Ready, set, go – a lineup of autumn writing contests

How long has it been since I’ve posted a blog about writing contests? Well, that’s too long! So here goes, with both a selection of current contests and of do-it-yourself resources for ongoing events.

Now – Oct. 15: Time's nearly up for this tribute to the season: Pulp Literature’s Raven Short Story Contest. Fiction up to 2500 words (not necessarily of an avian nature!) can snag a cash prize! Fee -- $20 or opt for editorial feedback for an additional $25. Sponsored by Duotrope.

Now – Oct. 30: The annual Kathryn McClatchy Flash Fiction contest of the Writers Guild of Texas  is also coming down to the wire. Entries must be original stories, 300-1,000 words. First entries are free for WGT members, $15 for additional entries (up to three maximum). Non-WGT members pay $35 for their first entries (which gives them complimentary membership), $15 for additional entries. Cash prizes and publication in the WGT newsletter for first – fourth place winners.

Now – Oct. 31: Flash 500’s annual Novel Opening Chapter and Synopsis Competition, judged by indie book publisher Crooked Cat Books. Fee: £10/€13, with cash prizes for first place and runner-up.  

Now – Nov. 15: Writer’s Digest’s current contest is its annual Short Short Story Competition for stories in 1,500 words or less. First place winner receives cash, publication in the magazine AND a paid trip to the Digest’s annual conference, including a slot in its Pitch Slam. Cash prizes and publication also for second through 10^th place winners, and more! (Cost & details)

image: pixabay

Now – Nov. 30: Speaking of short fiction, check out the WOW! Women on Writing quarterly flash fiction contest, now in session for fall. Word limits: 250-750. Fee $10, cash prizes.

Now – Dec. 31: No matter how you feel about L. Ron Hubbard’s personal views, the late author’s Writers of the Future Contest is a recognized opening for writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. No fee, and potential for cash prizes and publication. Submission periods repeat quarterly – there’s always one ongoing. See the site for details.

Now – Jan. 31, 2019: Writer’s League of Texas 2019 manuscript contest is now open for unpublished book-length manuscripts of fiction, nonfiction and children’s categories. Winners in each category will receive free registration to the WLT’s 2019 Agents & Editors Conference next summer to meet with a top literary agent (and the final judge in their category). Manuscripts need not be completed – only the first (approximately) 10 pages plus a synopsis are required. Entrants – winners or not – may opt for feedback from an experienced editor on their submissions. Entry fees are $55 for WLT members, $65 for nonmembers, which includes a written critique. Fees for authors opting out of the critiques are $25 for WLT members, $35 for nonmembers. Writers need not be Texas residents to enter. See the site for details.

Now – Feb. 28, 2019: Oh, you’ve already published a book? Then check out the Writer’s League of Texas book awards, open for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, picture books and middle grade/young adult categories published in 2018. Books may be traditionally published, indie- or self-published. For this one, authors must be Texas residents. Winners in each category receive cash prizes and public recognition at the 2019 Texas Book Festival. Fees: $60 for authors submitting directly ($40 for WLT members), $70 for agents/publishers submitting on behalf of authors. 

Now – Feb. 28, 2019: Another contest from Flash 500, this one sponsored by Duotrope – its annual short story competition. Up to four entries per author, with cash prizes for first, second, and third place winners. 

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UPDATE! Dallas-based literary magazine Carve's prose & poetry contest is open through November 15. Submissions accepted for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with cash awards and publication for the winners. Entry fee: $17. See the site for details.

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You may have noticed several mentions of ongoing contests. Several sources provide free, searchable information about current contests. Among these are Ralan.com (source of the L. Ron Hubbard and WOW! contests as well as others), New Pages, and Reedsy.

I also mentioned Duotrope, a wonderful guide to contests as well as other writing information. It’ll set you back, but when I first started writing short stories, I found the $5/month (or $50 per year) fee well worth the cost. Check out a free trial period to see what you think. Plus, once you’ve joined, you’ll forever after receive its newsletter!

Trick or treat! A long fall of autumn writing contests

Writing contests are piling up like the leaves of a long, slow Texas autumn, which may linger into December. Or it may be blasted by a blue norther, which can roar through as early as Halloween, so don’t wait too long. I’m listing a sampling of opportunities by order of urgency. Some readers complain about contest fees, but please note that these help fund cash awards to winners as well as administrative costs of the contests.

image: pixabay

Now – October 22: Feed Your Monster’s Halloween Writing Contest challenges writers to a terrifying 1,000-word or less trick. Sweeten it with humor that leaves a sour aftertaste, and you would be treated to a £10 prize, publication in the site’s 2017 Halloween podcast, and more. Your first entry is free, the second costs you £0.5 pound. Limit, two entries per person. (Remember, Paypal is always happy to convert your currency.) See the site for details. 

(Did you like that monster contest? It’s new at Ralan.com, the free genre-friendly writing clearinghouse.)

Now – October 24: Writers Guild of Texas has announced its third annual Flash Fiction Contest for short stories from 300-1,000 words. Contestants may submit up to three entries at writersguildtexas@gmail.com/ (only one entry per email, please). Submissions are free for WGT members, $25/entry for nonmembers. But since WGT’s annual membership fee is only $25, why not join, effectively giving yourself additional contest entries free? Cash prizes and publication in the WGT newsletter and website for first, second, third and honorable mention winners. See the site for additional details.

Now – October 31: WOW! Women on Writing adds a new contest for creative nonfiction essays. Word count – 200-1,000. Cash prizes, publication and blog interview for first three winners, gift certificates and publication for seven runners-up, even publicity for 10 honorable mention winners. Fee: $12, or purchase a critique for an additional $13. You don’t have to be a woman to enter, but entries should be aimed at women readers. See the site for details and information about WOW’s short fiction contest. (Or check WOW!s listing below.)

Now – October 31: Glimmer Train magazine’s Short Story Award for Emerging Writers. All genre categories welcome, but this contest is limited to writers whose work has not been published in any print journal with a circulation of more than 5,000. (The entries themselves must never have appeared in any print publication. However, online publications don’t tell against the writer or the entry.) Cash prizes, publication for first place winner, and optional publication for second and third place winners. Fee: $18. Although October 31 is the “official” deadline, as always, Glimmer Train allows a one-week grace period. See the site for details.

Now – November 15: Writer’s Digest seeks high impact, low word-count genre stories for its Popular Fiction Awards program. Cash prizes plus perks for the winners. Fees are $20 for early-bird entries through October 16, $25 for first entry, $20 for additional entries through the drop-dead deadline of November 15. See the site or details.

Now – November 15: Carve Magazine’s Prose & Poetry Contest, for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This highly-regarded (and Texas-based) literary magazine offers $1,000 cash prizes and publication in its Spring 2018 issue for winners in each of the genres. Fees: $17 for fiction and nonfiction, $12 for poetry entries. 

Now -- November 30: WOW! Women on Writing's flash fiction contest is limited to 300 entries, so don’t delay. (The site’s Paypal button will be disabled when the magic number is reached.) Fee: $10, or add another $10 to request a critique. As mentioned above, you don’t have to be female to enter. 

These WOW! contests were also gleaned from Ralan.com. If you’re stiff miffed (or even if you’re not) by Duotrope Digest’s move to paid subscriptions, check out Ralan’s always-free listings.

Stuff I’m keeping an eye on: By my calendar, it’s nearly time for the Writers League of Texas to announce its annual manuscript contests. And for the Historical Novel Society to announce the opening of its 2017 short story award and 2017/2018 new novel award. I’ll post as soon as information appears on any of these. 

Also, DL Hammons assures me that his wild-popular, readers’ choice WRiTE Club contest will reappear sometime in 2018. Again, stay tuned. 

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UPDATE: As promised, the Writers' League of Texas 2018 manuscript contest is currently open, and even sweeter than ever. Ten winners receive free registration to the WLT's 2018 Agents & Editors Conference to meet an agent as well as the final judge in their category. See www.writersleague.org/109/Manuscript-Contest for details. And if you published a book this year, check out the book award contest.

Am still awaiting word about the Historical Novel Society's 2017/2018 manuscript and short story contests, and about DL Hammons' WRiTE Club readers' choice contest.

Wordcraft -- Tiny stories brief as bubbles

The topic under discussion at last weekend’s ArmadilloCon convention in Austin, Texas, was as brief as the subject: “Writing a 500-Word Story.” I bit.

For someone perpetually working on novels, where characters can take five hundred words just to walk across the street, I’m fascinated by the idea of telling a complete story in so few words. I already knew it wasn’t a matter of cutting a word here, a sentence there from a longer story. For someone like me, used to thinking in three-act structures, writing flash fiction means rethinking the entire structure of story.

Search engines such as Duotrope’s Digest and The (Submission) Grinder usually shoehorn any fiction under 1,000 words in the “flash fiction” category. Speaking practically, many publications prefer their fiction to be as short as possible. And that’s without including publications looking for drabbles (stories written in 100 words) or the excruciatingly terse twitter fiction written in not more than 140 characters.

Forget writing a synopsis or outline. The essence of flash is being in the moment.

“You’ve really got to pick what details are important,” said panelist Michelle Muenzler, who loves reading (and publishing in) Daily Science Fiction. “You’ve got to imply more than you say.”

Although the obvious solution would seem to be slicing the moment in time the story occupies as thinly as possible, she admits that in some longer flash fiction (700-800 words), she’s written as many as three or four individual scenes.

Go for words with multiple layers of meaning, panelists said, two, three, the more the better. And for the most precise words. And slash articles, the “a’s”, “an’s” , “the’s” whenever possible. Both panelists and audience members compared extremely short fiction to poetry, with the same brevity and precision of language.

There still must be a story, with characters, conflict, and resolution. Panelists dismissed alleged flash fiction that reads like a scene or opening chapter of a longer piece, emphasizing the need for the short fiction to stand on its own legs.

Suggested writing methods included stories written as snippets of overheard conversation, or even, Muenzler suggested, stories written as lists. (Fellow panelist/author Rie Sheridan Rose’s advice: “eavesdrop everywhere.”)

One panelist cited stories written as aphorisms that, cumulatively, imply a narrative. To be sure I knew how an aphorism (“a short, pointed sentence expressing a wise or clever observation or a general truth”) could be used as part of a story, I went to www.aphorismexamples.com and found this statement by the late Nikita Khrushchev, quoted in New York Times Magazine: “Life is short. Live it up.” How’s that for part of a story?

Although flash fiction’s pedigree goes at least as far back as Aesop’s Fables, the technology revolution increased its impact when readers began looking for fiction that was easy to read on their phones. Whether the larger screens of e-reader devices will stem its growth is still to be determined.

As with any writing, the best way to learn how it’s done is to read it. Sheridan Rose cited publications specializing in the genre, such as Every Day Fiction (www.everydayfiction.com), Flash Fiction Online (www.flashfictiononline.com), Daily Science Fiction (http://dailysciencefiction.com), Mirrorshards (www.mirrorshards.org), and Nature Futures, an imprint of the science journal Nature, requiring some actual science (www.naature.com/nature/focus/arts/futures). She also recommended the ezine Cease, Cows (http://ceasecows.com). Some of these are paying markets, some aren’t. Mirrorshards is a personal blog.

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Story contest update: FenCon’s deadline for its short story contest has been extended to August 1. Deadline for the conference’s young writers contest remains September 20.

(Next Monday -- more from ArmadilloCon or an ex-police chief’s suggestions for Dallas Mystery Writers? Check in to see which it’ll be.)