On the subject of Competitions to enter...

pdr · Jan 9, 2008

this one is prestigious and has started many a writer off! If you write historical whodunnits they are welcome and can take you on to the Ellis Peters Award. However, I'll tell you now, so that you can howl first, that the entry fee is £20 (Roughly $2US to £1)

The Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Competition launched the careers of all these crime writers.
Could you be next?
The 2008 Debut Dagger Competition runs from 15th November – 15th February. Go on, take a stab at it, send us the opening chapter(s) – up to 3000 words – and a short synopsis of your proposed crime novel, and you could be a published crime writer.
Winning the Debut Dagger doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published. But it does mean your work will be seen by leading agents and top editors, who have signed up over a dozen winners as well as shortlisted Debut Dagger competitors.
The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. First prize is £500 plus two free tickets to the prestigious CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger Awards and night’s stay for two in a top London hotel. All shortlisted entrants will receive a generous selection of crime novels and professional assessments of their entries, and will also be invited to the Dagger Awards Dinner.
www.thecwa.co.uk

Zelenka · Jan 9, 2008

Typical - I just changed my historical WIP from a whodunnit to a supernatural type thing. Wonder how quickly I could change it back again?

girlyswot · Jan 9, 2008

A whodunnit would be utterly beyond me. I mean, that requires actual plotting, right? With motive and opportunity and clues and things? Nope. I'll stick to my happy romance.

Zelenka · Jan 9, 2008

girlyswot said:
A whodunnit would be utterly beyond me. I mean, that requires actual plotting, right? With motive and opportunity and clues and things? Nope. I'll stick to my happy romance.

I'm the opposite - the idea of writing a plausible romance is really daunting to me, but murders and whodunnits - well, I love my spider-diagrams of suspects and slipping clues in at the right places!

Seriously though, pdr, thank you once again for the tip-off. I just remembered that before I planned to combine ideas, I had a completed draft of the original story, which was a very classical-style whodunnit / historical, which had been revised about three times so far I think. I was going to use ideas from it in my new WIP but I didn't end up doing that after all, so the original story is still there.

Thing is, feedback on it was pretty bad, so I don't know what to do. Would it be worthwhile entering anyway, do you think, just on the off chance? I mean, I still like the concept and the story, just no one else seemed to

pdr · Jan 10, 2008

You can only...

polish it up and try. Make the synopsis sing! Hone the 3000 words to perfection.

You're in the UK. There are several very good first novel comps. These two might be of encouragement.:
1.
Daily Mail and Transworld publishers:
http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/feet/competitions.htm NOVEL COMP JULY 2nd deadline

2.
http://seasiderswrite.co.uk/novelcompetition.aspx novel comp. Jan 31st.
1. A synopsis and one sample chapter to be submitted by 31st January 2008 to
Seasiders` Write at Brantwood, 23 Coniston Road, Blackpool FY4 2BY.
2. The completed novel (if shortlisted) must be submitted by 31st May 2008.
3. All entries must be submitted in English and typed and be the original,
undisputed work of the author.
4. The competition fee of £10 must accompany the entry, by either cheque or postal
order made payable to “Seasiders` Write!”
Organisers – Seasiders` Write! - Brantwood, 23 Coniston Road, Blackpool, FY4 2BY.
Website - www.seasiderswrite.co.uk

Zelenka · Jan 10, 2008

pdr said:
polish it up and try. Make the synopsis sing! Hone the 3000 words to perfection.

You're in the UK. There are several very good first novel comps. These two might be of encouragement.:
1.
Daily Mail and Transworld publishers:
http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/feet/competitions.htm NOVEL COMP JULY 2nd deadline

2.
http://seasiderswrite.co.uk/novelcompetition.aspx novel comp. Jan 31st.
1. A synopsis and one sample chapter to be submitted by 31st January 2008 to
Seasiders` Write at Brantwood, 23 Coniston Road, Blackpool FY4 2BY.
2. The completed novel (if shortlisted) must be submitted by 31st May 2008.
3. All entries must be submitted in English and typed and be the original,
undisputed work of the author.
4. The competition fee of £10 must accompany the entry, by either cheque or postal
order made payable to “Seasiders` Write!”
Organisers – Seasiders` Write! - Brantwood, 23 Coniston Road, Blackpool, FY4 2BY.
Website - www.seasiderswrite.co.uk

The first part of it is somewhere on SYW from ages ago and is probably about 3000 words I should think. I'd revised it quite heavily on advice given here, but IIRC, I made a total hash of the new version. I'll have to try and find it all again and see if there is anything that could be polished. At the time I remember not being able to see any way to make it work as the writing was just so bad, but maybe having left it for a while will help.

I am quite excited about the Daily Mail one (though I will have to check that the company I work for isn't affiliated with them in any way, as I know we are with the Herald and a couple of other papers. Don't think we have any connection to the Mail, but I don't want disqualified!). July 2008 is a more feasible date for me to have something ready and sorted (I'm really thinking about my Edinburgh book) and that might be the jolt I need to get it edited and sorted. In fact, if I have any of the other WIPs sorted by then, I might even do some multiple entries. Certainly my plan for 2008 was to have first drafts finished before I go to Europe at the beginning of June, and to have the Edinburgh one edited to a reasonable state by then.

I'm rambling on, sorry. Just a bit excited by all this.

pdr · Jan 11, 2008

For Derek to Sticky

1.
Daily Mail and Transworld publishers:
http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/f...mpetitions.htm NOVEL COMP JULY 2nd deadline

2.
http://seasiderswrite.co.uk/novelcompetition.aspx novel comp. Jan 31st.
1. A synopsis and one sample chapter to be submitted by 31st January 2008 to
Seasiders` Write at Brantwood, 23 Coniston Road, Blackpool FY4 2BY.
2. The completed novel (if shortlisted) must be submitted by 31st May 2008.
3. All entries must be submitted in English and typed and be the original,
undisputed work of the author.
4. The competition fee of £10 must accompany the entry, by either cheque or postal
order made payable to “Seasiders` Write!”
Organisers – Seasiders` Write! - Brantwood, 23 Coniston Road, Blackpool, FY4 2BY.
Website - www.seasiderswrite.co.uk Yesterday 02:28 PM

If you write historical whodunnits they are welcome and can take you on to the Ellis Peters Award. However, I'll tell you now, so that you can howl first, that the entry fee is £20 (Roughly $2US to £1)

The Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Competition launched the careers of all these crime writers.
Could you be next?
The 2008 Debut Dagger Competition runs from 15th November – 15th February. Go on, take a stab at it, send us the opening chapter(s) – up to 3000 words – and a short synopsis of your proposed crime novel, and you could be a published crime writer.
Winning the Debut Dagger doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published. But it does mean your work will be seen by leading agents and top editors, who have signed up over a dozen winners as well as shortlisted Debut Dagger competitors.
The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. First prize is £500 plus two free tickets to the prestigious CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger Awards and night’s stay for two in a top London hotel. All shortlisted entrants will receive a generous selection of crime novels and professional assessments of their entries, and will also be invited to the Dagger Awards Dinner.
www.thecwa.co.uk

julie thorpe · Jan 11, 2008

Please note that the Seasiders' Write competition is open only to 'British or Irish national residents'. Once upon a time I would have qualified; now, alas, I don't.

On the subject of Competitions to enter...

pdr

Zelenka

Going home!

girlyswot

Zelenka

Going home!

pdr

Zelenka

Going home!

pdr

julie thorpe