THREE JUNE WRITING CONTESTS

WritersMarket.com lists more than 600 contests & awards. Here are three with June deadlines:

Annual Dream Grant is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in potential; it is a “no-strings attached” award in support of writers’ dreams. Deadline is June 1. There’s a $20 processing fee, and the winner receives up to $800.

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is offered quarterly—with the next deadline as June 30—for unpublished speculative fiction. There is no entry fee, and the winners receive prizes of $1,000, $750, and $500 quarterly with a grand prize for the year of $5,000.

Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse seeks poems in traditional verse forms, such as sonnets. Both published and unpublished work accepted. Deadline is June 30. There is a $7 reading fee for every 25 lines of poetry, and 1st through 4th place prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400, $250.

For more information follow the links or visit www.writersmarket.com

Developing characters can be difficult.   A well develped character provides more to the reader in subtle ways, and the only way to present these subtleties in your writing is take make sure that you know the character well, which is where the writing tip comes  in.  To know your character well, list the items in his/her top drawer of the night stand.  It doesn’t matter whether or not those things make it into the story.  The importance is that those items enter your knowledge of the character, and if they are in the back of your mind, the characters will develop easier for you. 

My mentor’s advice, “Writing tip #25: Could you apply for loan/job as your characters? Then maybe you don’t know them well enough to tell their stories,” follows the same idea.  A good character doesn’t fall onto the page.  A good character takes labor.

THREE MAY FICTION CONTESTS
WritersMarket.com lists more than 140 fiction contests. Here are three accepting entries in May:

Annual Gival Press Novel Award is offered annually for a previously unpublished original novel. With a May 30 deadline, the prize is $3,000, plus publication of the book with a standard contract.

Drue Heinz Literature Prize is offered annually to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least 3 short stories in commercial magazines or literary journals with national distribution. Submissions must be made between May 1 and June 30. The prize is $15,000.

Elizabeth Simpson Smith Award is offered annually for unpublished short stories. With a May 31 deadline, the prize is $500 and publication in an anthology.

To gain access to these contests and more, log in or sign up today at www.WritersMarket.com.

According to their email, here are the categories:

The deadline for entry is June 1, 2009.   Depending on your genre costs range from $15 to $20.  First place prize is $3,000 and the chance to meet with editors and agents in New York. 

For more information on this contest, please visit the following link: http://www.writersdigest.com/annual

I mentioned in one my last postings that one of the largest reasons for a manuscript being rejected is being sent to the wrong place.  If the agent specializes in horror, a romance novel will be rejected.  The same goes for magazines or newspapers.  If the style or content doesn’t match the publication, your article will be rejected no matter how well written it is.   Remember, publishing is a money making business.  Each publisher is looking to market their products to certain segments of the population.   When you work is read, the primary driving factor will be whether or not the material be marketed to their customer base.

Here are some steps to get to know your audience.

• Read all the submission guidelines.  Don’t just skim over them.  Most of them offer detailed information that will help you understand the audience.  Most agencies or publishing house will list genres they focus on in this area.
• Read a couple of issues of the magazine or newspaper.  Take note of what kind of articles you find.  Ask yourself questions about the style.  Use this information to figure out who the audience is.  Teen magazines have different styles than women’s magazines or men’s magazines. 
• If you are researching an agent or publisher, then find out what books they have represented or published.  Either read through a few of them or read enough to understand the style, genres or subject matter they want.

What if I want to write to a specific audience?

Again, research is the key.  Look at what that segment of the population reads or watches.  Talk to people in that demographic.  Both will help you write to that particular audience.

1. Don’t take it personally.
   Editors, agents and their staffs are people, meaning the same daily tasks and annoyances influence them just as they influence you. Plus, they have a job to do. This job requires them to use their own judgment and biases to sift through material. As with any working professional, they are busy; therefore, a form letter is usually the easiest and most productive communication to use.
2. Know it is not a statement on Your Talent.
   A rejection doesn’t mean you are not a good writer. What it may mean is that your piece didn’t fit the idea of what that particular company or agent was wanting to find. Even the most talented and commercially successful writers had a hard time finding the right publisher for their first work.
3. Celebrate it and keep writing.
   One of the writer’s groups that I attend occasionally celebrates rejection letters. Why? It means they are submitting their writing not just writing. So see the letter as progress and submit to another place.

These same ideas apply even if you are a corporate writer. A business may have an idea of a certain style or a specific background. When you are passed over for another writer, it doesn’t always reflect on talent either.

Keep writing, keep looking. Eventually, there will be a match.

The following is a list of main points from the meeting.  

·         Nine in ten manuscripts are rejected with a majority due to using improper fonts or paper, having bad grammar/mechanics, or sending to the wrong agent (sending a romance novel to an agent that specializes in mysteries). Times New Roman in 12 point may be boring, but it is an industry standard and a safe choice.

·         The first page makes the impression, make sure it shines.  You want your manuscript to make it past the first stage of reading.  If the initial reader doesn’t like it, then it will definitely be rejected.

·         Good content in necessary, but something unique and fresh in invaluable.  Remember the adage there is nothing new under the sun, and plots are included.  What will make your story different is having a fresh approach to a tired plot. 

·         Avoid generalities. Be specific in your word choices – clichés and adverbs detract.   Don’t forget that images can be just as much of a cliché as phrases.

·         Evoke a strong emotion and use vivid images.  Remember it is better to show than to tell, and showing through dialogue can be the strongest choice in some situations.  A good journalist knows that quotes tell the story, and the same can be true in fiction. 

If you follow the advice in these bullets, then your manuscript has a better chance of standing out. 

In the coming posts, I plan to elaborate more on these notes and some of the others that I have left out of this post.

Feel free to comment with your thoughts and experiences. 

How do I do that?  Read everything you can by that writer.  If it is a news writer, Google to find his/her articles or go to the library to look for books by the author you have chosen.  Then, read to pay attention to the style.   Look at the word choice.  How are the sentences varied?  Does the writer manipulate grammar for emphasis (stylistic fragments and run ons).  How are things described – adjectives, similes, metaphors?  What elements are missing and why might the writer have left them out.  If it is a fiction book, how are the character developed and how are the themes developed.  It may sound like preparing to writer a paper for English class, but it will be worthwhile exercise. 

Next, try writing a paragraph or two using what you learned.  Do this as a writing exercise daily, and eventually, what you are learning will become part of your own style in your writing.

Have I accomplished this task? I would have to admit I have yet to reach my goal, but I am a much better writer because of this practice. 

Here are some writers that I read for this purpose: C.S. Lewis (for sentence variety and description), William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor (for style as well as character development and story development).

Anyone want to share others?

Most Web Readers Tend To Scan a Website.

As readers, we are less patient on the web. That reason is why having readable web content is the most important aspect of your website. 

Writing for web readers is different than writing for print.  When writing web content, follow the old adage “less is more.”  The simpler the writing, the more engaged the reader will be.   

How can engaging Content help my business?

If your website isn’t reader friendly, most often, you will lose that visitor, and you, in turn, lose a potential customer or donor.  Presenting reader friendly web content increases the chance you keep the reader on your site so they can become interested in your product or cause. To accomplish this task, just follow the five steps below.  By doing so, you will place your website in a strategic position for success.

What Are the Five Steps to Creating Engaging Web Content?

Step 1- Know who you are writing to and what message reaches them best.  Each audience will have its own jargon. A general web audience requires different content than one geared to reach teens or senior adults.  

Step 2- Make the information easy to scan.

·         Use an inverted structure. Think like a journalist. Newspaper articles are written with the important information first and details later.  Your web content should be written in the same manner.

·         Use headlines to your advantage. Since most readers scan for information, place the important information in headlines.

·         Use bullets. Bullets help break down your information into chunks.  Also, think of the first sentence in a bullet point as a headline. Then, lead with the most important fact. 

Step 3- Make the information readable.

·         Use short sentences. Complex sentences tend to bog the reader down.  Typically, you want simple sentences that are two lines or less.

·         Use short paragraphs. Make each paragraph about four to six sentences long. 

·         Use a simple font.  While fancy fonts look pretty, they distract the reader. 

·         Use a simple vocabulary. Once again, use a newspaper as an example.  Most papers write on a middle school reading level.  Aim for the same level.  The only exception would be a website with an academic audience.

Step 4- Don’t Overload the page with content.

·         Focus on one topic per page.  Too many topics will cause the reader to lost interest.  Plus, your message will be lost.

·         Avoid clutter. Too many graphics will distract the reader. 

·         Set a 400-500 word limit for each page.  Web readers don’t like to scroll or follow links to continue reading.

Step 5- Make the page easy to navigate.

·         Create simple menus. Use simple menu text and avoid graphical links.

·         Use headlines to aid transition. Let your headlines help your reader move through the content.  Using question can help you accomplish this goal.

Notice that I have placed the “meat” of the article in headlines or after bullets, and my sentences and paragraphs are short with an average vocabulary.