WELCOME

Writing is nothing unless it grips its reader’s

MAKE YOUR STORIES STRONGER

SHORT FICTION SPECIAL:

WRITING NOIR FICTION

A WALK ON THE DARK SIDE:

FACT versus Fiction

CRIME:

A RECIPE FOR MURDER

Mystery fiction is definitely having a moment. Author Dann McDorman sets out the building blocks of Golden Age-style crime stories.

Never too late

Novelist Phyllida Shrimpton began her writing career in her 50s – and she relishes what being an older writer can bring

Imagination AND YOU

CREATIVE WRITING BUILDING BLOCKS

Spook it up!

How do you write a ghost story for children that contemporary readers will relate to? Amy Sparkes finds out.

Create-a-ghost

As ghost story season beckons, tempting writers to create their own haunted scenarios, Alex Davis offers advice on developing spectres for your fiction

PUBLISHING PATHS: Send to print

Margaret James looks at publishing options for writers with manuscripts ready to send out

Five quick questions

• When and where did your journey as

TWICE UPON A TIME

As acclaimed crime writer John Connolly returns to the darkly imaginative landscape of The Book of Lost Things, he talks to Tina Jackson about making sense of the world in the only way he knows, through story

SHELF LIFE

VICTORIA SELMAN

NATASHA CALDER

Lynne Hackles talks to the novelist about the transition from academic to creative writing that resulted in her unsettling debut

Distorted image

The public have some funny ideas about writers, says Lynne Hackles

Trisha Ashley

Margaret James talks to the witty romcom author about her latest novel, her writing life, and finding ways of working with severe visual impairment

Your writing critiqued

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

Meetings can be MURDER

Leonora Nattrass, author of the Laurence Jago historical crime series, explains why she chose to set the opening of her third novel Scarlet Town at a political meeting

WAR MEMORIAL

WW1 continues to inspire poets, and Alison Chisholm is impressed with the impact of a poem recalling the Somme

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Helen Walters uses a story of twins to look at things that aren’t supposed to work in your stories... but can be really effective when they’re done well

The world of writing

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

IN THE SPOT LIGHT: YOUR WRITING FINDING A FRIEND

Reading the WM writers’ submissions for this page is

Subscribers’ news

To feature in subscribers’ news contact: tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

New moves for Ruth and Roley

Last year I moved to March in the Cambridgeshire Fens – something I’ve been wanting to do for 30 years but life as always got in the way!

CRACKING REGIONAL CRIME

As Northern Ireland is brought to the screen

Characters branching out

Since my debut novel, The Birth of Gossip,

CREATIVE COLLABORATION

Stuck with your writing? Try these fun group exercises from Julie Phillips that demonstrate how working with other people can help solve the dreaded block.

TV EYE

Think about the way TV offers insight into other lives in these creative writing exercises from Jenny Alexander

GET THE write idea

Explore new horizons in words with these place-related creative writing exercises to try right now

LEARNING TO FLY

GREEN SHORT STORY COMPETITION

THE WILDNESS

You float the mower over your bright green

Party POOPER?

The fear of missing out battles with the desire to remain anti-social as Gillian Harvey girds her loins and decides to show her face at a literary event

The heir affair

Simon Whaley explores how we can help our heirs deal with our writing business when we reach our final chapter

Statistical evidence: Part 1

Does your work in progress require facts, data, and number-crunching? Research expert Tarja Moles helps you get to grips with working with statistics.

Behind the tape

Expert advice to get the details right in

A head of the competition

How can you improve your chances of getting placed in a writing contest? Cornerstones editorial director of the scouting programme, Monica Chakraverty, shares some insights.

AI IS MUSHROOMING

AI-generated text can actually be poisonous, says Gary Dalkin

LITMAG SUBMISSIONS

The Whisky Blot is a literary magazine dedicated

SMALL PRESS SUBMISSIONS

At Bay Press At Bay Press is an

SCRIPT OPPORTUNITIES

Podcasting opportunity Get Over It Productions performs plays

POETRY COMPETITIONS

Open Poetry Competition 2023 The annual single-poem contest

Fantastic finalists

The Oxford/Pushkin Children’s Fantasy Prize is a new

Myth-making

The winners of the 2023 Mythopoeic Awards, given

FICTION SUBMISSIONS

My heartlines Heartlines Spec is a new Canadian

A lesson from a smile

It is easy to leave things to the last minute. Planning ahead is better suggests Patrick Forsyth.

HUMOUR SUBMISSIONS

Here’s a funny thing If you think you

INDIE MAGS AND WEBSITES

Intrepid Times This travel zine wants ‘narrative travel

GENERAL NEWS

Name that thing Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman

NON-FICTION SUBMISSIONS

Earth Island Journal Earth Island Journal is the

The ServiceScape Short Story Award

The ServiceScape Short Story Award has no restrictions

ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSIONS

Down with the dogs

The need to be green

Ecological concerns will have a deep impact on travel writing, says Patrick Forsyth

NOT FULL EXP OSURE

From the OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK

BOOK PRIZES

Criminal Lines 2023 AM Heath’s competition for debut

SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024 The Commonwealth

Private publishing investment

One of the ‘big five’ publishers, Simon &

SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS

Ghost Stories at the Bookshop 2023 The competition

Mslexia Poetry and Pamphlet competitions 2023

Mslexia’s two annual poetry competitions are for single