UNPUBLISHED? Here's your chance! KYD Awards for early career writers

Just saw this in the KYD (Kill Your Darlings) newsletter. Unfortunately, I'm not eligible, but you might be!

The KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award

This award will assist an early-career author in the development of their unpublished manuscript. The award is open to writers of adult fiction and adult non-fiction.

The winner will receive a $5000 cash prize and a mentorship with KYD’s Rebecca Starford (non-fiction) or Hannah Kent (fiction).

Submissions open 9am AEDT Wednesday 1 February 2017.
Submissions close 5pm AEDT Friday 31 March 2017.
The shortlisted entrants will be announced on 1 June 2017.
The winner of the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award will be announced on 3 July 2017.

Please read the full KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award Submission Guidelines and Terms & Conditions here.

The judges for the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award will be announced in 2017.

WRITING TIPS for the holidays

source

So, you've been aching to get stuck into that new story for months but work commitments/life hasn't allowed for the full immersion needed to really nut out the plot and characters. Perhaps you've got your first draft almost done. Either way, I have some tips for you - easy ways you can improve your writing, whatever stage you are at.


TIPS

1.     Use strong verbs rather than ineffectual words such as 'started', 'was', 'had', 'just'. Go through your entire MS and eradicate them!

2.     Try not to begin sentences with the noun/subject of the sentence, such as 'the' or the person's name. Begin with verbs, adverbs (sparingly) or subordinate clauses. This adds variety and can have a strong influence upon the rhythm of your work.

3.     Try to keep one subject per sentence ie: if you're describing a person, keep to them, or if it’s the ocean, develop that further. Link ideas with the first word of the next sentence.

4.     For a tight, concise manuscript, go through each sentence and eliminate at least one word. You will have to rewrite, but it will make your work stronger and more punchy.

5.     Have your plot worked out, even roughly, beforehand. I now use index cards with a brief description of each scene. I put them on my whiteboard with blu-tack and can move them around at will. In my latest novel I realised I had two missing scenes!

6.     Use active, rather than passive. ie: 'the sound of glass breaking was heard by Miriam' is passive. 'Miriam started. Glass smashed somewhere in the house.' Show what the character is doing, rather than what is being done to the character.

7.     Use the speech function in Word to hear your work read back to you. The computerized voice sounds a little odd, but hearing someone else read your work makes a huge difference. While you listen, edit.

8.     NAMES - for goodness’ sake, choose character names carefully! Don’t use modern names in a medieval fantasy. Similarly, don’t use old fashioned names that just do not fit the context simply because you’ve always loved them. Made-up names add to the world you have constructed, so make sure they sound like they belong there. Unless you’re doing it deliberately for effect, name your characters with their personality in mind - for instance, (in a fantasy story), a large, crudely featured man might be called 'Grumm,' and a dainty lady of royal birth might be called 'Trilaya'.

9.     Dialogue - the way a person speaks should reflect their character and make it easy to identify them. "Great," smirked Josh. "If you had listened to my sage advice you would not now find yourself in such distress," opined Wallace. "Yay!" Shrieked seven year old Lucy.

10.  Give us a picture of what your character looks like as soon as possible. Even scant details are better than none. Don't wait for page five to tell us the colour of her eyes.

11.  Begin a new line for each speaker's dialogue.

12.  Some of our most precious and treasured words are the very ones we have to take out, ie: 'kill your darlings'. They trap you into thinking they're so wonderful that the entire story can work around them, when in fact they hold you back and annoy the reader.

13.  The old saying, 'show, not tell' is so hard to do, but you must keep it in mind. Reveal a person's feelings/thoughts/opinions through their speech and actions. It is more effective than simply telling the reader.

What constitutes 'writing'? Are we lying to ourselves?

So, you have this dream, a beautiful, sparkly dream where you sit down at the keyboard and the words flow from a pristine font deep inside, stories fully formed... Ah!

Seems a world away from the dishevelled form slumped in front of the computer struggling through bleary eyes and a headache to skid in to a deadline, hitting 'send' at two minutes to midnight.

So, when we chat to each other, as writers, do we lie? Gloss it up? Tell the truth? Cos doesn't everyone else seem to be doing so well, churning out books, gathering piles of publishing contracts, smiling blissfully at their bank statement?

Er, no. A select few may have this experience, occasionally. I've known writers who struggled for YEARS before getting a single contract and then had their career take off, when they are in their fifties. The vast majority of writers in my circle of acquaintance struggle with the exact same issues I do:

• Constructing a bubble of time in which to work that is separate from work, family, friends
• Focussing on what they were supposed to be doing in said bubble of time, without being distracted by kittens and baby hedgehogs
• Being organised and then actually sticking to the plan
• Not expending considerable time and energy on the perfectly cleared desk, dust-free house and clean, shiny car before settling to write

So, I ask, what constitutes actually writing in any given day? Is it going through your notebooks collecting those stray bits you want to use? Is it updating your blog? (like I'm doing now) Is it doing publicity stuff for your last book? It is emails to other writers discussing writing stuff? Is it reading well informed and interesting blog posts? Connecting on LinkedIn etc? Reading your journals? Following leads? Submiitting to a publisher?

I'm sure everyone would have a slightly different answer. Here's what I think, seven books down the road,with two more to come out this year - as long as you are writing something, towards any project, it counts.

One of the most valuable writing exercises I do is putting together a synopsis for a publsher. Nothing gets you in a knot faster than having to summarise your entire book into a single page, or even (hold your breath) one sentence! But it's a brilliant process. The clarity is astonishing.
So, what do you think? 

How Cornelia Funke helped me write a blurb

 One of the YA writers I greatly admire is Cornelia Funke. Writing in her native German, she then has her work translated into English.The result is a uniquely phrased and beautiful way of writing. For my current novel, I wanted some help with getting that all-important premise sorted, before I actually start writing. My usual method is 'discovery'. As I write the book, I find out the character's passion and motivation. Although it unearths many unexpected pleasures, this is a complicated, frustrating way to write, which results in far too many drafts and a lot of confusion. So I vowed I'd do it differently this time. I asked myself, "which of my favourite authors writes a brilliant, concise blurb and has a proven track record?" One book immediately sprang to mind: Cornelia Funke's Reckless.


             
         Here's the blurb:

Through a mirror...

is a dangerous world.

For years, Jacob Reckless has enjoyed its secrets and treasures.

Not any more.

His younger brother has followed him.

Now dark magic will turn the boy into beast, 

break the heart of the girl he loves, and cause chaos to rule forever...

Unless Jacob can find a way to save them.

You thought you knew about fairy tales? Think again.

a sketch from the book

Intriguing, isn't it? You know straight away -

• the main characters
• the setting
• the conflict
• the stakes
• the main character's purpose

Cornelia Funke

And it's all in 65 words. A blurb is not a summary of your plot. It is a taster, a teaser. It's purpose is to get the reader hooked and wanting to find out what happens. Already, I care about Jacob and his brother, just from reading this blurb. I also know something of his character - he likes excitement and he feels responsibility for his younger brother. His name also helps - 'Reckless.' Many questions spring to mind. Why did he go into the mirror world in the first place? Why is it dangerous? What did his brother follow him? What was his girlfriend doing in there too? What are the treasures Jacob found?
In studying the features of this blurb I was able to nail down my own premise. I also used pages one and two of the book to help me with my first chapter, but that's for another day.

cheers, Dawn

Why the Heck to Writers Persist?

photo (c) Dawn Meredith

If you're married to a writer, living with a writer or related to one you may well have asked this question at regular intervals, especially when the writer in question is in a hole, that black night of indeterminate length we call a crisis of confidence. I believe true writers write because they can't not do it. It's a compulsion. A weird one, I know, seeing as it can lead to misery and angst, but I tell you non-writers this, when your work is accepted, it sounds pathetic to say it, but you feel like you are accepted, that what you burned to say to the world is not only being heard, but being valued by someone. Let's take a peek inside the writer's head for a moment.
Writers are observers. We process every tiny little thing that goes on around us. We're worried we'll miss something important. (That's why there's so little room for other more mundane things. Or am I the only person who forgets to buy milk?) We constantly compare what we see and feel with other things we have experienced and new ideas pop up, wonderful new ideas which we yearn to develop. It's a bit like waiting for a flower to open. You know there is beauty and wonder inside and you can't wait to see it. In a sense we're gardeners too. We watch the ideas flower inside our head and our notebooks and on our computers and we seek to nurture them, water them until they emerge as fully formed things. There is pride in that process. There is also fear and wonder and delight. All the while we are battling against the inner critic, the overzealous editor in our head who likes to tell us what we have to say is rubbish and that no one will listen, that we have SUCH a  long way to go yet. This is why we falter. We know that publishers will send rejection letters and we know that we have to have a thick skin, but it still hurts. We can comfort ourselves with the thought that its all part of the apprenticeship, the journey to greatness, and that constructive feedback helps us grow, forces us to change and adapt. But it still hurts.
The industry is finicky, subjective and prone to the whimsy of Lady Luck, but just because someone criticises our well-crafted masterpiece doesn't mean it's worthless. It just means it hasn't found a home. And let us not forget the elation and joy that comes from the process of writing, of dipping into that delicious river of inspiration.
I leave you with these thoughts, emerging from the maelstrom that is my consciousness in the wee hours one morning:

Writing is an addiction 

to pain and glorious triumph, 

shattering defeat,

self-loathing and bliss.

It revels in my suffering.

It pierces me with joy.

cheers, Dawn