Weather frightful? Online classes & contests still delightful!

‘Tis the season – for ice, snow and crazy holiday traffic. Never mind, there’s plenty for writers to do during these wintry days. Instead of fighting the weather, try a sampling of contests – not to mention craft-sharpening online classes. (And wouldn’t they make great gifts for the fellow writers on your ‘nice’ list. . . )

I’ll start with contests, because they’re coming up as fast as blizzards on the prairie.

From Writer Unboxed blogger Arthur Klepchukov, check out the winter 2018 version of “Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time.” (Worried that 2018’s fast coming up in the rearview mirror? Klepchukov kindly includes contests through February 28, 2019.)

Yes, I’m behind on some of these (see my December 8 post for excuses), but these are currently open: Nowhere – Fall 2018 Travel Writing Contest, with a December 31, 2018, deadline. Fee: $20, cash prize and publication. International writers welcome! See the site for details.

Before Columbus Foundation – American Book Awards. No cash, but a chance to support a noble, inclusive cause. No fee, but you’ll have to submit two copies of the book to the foundation by December 31, so make tracks for the post office! See the site for details.

Boulevard – Short Fiction Contest for Emerging Writers, $16 entry fee, cash prize and publication in a prestigious journal. (And did I mention it’s emerging writer-friendly?)

And – final on Klepchukov’s list for December 31 – River Styx – 2019 Microfiction Contest. Entry fee: $10-$20, publication and cash awards.

mage: pixabay

Want more? Keep reading down Klepchukov’s list for January and February! Or take a look at these listings from New Pages including:   Tartt First Fiction Award for writers who have not yet published a full story collection. Deadline: December 31, 2018. Entry fee: $20. See the site for details.

StoryQuarterly Nonfiction Contest, with a January 12, 2019, deadline. Cash prize and publication. See the site for entry fee.

2019 Colorado Prize for Poetry, for book-length collections of poems. Cash and book publication. Reading fee $25 (plus $3 for online submissions). Due date: January 14, 2019.

Also from New Pages – Rattle Chapbook Prize, Palette Poetry Spotlight Award, Kenyon Review Inaugural Short Nonfiction Contest, and more. See the New Pages site for details.

Oh, you say, you’re more of a genre writer? Check out the contest listings at Ralan.com for horror, science fiction, fantasy and mystery.

Or the previously mentioned, but still open manuscript and book contests from the Writers’League of Texas for works in a variety of genres. There’s a January 31, 2019, deadline for the manuscript contest, which doesn’t even require a completed manuscript, only the first 10 (or so) pages plus a synopsis, and offers a chance to win entry to the League’s 2019 Agents and Editors Conference. Entry fee for the manuscript contest is $55 for WLT members, $65 for nonmembers (includes written critique). Or opt to skip the critique and pay only $25 for members, $35 for nonmembers. WLT’s book contest (for books published in 2018) closes February 28, 2019. See the site for rules for both book and manuscript contests.

And, sharpen your writing skills with online classes and seminars at the likes of the Writers’ League of Texas  (no state residency required!) and Writing Workshops Dallas.

You can attend in-person classes at both the WLT and Writing Workshops Dallas, but check out Writer Workshops Dallas’s array of 8-week long online classes beginning January 14, 2019, in personal essays, crime/suspense writing, kidlit and more at $495 for new students, $470 for returning students. (Writing Workshops Dallas also offers gift certificates, hint, hint.)

Not ready for an eight-week commitment? Try the WLT’s lineup of one-day (usually three-hour long) online classes for $49 for members/ $109 for nonmembers. And check out the limited time offer, four-class packages for $160!

The myriad uses for our books’ query pitches

After listening to multiple agent gripes about literary query letters at the 2017 DFW Writers Conference gong show, and emerging weak-kneed from my own pitch session with a (very kind) agent, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know any more about the whole query/pitch topic. But I’d run across Annie Neugebauer as a blogger at Writer Unboxed, and title of her workshop, “Using the Query Pitch to Troubleshoot Your Novel,” was intriguing. And was glad I did.

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Neugebauer is the most organized writer I’ve ever met. Her website includes multiple worksheets, many available free (although she welcomes donations via Paypal). And as a poet, novelist, and short story writer, her motto is not organization for its own sake, but as a framework for creativity.

She made a believer out of me – I’ll start to, in her words, “get over the fact that (pitches) suck and just do the work!”

First, a review of what a “pitch” in the literary sense is. (Would that gong show participants had had a chance to listen to Neugebauer before they submitted their sample queries!)

A pitch includes:

• Attention-grabber (hook)
• Essential premise (what’s necessary to make sense of the story)
• Protagonist, and his/her goal, motivation, obstacle, and stakes
• Antagonist and his/her goal, motivation, and stakes
• Supporting character, with motivation
• Closing hook, which may be a rhetorical question, such as “can she do it?” (At least one agent at the gong show disliked starting a query with a rhetorical question, so save this for the end, not the beginning of the query. And see my earlier post at this site for additional material in the body of the query.)

After outlining this pitch formula, Neugebauer invited workshop participants to fill in each of these from their own works. Did we end up with some blank spaces? No problem, just “embrace the ugh and master the skill, which translates directly to writing skills.

Like all skills, writing pitches takes work. Browse bookshelves, study the back-cover copy of the books, check out tips from query websites such as those of Query Shark, Nathan Bransford, Writer’s Digest, and Jane Friedman. Then practice – on our own books, friends’ books, already published books. Seek feedback from critique groups. Do more practice, more feedback. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Once mastered, the pitch can be used to:

• Sell – to agents, editors, readers
• To un-stick. “Once you’re familiar enough with the pitch pattern for it to feel natural. . . use it as a mental prompt to fill in any blanks in a current work in progress.
• Diagnose. A weak spot in the pitch usually means a weak spot in the book.

For instance, if the symptom is a pitch that sounds boring no matter how it’s framed, the diagnosis may be “meandering main character syndrome.” Prescription: strong doses of protagonist motivation, higher stakes, more obstacles, and more concrete goals.

For a book the writer can’t narrow into a cohesive pitch, the diagnosis is “sprawl disorder” – a too-scattered novel, whose prescription involves clarifying the story’s drive.

If the antagonist’s goal/motivation are unclear, he/she may suffer from “watch the world burn fever" (a subcategory of "cardboard cutout symdrome"), diseases requiring doses of believable motivations and stronger goals.

Remember, Neugebauer said, an "antagonist" doesn't have to be a villain, simply someone who stands between the protagonist and his/her goal. And even if the antagonist is nature, or an inanimate force, there's usually a human being who can be used to personify that force.

Finally, use the pitch to prepare, to come up with usable new ideas, and plots for existing ideas. And promise, “I will not ever, ever, write a book without writing my pitch first!”

Calling all writers: the last contest post (of this month!)

In the urgency of finishing all things spring, I’ve neglected checking the writing contest information that overflows my inboxes. Yes, I’m partial to genre writing, but there are also plenty of offers for literary writers. I’m separating the literary from the genre contests, with upcoming deadlines listed in order of urgency.

In a literary vein:

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April 19: Thank the writing gods that Gulf Coast magazine has extended the deadline for its 2017 prizes in fiction, nonfiction and poetry until – tomorrow! Founded by Donald Barthelme and Philip Lopate, Gulf Coast is a product of the University of Houston’s highly-ranked creative writing program. Its contest awards $1,500 and publication to the winner in each category, $250 to each of two honorable mentions in each category. Fee: $23 per entry. See the site  for details.

April 30: Glimmer Train magazine’s Fiction Open and Very Short Fiction contests. Fiction Open is for entries 3,000-20,000 words (although editors note that most entries are 3,000-6,000 words). $21 reading fee per entry; multiple prizes range from $600-$3000 and include publication in this prestigious journal.

Very Short Fiction is for stories 300-3000 words in length. $16 reading fee. Cash prizes plus publication for the winners. For both categories, as well as writing guidelines, see the site .

May 15: Carve Magazine’s Raymond Carver Short Story Contest. I mentioned this earlier, but it’s worth repeating, and I’m thrilled that Writer Unboxed blogger Art Klepchukov listed the contest of this Dallas-based publication as his choice of the best to enter if you only have time for one. Winning stories will be read by three literary agents. Prizes: $125 to $1500. Reading fee: $15-17. See the site for details.

And check out Klepchukov’s handpicked list of other spring writing contests at the Writer Unboxed site. He writes both literary and speculative fiction, so genre writers, check out his listing for The Ghost Story -- Supernatural Fiction Award there also.

Genrely speaking:

April 24-May 14: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword & Sorceress. OK, this is an anthology, not a contest, which means there’s no contest fee. However, fantasy writers have only a single short opening each year to be considered for this publication begun by the late famed fantasy author. Stories must be of the type considered “sword and sorcery,” with a strong female protagonist readers can care about. Payment: 6 cents/word as advance against royalties. See the site for guidelines.

May 1-May 15: Cast of Wonders Banned Books Week submissions. Again, not technically a contest (no fees!) but an annual event by this YA fantasy podcast. Selected episodes will air during the week of September 24-30, 2017. Banned Books Week submissions should be new stories only, suitable for a teen audience, and not more than 6,000 words in length. Cast of Wonders happily accepts flash fiction, but has a preference for stand-alone stories of 3000-4500 words. Payment: 6 cents/word, and a chance to hear your story beautifully read. See the site  for details.

Now -May 25 (early deadline): 2017 Book Pipeline Competition. Not necessarily genre-related, except in the sense the submissions must have applicability to adaptation for movies or TV. Acceptable entries include novels, short stories, plays, graphic novels and comics, and plays. Potential for cash prizes and industry recognition, as well as feedback on all entries. Fee: $40 for entries received by May 25, increasing to $55 for entries by August 15, and $65 for entries by November 1. See the site for details.

Now – June 1: Moonlight Mesa magazine’s Cowboy Up Contest returns for 2017. If you love Westerns, this is the one for you. Maximum length: 3000 words, fiction or nonfiction, from any era but with a Western theme. Fee: $25 per story, and possible inclusion in a later anthology. Previous contests have included cash prizes, but I didn’t find any mention of prizes this time around. See the site for details and entry form.

Now – June 30: The British Fantasy Society’s BFS Short Story Competition 2017. You don’t have to be British to enter, but you do have to write in English! Any kind of “fantastical story” is welcome, including science fiction and horror. Cash prizes and publication in the society’s BFS Horizons magazine. Fee: £5 (PayPal will be happy to convert your non-UK currency). See the site  for details. And check out prolific British fantasy writer Deborah Walker’s guest post with contest judge Allen Ashley for insight into what he’s looking for.