Well, our June competition has closed - some cracking stories again, a challenge for Fiona to select the best, as usual.
July is open for entries and we have had our first story in already.
John Dean
It’s closing day for our latest (June) competition, and we will take entries until midnight tonight (GMT) so you still have time to get your stories in.
We have been delighted to see more entries coming in over the weekend, including from Bulgaria, increasing our growing number of nations being represented. We welcome you all.
It’s fascinating to see how different writers tackle the challenge of creating a short story. Some opt for the beginning, middle, end approach, a traditional and proven format which has served short story writers well down the decades.
Others go for deliberately confusing the reader, creating stories which are not clear at the start but which slowly reveal themselves. They may do it by concealing where the action takes place, or perhaps who the central
characters are. Or keeping back the salient piece of information the reader needs to make sense of everything. Done right, it can be a very effective approach which makes for intriguing stories, keeps you reading to the end and evokes a sense of surprise or shock at the end.
Some writers go for the flashback approach, beginning the story with an incident then working backwards to explain how we arrived at this moment. Knowing what happens at the end can make the events that unfold that little bit more poignant.
Whatever approach writers take, the key thing is to be disciplined. What characterises so many of the stories we receive is the ability of the writers to strip away from what is unimportant - or rather, what is unimportant when you only have 2,000 words to play with - and leave the reader with a story based on the true art of storytelling, what is truly relevant.
And that’s the key to good short story writing. I was once asked by an aspiring writer: ‘can you tell me how to write padding?’ Well, the simple answer was ‘no. Good writing, not just good short story writing, depends on the ability of the writers to hone in on what really matters. No padding in sight.
John Dean
We are absolutely delighted to announce that Bill Bryson, OBE, the Chancellor of Durham University and author of books including Notes from a Small Island, is supporting our competition.Like ourselves, Bill also believes that the desire to write spreads across the world. He says: “From as far back as I can remember, I have been blissfully enchanted by the art of storytelling. I once read that the skill of a great writer or storyteller is the ability to capture the reader and seduce them into accompanying you on your journey – a journey which so often is loaded with personal experiences, prejudices and imagination. This is a maxim that I have often thought of but at times found so difficult to fulfil.
“The demise of our traditional communities and the compromises of modern family life mean that for many the telling or re-telling of stories is a forgotten craft as the demand for multimedia experiences and the mind-numbing repackaging of tired tales continues to rise.
“It is wonderful therefore to hear that a competition has been developed to showcase new creative talent and in turn create a community of writers and story-makers across the globe.
“The Global Short Story Competition is founded on a love and enthusiasm for writing and short stories and it is a passion I share. I would like to express my admiration to everyone involved and wish you all luck in the competition.”
We are very grateful to Bill for allowing us to use his name to support our competition.
John Dean
Nice to see the stories coming in from all over the world yet again.
This time around, we have had stories from Spain, the United States, Canada, Ireland and Australia, in addition to a strong showing from the UK.
We will be closing the June competition (where is the year going?!) on Monday night, June 30, so you still have time to enter.
John Dean
One of our biggest friends here at the Global Short Story Competition is our judge Fiona Cooper so it is a real delight to be able to repay some of her support and enthusiasm with some of our own.Fiona’s first novel, Rotary Spokes, has just been reissued, almost two decades after it first appeared on the shelves.
Dealing with a hard-bitten, yet naïve, woman who repairs motorbikes in a no-hope American community, it is a fast-paced, funny, sharply-observed and quirky portrayal of her sexual awakening in small-town America.
It‘s a delight to read. Those who read Fiona’s comments when she announces our winners will find the book doubly fascinating because it portrays some of the favourite themes she returns to time and time again in her judges’ citations. Tight writing, acute observation, a deft sense of humour, an ability to tackle difficult subjects, they are all reflected in Rotary Spokes.
The book has had an interesting history. After it first appeared in 1989, it became a cult classic, being named on Julie Burchill’s alternative best of Young British Writers list and also having a bike shop named after it (few writers can make such a claim!)
On the strength of its success, Fiona moved from London to northern England to pursue a full-time writing career and seven books followed plus a large number of short stories and other works.
If you want to order the book, contact Empress Books on empressbooks@aol.com or send a cheque made out to F. Cooper to 16 The Gables Widdrington Station Northumberland NE 61 5QY, for £12.99, which includes UK postage.
Enjoy!
John Dean
The latest winners in the Global Short Story Competition have been named - and it is a one, two, three for the UK this time.
The winner of the May competition was Mike McBride, of Rosyth, in Fife, Scotland, who is awarded £100. Judge, the writer Fiona Cooper, said: “The story Friendly Fire is an original take on a sadly relevant story of our time. It is very well crafted and paced, and the language and emotions are sustained through out. Thought provoking and very moving, visual and deep.”
Second-placed, and winning £25, is Sarah England, from Shaftesbury, in Dorset, with She wanted to complain. Fiona said: “A total riot, very funny fast and quirky - I look forward to more of this writer’s output : the craziness of the main character is engaging and utterly believable. One of the very few stories involving murder that has ever been placed in this competition - it’s like a zany comedy and I could imagine someone like Patricia Hayes playing the part in a TV adaptation.“
Restless Apple Jackson, by Lee Williams, of the Isle of Wight, was the story which was third, earning a commended place.Fiona said: “This surreal and grounded story had my attention from the start. Economy of style carries the reader into the situation and from then on, the weirdest happenings become completely acceptable. Well done.”
The June competition is still open for entries.
Those of you waiting with baited breath for the results of our May competition will be interested to know that we will announce them early next week.
As usual, it has been a high standard with judge Fiona Cooper faced with a difficult decision. All will be revealed soon.
Still plenty of time to enter our June competition.
John Dean
Our competition has just passed its six-month birthday and we are constantly looking at ways to improve our website in order to make it easier to use, which will, in turn, attract, more entries.
Which is why I am asking for some help. We are reviewing ways of redesigning the site so that it offers more value for those people visiting it and becomes a real must-visit place.
In addition, we want to make as easy as possible for people to use. So, if you have any thoughts, do let us know. For instance: what would you like to see on the site that is not there already?
What do you like about the site and what would you like to see improved?
Is it easy enough to enter a story? And if not, what puts you off? How can we make it easier for you?
These are some of the questions we are seeking to answer, which will be incorporated into our new-look site in the fullness of time.
Hope to hear a few opinions in the weeks to come.
Thank you
John Dean
Quite a few entries are coming in for our June competition now, including from Ireland.
We are always delighted to have Irish entries because that is a part of the world that has continually produced fine writers down the years.
Many Irish authors have managed to produce some truly compelling work, combining sound literary technique with an ability to try out new things.
Underpinning it all is a capacity to evoke emotion and trigger feelings and sensations in the reader. That is true of many Irish novelists and it is certainly true of many of Ireland’s short story writers.
Emotion is something of which some writers are wary, preferring to produce work without revealing too much of themselves.
However, for many other writers, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves in it. In the novels I write, there is always part of me peering through, my fears, my hopes, my aspirations, my take on life. It may not say ‘and this is me’ but it is there all the same. For me, writing has to be a deeply personal art.
Of course, it is not all autobiographical - many writers, myself included, write characters and scenes which we find abhorrent and use language and ideas with which we might not agree but which need to be there because they reflect the world about us.
However, in there somewhere are also tantalising glimpses of what we really think of the world and that is certainly something which comes through time and time again with the truly great Irish writers.
John Dean
The first entries for our June competition are starting to come in. Always a delight to read the stories and the first ones this time are from Australia and the UK.
Fiona Cooper is currently judging May’s competition - it is a task that she always finds a challenge because of the quality of the entries - and we will announce the results later in the month.
John Dean