The vital ingredient for successful story-writing
I have spent recent days re-reading the stories which have won our monthly competitions since we launched at the end of last year, as well as those which received highly commendeds and commendeds. The reason is that, as I have mentioned before, we plan to start recording them in September so that visitors to the site can not only read the stories that have done so well, but also listen to them.
My job has been to compile the stories for the people who will read the stories. Going back over the tales has brought home the high quality of work that we have received - and it is not just the ones which were picked as winners by Fiona Cooper, our judge. I know, for a fact, that each month we have had plenty of other stories that presented a strong case for being selected. Fiona has had some difficult tasks whittling them down.
So what have I learned from my reading? Well, one thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as a bang-to-rights winner. Some winners have been traditional tales, others have been experimental, some have been straightforward, relying for their impact on the power of the story, others have depended on a novelty of writing, with the authors experimenting with different forms and leaving much unsaid.
But at the heart of each and every one of them has been a strong sense of lives lived. Each writer has told strong stories through beautifully-drawn characters whose thoughts, fears and emotions leap off the page and grab the attention. It is what made the stories special. It is what makes every story special.
There won’t be any blogs for a couple of weeks but Gary, in our office, will be answering any queries you send through via the site.
We hope to announce the July winners - there will be a really tough choice for Fiona because the standard was so high - at the end of August.
John Dean