Thursday 21 February 2013

Winners to be announced


We’ll be announcing our annual Global Short Story Competition winner, and also the winner of our free winter poetry competition, in the week beginning March 11.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

To begin at the beginning

A story into the February Global Short Story Competition today got me musing. There are all sorts of ways to start stories, one of which is scene-setting.
The action doesn’t really begin in the opening paragraph, instead we join the characters in a pause before the action, which allows us to get to know the character (s) and the setting.
If the setting is a huge part of your story, or if a big part of your goal is to establish a mood, it‘s an ideal opening.
Sometimes you want your story to get going a bit faster but using the scene-setter can be really effective as long as the quality of the writer is such that it draws in the reader. And this one did it beautifully.
Plenty of time to enter at
www.inscribemedia.co.uk

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Plenty of time to enter competition

Nine days to go in the February Global Short Story Competition. £100 first prize, £25 for the highly commended. You can enter here at www.inscribemedia.co.uk

Monday 18 February 2013

Masterclasses

Inscribe Media is playing its part in the Darlington Arts Festival in May:
Crime Writing Masterclass

Crime novelist John Dean presents a day-long workshop helping you to create villains, invent detectives and murder folks!

Venue: Café Create, Parkgate

Date: Thursday May 2

Time 10am-4pm

Tickets and arrangements £25 for the day. Places can be booked in advance by contacting John Dean at d
eangriss@btinternet.com, tel 07889 554931
Children’s Writing Masterclass
Author John Dean, creator of Haghir the Dragon Finder, presents a day-long workshop helping you to take those bright ideas and turn them into compelling stories for children

Venue: Café Create, Parkgate

Date: Thursday May 9

Time 10am-4pm

Tickets and arrangements £25 for the day. Places can be booked in advance by contacting John Dean at

deangriss@btinternet.com, tel 07889 554931

Thursday 14 February 2013

Search begins for annual winner

Now that we have announced our December Global Short Story Competition winner, the team at Inscribe can start the search for our £250 annual winner, taken from the winners over the past year. Takes a few weeks but we'll keep you posted. You can enter the February competition here at www.inscribemedia.co.uk

Wednesday 13 February 2013

New look for Global Short Story Competition

The Global Short Story Competition has a new look and a new website.
The competition, which began five years ago and runs monthly with a £100 first prize and a £25 highly commended payment, has been taken over by Inscribe Media Limited, of Darlington, County Durham in North East England.
Entries to the competition come from all over the world and the judge is North East author Fiona Cooper. Approaching £9,000 has already been paid out to winners.
Inscribe has invested in a new website and company director, the crime novelist John Dean, who has been competition administrator from its beginnings, said: “The competition has been running for five years and it was high time for a revamp.
“The new site will, hopefully, be easier to use and we hope it will encourage more and more writers to enter their stories.The competition was established to encourage aspiring writers and has showcased some terrific talent during its first five years. I know it will continue to do so.”
As it develops, the new site will also carry details of a series of ebooks which emerged from writers featured in the competition as well as details of online creative writing courses. If you go to the old 
 old address, www.globalshortstories.net, you’ll be automatically forwarded to the new site.
Inscribe is also taking over the free social networking site for authors which accompanies the competition and has approaching 1,000 members. That can be found at
www.globalwriters.net

Tuesday 12 February 2013

December winners announced

Judge Fiona Cooper has selected her winners for the December Global Short Story Competition.

The £100 first place prize goes to a writer from Stockton-on-Tees, England. Fiona says of
Diana of The Moon by Tracey Iceton: “This is a beautifully dark piece of writing, with an arresting opening line which sets a pace that is well sustained through out the story. I'd like to read more by this writer - their use of language is rich and imaginative and there is hardly a word out of place. As a fan and writer of magical realism, I really appreciates this work. Excellent! “

The £25 highly commended prize goes to Kieran Ryan, of Hong Kong, of whose story Spirals Fiona says: “This is an elegant and economically told story which flits between the past and the present with ease and dexterity. Most of it takes place in the Grandfather's memory and yet it comes across as vivid and alive, even though her is feeling his life slip away. Thoughtful and compassionate, the writer avoids sentimentality and easy answers. Well done!”

The writers on the shortlist were:

Raymond Raulston, San Diego, California, United States

Michaela Savage, Bath, England

Esther Newton, Thatcham, Berkshire, England

Nicola Coady, Hoedspruit, South Africa

Rose Hutchison, Murchison, Australia

June Fenwick, Scarborough, England

Louise Chapman, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Monique Raymer, Ohauo,. New Zealand

Sina Mohammad Jafar Ghazvini Amini, Tehran, Iran

Well done to our successful writers.

You can enter the competition via its new home www.inscribemedia.co.uk