Competition entry woes

Variously · Jan 12, 2008

I really want to enter a competition for first-time novelists, the requirements for which are to submit the first 3000 words or less of your novel plus a synopsis. No problem, I thought, chapter one is nicely self contained, I'll just trim it a bit. But, even with pretty radical cutting, it's still 3,800 words, way over. At the end the central character has a chance meeting with an interesting character who features in the opening section where they are both in prison. This happens just after the MC, now working as a cab driver, has just had a fight with a passenger in his mini-cab. I could just end after the fight, but then I miss out on the nice bookended finish. And I really feel like taking out 800 words is going to be cutting meat rather than fat. I'll either lose interesting research detail, character detail or make the prose, which is already pretty lean, a bit thin. Dunno what to do now.

HourglassMemory · Jan 12, 2008

Did you write this story just for this competition, or did you grab something you had already written and want to send it out for the competition?
If you had this already and you wrote it NOT to be on a competition, then leave it alone, and perhaps you could write something else....(I know it's not easy). Do not let your story be ruined because of a competition.

Or you could butcher your work....which is not easy either.
You could ask them if they accept it as it is, with +800 words.
Do you REALL REALLY have to be on this competition?

JustGo · Jan 12, 2008

I say forget about the competition. Look around for one that accepts more words if you really want to be involved in one - there are a good number of contests like that out there (they're not quite as common as swears in a high school, but more so than Asians in American politics).

The Lady · Jan 12, 2008

I'd just throw in the first 3000 words. Hopefully they'll hunger for the rest of it and award you the prize just so they can read it.

Or you could post it in SYW and challenge people to find 800 words to trim away.

pdr · Jan 13, 2008

If your comp is...

the CWA International one you'd do better to trim.

Having read some of the judges' comments from previous years, it seems they are positive that unless the first 1000 words hook the reader, and the next 2000 reinforce this, then the book isn't worth publishing or winning.

Can you turn something round and rewrite tightly?

Variously · Jan 13, 2008

pdr said:
the CWA International one you'd do better to trim.

Having read some of the judges' comments from previous years, it seems they are positive that unless the first 1000 words hook the reader, and the next 2000 reinforce this, then the book isn't worth publishing or winning.

Can you turn something round and rewrite tightly?

That's the one I want to enter. I think I may have to either remove a section that gives an interesting bit of character detail - visiting a graveside - or end on a cliffhanger. That judges comment I find quite depressing really. There's a danger of fiction becoming the dumbest of all the arts if that kind of thing becomes the rule of law. I'm due to see a film soon which has an opening shot of a sunrise, with a static camera, that goes on for nine minutes, and there's plenty in the visual arts that requires patience. I know that the CWA is a prize for crime fiction, but crime is a broad genre, it's not just generic stuff about detectives chasing serial killers. A lot of Patricia Highsmith's books take more than 1000 words to hit the ground.

Julie Worth · Jan 13, 2008

The CWA contest seems rather pricey. Is it legit? Will it do anything for your bio?

Variously · Jan 13, 2008

Julie Worth said:
The CWA contest seems rather pricey. Is it legit? Will it do anything for your bio?

Don't know really. Some writers who've one it in the past seem to have gone on to bigger things and it's part of the annual CWA awards for established crime writers. But I guess £20 is quite a high entrance fee, given that the prize is only £500.

pdr · Jan 13, 2008

Yes...

the CWA is legit (!!!) The Crime Writers Association is most reputable. The UK is not plagued with phony contests as the US is.

The Debut Dagger is one of many excellent awards the CWA sponsor. It is a real opportunity to have your work seen by publishers and agents. The winner usually gets published, or an agent to help them get published, the short list often does too, manuscripts are read and discussed and even if you don't win your writing may catch the eye of an editor.

The fee is high but there are two reasons for it.
1.
It cuts out the writers who aren't ready to be published.
2.
It pays for the grand dinner and awards ceremony and puts money in the prize purse for all the CWA awards and scholarships.

Enzo · Jan 13, 2008

I'm also taking part in that one.

I would say, keep the 3,800-word version in a separate file for later, when you submit the whole finished book to an agent or publisher, and try a new version down below 3,000 words for the CWA.

Bartholomew · Jan 14, 2008

Variously said:
I really want to enter a competition for first-time novelists, the requirements for which are to submit the first 3000 words or less of your novel plus a synopsis. No problem, I thought, chapter one is nicely self contained, I'll just trim it a bit. But, even with pretty radical cutting, it's still 3,800 words, way over. At the end the central character has a chance meeting with an interesting character who features in the opening section where they are both in prison. This happens just after the MC, now working as a cab driver, has just had a fight with a passenger in his mini-cab. I could just end after the fight, but then I miss out on the nice bookended finish. And I really feel like taking out 800 words is going to be cutting meat rather than fat. I'll either lose interesting research detail, character detail or make the prose, which is already pretty lean, a bit thin. Dunno what to do now.

You can always trim.

Variously · Jan 14, 2008

The Lady said:
I'd just throw in the first 3000 words. Hopefully they'll hunger for the rest of it and award you the prize just so they can read it.

Or you could post it in SYW and challenge people to find 800 words to trim away.

Well, I've now cut out another piece which, although it now makes the tone of the thing more unrelentingly macho than the full version, brings me down to 3500. Still don't really know what to do. I'll almost certainly be re-instating what I've cut when I submit the full novel. Would anyone want to read a 3000 word piece in SYW though? It's a lot to read.

Competition entry woes

Variously

HourglassMemory

JustGo

Digging through graves of giants

The Lady

Critical Member

pdr

Variously

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

Variously

pdr

Enzo

Bartholomew

Comic guy

Variously