Questions

Entering creative writing contests can become a lucrative yet addictive pastime for many writers who are spurred on by the challenge of pitting their wits against those of other dedicated writers. Cash prizes, publication and recognition for their endeavours entice many writers to submit their stories in the hopes of securing one of the top prizes. There are numerous creative writing contests available and a scan through any writing magazine will highlight some but for a more detailed search, simply type creative writing contests into a search engine such as Google or yahoo and a vast array of results will appear.

Finding a contest that inspires is the key to doing well. There is no point entering if the topic fails to stimulate as the resulting entry would lack enthusiasm and passion, something that a judge would clearly see. Writing with passion is important but writing with a controlled and sustained passion is even better, a good writer will be able to impart all the information needed a little at a time, unveiling unique aspects about the characters and the plots at just the right speed to tantalise the reader. When submitting fiction for creative writing contests, the writing must be tight and yet highly compelling.

For greater results in any creative writing contests, adhere to the following points:

Find a contest that appeals and sparks off that all important imagination trail Read the rules several times. Most writers fail simply because they do not pay attention to detail. Don’t just start writing, think. The thinking process is an integral part of being a good writer; they work hand in hand so allow time to mull over potential ideas and then eventually, when happy, make your choice and start writing. Plan the story. Decide where to start within the plot itself and create a compelling introduction by starting off at an exciting point, then draw the reader in with carefully crafted words. Know those characters. If your characters are under-developed and uninteresting, the judge’s interest will wane, so invest some time to create strong, exciting and 3 dimensional characters that appear larger than life. It helps to really get inside the skin of the characters and make them believable. Try to live through the story as you write it, feel every emotion and witness every event that unfolds. This gives your writing an extra and most important winning element. Edit ruthlessly and ensure that the specified word count has been adhered to. Editing is vital to ensure that any unnecessary words are eliminated. Never pad out a story unnecessarily, every word should be important. Develop your own style and a confidence in your work. Don’t leave it until the last minute to write your story. Whilst determination and a ticking clock can kick-start that all important creative process, having time to re-read and edit is paramount. Don’t waste a great storyline and a well-written piece of fiction through starting your story too late and submitting with spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Check out previous winning entries if available, then you are able to judge the standard and the types of stories that won and consider why. Think from a judge’s perspective, could your submission be improved and achieve greater winning potential?

 Creating a winning story in creative writing contests is easy, but it takes great determination and forward planning to write original and well-thought out storylines that stand out from the crowd.


- annette young

Are you staring at the empty page for hours? Well let me tell you something. You got writer’s block. Writer’s block is an inability to write. Possibly, all writers have faced it. It is need to be stressed that writer’s block says there is a problem with your project. The whole point here is: ask yourself honestly what are the reasons that contribute to your difficulty in writing. Don’t you need more information? Don’t you pick something big and obvious? Aren’t you dealing with uncomfortable material? Don’t you have your own point of view about the subject? Note that writing is a process, a series of steps or stages that include a whole array of support tasks that you should be able to deal with — and most of the steps in the process don’t look anything like the polished work.

Besides that, you should not to confound writer’s block with procrastination. Procrastination is the habit of putting tasks off to the last minute. Finally, it is worth observing that the Princeton Writing Program believes that “a degree of procrastination and writer’s block are a common part of writing”. Get the picture? There is nothing wrong with you. Now you get to be clever. And while there is no magic formula for getting started, there are many ways you can handle with writer’s block and to get on with your creative idea. Keep the following five tips in mind.

1. Identify your topic. Before you write, you should state the essence of your message in one sentence. This is your thesis statement (otherwise known as a controlling idea) around which you are going to make your text. If you cannot narrow your point down to one single sentence, either you are not clear about what you are trying to say or you have more than one topic. Ultimately, the key to writing a clear text is to build it around a clear thesis statement.

2. Have a plan. Create an outline or a road map of your text. The outline is an organized list of your main points about the topic; it is a point-by-point summary of your ideas. First, set out a list of headings about your topic. These headings are the supporting points of your argument. Try to write full sentences for it will help to express your ideas coherently. And these sentences will be the mini-thesis (claim) for every paragraph. Then, simply expand your claims.

Plainly, an article is composed by these four must have elements: a good title, a short introduction (a clear thesis statement and the summary of the article), the main body (3-4 claims followed by sentences that provide concrete examples to support each claim) and the conclusion. Recall that in short article lengths (less than 1,000 words) it is not necessary to have the typical “Intro, Body, Conclusion”. Finally, remember that your outline doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, you can always deviate from your outline. The truth is that the more detailed the outline, the easier it is to write the text. Above all, authors say that to start with an outline will liberate your energy and attention for the actual writing.

3. Start your text anywhere. Don’t you know where to start? Do not worry about beginnings and endings. In general, the orderly progression writing method doesn’t work. Thus, you should redesign the process: create the body first, then your introduction and the conclusion. Remember that you do not have to begin at the beginning. Now that all the pieces are there you can verify if it is working as a whole. The trick here is to never fall into useless reflection.

4. Keep a draft mentality. Nothing you write needs to be definitive. The best-selling author Steven Barnes says that novice writers must work through “a million word of garbage before reaching their true voice.” How true. So do not be afraid to write garbage. More specifically, there are two states connected to writing: flow (relaxed concentration, it’s when you write) and edit. I suggest this: first, create rough draft (and here don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and other petty concerns). Then, polish the work you did. You might even try alternating: writing one day, editing the next. Finally, after three or four drafts you can reorganize and shape your text.

5. Break your task down into building blocks. Never make the mistake of forgetting that abstract tasks require concrete building blocks. Maybe you will find helpful to break your task into smaller units. So you need to sit down and use the timeboxing method. I suggest this: select a small piece of the task (remember Tip 3 above and eliminate the linearity obsession) that you can work on for 15 or 30 minutes. Then, plan a big, juicy reward. If you follow this tip through, as a result you could possibly continue working longer than 30 minutes.

There are many other ideas, but I think these will get you started. Now you have a way to blast through that block and get back to your writing.


- Marco Bomfoco