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7 MIN READ TIME
CREATIVE WRITING

Editing without tears

You’ve drafted a novel! Brilliant! But it’s a long way from being ready for a reader. Author James McCreet provides a systematic way to edit a finished novel or an early draft James McCreet
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Writing Magazine
April 2023
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Writing Magazine
Meet your readers!
Book PR is an essential element in getting your book in front of its readers – but how exactly does it work, and what can you do to make the most of it? As her debut novel is published, top-flight book PR Becky Hunter explains how publicity works – from the inside – and advises you how to create opportunities for exposure
WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Point of view and voice
In part three of his series on character and voice , author and creative writing tutor Ian Ayris explores how you can use point of view and voice to really inhabit your characters so they come to life on the page
KEEPING IT REAL
Author, broadcaster and fitness teacher Tina Baker talks to Tina Jackson about creating her no-holds-barred domestic thrillers, representing working class lives, the way she weaves lived experience into her writing and what it was like to embark on a Creative Writing MA in her 50s
THE WRITERS' SUMMER SCHOOL
www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk
WE WANT YOUR WRITING
(and we’ll pay you for it!)
WRITER'S NEWS
58 Anthology submissions Four anthology calls waiting for
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF YOUR WRITING
www.writersbureau.com
Improve your creative writing competition chances
Want your writing competition entries to impress judges and win prizes? Here are some helpful hints for writers with their eyes on the prize
COMPETITION GUIDE 2023
Pick your favourites and start scheduling your entries, with over 500 competitions to enter – surely something for every writer!
How to find good writing competitions
Follow this ten-point checklist from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) to avoid bad writing competitions and give yourself a winning advantage
Masthead
WELCOME
Tina Jackson Content Editor 15 You told us,
Welcome...
Dear Reader It’s time to start planning your
Creative Writing Workshops
MAXIMUM SENTENCE
Criminal barrister turned million-selling author Helen Fields describes what her years in court have taught her about delivering a well-paced crime stor y, and what you can learn from her experience
CATALYST FOR CHANGES
Bestselling author of female-lead fiction Lucy Diamond reveals how she retrofitted the prologue that sets up what happens in her new novel
Boundaries? What boundaries?
Writers should be prepared to take creative risks, but how far is too far when it comes to commercial fiction? Margaret James argues against playing it too safe, but recommends a measured approach.
5 Five quick5 questions
1. When and where did your journey as
TO P OF THE CROP: Picture Book Prize winners
Are you on tenterhooks to find out who came top in the Writing Magazine Children’s Book Prize? This month, Amy Sparkes introduces the winners in the picture book categor y
Stories that sing
Helen M Walters explores what short story writers can learn from music , songwriters and lyrics via a short story themed round the effect of music by Willa Cather
Interviews and Profiles
HANNAH DOLBY
The debut author finally found the key to success when she realised that she – and her lead character – could be funny
SHELF LIFE
Laura Purcell , the author of acclaimed (and very spooky) gothic mysteries, talks us through the titles that made the most profound impression on her , and describes how she wrote her new novel, The Whispering Muse
L AUR A PURCELL
My seventh novel The Whispering Muse is set
FELIX FRANCIS
The author tells Lynne Hackles about following in his father’s footsteps as an author of horse-racing thrillers, and how he works
Community and Competitions
The world of writing
Ghostwriting, good company, making a mess... Miscellany and our readers’ news and views...
Subscribers’ news
SHARE YOUR NEWS To feature in subscribers’ news
NIGHTMARES CAN BE FUN
My second novel, Frenzy Island, was inspired by
THE LIFE OF A LANDSCAPE
LIVES AND TIMES OF SMITHILLS ESTATE SMITHILLS ESTATE
Dark deal
The dramatic North East coastline provides the inspiration
Cat tales for Currach Books
Towards the end of the first year of
Phoenix Writers
Phoenix Writers are a diverse, friendly – and
Create a writing retreat life
You want to go on a writing retreat but there just isn’t the money. Author Julia Bartz explores how to thread elements of enjoyment and community into your writing life, even if you don’t have the time or funds for an official retreat.
BEWARE the hype
Your job is to write your book, says Adrian Magson, without paying attention to the hard sell of other authors’ titles
MAKE THE SCENE
With many of us planning on attending in-real-life writing events this year, Alex Davis puts on his writing and literature events organiser hat with this guide to make the most of conventions and conferences IRL
Not first choice
Patrick Forsyth highlights a range of subsidiary potential topics
Wonderful things
Celebrate the 100th aniversar y of the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb in WM’s latest poetry competition, with advice from adjudicator Alison Chisholm
WINNER
The Scapegoat
Writing the art
Alison Chisholm reveals the winners of WM’s Ekphrastic Poetr y Competition, for poems related to an ar twork
RUNNER UP
A Plea from an Art Dealer
Those that Remain
FIRST PLACE £200 Dominic Bell is a
Occupational INJURY
Writers suffer work-related aches and pains and Gillian Harvey is tr ying to be stoic about how much it hurts
Writing Exercises
Get the write idea
How do particular circumstances shape what you write? Find out in these creative writing exercises to try right now.
FLAT PAC K FUN
This month, it’s time to get creative in a practical way, so roll up your sleeves and channel your inner engineer and builder to inspire your writing in these writing group exercises from Julie Phillips
On familiar ground
Explore a place that means something special to you –and using what you know in your work – in these creative writing exercises from Jenny Alexander
Inside the Industry
The future’s . . . not all write?
Now ChatGPT has arrived, is AI going to put us all out of a job? Gary Dalkin looks at the way recent developments in artificial intelligence might impact on writers.
PITCHING TO PODCASTS
Fancy being a guest on a podcast? Simon Whaley explores how to pitch yourself and why it can be useful marketing.
Finding freedom
Tarja Moles explains how you can use the Freedom of Information Act as a research tool
Behind the tape
Expert advice to get the details right in your crime fiction from serving police officer Lisa Cutts
Querying the agent
Sarah Conkerton, Assistant Editor at Cornerstones, discusses questions to ask and things to consider before signing with an agent
The Jane Martin Poetry Prize 2023
POETRY COMPETITIONS
The Welsh Poetry Competition 2023
The international Welsh Poetry Competition has a first
BOOK TO FILM
Leïla Slimani’s 2016 novel Lullaby has been adapted
The Plough Poetry Prize 2023
Now in its 20th year, the Plough Poetry
Wirral Poetry Festival Open Poetry Competition 2023
Win a £250 first prize for poems no
PHILIP K. DICK AWARD FINALISTS
The 2023 Philip K. Dick Award finalists have
NON-FICTION OPEN FOR SUBMISSION
First personal As a sub-newsletter of the free
Hard times pitches
Patrick Forsyth discusses pitching in a recession
Novel Ideas
Roll up your sleeves
PITCH PERFECT
Too many queries make themselves easy to discard. Make sure yours isn’t one of them by taking note of what Piers Blofeld has to say on attracting agent attention for the right reasons
Writers’ News
ANTHOLOGIES INVITING SUBMISSIONS
Cohesion Press
Labyrinth Anthologies
The Labyrinth Anthologies editorial team provide ‘a queer
Rock and a Hard Place Press
Rock and a Hard Place Press call themselves
Workers Write!
The Workers Write! editorial team are seeking stories
SMALL PRESSES SEEKING SUBMISSIONS
Nat 1 Publishing
ArrrowHeart Publishing
ArrrowHeart Publishing’s mission is ‘to tell diverse stories
Purple Unicorn Media
Purple Unicorn Media is open for submissions for
Goatshed Press
Goatshed Press aims ‘to deliver exciting, unpretentious content,
Hachette Children’s Novel Award 2023
Hachette Children’s Novel Award 2023 is for unpublished
The Ruber y Book Award 2023
The annual international Rubery Book Award is for
Bath Novel Award 2023
The international Bath Novel Award 2023 for emerging
FOR YOUNG WRITERS
Previously unpublished prose, poetry, hybrid works, plays, scripts
BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR LEON
Leon Conrad, whose piece on ‘Structure: The writer’s
SUBMISSIONS: INDIE MAGS AND WEBSITES
Consequence Forum Consequence Forum presents readings, panels, and
SCRIPT COMPETITIONS
A new playwriting initiative for ‘historically marginalised artists’
Sitcom Mission
Sitcom Mission is inviting original 15-minute sitcom comedy
Carlo Annoni International Playwriting Award
Plays written in either English or Italian on
REWARDING READING
The American Library Association has announced the 2023
SHORT FICTION COMPETITIONS
X marks the spot
Henshaw Press Short Story Competition
The next quarterly Henshaw Press Short Story Competition
Desperate to write
The Desperate Literature Prize is inviting submissions of
The MTP Short Story Competition
The MTP Short Story Competition invites entries of
Wild Atlantic Writing Awards
Wild Atlantic Writing Awards invite submissions on the
Frome Festival Short Stor y Competition 2023
The Frome Festival Short Story Competition is an
FICTION AND POETRY SUBMISSIONS
Infinity pool US-based print magazine Infinite Worlds was
After life
Psychopomp.com is a new US-based indie press just
A-lister books
Crime and thriller, romance, saga and general fiction
Transformative tales
Salamander is a nationally recognized US magazine publishing
Getting medieval on your weird fiction
Sentinel Creatives is an independent South African publisher
All points Southword
Southword: New International Writing is an Irish print
Inspirational womxn
Sword and Silk is a ‘small traditional publishing
Diverse voices welcomed
Kallisto Gaia Press is the home of The
Competition Guide 2023
Writing Magazine competitions 2023
Get a creative start with a sneak peek at our competition programme for the next few months. Enter online at www.writers-online.co.uk or see the relevant issue of Writing Magazine for more details. Prizes are £200/£50 (open), £100/£125 (subscriber-only) and £100/£50 (poetry) , with publication in WM for the winner. Please note, competitions will open for entries on publication of the full competition details in the relevant issue of Writing Magazine.
OCTOBER 500 word
Any style, theme or genre are acceptable this month, just keep your entries to a strict 500-word limit.
POETRY COMPETITIONS OPEN TO ALL
Haiku JUNE It’s two for one this month
Grand Flash Prize Winners
NINETEEN, TWENTY, MY PLATE’S EMPTY
Iqbal was joint runner-up in the Evening Standard
Postcard from Santiago to the British Museum
Jeannie is a Christian writer based in Chichester
REMEMBRANCE
Amitha is a keen reader who’s had a
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CORNERSTONES
www.cornerstones.co.uk
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writers-online.co.uk
The Yeovil Literary Prize
www.yeovilprize.co.uk
TLC
www.literaryconsultancy.co.uk
Spiritual Enlightenment
www.wepublishLondon.com
COMPETITION LAUNCHES AND RULES
WRITERS ONLINE
bit.ly/free-wfc
Writing
Writing
www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-courses
FISH ANTHOLOGY 2023
www.fishpublishing.com
WELLS Festival of Literature
www.wellsfestivalofliterature.org.uk
WRITING ONLINE
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Writers' & Artists' YEARBOOK 2023
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