Honours go to writers from Australia and England in competition

Judge Fiona Cooper has selected her winners for the September Global Short Story Competition and writers from Australia and England have taken the honours.

The £100 first place prize goes to Ruth Purdie-Smith, of Sydney, Australia, for Mother Nature of which Fiona says: “What a superb story! Our relationships with our mothers are always complex, particularly when the mother figure grows older and we grow older and start to see the many layers of someone who has always been a parent. The writer explores this fearlessly and manages to paint that fuller picture with fleeting references to childhood, both her’s and her mother’s. A strand of real love emerges from this complexity, and makes this story come alive in a completely compelling way.”

Our highly commended runner up is Yara Rodrigues Fowler, of London, England, who wins £25 for The Story of Maddy Appletree, of which Fiona says: “This story has an admirable structure and an economy of style which completely suits the content. Death is an inevitable event which brings so many emotions into play that there can never be a definitive book about how each individual deals with it. This story explores an intriguing set of reactions, and ultimately brings a satisfying new hope to life. Excellent!”
The writers on the shortlist are:

Alexander Altman, Auckland, New Zealand

Jeff Taylor, Auckland, New Zealand

Siddhant VP, New Delhi, India

Anita Goodfellow, Marlow, Berkshire, England
Winning stories will be posted on www.inscribemedia.co.uk Well done to our successful writers. You can enter the November competition at the same address.

John Dean



　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Let’s celebrate!

One thing that has been apparent right from the start of the Global Short Story Competition is the sheer quality of the entries we receive.

We know that from our own experience and because many of our winners go on to win other competitions and also break into print with novels and anthologies.

We want to celebrate those writers and would dearly love to hear about successes from authors so we can highlight them on our site.
You can email us with details of your book and we’ll give you a shout out on our blog at www.inscribemedia.co.uk

All we need is a bit of blurb and a decent jpeg of the cover, to be sent to deangriss@btinternet.com

John Dean

Conflict - why does it matter?

Why is conflict important in writing? Because stories need things to happen and that usually comes out of conflict - characters argue, fight, feud etc.


It is through seeing characters in conflict that we see them at their truest, when their guard is down, when they are fighting something.

You can develop a character through conflict: the meek little parlour maid suddenly becomes the towering heroine of the story

Conflict takes the story on: a school is to be closed, two friends fall out, a community is torn apart by an event. All these types of conflict are a rich hunting ground for the writer.

Conflict can evoke a strong reaction in a reader

Conflict makes for good drama - and if that is happening then writing is easier.

It also gives you a structure for your story, a story to tell
John Dean

A bit of Caribbean warmth

One of the beauties of the Global Short Story Competition is the way it makes you feel. Today, as I write in rainy and cold North East England, I note that an entry came in overnight from Grenada in the Caribbean. A first for us, we think, and it made us feel a little warmer!

You can enter your story at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
John Dean

Poetry competition winner named

The Inscribe team has named the winner of our recent free poetry competition. The challenge was to stir emotions in no more than ten lines and the winner of the £50 prize is Chrissie Petrie with Clay Coffee Pot.
You can read the winning poem, and find out about our current free flash fiction competition athttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Inscribemedia/183385438479538

Why not make your reader feel uncomfortable?

Continuing my theme of evoking reactions in your reader, I think that good writing is about triggers - words, phrases, images, places, sensations - that reach deep into the reader’s mind.

That reaction will be based on something the reader has actually experienced, or maybe something that the reader dreads ever having to experience. It is why horror and ghost stories work so well.
Yes, you are messing about with the reader’s head, yes, you may be forcing them to confront difficult truths, but isn’t that sometimes what writing is about?
If every story, every book, was about sugary-sweet people in lovely situations, then writing could never really move the reader as it should.
So, yes, writing can, on occasion, make the reader feel uneasy, uncomfortable, scared even, but, let’s be honest, isn’t that sometimes the way we feel in our daily lives anyway? It’s simply art reflecting reality.
John Dean

November short story competition launches

The November Global Short Story Competition has opened for entries.
Launched more than five years ago, the competition runs every month with a £100 first prize and a £25 prize for highly commended writers. 
The competition, which has topped £10,000 in prize money handed out, has had entries from more than 50 countries over the years.
Each month’s competition is judged by Fiona Cooper, an author in North-East England, where the competition’s organisers Inscribe Media are also based. The competition can be entered at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
* Inscribe Media is also running a free flash fiction competition at its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inscribemedia/183385438479538 or accessed through www.inscribemedia.co.uk

John Dean