CRITIQUE

https://writ.rs/critique

Short Story Prize

www.fishpublishing.com

5 Five quick questions

1. When and where did your journey as

WELCOME

14 08 Dear Writers The first thing you’ll

The world of writing

Protecting legacies, abusing authors, inking errors and punishing reviews – traversing the highs and lows of the wide world of writing

LIVED EXPERIENCE

CC BY 2.0 John Bauld Art imitating life

THE JOKE’S ON US

It’s all a bit bleak in the wide

WORTH WAITING FOR

Last but oh-so-not-least, let’s share the love for

PLANE-SPOTTING

CC BY-SA 3.0 Danielebaj Is there a particular

LETTERS

STAR LETTER DIVINE INTERVENTION When reading the ‘My

While we were away

Patrick Forsyth looks at writing about what went on while travel was off the agenda

Tech talk

Cornerstones editor Sarah Rouse runs through her top tips for using digital writing programmes, from tracking changes, to the time-saving ‘find and replace’ command

United, not divided

As writers, shouldn’t we look for what we’ve got in common, and not just at what divides us, asks Piers Blofeld

Newspapers

Newspaper archives are a goldmine for writers to explore in their research, says Tarja Moles

Behind the tape

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

Self-publishing success

Navigate the self-publishing process with expert and up-to-date advice from John Sailing of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, who explains why the trade union has launched a free guide to self-publishing

The best and worst of BookTok

BookTok reviewer turned author Stacey McEwan outlines what the online platform can do for you as a writer – and the pitfalls to be aware of

Love your library more

As the cost of living crisis intensifies, councils are introducing their own ‘warm banks’ registers. Rosalind Moody evaluates where she’ll be camping out to write this winter

Season’s greetings

Simon Whaley chats to one of Hallmark’s writers to explore writing for the greetings card market

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARD

Gillian Harvey is relieved to discover writers’ brain fog is an actual scientific thing

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Alan Garner, the oldest person to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, tells Tina Jackson about distilling language, stories and place to cast a spell with words

REBECCA NETLEY

Bookkeeping and burnt pizzas spurred the gothic novelist

SHELF LIFE

Dystopian thriller author Greg Mosse outlines the five books that helped transform him into a writer r

GREG MOSSE

© Jasmine Aurora TAP HERE To read an

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

All Seasons Writing Group

Every Wednesday afternoon All Seasons Writing Group meets

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS ONE BOOK AT A TIME

SHARE YOUR NEWS To feature in subscribers’ news

A helping hand

‘When I first started writing (too many decades

Pay Day pay dirt

‘Like many writers, I was a book loving

Once you’re in you’re in

‘I am pleased to announce the publication of

MAL TAKES FIVE

‘In 2015 I inadvertently embarked on my novel-writing

NEIL ALEXANDER

The debut author tells Adrian Magson how redundancy and rejections only made him more determined to get published

Helen Fields

The barrister turned crime novelist tells Lynne Hackles about turning the pressure up and writing in bursts

TRACEY LIEN

The former Los Angeles Times journalist walks us through how she mustered her reporting skills to get started on her debut literary thriller, All That’s Left Unsaid

Is it you I’m looking for?

Who are you writing for? Adrian Magson says it’s best to think about what you want rather than a reader you don’t know

Your writing critiqued

James McCreet applies his forensic criticism to the beginning of a reader’s manuscript

Home time!

Children’s literature is full of school stories – but what about stories featuring children who are home-educated? Amy Sparkes looks at creating possibilites for home-schooled children to see themselves in a book.

Find the real you

We write best when our work reflects who we really are, says Margaret James

Orange isn’t the only colour

Helen M Walters explores using dilemmas effectively in your short fiction via a story by Camille Bordas

A climate for growth

Climate change is surely the most pressing challenge we face, and it’s no surprise that it is being reflected and explored in a growing number of novels. How will you tackle the subject? Asks Alex Davis as he guides us through eco-fiction and charts the rise of ‘cli-fi’

WIN! £500 IN CASH PRIZES & PUBLICATION

OPEN COMPETITION

TWIST SHORT STORY COMPETITION WINNERS

Anne Wilkins lives in New Zealand with her

Get the write idea

Think about how character influences story in these prompts and exercises to try right now

Best feet first

Get your writing group to put on their dancing shoes in these exercises from Julie Phillips

Memory tests

Explore living with dementia in these writing exercises from Jenny Alexander

Stars come out

Alison Chisholm is impressed by the stellar winning entries in WM’s competition for poems inspired by Shelley

Crossing the generation gap

Alison Chisholm explores a simple, wintry poem with equal appeal to both children and adults

FILTER YOUR FAVOURITES

Alison Chisholm launches WM’s popular annual Open Poetry Competition with advice on not being blind to a favourite poem’s flaws

Get discovered!

Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.

JOIN THE DOTS

Win $100,000 and publication in the Nine Dots

Poets, don’t Ms out

Win a £2,000 first prize in the Mslexia

US MAGAZINE MARKET

A scientific approach

First’s first faces

Unbound is an online crowdfunding publishing system akin

Amazon adjustment in authors’ favour

In what is excellent news for authors, Amazon

Ditmar winners

The annual Ditmar Awards recognising achievement in Australian

FLASHES

The next quarterly Henshaw Press Short Story Competition

INTERNATIONAL PRINT MARKET

Tingle the spine

GET SET TO WIN A WRITING RETREAT

Win a five-night writing retreat worth £645 in

HIT THE ROAD

The Elmbridge Literary Competition 2022-2023 is inviting short

UK FANTASY MARKET

Go wyld for this UK fantasy publisher

FANTASY AWARDS WINNERS 2022

The leading UK awards for fantasy fiction were

FLASHES

Win a signed copy of the lavish new

INTERNATIONAL POETRY MARKET

Get rattled

JOIN THE SPIRAL TRIBE

Spiral is a new online service for audiobooks,

CAPITAL MISSIVES

Write a love letter to the UK’s capital

UK THEATRE MARKET

A great collaboration for playwrights

Pieces of (up to) eight (thousand)

Win a £2,000 first prize for short stories

Signs of spring

Shepton Snowdrops 2023 Poetry Competition is inviting entries.

Consideration time

Plan carefully to give your book sales appeal, says

FLASHES

The quarterly WOW Women on Writing Flash Contest

INTERNATIONAL SPEC-FIC MARKET

Brains, brains

Bus pass

Winning poems from the Guernsey International Poetry Competition

Spark up your ideas

The Sudden Fiction contest from The Plaza Prizes

No doubting the Edward Thomas prize

The Edward Thomas Fellowship Poetry Competition 2023 is

UK POETRY MARKET

Poetry please

Fiction Factory

Enter flash up to 1,000 words to win

Get collected

Mslexia Women’s Pamphlet Competition 2022 offers a prize

FLASHES

Tape Collective has a call-out for pitches that

INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE MARKET

Bank your writing here

INTERNATIONAL NON-FICTION

Connections to Canada

Love Liverpool

The Uncover Liverpool arts bulletin is looking for

INTRODUCTIONS

Writing Magazine presents a selection of current international small press submission calls. We strongly recommend that you read backlist titles, familiarise yourself with their guidelines before submitting and check websites for submission details.

Olympian heights for stories

Win cash prizes as well as gold, silver

FLASHES

Autumn House Press is inviting entries of debut

UK ONLINE MARKET

Get creatives

INTERNATIONAL PRINT MARKET

Coffee-break pride

INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE MARKET

Willowy writing

Supporting romance

The Romantic Novelists Association has announced the shortlists

Winter flash

The next instalment of the quarterly Flash 500

Novel Ideas Make a writer ’s day

Nothing beats knowing you’ve made a reader happy, Lynne Hackles

FLASHES

Blackbough Poetry has a call out for anthology

UK PRINT MARKET

Keep it lowbrow

UK LITMAG MARKET

Stand out here

Place your trust

Win a £2,000 first prize in The 2022

Mounting anxiety

Enter short fiction on the theme of ‘Anxiety’

INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE

The Furious Gazelle accepts short fiction, micro fiction,

Book lists, bag lists

The 2022 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

Fit lit in quick

INTERNATIONAL PRINT MARKET

Weird wanderings

Get it write now

Submissions for the next round of WriteNow, Penguin’s

Sports book contenders

The longlist for the 2022 William Hill Sports

Blue 4eva wins big

Saba Sams, who was featured in WM’s My

INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE MARKET

Solve this riddle

Broken window for pamphlets

Poetry publisher Broken Sleep Books has a submission

FLASHES

Mandrake is open for submissions of weird, Gothic,

UK NON-FICTION MARKET

Picking up speed

Mysteries for Margery

Win £500 for short mystery fiction in the

Support in the south west

Young and Talented Cornwall has launched a new