Find your pigeonhole

Love is in the pages of Writing Magazine

The world of writing

Blake’s progress

WHAT THE ACTUAL...

Anyone who’s dipped more than a toe in

THE CLOGS IN THE MACHINE

In a provocatively titled piece in Locus the

Go your own way

James Kennedy, author of the bestselling dark science

STAR LETTER

WORKERS WRITE I was nodding away at Piers

DEALING WITH DYSLEXIA

As a fellow dyslexic writer I’m grateful for

AN END IN ITSELF

I was interested in James McCreet’s comments (The

GOING OFF-PISTE

Gillian Harvey’s piece, Not what it says on

THE STRANGENESS OF STRANGERS

When I heard on the television that England

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION

I have just received my February copy of

Editorial calendar

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

Open a conversation

Patrick Forsyth draws lessons in reader engagement from a recent book signing

ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET

Share your love of video games

Precious opportunity

The Onyx Publications editorial team call themselves ‘a

The (one-act) play’s the thing

The 19th Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama

Novel Ideas

Breaking the habit

Use the schmooze

Travel PRs can be very helpful if you approach them in the right way, says Patrick Forsyth

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

A different slant on history

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Try your luck with new literary journal

FLASHES

The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2022 is for the

UK SPECFIC MARKET

Shoot for the moon

Desperate to win

The winner of the international Desperate Literature Prize

DOING TIME FOR THE WRONG CRIME

From the OTHE SIDE OF THE DESK

Appealing to an agent

Helen Corner-Bryant advises a reader looking for represention on making their manuscript stand out from the slush pile

Oral History

Tarja Moles tells you how to get information about the past that comes from lived experience

Behind the tape

Expert advice to get the details right from police officer Lisa Cutts

HOW TO BE THE BEST(SELLER)

The truth about being an overnight success, by charttopping crime writer Sam Blake

Finding friends in fan -fic

Rosalind Moody hears from its followers to find out about the uniting power of fan-fic

A LESSON IN MYSTERY

Amy Sparkes talks to debut author Jo Clarke and her agent Alice Williams about the process of launching a new school mystery series for children

The price of love

Simon Whaley chats to two writers who’ve put romance at the heart of their writing business

WHERE’S MY USP?

Gillian Harvey is looking for the unique perspective that will make her writing stand out from the crowd

Find your pigeonhole

As in life, romance comes in many different fictional forms, and finding what suits you can be tricky. Jess Morency helps with valuable lessons she learned when she self-published her novel

The hierarchy of romance

• Women’s Fiction: All romance is women’s fiction

Your writing critiqued

James McCreet applies his forenscic criticism to the first 300 words of a reader’s manuscript

In summary

Read James McCreet’s suggested rewrite of this extract

A picture, not a mirror

Characters exist to serve the story, not say something about the author, says Adrian Magson

The first five pages: DIAMOND READER

Jessie Keane, the queen of gangland crime writing, gives us an in-depth look at the opening pages of her new crime thriller, Diamond

The heart of the story

Want to know the key to writing romantic fiction? Margaret James tells you how to give your readers all the feels

I wish I’d known

‘One of the things I wish I’d learned

Image matters

Helen M Walters uses a short story by Lucy Caldwell to explore the significance of props and accessories in creating fictional characters

HOOKING THEM IN

Engage the reader of your genre stories right from the start, by following advice from Alex Davis

LOVING LIFE

Isabel Allende, grande dame of Latin American literature, shares her warm philosophy of life and literature with Tina Jackson

Kasim Ali

The debut novelist describes how all the hard graft he’d put in paid off when he found a real-word story he needed to tell

Juliet Pickering, Blake Friedmann Literary Agency

‘When Kasim’s submission landed, it immediately stood out

SHELF LIFE

The author of biographical historical novels, whose latest is about the UK’s fi rst domestic goddess, Annabel Abbs shares her five favourite books

ANNABEL ABBS

‘The Language of Food tells the story of

CIRCLES’ ROUNDUP

If your writing group would like to feature

Taking a different approach

SHARE YOUR NEWS

Lizzie Lane

The prolific author tells Margaret James about her no-nonsense approach to working as a commercial novelist

William Wall

The Irish writer tells Lynne Hackles how daily life during lockdown prompted new writing

We We re Hull

FIRST PLACE £200 Dominic Bell is an oil

Mum's the word

Think about mothers and mothering in these creative writing exercises from Jenny Alexander

FIRST-PERSON SHORT STORY COMPETITION WINNER

Shai

TAMING THE ttriversen

Alison Chisholm is thrilled with the levels of talent in the winners of WM’s most recent poetry contest

POURING OUT POETRY

A poem inspired by the Mad Hatter’s tea party provides Alison Chisholm with food for thought

Set the scene

Explore location and place in these writing group exercises from Julie Phillips

FESTIVAL GUIDE 2022

FEBRUARY Hearth micro-festival 5 Feb Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden,

COURSES GUIDE 2022

Plan your writing year with details of courses for 2022. Many organisations are now running online classes as well as, or instead of, face-to-face sessions. Those are listed under the organisations’ usual locations, unless they are now entirely online

Yay for Yeovil

Entries are welcomed for the Yeovil Literary Prize

Heads down, lights out

Turn Off the Lights, Inkitt’s Thriller Contest, has

SCALE THE HEIGHTS

The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize 2022 is inviting

SEE YOUR WORK IN PRINT

Submissions of fiction, poetry, prose and artwork that

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

Call of the Wildlife

BE FUNNY IN POETIC FORM

The twice yearly Light magazine is published by

Fresh hope for New Beacon

New Beacon Books, the UK’s first and only

FLASHES

Fowey Festival Short Story Competition 2022 has chosen

GLOBAL MAGAZINE MARKET

Set a course for Earth Island

Shipshape stories in Bristol fashion

The 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize is inviting

Earth 2.0 calling

The George Floyd Short Story Writing Competition II

UK GENRE FICTION MARKET

A strong start

Invitation to enter the arts club

The Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition 2022

All kinds of writing go into Vast Chasm

Previously unpublished flash and short fiction, creative non-fiction,

FLASHES

The annual Grey Hen Poetry Prize from small

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Brave new world

Kiss goodbye

A group of twelve authors including John Grisham,

HUGO VICTORS

Winners for the Hugo Awards were announced at

Slip into this verse

Win a £300 first prize in the Slipstream

ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET

Get to know The Daily Beast

GLOBAL LITERARY MAGAZINE

Submit for Review

FLASHES

Submissions are open until 15 February for the

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Word worshippers wanted

HAVE A WILD TIME

The Wild Atlantic Writing Awards 2022 are inviting

HUMOROUS POEMS CONTEST

Taking its title from a satirical poem by

WIN PUBLICATION FOR YOUR ESSAY

The Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & Lewitt Studios Essay Prize

WORLD CONTROVERSY

At the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, or

UK FICTION MARKET

Test tube writers

VERSE COMES NATURALLY

The Rialto Nature & Place Poetry Competition 2022

GLOBAL BOOK MARKET

Curious Curls call for fascinating authors

UK SPECFIC MARKET

Go Wyldblood

C is for counting bodies

The Evil Cookie Publishing is a US small

FLASHES

Bridgend Writers Circle are inviting entries of original,

UK NON-FICTION MARKET

Lay it out in black and white

ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET

Sports enthusiasts wanted

GLOBAL FICTION MARKET

Short stories wanted

A new approach to kids’ stories

An award-winning app, Novel Effect app offers a

FLASHES

Bag of Bones Press is inviting submisisons of

FLASHES

Nottingham Writers Club is inviting entries by non-professional

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

Good rates at Factor Four

Tales to Terrify

The editorial team at Tales to Terrify are

INTRODUCTIONS

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

ANSWER THE CALL OF RAVEN AND DRAKE

Raven and Drake Publishing is a UK indie

INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE

Intrinsick is a zine in the old, tradition:

FLASHES

Bridge House Publishing is inviting submissions for its

GLOBAL MAGAZINE MARKET

For the Jewish feminist

Glittering wins

Paul Michael Glaser, of Starsky and Hutch fame,

BBC’S BIG PRIZE

The BBC National Short Story Award 2022 with