By Jane Ayres
You’ve posted off
the final draft of your short story to yet another writing competition, paying
attention to all the ingredients you know judges look for - like structure,
plot, pacing, characterisation, dialogue, and language. But how important is your choice of
subject? Will it engage your readers -
or alienate them? What themes do you
intend to explore in your story? And what part does subjectivity play in the
decision-making process? After all,
writing competition judges are human beings, aren’t they?
Short story
competitions are a great opportunity to develop your writing portfolio, improve
your discipline in working to deadlines – and maybe even win a prize. But is it really down to luck? Or can you do anything to maximise your
chances of success?
There are hundreds
of competitions to choose from, and whether or not they specify themes and
topics, or appear to provide an open-ended brief, when it comes to wining short
story competitions, subject really matters.
Some competitions are extremely helpful when it comes to guidelines on
the genres they will consider, and give clear and specific guidelines, and useful
advice. Others vary.
Whether or not you
agree with the exclusion of particular categories is irrelevant. If you want to succeed in competitions, the
guidelines are there for your benefit, so read, absorb and inwardly digest
before you start to write.
Judges sometimes
complain about repeatedly seeing tired, over-used story lines. For instance,
the main character turns out to be a ghost or the narrator is really a dog. Maybe the down-trodden wife leaves her
boring/cheating husband or an evil murderer finally gets his come-uppance. On the whole, death in various forms is a
popular subject so the occasional humorous tale can make a refreshing change.
If you want to
submit a horror story then consider the monthly Dark Tales writing competitions (http://darktales.co.uk/contest.php). Keen to produce a heart-warming romance? Try the Cremona
Romance Short Story Competition from The Cremona hotel in Bournemouth, for romantic
stories with a seaside setting. (http://cremona.co.uk/index.php?page=competition)
(Don’t get your
entries mixed up for these two!)
The Mona Schreiber Prize wants humorous
fiction and non-fiction. “Comic essays, poetry, short stories, scripts and
humorous shopping lists are all acceptable.” (http://www.brashcyber.com/mona.htm)
The James White Award for science
fiction stories gives very specific advice on choosing your subject. http://www.jameswhiteaward.com/advice
The Tom-Gallon Trust Award advises, “The
submitted story should be traditional, rather than experimental, in character.” (http://www.societyofauthors.org/tom-gallon-trust-and-olive-cook-award
). The advantage of all these guidelines is that you are given clues and
signposting about what is likely to be acceptable.
The Annual New Writer Annual Prose and Poetry Prizes (http://www.thenewwriter.com/prose-and-poetry-prize/
) want fiction on any subject or theme, in any genre (except children’s) and
are looking for “bold, incisive material in any genre providing it reflects
today’s writing.” But “today’s
writing” encompasses a huge arena - are we talking Lee Child, Dorothy Koomson
or JK Rowling? All of these writers have
different, unique voices and all represent current fiction. Don’t they?
Which leads to the issue of subjectivity.
The part that
subjectivity plays in judging writing competitions is often overlooked and
rarely acknowledged. Even where the
accepted genres are stated, writing about certain subjects will not do you any
favours. Some subjects are perhaps
generally accepted as taboos, for instance stories that incite racial hatred or
describe gratuitous acts of sadistic violence, but in addition judges will have
their own particular dislikes, subjects they find revolting or distasteful, or
situations that strike a very personal chord.
It’s part and parcel of being human.
So if you write a story glamorising a burglar and the person judging has
just had their house ransacked, your theme may not be well received. You should also bear in mind that some
competitions produce anthologies of shortlisted work to go on sale to the
general public. Understandably, they
will not wish to offend or alienate sections of the community.
Stories are often
penalised for being unrealistic. Again,
this can be subjective. I have known of
stories criticised on this basis when they were based on actual events, on
situations that the writer may have actually experienced or witnessed. What is unbelievable to one reader may be
perfectly acceptable to another, depending on their own life experience and
attitudes, which is, after all, what shapes our personalities, outlooks and
values. For this reason, you may find that a story doesn’t make the shortlist
for one competition but wins a prize in another. Speaking from personal experience, a previous
story, rejected by an editor who “hated the characters”, went on to win first
prize in a national short story competition.
(Moral - if you believe in yourself, keep at it!)
Of course, what
judges look for above all is a well written story with that extra something,
that mysterious, elusive quality that makes it stand out from the rest. What, nowadays, is referred to as “the wow
factor.”
So if you want to
succeed in short story competitions, read the rules, do your research, and acknowledge
the role that subjectivity plays in the decision making process. Use common sense about the choice and
treatment of your subject. Outside the
competition arena, the rules may, or may not, differ. But that’s another story…
About the author:
Amazon author
page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Ayres/e/B004MWCTD8/
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