ANTHOLOGIES ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

Inked in Gray Press Inked in Gray

LITERARY MAGAZINES

Cyphers Currently celebrating its 50th year, Cyphers is

AUDIO OPPORTUNITIES

Fiction on the Web Fiction on the

COMPETITIONS WITH MUTLIPLE CATEGORIES

Bournemouth Writing Festival 2026 The Festival has

The 2025 Pageturner Awards

Now in their sixth year, the awards for

Ajuda Foundation Creative Writing Competition 2025

The competition is for writing that engages with

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2025

The annual international Aesthetica Creative Writing Award invites

2025 BCSA Writing Competition

The theme of this year’s contest from the

2025 Hammond House International Literary Prize

This year’s contest is for writing on the

WRITER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNTIES

The Genesis Foundation

GENERAL NEWS

Rewarding Atwood Margaret Atwood has been announced

NON-FICTION OPPORTUNITIES

Beach Summer is here and US coastal

POETRY COMPETITIONS

Anthology Poetry Competition 2025 The Anthology Poetry

SMALL PRESSES ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

Four Way Books Four Way Books welcomes

With a little help from my friend

Patrick Forsyth looks at co-authoring as a way of learning a new writing area

SHORT FICTION COMPETITIONS

Creative Writing Ink Short Story Competition 2025

DEAR READER

When you read fiction, what is it that,

OWN VOICE IN MY HEAD

Novelist Zoë Marriott describes how she discovered she was writing an #ownvoices story, and offers advice for other writers interested in exploring #ownvoices in their work

Sounds in place

Author Cate Baum explores voice and its influence on setting

VOICE COACH

Your unique writer’s voice is what will keep readers enthralled. Margaret James offers wise words on how you can find and develop it

Five quick 5 questions

Photo by Tania Gandrabur 1. When and where

Lessons from Jane

As we celebrate 250 years since Jane Austen was born, Helen Stockton looks at what 21st-century writers can learn from the great 19th-century novelist

Transferable SKILLS

Debut novelist Emma Cowing spent 27 years in print journalism – here’s what it can teach you about novel writing

BAD TO THE BONE

Who says you have to write ‘likeable’ characters? Novelist Lisa Harding looks at how to approach creating toxic characters

Description: PART TWO

Author and tutor Ian Ayris reminds writers that there are No Absolutes when it comes to showing and telling

CALL OF the wild

Novelist and publisher Jane Johnson tells Tina Jackson about the importance of place and its relationship with people and the natural world in her sweeping, immersive fiction

DARIA LAVELLE

The debut author of a literary novel incorporating ghosts, food and love describes how it took way longer to get published than she’d first expected

SHELF LIFE

EMMA COWELL

NICK ALEXANDER

The author tells Margaret James how life’s quirks inspire him to write his bestselling novels

REAL LIFE, great stories

This month Jenny Alexander explores a picture made of fragments: writing a collage or mosaic essay

Your writing critiqued

James McCreet applies a forensic micro-critique to the beginning of a reader’s manuscript

Hazel Barkworth

The author describes the importance of getting the vibes right at the beginning of her dark new campus novel

Finding the link

Alison Chisholm explores the unexpected connections which give a poem its original slant

ONE HUNDRED

Helen Walters celebrates a centenary of masterclasses by revisiting the first author she picked to write about, and reflecting on what she’s learned about the craft of writing short stories

Nurture in nature

PART 1

HAPPY HORROR-DAYS

Alex Davis looks at how the calendar can enhance your horror stories

The write company

Someone who gets it makes all the difference, says Lynne Hackles

Sisterh d and SOLIDARITY

Author Linda Newbery refused to give up on her latest novel and published it on her own terms. She discusses the importance of strong female friendships as writers and – now – as publishers

The world of writing

What goes through a writer’s brain? Readers’ letters and dispatches from the wide world of writing

LIFE’S VITAL QUESTION

Keith Sawyer is the Morgan Distinguished Professor in

BIG BIRTHDAYS!

This is the July issue of Writing Magazine

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: GENRE

What a clever bunch the WM writers are!

Subscribers’ news

TALES FROM THE TOWER I have always

THE FEELINGS MACHINE

AT AN UNDERFUNDED FIRE STATION IN NEWTON

VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Overwhelmed by the business of writing? Simon Whaley explores how virtual assistants can free up more creative time

EXPERTS

Tarja Moles looks at the best ways to get insights on your research topic from an expert

Behind the tape

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

MICHAEL GREGORIO

The husband and wife crime authors tell Lynne Hackles about writing, fighting and making up over dinner

GET PUBLISHED

You’ve read the advice – now get into print! Find the most up-to-date calls for submissions, writing competitions to enter and publishing opportunities to suit you and your writing in our easy-to-navigate news pages

Sympathy for the devil

Make your antagonist complex and layered to create a really compelling story, advises Cornerstone’s Monica Chakraverty

WRITING FOR AUDIO

Spotify Audiobooks

WRITING FOR CHILDREN

Dinosaur Books

How do I do that?

Give your readers how-to advice, says Patrick Forsyth

MARKETING YOUR INDIE BOOK: DIY VS. PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT

Troubador’s Alex Thompson outlines the marketing routes you can choose as an indie author

Go for green flags

Piers Blofeld offers sound advice for writers wanting to have a smooth and successful relationship with a literary agent