changes at all.

What I've just used a lot of words to say, can be summed up with - don't let rejection or failure to be placed put you off, or make you think you're not good enough. Keep writing and making your work the best you're able to produce. Keep looking out for suitable markets and competitions to submit to (I'll do my best to help you there). You can give up, or take a break – but only if you actually want to. Don't stop writing simply because your efforts don't always, or haven't yet, been accepted or won a prize. That disappointment is just one aspect of being a published or prize winning writer, not an indication you don't deserve to be one of those people.

Those of you who have received rejections / failed to be placed in a competition yet also achieved success with that, or another, piece of writing, please share your experiences in the comments as encouragement to those who might need it.

One last thought – the work you don't send out won't get rejected. Neither will it get accepted. You have to risk the former in order to have any chance of seeing your work and name in print.

This tip was brought to you by me - Patsy Collins. You'll find lots more of my writing tips and advice in this book, and lots of encouragement to get writing in this one.

If you'd like to share a tip, on any aspect of writing, with this blog, here's what to do.

More free writing competitions

Free entry competition news

The latest mini competition from On the Premises is to write a story of 25 - 50 words without using the letter R. That doesn't sound too difficult - but I've not tried it yet! Funny how often things seem easy until we give them a try.  There's a $35 prize. 

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for finding out about this crime novel competition. There's a £3,500 prize, plus an an offer of representation from AM Heath. The novel must be unpublished (self published is OK). You'll want to read the rules yourself, but it does seem anyone over 18 living in Britain or Ireland is eligble, published or not.

Here's a short story competition from Irish Country magazine. Thanks to whoever left the link in the comments - Sheelagh?) Thay want between 500 and 1,200 words on the theme of slowing down. The prize is publication plus 'an amazing gift worth €300' for first place and online publication for second.

This competition offers a £500 prize for the best essay on George Elliott.

Thanks to Kate Hogan, for providing the link to the Never Too Late competition. It's for writers over 60, and you can submit poetry, a short story, novel or flash fiction. The prize is £500. (Sorry - just discovered this one isn't free!)

My news

It had been planned for authors to give readings at the book fair I attended last week. Unfortunately the acoustics in the building made that impossible. As I'd prepared something and nerved myself up to do it, I read to a camera at home. Here's the result.

This week I had a notification that a story I'd entered in a competition didn't get placed, and an acceptance for a story previously rejected by that same editor (it was a no for the weekly mag, but a yes for the annual).

Over to you

 Do you have any writing news?

Do you know any market news? Have you heard about any free to enter writing competitions? Or come across calls for submissions or other opportunities?

Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Still waiting to hear back on outstanding submissions? Do you have a question? Can you offer tips or encouragement to other writers?

Any other writing related news, questions and comments are also welcome and appreciated. As well as allowing us all to share information, help and encourage each other, comments show editors, competition organisers and others that the blog is read and will therefore be more likely to answer my questions, or provide information for me to share with you.

Feel free to use these photos as picture prompts. If you'd like written writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.

My news

I'll be at a book fair in Aspex, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth tomorrow 11-4. If you're in the area, do come in and say hello.

One of my many talents is taking books out of a box. Well, talent might not be quite the right word...

Tuesday top tip - make friends with other writers.

I missed one week's top tip as I was away visiting my writing buddy, Rosemary J Kind. We met online years ago and get together whenever we can – that's slightly easier since she moved and is now only a 5 hour drive away!

Our friendship started as a comment now and again on each other's posts in a writers' forum and we've been helping and encouraging each other in a variety of ways ever since. 

I'm really lucky to have many other writing friends – almost all of whom I initially met online. My writing, and life in general, is better for knowing them. With that in mind, this week's tip is to make contact with other writers in any way you can.

Some ways to include connecting with other writers are - 

Comment on their posts on social media (btw, I'm trying out BlueSky I'm on there as myself and we're there as @Womagwriter )

Make your own social media posts about your writing

Attend events such as book fairs (I'll be at on this Sunday 17th Nov at Aspex, Gunwharf, Portsmouth. It's free entry – please do come and say hello if you're in the area.)

Comment on their blog (warning – watch out for ones with campervans, they might pop round for a cup of tea.)

Join a physical writing group

Join a virtual writing group

Attend workshops and courses

Attend author talks, book signings, launches etc

If you have more suggestions, please say so in the comments!

If you know of any writing groups (physical or virtual) which are currently accepting members, please put details in the comments - and do share any other methods you've used to make contact with writers.

This tip came from Patsy Collins who has written two books for writers. A Year of Ideas:365 sets of writing prompts and exercises, and From Story Idea to Writer, co-authored with Rosemary J. Kind.

Yes, that's the two of us. Yes, it does look quite a lot as though we're in a bar. In our defence, it was closer than the cake shop.