Direct hit

Welcome…

How long have you been a writer? And how long is it

THE WORLD OF WRITING

This month we’re facing a celebrity challenge in Writing Land, as Derek Hudson finds slebs lurking in e very corner

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers – and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue…

At last!

Patrick Forsyth finds that who you know can be as important to success as what you know

Is that you?

Patrick Forsyth explores how much of yourself your writing should reveal

RE: Format

Research the publishers, and the publishing format, that best suit your book, urges Michael Allen

Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve…

Set deadlines to make sure 2018 is a year you don’t have writing regrets, urges Adrian Magson

EDITING MADE EASY

Editing your work will make all the difference between messy manuscript and clean draft. Sophie Beal sets out a plan of action

Cashing inon the classroom

Going back to school might fill some writers with fear, but Simon Whaley chats to two writers who’ve cashed in on school visits.

Editorial calendar

Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions. Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.

RESTRICTIVE BRIEFS

Lorraine Mace was delighted to get a prestigious magazine commission – until she saw how many topics she was barred from covering

On Writing

Tony Rossiter explores great words from great writers

From the OTHE SIDE R OF THE DESK

Agent Piers Blofeld offers a reality check about what really goes on at the publishing event of the year

Blue sky thinking

Jane Wenham Jones advises a change of approach for a writer used to executive strategies

Helpline

Your writing problems solved with advice from Diana Cambridge

BEHIND THE TAPE

Expert advice to get the details right in your crime novel, from serving police officer Lisa Cutts

Conference call

Meeting people face to face is one of the best ways to understand a topic and nurture contacts, says Tarja Moles

Picture this

Greta Powell looks at getting the visuals right in web graphic design

Writing WRONGS

Continuing to bust the self-perpetuating myths that stop writers realising their potential, story consultant Jeff Lyons takes down the five most destructive creative writing myths

ASK A LITERARY CONSULTANT

Editorial consultant Helen Corner-Bryant advises a reader who is overwriting scenes

FREE RANGE writing

Writer Jenny Alexander offers inspiring advice on why it’s good to break out of your box

Past presence

Helen M Walters explores the use of backstory and hidden history with a short story by William Trevor

UNDER THE microscope

James McCreet considers a reader’s historical thriller opening

What’s been hot – or not…

Margaret James looks at this year’s commercial publishing trends – and further ahead, to see what editors will be looking for in 2018

I wish I’d known…

‘It’s not so much what I wish I’d known as what I wish

MYTH versus REALITY

What’s it really like, writing for children? In the first of a two-part series, Amy Sparkes busts some common ideas

THE DARK HALF

Alex Davis looks at how to go about creating great anti-heroes in fantasy fiction

Novel Ideas

Lynne Hackles looks back at a lifelong lesson \

Practical magic

With a head full of magic, folklore and fantasy, and feet planted firmly on the ground, Joanne Harris is a storyteller with a universal connection, as Tina Jackson discovers

The style & technique of HELEN DUNMORE

Tony Rossiter examines the work of an acclaimed poet and novelist who was hugely supportive of younger writers

How I got published

Psychological thriller author Amy Gentry needed to discover a sense of community before she got published, she tells Dolores Gordon-Smith

Shelf life: FIONA MITCHELL

The author of issue-based fiction shares her five current favourite reads with Judith Spelman

SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT

Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

CIRCLES’ ROUNDUP]

If your writing group would like to feature here, whether you need new members, have an event to publicise or to suggest tips for other groups, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

MOLLY GREEN

The WM subscriber tells Adrian Magson how self-publishing paved her way to becoming a traditionally published saga author

CRIME FILE

Gaylin talks social media and misplaced beliefs with Chris High

My writing day JAMIE FORD

The US bestseller entertains Lynne Hackles as he talks about his daily writing routine

Pockets of Time

Damien Mckeating was born and soon after that he developed

ON THE HOBBY HORSE

Explore a wide range of activities for the good of your writing, suggests Julie Phillips

Entertaining Strangers

Charlotte Lindsay is a solicitor who works for an animal

Red Editing Pen

Each month, we give you a few sentences which would

Poetry in practice

Doris Corti looks at how to convey memories in your poetry

Poetry from A to Z

Poet Alison Chisholm guides you through the language of poetry

An OPEN chance

Polish your poem to perfection, advises Alison Chisholm as she launches WM’s ever-popular open poetry competition

Egg-cellent chance for new children’s writers

The annual Times Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition

Nature poets take flight

The Rialto, working with the RSPB, Birdlife International

Get creative for Kent and Sussex

The 2018 Kent and Sussex Poetry Competition is inviting

The story tree spreads its branches

Now in its fourth year, the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize

Call for women’s health pieces

The Hysterectomy Association is seeking articles between

Roll out the Rubery

The Rubery Book of the Year Award, which is given for

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

The highs of the high life

FLASHES

Fleet News, edited by Stephen Briers, is a website

GLOBAL SF MARKET

Take your SF into new territory

Get your fingers working for Fish

Fish Publishing is accepting submissions for four creative

Any theme you like

The 2018 Exeter Writers Short Story Competition is

Twisted mysteries

The Twisted Mysteries writing competition from Writing

UK FICTION MARKET

The Ipso facts

It’s a Funny Old World

Having difficulty getting started on an article, or

FLASHES

The editor of Wetherspoon News free app and magazine

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

Baen power

Pen a prose poem

The Tongue and Grooves Prose Poem Prize has a prize

More from Magma

There are two categories. The Judges’ Prize is for

A very flash prize

Bath Flash Fiction Award is inviting entries for its

Something different wanted here

News stories, analysis and commentary, reviews and

UK NON-FICTION MARKET

Making history

FLASHES

Pete Muir is editor of Cyclist, an illustrated monthly

GLOBAL EBOOK MARKET

Blue Swan call

A comp of fire and ice

The ‘darkest, most twisted dystopian stories’ are wanted

Spring Song Press

Spring Song Press is a US small press specialising

Liberty to write

The Keats-Shelley Prize 2018 is open for entries of

UK LITERARY MARKET

House of Holland Park Press

Tell us a secret

Vanda’n’Linda’s Write Space is inviting entries of

And another thing…

‘The process of writing a poem feels like a form of

FLASHES

Each Friday the Daily Mail invites readers to write

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

Rewriting history

Write on borders for Amnesty

Original, unpublished, fictional stories of a maximum

Big winners this month

Welsh writer Cynan Jones won the £15,000 BBC National

INTRODUCTIONS

Writing Magazine presents a selection of collecting magazines currently accepting contributions. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with their guidelines before submitting and check websites, where given, for submission details.

Goldmine for drama writers

The annual Screenwriting Goldmine awards are inviting

FLASHES

Sharon Reid, the editor of Yours fortnightly magazine

UK LITERARY MARKET

Get Inked

Voices from abroad

Entries are invited from writers living outside the

Exactly 100

The Lancashire Authors’ Association Open Flash Fiction

UK FICTION MARKET

A glittering opportunity for genre fiction

Audiogramme opening

Gallery of Curiosities is a speculative fiction anthology

FLASHES

The Emma Press is inviting submissions of proposals

UK SUPERNATURAL MARKET

Going underground

GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET

Recipe for success

Impress The Puritan

Looking for worldwide submissions all year round, The

INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE

Underground is an Australian quarterly started by some

FLASHES

The International OCD Foundation publishes a firsthand

GLOBAL FICTION MARKET

New paths to print

All aboard the roundabout

Carousel is a Canadian literary/ arts magazine representing

Daggers drawn

The CWA is inviting entries for its prestigious Debut

An innovative matrix

Matrix Magazine is inviting international entries for

Just dandy

Black Dandy is a new New Zealandbased print and digital

US EBOOK MARKET

Into the Shadow

Doing it for the kids

Submissions are open for the Branford Boase Award 2018

Fix your work here

Publishing new, original stories every week, Fixional

FLASHES

The Henshaw Short Story Competition invites stories

US LITERARY MARKET

Into the fire

Bop Dead

Bop Dead City is an independent literary quarterly

Book Talk

I have been trying to find an ideal way of actually

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

Get on track

US MAGAZINE MARKET

On another track

The truth will out

B Cubed Press is an indie ‘dedicated to raising the