Often, but not always, it is stated in competition guidelines that only a certain genre of writing is to be accepted. It could be sci-fi and fantasy for example. If the genre requested is not your usual style

‘Could have benefited from another read through.’ ‘Needs more work.’ Competition judges often use both of these phrases. In fact, I don’t think that

When a competition is announced it can be tempting for writers, especially new ones, to simply flick through their supply of stories and select one that seems to fit the requirements. Then, with little more than a cursory re-read, they put it in an envelope and send it off.

Follow the guidelines – This sounds like a really basic statement, and in reality it is, but I expect most readers would be shocked if they heard just how many stories don’t get put in front of a judge purely because this point is ignored.

It occurred to me yesterday that since I’m holding the 2011 ‘First Line’ short story writing competition, with it’s deadline in June, now might be a great time to cover some writing tips relevant to entering competitions.

The Writing to Inspire e-zine goes out tonight (so if you haven’t subscribed and would like to receive it click here), which means I’m sitting here at my desk updating everything, including the dates for the Writing to Inspire online writing courses.

The sad thing about some of the old-fashioned words, as far as I’m concerned anyway, is that it’s hard to use them in everyday writing because the general reader might not know what they mean. Not that that would generally stop me from using the odd word or two, but I don’t like the idea [...]

It always amazes me how a person’s vocabulary, language and sentence structure can change dependent on the person they are talking to and the situation they are in. Beyond talking to children and having a chat with friends down at the pub, that is.

When I first began writing my British education showed up through my word choice. Now, of course, my style is a lot more relaxed. However, I often have to think twice about some of the words I use, not because they are wrong but

I was out buying my vegies last week and as I walked past a blackboard promoting the week’s specials I wondered, and not for the first time, why the person given the chalk is so often unable to spell?