WELCOME

14 60 With belts tightening and the threat

The world of writing

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

LETTERS

STAR LETTER CRITICAL THINKING As writers we are

WHEN LESS IS MORE

Opinions and submission guidelines differ on word counts

Spell bound

International bestseller Cressida Cowell describes how to write magical books for children

BOBBY PALMER

The author of the wildly acclaimed Isaac and the Egg describes how he created the beginning of a genre-blurring book that challenges traditional masculinity

Thinking ahead

Bear in mind that the characters you create might well return in another book,

Your writing critiqued

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

EVIL MCSQUEEVIL

Writing chapter book baddies

Look. Listen .

Test your road safety awareness in these creative writing exercises from Jenny Alexander

Last Christmas

Damien Mckeating was born and a short time

Haunting Words

Helen M Walters looks at the effects of language in a ghostly story by Virginia Woolf

POWER STRUGGLES

How do you create the politics and their associated conflicts within a fantasy world? Alex Davis looks at how the way a society is ruled can impact on your worldbuilding

ALL LIT UP

Margaret James wonders what constitutes literary fiction, and how it crosses genre boundaries

Five quick questions 5

1 When and where did your journey as

Terror from the skies

Alison Chisholm is impressed by a poem about an inadvertent war-time tragedy

GRAHAM SMITH

Margaret James talks to the crime and mystery author about his two writing identities

The cost of creativity crisis

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, cut the cost of creativity with solutions suggested by Simon Whaley

Fount of (some if not all) knowledge

Agents and publishers aren’t infallible – but they have a good idea what they’re talking about,

The write balance

Cornerstones’ assistant editor, Sarah Conkerton, discusses writing and editing – and finding the right balance between the two

Weather & climate

Get acclimatised to researching meteorology with advice from research expert Tarja Moles

Behind the tape

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

THE THRILL OF THE CHASE

The king of the political thriller explains how he writes, to Tina Jackson

MICHAEL TE ARAWA BENNETT

The Mãori author and screenwriter describes how his debut novel, Better The Blood, came into being

SHELF LIFE

Bestselling author Emma Cooper chooses the five books that mean the most to her

EMMA COOPER

‘I’ve always read widely and voraciously so narrowing

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

SUBSCRIBERS’ NEWS

SHARE YOUR NEWS

Jemma Wayne

The writer and journalist tells Lynne Hackles about being organised when there’s no-one to hold you to account

The witching hour

Rosalind Moody marks Halloween with thirteen spine-tingling reads for Samhain season

Author IRL

After two years of virtual meetings, the prospect of an actual face-to-face with her editor sends Gillian Harvey into a right old tizz

I Met Myself Coming Back

CONTENT ADVISORY: SOME STRONG LANGUAGE Read the judges’

Get the write idea

Explore new territory with creative writing prompts and exercises to try right now

The sky’s the limit

Watch how the skies can affect your writing in these group exercises from Julie Phillips

Funny women, still time to enter!

This year the Comedy Women in Print Prize

WRITING IN COMMON

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 is inviting

Fantastical creations

Win a £2,500 first prize in the new

ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET

Tell human stories

Project Briar Rose

Editor CB Droege, of the Manawaker Studio, seeks

Grand prizes for writers of colour

The Jhalak Prize 2023 is inviting entries. The

Young writers take flight

The Solstice Prize 2022 for Young Writers is

FLASHES

The Writing District Prize is an international competition

UK FICTION MARKET

It’s all yours

Hear your story podcasted

The Other Stories award winning podcast has some

Writers’ Grant and web residency on offer

Set up to support UK early career working

UK NON-FICTION MARKET

Not to be sniffed at

Outcast wants the unusual

Outcast Press has an editorial team who like

PICTURE THIS

Banbury Writers’ Café writing group is running a

FLASHES

Fosseway Writers YA Short Story Competition 2022 is

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Wordy writing wanted

A new chapter

A New Chapter – Freedom from Torture Competition

Be bold and find your place

Bold Types Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Competition 2022

Regional horror stories wanted

War Monkey Publications are opening submissions for their

GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET

Look left

PEN rewards early career writers

PEN America seeks to ‘champion the freedom to

Representing disability and chronic illness

The £1,000 Barbellion Prize 2022 is a book

Take note of timing

Patrick Forsyth makes some suggestions about pre-publication plans

FLASHES

Win a $100 prize for a short story

ONLINE CULTURE MARKET

Share your obsessions

Cross genre boundaries

Wandering Wave Press is a publisher of ‘unconventional

Café poetry break

Win a £1,000 first prize in the Café

UK SCRIPTWRITING MARKET

Aunty opens a window

A CALL FOR SHORT COMEDY SCRIPTS

Original stage comedy scripts of a maximum ten

Novel Ideas What’s in a name?

What you’re called can matter when it comes to writing, says Lynne Hackles

FLASHES

The Indigo Autumn Poetry Prize 2022 is inviting

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Plot well

Radio plays wanted

Original radio plays of any genre from writers

Choose Galley Beggar

The Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize from

Less miserable

The winners of the world’s most prestigious speculative

INTRODUCTIONS

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

Dragon Soul fills anthology holes

Although closed to novel submissions, Dragon Soul Press

FLASHES

Enter your best writing tip in the free-entry

GLOBAL FICTION MARKET

Flexible for submissions

For young playwrights

Walk in My Shoes A playwriting competition organised

A big prize here

An international contest for original, previously unpublished short

Get known

Kithe is a hybrid literary and art journal

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

What’s the Drift?

For writers internationally

Flash Frontier is published quarterly and although some

Small change

Pay attention to the little details on your travels, says Patrick Forsyth

FLASHES

Prole Books are inviting entries for their 2022

UK NON-FICTION MARKET

A fair deal for authors

QUICK REVELATIONS

Epiphany is a semi-annual literary journal publishing ‘online

Wonderful to write

The East Riding Festival of Words Poetry Competition

Pirates’ hoard?

Publishers Wiley, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Hachette

INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE

Guernica is looking for submissions of poetry, essays,

FLASHES

Creative Mind’s Travel Writing Competition is for short

GLOBAL BOOK MARKET

Engage with Mad Duck

New angle for book prizes

Ipswich Institute has announced its literary prizes for

Make time for GOD

The Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition 2022 The

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

Long reads wanted for Women’s Health

Net a big memoir prize

The Fish Short Memoir Prize from Fish Publishing

Flash your novels

Win a £500 first prize in the Flash

Random history

Win a £1,000 prize for a story set

Bright lights in Canadian specfic

The 2022 Aurora Awards, for the best speculative

Doll parts

Indie publisher Quill & Crow has announced its

WolfSinger calls for dog stories

US indie publishes mainly science fiction and fantasy