Welcome…

In idle times at Writing Magazine, though few and far

THE WORLD OF WRITING

Pets, wives, kids, prizes and cold hard cash: it’s all a question of value in the writing world this month, totted up by Derek Hudson

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers – and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue…

Away from your desk

Get out of your garret for some upcoming activities and places to visit

What next?

Patrick Forsyth looks at the wider implications of competition success

Editorial calendar

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

Author knows best

Grumpy Old Bookman Michael Allen dusts off his medical records

On Writing

Tony Rossiter explores great words from great writers

HOW FAR CAN YOUR WRITING TAKE YOU?

To the other side of the world, discovered Tracy Fells, when she entered the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Shelf life: TRACY CHEVALIER

International bestseller Tracy Chevalier shares the five books that inspire and influence her with Judith Spelman

PRINT TWO-SIDED

Traditional or self-published? Authors no longer have to choose one or the other, as Simon Whaley discovers talking to two writers with a foot in both camps

REASONS FOR REJECTION

Lorraine Mace fi nds publishers can have confl icting reasons for rejecting the same piece of work

From the OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK

Literary agent Piers Blofeld highlights a recent unhealthy development in the publishing industry

ASK A LITERARY CONSULTANT

Cornerstones’ Natalie Young considers the current state of the market for novellas

KEEP CALM WRITE ON

It’s difficult not to be petty when faced with unselfconscious ‘writers’, but grit your teeth and endure it, urges Jane Wenham-Jones

Helpline

Your writing problems solved with advice from Diana Cambridge

BEHIND THE TAPE

Novelist and serving police officer Lisa Cutts answers your crime queries

KNOW YOUR RIGTHS

Principles of social and governmental responsibilities and expectations can be bewildering, so learn how to get them right with advice from Tarja Moles

TEXT TOOLS

Manage your typography and text with top tips from IT trainer Greta Powell

One true sentence

It’s one of the most quoted pieces of advice, from one of the most quoted authorities, but what did Hemingway’s ‘one true sentence’ actually mean? Author James McCreet explains

What’s your problem?

Get to grips with your stylistic tics with Adrian Magson

Novel Ideas Ideas to spare

An ideas store is a useful crutch, whether or not you ever come back to it says Lynne Hackles

Under the microscope

James McCreet explores the opening passage of a reader’s thriller manuscript

PLOTS AND PLANS

Don’t feel pressured to follow a set pattern. Write the way that feels right, says Margaret James

I wish I’d known…

Georgia Hill shares the secrets she wished she’d known at the start of her career

Liar! Liar!

Helen M Walters explores a classic unreliable narrator from the pen of Charles Dickens

How do they do it?

Author Amy Sparkes explores how writers of books for older children get it right with one wildly successful test case

IT’S GETTING OMINOUS ONLINE

Alex Davis explores technology and alternative modes of horror storytelling

THE COMMITMENT

Channel your memories, work hard, but be kind to yourself, Booker-winning Irish novelist Roddy Doyle tells Tina Jackson

How I got published

Laura McVeigh’sUnder the Almond Tree is out now from Two Roads. Interview by Dolores Gordon-Smith

The style & technique of JACK KEROUAC

On the sixtieth anniversary of its publication, Tony Rossiter examines the defining work of the Beat Generation

SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT

Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

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

CRIME FILE

Getting under the skin of Steve Mosby’s crimewriting with Chris High

NAOMI HAMILL

The Manchester author mined her own passions for her debut novel, she tells Adrian Magson

MG LEONARD

Children’s author MG Leonard tells Lynne Hackles how she juggles writing around book events and being a busy mum

WIN! £500

IN CASH PRIZES & PUBLICATION

Competition winner

PARANORMAL SHORT STORY

Thanks for the memories

Think of the decades of experience, shared and otherwise, in your writing group and capitalise on them with three suggested activities from Julie Phillips

SLIPPER THE SLIMY GETS SLUGNAPPED

Jennifer Moore’s fi ction has appeared in numerous

Red Editing Pen

Each month, we give you a few sentences which would

Counting up

Judge Meg Marsden tallies the numbers to announce the winner of our Number Poetry Competition

INTENSIVE WRITING

Alison Chisholm analyses a poem that starkly evokes an emergency hospital admission

Poetry in practice

Doris Corti looks at the requirements of some short-form poems

Poetry from A to Z

Poet Alison Chisholm guides you through the language of poetry

Focus on the past

Channel your memories into a winning poem with advice from poetry judge Alison Chisholm

Essay this New Welsh Writing Award

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

A wealth of stories

The 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize is open for

An Alpine retreat

Chateau de Lavigny International Writers’ Residence

Funny Northern women step to it

The Caroline Aherne Bursary for Funny Northern Women

Bigger prize pot for Bates

The 2017 HE Bates Short Story Competition is open for

Playwriting opportunity

Writers Avenue Theatre Company’s First 20 Minutes Competition

UK MAGAZINE MARKET Ride on time

Your Horse magazine delivers a wide range of practical

FLASHES

Smallholding magazine, previously Practical Sheep,

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Virginia Quarterly Review

Hoot hoot

Owl Hollow Press is a US indie that works hard on author

Single women join Tribe

Tribe is a Canadian print anthology, published by LP

UK FICTION MARKET

Luminous litfi c

Blogazine contributions wanted

A new Galway based monthly blogazine, Dodging The Rain

It’s a Funny Old World

Under the heading ‘That’s shallot’, a comment piece

FLASHES

Fine Woodworking magazine editor Tom McKenna welcomes

GLOBAL FICTION MARKET

Sit up for Fireside

A new Scrabble high score enters OED

The Oxford English Dictionary has declared post-truth

Authors pull together in Grenfell fundraiser

An online auction launched the week after Grenfell

Mentorship for East Midlands writers

The annual Writing East Midlands Mentoring Scheme aims

GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET

Walk on the wild side to a safe haven

Spread the Spread the Word word

Spread the Word London Short Story Prize is open to

Felicia offers a hand up

Curtis Brown author Felicia Yap is funding a new writing

FLASHES

Andy Calton is the editor of Motorcycle News and will

ONLINE MARKET

Go East

Use your imagination

You are invited to let your imagination take fright

One in four offers £10,000

Write a novel celebrating single parent families and

An opening for novelists

The prize is for the first 10,000 words including synopsis

UK BOOK MARKET

Be a winner with Ouen

And another thing…

‘I like short sentences. Really short sentences. Like

FLASHES

Sarasvati is a quarterly poetry and prose magazine

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Circling Rivers

The write idea for new writers

The East London Writeidea Prize 2017 is inviting entries

Head to a café for your story

The first annual Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction

Keep it short for Stroke Support

The Ruth Rendell Short Story Competition 2017 is open

INTRODUCTIONS

Writing Magazine presents a selection of poetry magazines currently accepting contributions.

Take your poetry to the forefront

If you are a poet and have not published more than

FLASHES

Labradors Forever is the magazine of the Labrador Rescue

UK FICTION MARKET

An original outlook

Prole Laureate is looming

The Prole Laureate Competition 2018, run by Prole Books

The one-act play’s the thing

Congleton Playwriting Competition is inviting entries

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

Stellar moves

Enter the Skald’s Circle

The Skald’s Circle publishes audio, usually myths and

Sign up for the Caravan

Cosmic Caravans is to be a science fiction anthology

Create a collection

Now in its third year, the SPM Publications Poetry

Earworm your way to Dakka

Dakka Press produces a monthly podcast, and proudly

FLASHES

Scottish Field monthly magazine concerns Scottish life

GLOBAL FICTION MARKET

Stories wanted from the African diaspora

Shorts for Southport

Southport Writers’ Circle has launched its SWC Annual

Speak out

The aim of the Poetry Society’s SLAMbassadors is to

Forecast inviting

The Overcast is a speculative fiction podcast which

INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE

Flash Bang Mysteries is a quarterly zine publishing

FLASHES

Rhythm magazine for drummers and percussionists is

GLOBAL SMALL PRESS MARKET

Buy that for a dollar

Small wonders

Randall Brown, founder and managing editor of The Journal

UK COMEDY MARKET

Get creative for Comic Cuts

New children’s book prize

The Eugenie Summerfield Book Prize is a new prize for

A quick awakening for Buxton

There’s still time to enter Buxton Poetry Prize, which

A route of ideas

Patrick Forsyth considers how a bit of selfanalysis can direct you forward.

FLASHES

A new New Zealand quarterly, Black Dandy publishes

GLOBAL SMALL PRESS MARKET

Red Bird call

Book Talk

In the old days talented young graduates wanting to

Read with Peppa

As part of the promotion for the Sainsbury’s Children’s

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

Metal Hammer of the gods

Big winners

The winner of the Man Booker International Prize is