Changing Voice...

As I've been attempting to revise a short story that has been sitting on my computer for a while - it won one of the writers club short story competitions a couple of years ago - I've been struggling a little.

It's not that I can't sort out the edits that are needed, it's just that I've not got the same voice as I had then.

For the past eighteen months to two years I've been concentrating on my longer stories, and now have two first drafts.

Slipping into Serena Lake mode isn't that difficult, because writing a story set over 200 years ago requires a different mind-set and style of expression, as speech patterns and the meanings of many words and phrases used are very different to modern life.

Coming back to the first draft of my Nottinghamshire short novel I was back into that voice within an hour.

But now with the short story I can hear the differences in my current voice, to the one two years ago, and it's quite disconcerting.

I suppose it's part of developing as a writer, learning, and being open to trying different things.

So at the end of my unsatisfactory short story editing session I considered my choices.

a) Abandon the story completely and forget about it.

b) Carry on with the editing and hope it sorts itself out.

c) Rewrite the whole thing, keeping the good bits and taking out or adapting the bits I needed to edit anyway - and it will all be the current voice.

Obviously I chose c).

I know b) won't work, and the story deserves another chance before I resort to a).

While I'm rewriting it, I may actually lose the 300 odd words to get it down to the 1,000 word length...

Changes...!

Changing sky...

Nottingham Writers' Club National Short Story Competition 2016

It's the 3rd year for this short story competition, opening for submission this year on the 1st February.

This year's theme is 'Fire'.

The NWC competition is not only aimed at less experienced or newer writers, but developing writers also, which is why each entrant receives constructive comments from the readers once the competition is over.

(Even though there is a lot of advice available online, it can still be a bit baffling when you start out writing. Also not every writer has access to a writers' group or club that they can attend to continue developing their writing skills.)

So to this year's competition: (See the detailed rules in the competition paperwork.)

The short story must contain no more than 2,000 words (excluding the title) typed in 12 point clear font, double-spaced and on one side of A4. How the theme is interpreted is up to each individual writer.

To receive the full details, information on how to pay entry fees- either by post or online- and an entry form, please fill in your details on the Register your interest form on the competition page, and you will be sent a document (with all the details, rules, entry form, fees, and an example of a cover sheet and standard layout of a page - in case newer writers are uncertain of this).

While it may seem a pain to do things this way, it ensures that the competition organiser has the right spelling of names and email addresses for sending the above, any updates, and eventually comments on entries.

The two rules that are most important follow:

• The competition is for any resident of the United Kingdom who is over 18 years of age at the time they submit their entry- between 1st February - 29th February.

• All entrants must be non-professional writers. For the purpose of this competition, we define 'non professional' as a writer who has earned less than £300 for short-story writing in 2015.

The competition opens for entries either by post or online on the 1st February, and closes at the end of the day on the 29th February.

Our judge this year is novelist, and very successful short story writer, Patsy Collins. 

NWC had actually decided the 'Fire' theme in the summer - before Patsy's latest book 'Firestarter' was published late in 2015, so we were very pleased that she agreed to be this year's judge.

Patsy Collins: latest book
with the 'Fire' connection...

Even if you are unable to enter yourself, please do pass on the details of the competition to any writer you think might be interested.

There are a number of writers out there who are unaware of their potential. After the 2015 results the competition co-ordinator received an email from one of the runners-up, they were delighted as it was the first competition they had entered.



Many of you will know that I'm involved with Nottingham Writers' Club, but I should declare that I'm one of the organisers behind the competition. And usually the person who approaches writers about judging...