Please remember that you can still send postal entries on the 31st August. So long as they are postmarked on this day, they will be accepted.
For more information visit http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/competition
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Saturday, 14 August 2010
National Short Story Week
Call for Short Stories - in support of National Short Story Week
Organised by Writers Abroad
National Short Story Week (www.nationalshortstory.org) will take place during the week 22nd -28th November. In support of the event, Writers Abroad will be publishing an anthology of short stories. Writers Abroad (www.writersabroad.spruz.com) is a vibrant online community for Expat writers and this has influenced the theme of the anthology.
Title: ‘Writers Abroad’
Theme: Short Stories on any aspect of Expat Life, the pains and the pleasure.
Contributions: From Expat writers (either currently an Expat or previously an Expat)
Word Count: Anything up to 2,500 words. Submissions can be flash fiction i.e up to 500 words or short stories up to 2,500. Word count does not include the title.
Submission and Entry Rules:
● All stories must be previously unpublished
● Submissions should be received by midnight Friday 15th October 2010
● Submissions must be in English
● References to porn or racism will not be accepted
● Manuscripts must be submitted in either Word or RTF format (No DOCX or other format will be accepted).
● The approximate word count should be inserted at the end of the story
● Author name and story title should be placed in the left header of the document and page numbers in the right footer
● Manuscripts should be presented with double spacing and Times New Roman Font.
● Submissions are by email only to expatwritersabroad@gmail.com - in the subject line please quote ‘Writers Abroad submission’ and provide your contact details and story title in the body of the email
● Entries are free, only one entry per author plus a short bio of 30 words
● Successful authors will be informed within two weeks of the closing date
● It will not be possible to provide feedback on stories but successful stories will be edited and authors may be required to undertake minor changes for publication purposes
Copyright will remain with the author and the stories will be published in an anthology in a number of formats.
Organised by Writers Abroad
National Short Story Week (www.nationalshortstory.org) will take place during the week 22nd -28th November. In support of the event, Writers Abroad will be publishing an anthology of short stories. Writers Abroad (www.writersabroad.spruz.com) is a vibrant online community for Expat writers and this has influenced the theme of the anthology.
Title: ‘Writers Abroad’
Theme: Short Stories on any aspect of Expat Life, the pains and the pleasure.
Contributions: From Expat writers (either currently an Expat or previously an Expat)
Word Count: Anything up to 2,500 words. Submissions can be flash fiction i.e up to 500 words or short stories up to 2,500. Word count does not include the title.
Submission and Entry Rules:
● All stories must be previously unpublished
● Submissions should be received by midnight Friday 15th October 2010
● Submissions must be in English
● References to porn or racism will not be accepted
● Manuscripts must be submitted in either Word or RTF format (No DOCX or other format will be accepted).
● The approximate word count should be inserted at the end of the story
● Author name and story title should be placed in the left header of the document and page numbers in the right footer
● Manuscripts should be presented with double spacing and Times New Roman Font.
● Submissions are by email only to expatwritersabroad@gmail.com - in the subject line please quote ‘Writers Abroad submission’ and provide your contact details and story title in the body of the email
● Entries are free, only one entry per author plus a short bio of 30 words
● Successful authors will be informed within two weeks of the closing date
● It will not be possible to provide feedback on stories but successful stories will be edited and authors may be required to undertake minor changes for publication purposes
Copyright will remain with the author and the stories will be published in an anthology in a number of formats.
Friday, 6 August 2010
Staff Team Expansion
On behalf of everyone at WWJ, huge congratulations go out to out Editor/Publisher/Owner/Dark Overlord/All Round Whizz-Kid Jane and her husband Ian on the safe, if a little earlier than expected, arrival of twin boys William and Alexander.
It demonstrates the boss's legendary professionalism that she managed to beat her deadline by over two weeks and still produced two truly epic works of genius (take note, contributors!).
Jane is obviously going to be a wee bit busy for the time being, so if any queries or submissions for WWJ could be cc'd to me on danny@wordswithjam.co.uk it would be appreciated.
Good luck and God help you, boss!
Danny
It demonstrates the boss's legendary professionalism that she managed to beat her deadline by over two weeks and still produced two truly epic works of genius (take note, contributors!).
Jane is obviously going to be a wee bit busy for the time being, so if any queries or submissions for WWJ could be cc'd to me on danny@wordswithjam.co.uk it would be appreciated.
Good luck and God help you, boss!
Danny
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Inspiration Techniques, by Adam Bailey ...
The muse is a wandering lion whose noble roar is mostly heard in that moment before sleep. Which is all well and good for civilians who don't mind drifting off before their mind wakes up in full glorious technicolour, but writers don’t get that luxury. Writers spend their nights writing. Somehow trying to harness the dream and its strength to get inside humanity's head and reveal its secrets, fears, rages, and Charlize Theron needing help with her bikini, again.
Easier said than done. Because unless you're Stephen King and galloped enough coke in your twenties to ride on bareback well into your sunset years banging out a new book every other season, writing usually means just staring at the computer with total brain freeze. Mumbling about lions.
Somehow, then, what writers must do is track down that bastard lion muse thing, shoot a tranq dart in its arse, ship it home in a cage, and under the rule of the whip have it performing circus tricks within the week. Cue big top applause. Writers call this Artificial Inspiration.
Easier said than done. Because unless you're Stephen King and galloped enough coke in your twenties to ride on bareback well into your sunset years banging out a new book every other season, writing usually means just staring at the computer with total brain freeze. Mumbling about lions.
Somehow, then, what writers must do is track down that bastard lion muse thing, shoot a tranq dart in its arse, ship it home in a cage, and under the rule of the whip have it performing circus tricks within the week. Cue big top applause. Writers call this Artificial Inspiration.
Adam will be discussing the various techniques in the August issue of WWJ!
Monday, 19 July 2010
Dogs Can't Look Up
re·search
[ri-surch, ree-surch]
–noun
1. diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.
Having been asked to do an article on ‘research’ I did what all self-respecting writers do these days and plugged the word into an online dictionary, hence the above. There were a few other definitions but I couldn’t be bothered cutting and pasting them. They were verbs or something.
I’ve managed to write two novels and about a dozen short stories without doing any research whatsoever. I’ve had the advantage of only ever writing about Glaswegian idiots though so much of the required knowledge was already built in. Now and then I’ve needed to check the odd bit of geography but Google maps has always sorted that out easily enough. To be honest, the first thought to enter my brain when the ED asked me to write this article about research was - shit, she’s not done her research ...
[ri-surch, ree-surch]
–noun
1. diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.
Having been asked to do an article on ‘research’ I did what all self-respecting writers do these days and plugged the word into an online dictionary, hence the above. There were a few other definitions but I couldn’t be bothered cutting and pasting them. They were verbs or something.
I’ve managed to write two novels and about a dozen short stories without doing any research whatsoever. I’ve had the advantage of only ever writing about Glaswegian idiots though so much of the required knowledge was already built in. Now and then I’ve needed to check the odd bit of geography but Google maps has always sorted that out easily enough. To be honest, the first thought to enter my brain when the ED asked me to write this article about research was - shit, she’s not done her research ...
Read the full article by Danny Gillan in the August issue of Words with JAM ... OUT SOON!
Saturday, 17 July 2010
What Not to Tweet by Dan Holloway
Diving into the Hash Party Scene
So now you’ve spent almost 2 months tweeting away, meeting new people and exploring the twitterverse. Almost certainly you’ve already discovered most of what I want to say this time, but I’ll say it anyway. I want to have a look in more detail than I did last time at some of the parts of twitter that I’ve found particularly helpful for me. Not necessarily in terms of sales, or downloads. That’s not really what twitter is about for me. Rather, these are the places where I’ve met some amazing people, many of whom I’ve gone on to learn huge amounts from in the blogosphere, lots of whom are now friends on Facebook, and a fair few of whom I’ve gone on to meet more than once in the “real world” and form friendships with. In the next issue of Words with JAM, I also want to take a look at what an incredible source of raw information twitter can be for the writer.
So now you’ve spent almost 2 months tweeting away, meeting new people and exploring the twitterverse. Almost certainly you’ve already discovered most of what I want to say this time, but I’ll say it anyway. I want to have a look in more detail than I did last time at some of the parts of twitter that I’ve found particularly helpful for me. Not necessarily in terms of sales, or downloads. That’s not really what twitter is about for me. Rather, these are the places where I’ve met some amazing people, many of whom I’ve gone on to learn huge amounts from in the blogosphere, lots of whom are now friends on Facebook, and a fair few of whom I’ve gone on to meet more than once in the “real world” and form friendships with. In the next issue of Words with JAM, I also want to take a look at what an incredible source of raw information twitter can be for the writer.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Human Libraries - Learning not to judge a book by its cover ...
Having looked last time at e-books, my attention this month was caught by another very different sort of book – the Living Book, and its home, the Human Library.
I first heard about Human Libraries via a programme on BBC Radio 4 . As I learnt, ‘the Human Library works exactly like a normal library – readers come and borrow a 'book' for a limited period of time. After reading it they return the Book to the library and – if they want – they can borrow another Book. There is only one difference: the Books in the Human Library are human beings, and the Books and Readers enter into a personal dialogue.’
I have to admit, being a writer, my first thought when I heard about this was ‘what a fantastic research opportunity’. Supposing you have a character who is a gang member, a homeless person, a woman vicar. What better than to sit down with someone who has been in their shoes, with full permission to ask them whatever questions you like? Okay, maybe you wouldn’t learn enough in half an hour’s conversation to flesh out a main character, but it could be perfect to ensure a minor character is more than just a flat stereotype. But was this in the spirit of the Human Library, or would I be taking advantage? I had to find out more.
I first heard about Human Libraries via a programme on BBC Radio 4 . As I learnt, ‘the Human Library works exactly like a normal library – readers come and borrow a 'book' for a limited period of time. After reading it they return the Book to the library and – if they want – they can borrow another Book. There is only one difference: the Books in the Human Library are human beings, and the Books and Readers enter into a personal dialogue.’
I have to admit, being a writer, my first thought when I heard about this was ‘what a fantastic research opportunity’. Supposing you have a character who is a gang member, a homeless person, a woman vicar. What better than to sit down with someone who has been in their shoes, with full permission to ask them whatever questions you like? Okay, maybe you wouldn’t learn enough in half an hour’s conversation to flesh out a main character, but it could be perfect to ensure a minor character is more than just a flat stereotype. But was this in the spirit of the Human Library, or would I be taking advantage? I had to find out more.
Full article by Catriona Troth in the August Issue of Words with JAM ... OUT SOON!
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