- A story writing masterclass
- The 11 fundamentals of short story writing
- 8 inside tips from the short story masters
- 6 easy short story structures that work
- 4 easy ways to build great stories quickly
- 9 great ways to begin your stories
- 6 great ways to end your stories
- 54 great ways to find all the ideas you'll ever need
- 10 secrets that will help you get published
- 11 types of market for your stories
- Inside secrets of winning writing competitions
- Plus 109 great storylines you can use or adapt
as you wish
- And much more - far too many great ideas
to list here!
Sample idea: Competitions
Competitions are a great way to get your short story published.
The bigger competitions have substantial prizes and attract interest
from publishers and agents. So here are some ideas on how to
win short story competitions.
- Be original, or even a little
daring - you aren't restricted to the cosy tales that
many magazines insist on.
- If you're given a
theme, avoid the obvious - the judges will be sick of
reading the same story over and over again and will look for
something that stands out.
- Include
plenty of dialogue - many entries have little or no dialogue,
and the judges hate that.
- Double-check the rules and ensure that
your story is well-edited
and professionally presented - up to a third of the entrants
will be eliminated because of this.
- Include memorable characters
and give them plenty
of emotional depth.
- Show off your writing skills
and be more
literary than you normally
would.
- Demonstrate a sense of humour, even in dark stories.
Any competition win will boost your morale and look good
on your CV or résumé, so you might like to
try entering smaller ones with lower prize money as well
as the
big ones.
The smaller competitions attract fewer entries so you'll
have a much better chance of winning. There are always plenty
of
competitions going on, and you'd be hard pushed to enter
all of them, though
it would be very worthwhile. And if you don't win, you're
free
to submit your story to magazines too - a built-in second chance!
Alternative product:
You might prefer the complete Volume
2 (General Fiction)
Includes: Fiction, Novels, Plays, Screenplays,
Short Stories, Storylines
1,100 very clever
ideas, 408 pages, £24.99
 
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