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I’ve had the privilege of being listed in competitions, being one of a selection of winners for a competition, and have since gone on to judge short story and flash fiction competitions.
The joy of a reputable writing competition is, if you win or are listed, you have something invaluable to add to your writing CV. They can be great ways to build up that CV. It shows an agent or publisher someone else decided your work was publication worthy. It can also show a commitment to your writing.
Even if you’re not listed or win, the experience isn’t wasted, far from it. You’ve had to write to a deadline to ensure your story was in by the correct time. You almost certainly would have had to have written your tale to a certain word count or range. The common one for magazines is 1500 to 2000 words though, especially for flash, I’ve come across competitions which ask for specific counts such as 100 words excluding the title.
There’s also nothing to stop you having another look at your story, making any improvements needed, and then submitting it to somewhere else. I have had work published this way though it did nothing in the competition where I entered it.
So I thought a post on tips I’ve found useful as a writer and which I would also recommend with my judge’s hat on would be useful.
Competition Tips – The Basics
I know it sounds silly to mention what follows but I’ve seen competition entries where the authors have not done the following. You do have to give yourself the best possible chance when you submit anything, competition or not, and there are certain things you can do which will eliminate your entry being eliminated for what I would call daft reasons.
Follow the Rules to the Letter
If they want Arial 12 point, that’s what you give them. Absolutely never use any kind of fancy font, especially Comic Sans. All it does is irritate! If there are thirty manuscripts all submitted correctly, the judge must focus on the contents of each one. That’s what you want them to focus on too. A fancy font will make you stand out but it won’t do you any favours. Everyone else fitted in for one thing!
Also bear in mind for some competitions, your work can end up in an anthology so getting the formatting right when you submit your story matters for this aspect too. It also doesn’t look good if you ignore the rules. It will make you stand out as potentially being someone difficult to work with and that won’t help your writing. It is also unfair to accept your work written in a different format, say, when everyone else fitted in with what was required.
Follow the Word Count exactly and double check it
Bear in mind Word etc will count hyphenated words as one word. Some competitions will count them as two (and especially if the word isn’t supposed to be hyphenated). For flash fiction and short stories, I double check the word count. I sometimes carry out a manual count. As a general rule, unless the competition says you have to write to a specific word count (which you would have checked, of course!), it is okay to come in under the maximum count allowed. It is never okay to go over it.
Online Competition Forms
Many competition ask for entries to be submitted via a form (Duotrope and Submittable are common here). Do make sure you fill in the form properly. Not everyone does. Often that will prevent you sending something in but there may be older forms out there which won’t do that. So double check.
Getting The Submission Details Right
Some competitions will ask you to put a header and footer in your document. They usually tell you what they want to see in there – usually name, title of story for the header and page number for the footer. Some competitions just want the title in the header and no author name. The latter will nearly always want you to provide a cover sheet where you state your name and contact details or there is something on their online form where you can do that. But again follow what they say.
Competition Websites and FAQs
Many competitions are linked to a website (where you can check out the background and history of the competition to make sure you are happy to go with this). Often they will have FAQs on there. These are always worth a read through before you send anything in and can save you time.
Competition Tips – Useful Things To Bear In Mind
I’ve found the following tips pay off.
Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff but DO note what you have to do!
I always note the deadline for a competition, rules of entry, and word count ahead of writing my story. I like to write my first draft, rest it for a while (I’m writing something else in the meantime), and then have another look at my tale to spot errors etc. I correct those and rest it again.
My final edit goes through the tale for anything I may still have missed (it happens to everyone) and then I submit it. This means I need to take off at least a week from any official deadline. I make that date my deadline for getting the story in so I can then work out when I need to have the first draft done by, the first edit done by etc.
That week off the official deadline gives me a chance to sort out anything I still may have missed. If all is well, and it usually is (the thorough checking is done earlier), then I submit the story. But occasionally I will pick up on something I’ve missed that somehow survived the editing and this gives me a final chance to get rid of that before submission.
Set Themes
When there is a set theme I jot down thoughts which emerge from it. The first few will be “obvious” ones. Nothing wrong with those. Just make sure your characters stand out to make the most of those ideas. But if you can keep jotting down thoughts, other less obvious ideas will occur. And that is where you may well find the idea to write up which fits the theme but which will stand out precisely because it isn’t the obvious take on the topic.
Knowing What You Have Sent Where
Keep a note of what you have sent where. Even if there is absolutely nothing wrong with your story and/or submission, someone has to win. It isn’t always you. Nothing to stop you looking at that story again and sending it out somewhere else suitable. I’ve had work published this way.
Assume No Win unless told otherwise
With most competitions, there isn’t the time or manpower to notify all entrants of how well or otherwise they have done. Work on the assumption if you have not heard within a couple of months of the closing date, your story hasn’t won. They will always let you know if you have! (You are usually notified if you are short or long listed too).
Conclusion
Reputable writing competitions can be a way into being published for writers. They’re a good discipline to practice and there is a wide range of competitions available. I use Writers Online (Writing Magazine’s online “arm”) for their competitions, some of which are open to non-subscribers too. I also use their competitions guide. Another advantage of networking with other writers, even if it is just online, is they will flag up competitions for you too!
Getting used to meeting submission requirements is no bad thing either.
Best of all, if you get good news, you’ll have something to share on your website, social media platforms etc. I know I love it when I hear of writers I know doing well here. It cheers me up no end and sometimes I will make a note of the competitions they’ve done well in, possibly thinking to have a crack at these myself at a later date.
Writing shorter pieces for competition could also come as a “light break” in between writing longer works as well. Given novels do take a long time to bring out, having shorter works published (including via competitions) can be a much needed morale boost when you know your book isn’t due out for ages.
Above all, competitions are fun to just have a go at. Why not try?
Thank you for sharing tips on writing competitions, Allison. it’s a hugely helpful article. xx
Many thanks, Madalyn.