Five tips to win short story contests

[TheDustyZebra]

Interesting piece on contest writing here, from one of my fellow NYC Midnight-ers. Everything in here applies as well to a 75 as it does to a 1000 or more.

Five tips to win short story competitions

 

[nixie]

That's were I go wrong, i don't spent enough time polishing my entries, although I thought everyone only spent 10 minutes on their 75 worder

 

[TheDustyZebra]

That's were I go wrong, i don't spent enough time polishing my entries, although I thought everyone only spent 10 minutes on their 75 worder

Sounds about right to me. Just that my ten minutes are at the other end of the month.

 

[AlexH]

I'm not sure I'll ever agree with writing to the exact word limit (or even thereabouts). For microfiction, maybe more often, where the writer may need every word to show their talent. If the limit is 5,000 words, then a writer will be able to show their talent in 4,000 if that's all the words the story requires. It's possible for flash fiction to be more powerful than much longer short stories - in fact, it may be harder to write an outstanding flash story than an outstanding short story, and I've seen experienced editors and writers say similar. Not that I'd enter a flash into a 5,000 word limit competition, so I'm on board with Chris' point to an extent.

The other advice seems sound, especially on genre, voice and polish.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Yeah, when you start getting up to 5000 or so, I'm not sure it would have to go right up to the limit. For 1000, 1500, 2000, I think those are aiming for a particular "meat" of story, if that makes sense, and you'd be shorting yourself to go substantially less. Like writing a 50-word story for the 75. Surely there's something that could be added to make it a better story, if you have that much room to play with. But one or two words in a 75, or fifty words in a 1000, that probably isn't critical. Still, I'm a fan of using the word count right up to the hilt.

On the other hand, it's important to make sure it doesn't read like it was a 3000 that was cut down to 1000, too. Writing to the limit as well as writing to the limit, as it were.

 

[Stable]

Nice post. It lead me to check out Raymond Carver's essay On Writing, which I found amazing - I'd recommend it for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

 

[The Big Peat]

I can't help but feel that using the example of someone only coming 2nd in a big competition with their non-story isn't the best way to demonstrate the perils of neglecting story.

Not that I disagree with the point per se, but it is a very subjective subject and a rule that authors can sometimes cheat. I'd say the fact she came 2nd with a first chapter is prove that they can cheat, not proof of the necessity of story. I know that in the 75 worder, stories I'd ding for lack of story often succeed, and the short story I recently sent out for critique received a few robust critiques on the lack of story... and a lot of people really liking it.

 

[mistri]

Interesting article. I don't tend to sub to competitions because so many want payment - I just go through all the paying markets on the Grinder vvvv slowly instead. However, on Twitter I see all my lit fic friends are doing comps or free markets instead and seem very happy doing so. I need to weigh up whether competitions are worth a go but my completed pieces are nearly all SFF which I think are harder to place.

 

[AlexH]

Interesting article. I don't tend to sub to competitions because so many want payment - I just go through all the paying markets on the Grinder vvvv slowly instead. However, on Twitter I see all my lit fic friends are doing comps or free markets instead and seem very happy doing so. I need to weigh up whether competitions are worth a go but my completed pieces are nearly all SFF which I think are harder to place.

I'm of that mindset for my writing - start with the paying markets or competitions that don't have a fee. Some places make a HUGE amount of money from paid entries, which I don't think is fair when there are so many professional writers struggling to earn a living. And it's not open when there are people who won't be able to pay the fee.

 

[Stable]

Interesting article. I don't tend to sub to competitions because so many want payment - I just go through all the paying markets on the Grinder vvvv slowly instead. However, on Twitter I see all my lit fic friends are doing comps or free markets instead and seem very happy doing so. I need to weigh up whether competitions are worth a go but my completed pieces are nearly all SFF which I think are harder to place.

What's the Grinder vvvv?

 

[mosaix]

Yeah, when you start getting up to 5000 or so, I'm not sure it would have to go right up to the limit. For 1000, 1500, 2000, I think those are aiming for a particular "meat" of story, if that makes sense, and you'd be shorting yourself to go substantially less. Like writing a 50-word story for the 75. Surely there's something that could be added to make it a better story, if you have that much room to play with. But one or two words in a 75, or fifty words in a 1000, that probably isn't critical. Still, I'm a fan of using the word count right up to the hilt.

On the other hand, it's important to make sure it doesn't read like it was a 3000 that was cut down to 1000, too. Writing to the limit as well as writing to the limit, as it were.

It’s strange, but in the 75, if I’m happy with my story and it’s 73, 74 or 75 then I’ll submit but if it’s in the 70 to 72 range then I feel there’s something wrong. Less than 70 is a definite ‘needs work’.

I may go back over my 75 entries and have a look but I doubt if I’ve ever submitted with less than 70 words.

 

[awesomesauce]

What's the Grinder vvvv?

The submission grinder.

 

[HareBrain]

What's the Grinder vvvv?

And I assume the "vvvv" belongs to the following word, "slowly". As in "very very very very"

 

[TheDustyZebra]

It’s strange, but in the 75, if I’m happy with my story and it’s 73, 74 or 75 then I’ll submit but if it’s in the 70 to 72 range then I feel there’s something wrong. Less than 70 is a definite ‘needs work’.

I may go back over my 75 entries and have a look but I doubt if I’ve ever submitted with less than 70 words.

Every single one of mine has been 75, the only possible exceptions being when I counted hyphenated things as two just to be safe, when there was (inexplicably) no time to ask.

 

[mistri]

The submission grinder.

And I assume the "vvvv" belongs to the following word, "slowly". As in "very very very very"

Thank you for interpreting my not very clear message!

Basically I have an account on The Submission Grinder. I add my stories as 'pieces' (including genre and word count) and then use the search function to look for suitable markets. I always order from paying most to least.

I figure I'll probably get rejected from the top-paying but at least by starting at the top I won't miss out a sale to one of those.

There are only a few 'pro' markets and lots and lots of semi-pro and token-paying markets so by the time I feel like a story has been rejected enough to trunk it forever, I have been going through the Grinder 'vvvv slowly' for a vvvv long time

 

[Stable]

Hahaha, d'oh! I should have noticed the wooshing sound as it went straight past my head. Thanks for the explanations all.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Did everyone follow the link in one of the comments from Kathy Steinemann?

Even more tips for flash fiction
Flash Fiction Tips: How to Write a Story in Few Words