SET YOUR SCENE

In the first of a new three-part series on everything you need to make your short stories stand out, prizewinning author and short fiction specialist Alice Jolly explores setting up your story

WRITING SEX SCENES: MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

CONTENT WARNING Includes explicit material Martin Amis has

Breaking the silence

Debut novelist Margaret Mayer describes the challenges of writing the non-verbal protagonist of her novel set in a particularly vicious episode of the 17th-century witch craze that silenced its mainly female victims

WELCOME

It’s a tried and tested maxim that writers

Focus on feelings

How do you write about love? Follow your heart – and read this exclusive advice for WM readers from the great romance writer Jojo Moyes

Variety is the spice of life

Author and workshop leader Rosanna Ley offers ten sure-fire ways to create a sense of variation in your writing to keep readers invested all the way from start to finish

PASCAL ENGMAN

The journalist turned bestselling crime writer tells Lynne Hackles about preferring a structured day and how he’s hardwired as a planner

Family matters

Bestselling novelist Harriet Evans has made her name writing immersive family dramas. She tells Tina Jackson about houses, secrets and family dynamics.

SHELF LIFE

As his memoir Sufferah is published, telling the

JOANNA WALLACE

As her serial killer thriller is published, the debut novelist describes how her writing got darker... and funnier... as she grieved her father’s devastating illness

Your writing critiqued

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

A writer’s companion

Keeping track of your creative life will provide a framework to enable you and your writing to progress, advises Ian Ayris

The BONES of a story

Bestselling author of psychological thrillers Rachel Abbott describes the opening set-up of her tense new novel, and the significance of its seaside setting

Behind the cover

You write your book, but how much editorial input will you rely on to make sure it’s as good as it can be? Margaret James looks at some of the options.

Five quick 5 questions

1. When and where did your journey as

Seasonal affect

Using a short fiction example where the seasonal setting is an integral part of the tragic outcome, Helen Walters looks at using seasons in your short stories

A hopeful outlook

A poem where childhood joie de vivre soothes adult fears charms Alison Chisholm

Rain of terror

Alex Davis looks at using the weather to add extra elements of chill and creep in your horror fiction

AN APPLE A DAY

Bramley, Knobby Russet, Discovery, Blenheim Orange, Kingston Black,

Novel Ideas

Tinkering about

Subscribers’ news

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

Fake filter

Get your writing group differentiating between fact and fiction in these exercises from Julie Phillips

IN THE SPOT LIGHT: YOUR WRITING SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES

POETRY Borrowed Shoes By Patricia Minson In someone

The world of writing

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

IN IT TO WIN IT!

With the Writing Magazine Children’s Book Prize now open for entries, Amy Sparkes looks at how you can make your chapter book stand out

Three times rhyme

Alison Chisholm introduces WM’s latest poetry competition, for poems in the terza rima form

Wonderful things

Alison Chisholm excavates the poems entered for WM’s Tutankhamun Poetry Competition and finds treasure in the winning entries

THE METHOD

VILLAIN SHORT STORY WINNER

STILL TIME TO ENTER

OPEN: BLUE Interpret the ‘blue’ theme in writing

Can’t quite take the plunge

With a new novel needing to be written, Gillian Harvey is procrastinating rather than getting stuck in

Poetry in performance

Could performance boost your poetry business? Simon Whaley chats to three poets who regularly take to the stage.

Education

Learn how to research aspects of education for your writing with advice from Tarja Moles

Behind the tape

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

Lisa Highton

Simon Whaley chats to Lisa Highton of Edinburgh-based Jenny Brown Associates

CUT THE FLANNEL

From the OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK

The final push

Approaching completion of a manuscript? Get ready for the final, vital edits with advice from Cornerstones’ editorial director Monica Chakraverty

GET PUBLISHED

You’ve read the advice – now get into

SCRIPT OPPORTUNITIES

The Titchfield Festival Theatre New Play Competition The

NON-FICTION SUBMISSIONS

Building bricks by Jenny Roche Non-fiction essays, reviews,

FICTION SUBMISSIONS

Canelo breaks into horror By Gary Dalkin

SMALL PRESS SUBMISSIONS

Sparkling Books Sparkling Books are a member of

Less is more difficult *

Keeping your workcount down is a vital skill says

POETRY COMPETITIONS

The Prose Poem Competition 2023 The inaugural contest

GENERAL NEWS

Booker’s dozen The longlist for the Booker Prize

INDIE MAGS AND WEBSITES

Current Current is an online journal of commentary

GENERAL NEWS

A positive presence With shops closing across the

SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS

The Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize 2023/24

SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS

F(r)iction Autumn 2023 Contests US literary journal F(r)iction

POETRY COMPETITION

The East Riding Festival of Words Poetry Competition

GENERAL NEWS

WELSH WINNERS Drift by Caryl Lewis has been named

Turbulent times

People’s fears can provide writing opportunities. Patrick Forsyth investigates.

NOVEL COMPETITIONS

Tiny ghost, big deal By Jenny Roche Independent

ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSIONS

Hungry Shadow Press: ‘Little Bastards’ Editors Alexis DuBon