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Mankind has often wrestled with the relationship between fate and self-determination. Write about a time in your life when your inner strength and perseverance changed the outcome. Next write about a time in your life when you believe fate played a role. Then write an essay about how this complex dynamic is manifested in your characters and creative nonfiction.
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Sometimes we are emotionally imprisoned by the ones we love. Overbearing parents, paranoid spouses, and needy children can make us—and our characters—feel trapped in an intolerable life. Write a scene where an antagonist in your writing leaves a loved one behind and begins life anew. Use details to express relief, guilt, and anger.
Beginning this year, Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England, will double the amount of its international literary prizes. The Manchester Writing Competition, which originally awarded one annual prize of £10,000 to a poet or fiction writer in alternating years, will now give two prizes of £10,000 (approximately $15,350) each to a poet and a fiction writer each year.
Poets may submit three to five poems totaling no more than 120 lines and fiction writers may submit a story of up to 2,500 words with a £17 (approximately $26) entry fee by August 30. Submissions are accepted via the online submission system or by postal mail. Writers from any country are eligible to enter.
Bernard O'Donoghue, Adam O'Riordan, and Fiona Sampson will judge in poetry; Alison Moore, Nicholas Royle, and Robert Shearman will judge in fiction. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Manchester on October 18.
Overseen by British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University has sponsored the writing prizes since 2008. Visit the website for more information and complete submission guidelines.
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Writing poetry is an act of empowerment. Sit quietly at your desk. Think about what you’re most insecure about in life: being a good parent, making enough money, not being able to love fully. Write a poem about how you plan to overcome that insecurity.
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This video reveals what several authors view as the unique challenges of writing short stories, particularly in comparison to novels.
StoryQuarterly, the literary magazine of Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey, is currently accepting submissions to its third annual fiction contest. The winner will receive $1,000 and publication.
Using the online submission system, fiction writers may submit a previously unpublished story of up to 8,000 words with an $18 entry fee by October 31. Jess Walter, the author of six novels and, most recently, the short story collection We Live in Water (Harper, 2013), will judge.
The winning story, along with the first and second runners-up, will be published in StoryQuarterly 46/47, a special double issue that will be overseen by author Paul Lisicky and released in Winter 2014. Christine Grillo of Baltimore, Maryland, won the 2012 prize for her story "Legendary and Non-Evolving." Amy Hempel judged.
Founded in 1975 as an independent literary journal based in Illinois, StoryQuarterly has been published by Rutgers University in Camden since 2008. Regular submissions are considered from September 1 through October 31. Visit the website for more information and complete guidelines, and check out StoryQuarterly Online to read stories from recent contributors.
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