Hints and Tips for Entering Writing Competitions - Wendy H. Jones
Writing competitions have been on my mind recently, mainly because I've been entering a bunch of them. I'm not in the habit of entering competitions, mainly due to time, but for a couple of reasons I decided it was time to step out of my comfort zone and get cracking with entering them. I thought I would share my thoughts and experiences with you today. So here are my tips to help you when entering competitions.
1. Get over yourself (Wendy). Most often it is fear that stops you entering competitions; fear that it will prove you are not quite good enough. What's the worst hat can happen - you don't get placed? That doesn't mean you are a bad writer, it means you didn't win a competition. Hundreds of other people didn't win either.
2. Change your thinking. Many competitions will give feedback to all entrants. Use this feedback to polish your short story, poem, book review, drama etc. You can then enter them into other competitions, or the same competition, when it comes around again.
3. Choose your competitions wisely. Many unscrupulous organisations will prey on the hopes of writers with huge prizes for the first three entries. They will usually have an entry fee of hundreds of dollars (they've got to pay for those prizes somehow) and will often state the organisers have the right to not award any of the prizes. Read that again. Yes, the organisers do not have to choose any winners. (By the way I haven't entered any like that but have had them sent to me in unsolicited emails.)
4. Talking of rules, always read them carefully. There's a good reason for me telling you this. I was entering two book reviews. It wasn't until I'd written the reviews that I read the rules and realised the books had to be written in the past two years. Blast. Back to the drawing board I went. You can save yourself a lot of time reading the rules first.
5. Also check the rules about how many entries you are allowed to submit and whether you can enter multiple competitions at the same time.
6. If you are allowed to enter multiple competitions at the same time, have at it. If you win one, you may have to withdraw from others, so choose wisely.
7. Step out from your comfort zone and I don't just mean in entering competitions, I mean the types you enter. The pencils in my image at the top of this blog are a representation of the different genres. You may only write crime fiction, say the red pencil, but there are so many other pencils in the box. Try your hand at poetry, flash fiction, book review drama, humorous sketches, historical fiction, short stories, articles. Remember what I said about feedback.
8. Back to those rules. Check the closing date for entries and make sure you give yourself time to write, edit, and polish your entry before submitting.
9. This tip completely contradicts what was said in tip 8. Or does it? If you fall across a competition that is closing soon and you feel you can do it justice in the time available, have at it.
10. Breathe. I found myself stepping way out of my comfort zone recently. So far it was stratospheric. Stress levels rose and I needed to remind myself to breathe.
11. Think outside the box. Think of everything someone might write and then make it completely different. Make it unusual. Make it quirky. Let it catch the eye and intrigue and entertain.
12. Read any feedback you get carefully and take it on board. Our gut instinct as writers is to kick back against feedback. How could they possibly think that of my piece which is surely worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. Once you get over that, read it again and use any salient points to improve what you have written..
13. Remember, it's only one person's opinion. You could enter the exact same piece into another competition and it will win.
14. Have fun. Have fun trying out new genres and types of writing. That's always my mantra.
I hope some of this has resonated with you and you have found it helpful. If it is new to you, I hope it helps. If you knew it all already, I hope it served as a useful reminder. What is your best tip or story about entering competitions? Please tell me in the comments; I'd love to know.
Wendy H Jones is the Amazon #1 international best-selling author of the award winning DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries. Her Young Adult Mystery, The Dagger’s Curse was a finalist in the Woman Alive Readers' Choice Award. She is also The President of the Scottish Association of Writers, an international public speaker, and runs conferences and workshops on writing, motivation and marketing. She is the editor of a Lent Book, published by the Association of Christian Writers and also the editor of the Christmas Anthology from the same publisher. Her first children's book, Bertie the Buffalo, was released in December 2018. Motivation Matters: Revolutionise Your Writing One Creative Step at a Time, was released in May 2019. The Power of Why: Why 23 Women Took the Leap to Start Their Own Business was released on 29th June, 2020. Marketing Matters: Sell More Books was released on 31st July 2020. Bertie Goes to the Worldwide Games will be released on 5th May, 202, and the third book in the Fergus and Flora Mysteries will be published in 2021. Her new author membership Authorpreneur Accelerator Academy launched in January 2021. Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing the third book in her Writing Matters Series was published in September 2021. Wendy's latest release is Killer's Curse, the seventh book in the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries. Wendy is represented by Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Literary Services.
Great tips, Wendy! I should definitely push myself to enter more competitions. I like working to a deadline, sometimes it's the only way to get myself writing! And yes, extremely important to read the rules through several times. I also appreciate your encouragement to try different genres. Sometimes we can surprise ourselves! Thanks for your blog.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it useful. Pushing the boundaries of what we write and stretching ourselves is important.
DeleteExcellent advice, Wendy! (Sheila Robinson aka SC Skillman)
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI have never entered a competition and this inspired me! Thank you Wendy. Good tips
ReplyDeleteGo for it. Good luck
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice, Wendy. I find it useful to take about a fortnight off any official deadline and make that MY deadline instead. Have found that really useful. No last minute panics. Allison
ReplyDeleteThat is great advice. Thank you.
DeleteLovely post, Wendy! Thank you so much! I needed to read this. Very inspiring. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sophia. I am glad you found it helpful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy, brilliant advice. I've entered a few competitions, not in expectation of winning, but because they helped me to produce my best work within a deadline. If the entry fee is small and the contest is legitimate, that's good enough for me. I've never had feedback though, that would be great, most competitions I've looked at don't offer that.
ReplyDeleteGetting feedback is golden, I must admit.
DeleteGood advice, Wendy! I am going to look into it. By the way, I also took your advice and tried bookbrush and love the result! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Glad book brush turned out well for you.
DeleteThanks for this post, Wendy. The other problem with competitions is having little or no material to enter, which has been my problem of late. However, soon to start my memoir, I do intend to enter the ACW one, especially after learning a few tips from Ali Hull on the ACW day at the end of February.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it. I hope you get placed.
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