Breathe

Walking the writer’s path: Plot patterns

IDEAS TO HELP POLISH YOUR WRITING

1. Patterns in sounds and rhythms For many

How to write about friendship

Author Helen Paris looks at the friendship dynamics between the two lead characters in her new novel, with advice for writers who want to create their own fictional friend pairings

Novel Ideas Write space

What sort of writing space suits you? Lynne Hackles helps you decide

WELCOME

Tina Jackson Content Editor As writers, we quite

DISCOVERING OUR STORIES

Do you write memoir, or personal essays? Yasmin Azad, author of the memoir Stay, Daughter, offers ways for you to get to the heart of what your personal story is all about

Past in to present

How much do you need to immerse yourself in the past to write about it in the present? Novelist Jane Johnson looks at the process of writing and researching historical fiction

Face your fear

Rachel Knightley looks at ways to turn fear of the blank page into inspiration and make a start on writing something new

AVA GLASS

The author of espionage thrillers tells Lynne Hackles about plotting, concealed identities and machine-gun spurts of writing

SHELF LIFE

MAZ EVANS

MICHAEL ARDITTI

The award-winning author talks to Margaret James about portraying faith in his novels, and writing from a position that allows the imagination to soar

SONG SUNG TRUE

Mike Gayle has been writing unputdownable novels for 25 years. He talks to Tina Jackson about the his music-themed new novel, pop music and popular fiction and refusing to be put in a pigeonhole

WRITERS’ WRONGS: Your writing workshopped

James McCreet plays agony uncle to a WM reader who needs guidance on plotting their novel

Gareth Rubin

Turning the gothic genre on its head in his tete-beche novel The Turnglass meant the author needed to create parallel introductions

End in sight

Nothing spoils a good book more than a bad ending. Give your readers satifying closure at the end of your fiction with advice from Margaret James ut then he/she/they woke up and found it was all a dream

Five quick questions 5 with Cate Green

When and where did your journey as an

ALL THE FEELS

You can make your picture book memorable by concentrating on emotional connection, advises Amy Sparkes

IN CHARACTER

Helen Walters explores the roles different types of characters might play in your short stories, with an example from Guy de Maupassant

Dirty Bertie

Alison Chisholm is tickled by a cautionary tale about the perils of profanity written in response to WM’s recent article on using expletives in your writing

BERTIE SHAKESPEARE who sold his soul and suffered a terrible fate for all eternity.

Young Bertie Shakespeare struggled hard to match the

SCHOOL’S IN FOR SUMMER

Looking to enhance your skills with a summer course? Alex Davis looks at some of the best options for SF, fantasy and horror writers

Quality of writing life

Completing the foundation of what it means to be a writer, author and tutor Ian Ayris considers the qualities that writers should look at developing

JOSEPH ZIGMOND

The new author says that working in publishing as an editor didn’t mean it was easy when it came to writing his first novel

The world of writing

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

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: YOUR WRITING MAKING A START

POETRY Home Sweet Home By Julie Shackman Graceful

BACKSEAT WRITER

Don’t have a breakdown in these exercises related to the benefits of being car-free from Jenny Alexander

GET THE write idea

Think about persona and voice in these creative writing exercises to try right now

Creative connections

Explore the potential of discovering connections in these writing group exercises from Julie Phillips

A Rocking Stone, a Water Horse and a Gyrfalcon

There is a room in your house you

School Zoo

I love reading and writing but need to

Take a LEAP?

Too much writing on her plate? Is it time to jump without a safety net? It depends on how you define ‘safety net’, says Gillian Harvey

Subscribers’ news

SHARE YOUR SUCCESS To feature in subscribers’ news

PUZZLING IT OUT

At Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in 2016 a

DECADES OF CREATIVITY

I have been writing poetry since 1989, when

ADDICTED TO WRITING

I’ve been a writer for many years and

THE PATH OF WORDS

Born in Dublin, there has been a constant

Capture your ideas

Simon Whaley explores the tricky art of keeping track of ideas and chats to one writer to find out how they do it

Shades of grey

Grey literature sounds more boring than it is. Investigating it can add layers of fascination to your research, says Tarja Moles

Behind the tape

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

Cover letter: the nuts and bolts

Make your submission letters stand out with advice from Cornerstone’s editorial director Monica Chakraverty

GET PUBLISHED

Get your social media stitched up

COPYCAT CHAT

From the OTHE SIDE OF THE DESK

ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSIONS

PDR Lindsay-Salmon

A gothic winter

Although winter may not be with us just

AUDIO SUBMISSIONS

Tales to Terrify

CHILDRENS SUBMISSIONS

Enthral children with your book

The New Media Writing Prize 2023-4

The prize for digital storytelling is inviting entries

LITMAG SUBMISSIONS

A fertile furrow or writers Ploughshares is one

SHORT FICTION SUBMISSIONS

Intelligent techrotica

Local and international

Toronto Journal is a journal in print and

NON-FICTION SUBMISSIONS

Deep dive into the arts for FT By

INDUSTRY NEWS

Copperhead triumph The 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction

The Oxford Poetry Prize 2023

Win a £1,000 first prize in the competition

The National Poetry Competition 2023

The annual National Poetry Competition from The Poetry

Frosted Fire Single Poem Competition 2023

Win a first prize of £350 in the

Prompting ideas

Don’t be afraid to suggest ideas to others, says Patrick Forsyth

International Flash Fiction Competition

Spain’s César Egido Serrano Foundation has launched its

The Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2023

Win a £1,000 first prize in the contest

The Anthology Travel Writing Award 2023

Win a €500 prize for non-fiction travel articles.

The Moth Nature Writing Prize 2023

The competition is for writing that explores the

New Voices First Novel Competition 2023

Win a mentoring package in the annual contest

Bath Children’s Novel Award 2023

The international £3,000 annual prize is for unpublished

POETRY AND SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS

SaveAs Writers International Writing Competition 2023 This year’s

Green Stories Short Story Competition 2023

The latest contest from the Green Stories Project

The Scribble Annual Short Story Competition 2023

Win prizes for stories that follow on from

Stateside playwriting opportunity

Having eliminated submission fees the Indiana USA based

Got a good story for the stage?

Playwrights and also comedians and rap artists or

Looking for theatre script support?

London’s King’s Head Theatre’s Readers’ Room has a

Showcase your work with the BBC

The BBC’s Upload team enable you to get

Trans international

TransLash Media is a U.S-based but globally recognized

Write about food and beverages

Magic at the Margins is an ad-free subscription

A little something extra

Thinking outside the box can pay dividends, says Patrick Forsyth

SUBMISSIONS: INDIE MAGS AND WEBSITES

FRIGG: A MAGAZINE OF FICTION AND POETRY Frigg:

Deep dive into the arts for FT

Baya Simons, Acting Commissioning Editor for arts at

Small press, big issue

Showing that small, even micro publishers can still

SMALL PRESS SUBMISSIONS

Delphinium Books Delphinium Books has an editorial team

Cold-blooded curiosity

Writers interested in the development of the journalistic

S0A awards 2023 winners

The Society for Authors presented its awards at