Thanks

John Dean

Thank you for all your support and it is a delight to see stories coming in from all over the world.

John Dean

I am delighted to see that some of them have brilliant first lines, lines that grab you and make you want to read on.

As I have mentioned before, there are different ways to start a story: you can go for the gentle start which draws the reader in gently, introduce us to a place or a person which intrigues or produce a first line that simply makes you think ‘wow, I must read on’.

There are several in this month’s competition that start with such lines: it will be interesting to see how they fare.

We have had an entry from the eleventh country represented in this month’s competition so welcome to Borneo. As I sit in wet and horrible England as our winter tightens its grip, thinking of places where there is a bit of sunshine certainly does warm the heart!

John Dean

Delighted to see ten countries already represented this month and a wide range of styles, everything from crime to fiction aimed at a younger audience.

In time, as we develop the competition, we would hope to be able to run themed competitions alongside our main one, but for the moment all stories of any style are very much welcome in the main competition. Makes for excellent reading.

Have a good weekend

John Dean

Don’t forget that our monthly winners will also be considered for our annual prize of £250.

John Dean

So perhaps it’s time to say thanks to my father, Stan, because he was the one who taught me that lesson many years ago.

He always told me when I was a teenager that I should write about what I know. Because I was a bolshy teenager, I did not listen for many years but Dad was absolutely right, of course.

It is clear that many of our entries are from writers who also listened to wiser counsel and who dip deep into their own personal experience to bring their stories to life.

I certainly draw on my experiences as a writer. I find that having gone through an experience, or seen others go through it, helps me to bring a sense of reality to my writing.

But why does that matter? Well, if we are to truly draw our readers into our stories, they have to feel the reality of the situation. That’s what the best of our short story entrants do time after time after time.

And, yes I know that writers can create fictional scenarios without ever having experienced them. Yes, I know that they make them work through the power of their imagination. And yes, I know that science fiction writers have never been to Neptune and fantasy writers have never conversed with gnomes (well, most of them anyway).

But even in those imagined scenarios, what shines through is the writers’ ability to draw on real life, real people, real characteristics, real situations. I wrote a children’s fantasy book years ago and the characters were as human as they came, even though they were dragons and wizards.

It really is a simple maxim: write about what you know because if you believe it, the reader will believe it.

So, thanks Dad.

John Dean

Was interested to see one of our stories used a technique which I love in short stories, namely starting a story in the middle.

All stories start in the middle, of course, people have lived lives, cities have been built etc, but sometimes it can take courage to start a story as if you, the narrator, had already been talking.

What do I mean? Well, you might start a story with ‘And what’s more, he had done it again. I was livid.’ The reader is left in no doubt that the story was under way long before they turned to the page.

Such a technique can be very effective and draw the reader immediately into what is happening. Indeed, the reader may sub-consciously be thinking ‘ missed something, here, better catch up quick.’

And since writing is all about grabbing the reader’s attention, what could be better than that?

Our team are currently redesigning the website to make it better value, and a lot of these tips will be included in our new feature, a writer’s toolbox.

John Dean

However, I am delighted, in addition to the entry from Taiwan that I referred to some days ago, to have received entries from Australia and the United States as well as from the UK.

Looking forward to reading all the others that arrive over the next three weeks.

Have a good weekend.

John Dean

So, we are delighted to continually be adding new countries and new writers from around the world and hope that it continues.

John Dean