A large amout of this blog is given over to writing contests; it would be rather amiss of me then not to mention some writing contest tips

Competition judges are busy people, they can have literally hundreds of entries to read and while it may seem harsh many of them are looking for ways to dispose of eateries and you really must grab their attention right from the word go. So my first bit of advice is: make them sit up – begin with a bang. If they don’t take to your story in the first paragraph chances are they won’t.

Try and get the judge on board, try and make them wonder where the story is going and how it is going to turn out, try and make him keep reading. David E. Sumner, associate professor of journalism and head of the magazine program at Ball State University and frequent contest judge, explains, “You do this by introducing an unsolved problem or putting the central character into a complicating situation. Too many stories have predictable content and predictable endings. If the reader (or judge) can figure out what’s going to happen, then why bother to read the piece?” Stories and articles that keep judges reading all the way to the end make it to the finalists stack.

I’ve mentioned it in a previous tip but if there is dialogue in your story, make it count, make it real.

A friend who frequently judges contests told me once to make my submissions different to everyone else. What he meant was that I should use a different setting or perhaps unusual characters, or even an unusual plot. If he were faced with two stories with the same basic plot he’d axe both. If it has been used before, if it’s trite, then ditch it.

Word limits are important if it says 1,500 words that doesn’t mean 1,520 – you may just get away with 1,505. Also be careful of a lower limit, if you’ve been given 1,500 words to play with use only 1,200 and judges will wonder if you really have something special. If there is no word limit I would aim for 2,000 – 2,750: above that it’s to high, below it there is not enough.

Don’t have a wishy-washy ending – make it positive. As Sumner puts it, “Positive doesn’t necessarily mean happy. Even if it has a sad ending, the story or article should have a positive meaning to it.”

Open the papers any day and you’ll find stories of men abusing women and while it is important to keep saying that that sort of behaviour is not on people been people they just skim over it – but what if it was a woman abusing a man? Go against the grain.

I really can’t stress this enough – obey the rules. This seems very basic and simple but it would surprise you the number of people who get this wrong, you’d be surprised at  the number of people who have their names on their manuscripts – I’ve even seen one where the authors name was at the bottom of every page. Read the rules,  then re-read them and before you seal the envelope re-read them again with your manuscript in front of you.

If you are like me and your spelling is poor get someone to proofread, even if you have great spelling get them to proofread you could make a simple typo. If you are on the hunt for typos or bad spellings start at the end of your story and work back the way, that way your mind won’t see what it expects it will only see what’s there.

Another piece of advice if you know who the judge for a given contest is then try and find out what they like to read and write and, perhaps, pander to their tastes!!

My final thought is this. Remember that at the very beginning of the process judges are looking for excuses to abandon manuscripts and they may well look for any excuse. Don’t give it to them