Elle

Philippa if you ever want a side writing-business I suggest a cover letter consultancy/critique service.

@AlanRain — the Bath Novel Award, like pretty much all writing competition is judged blind, so there are no names or identifiers on the extracts so readers and then judges do not know the gender, age or race of the writers. I suspect that a lot more women than men enter which means a greater chance to make it through.

I have a bipolar r…[Read more]

Has the competition moved here from the word cloud. Do I need to sign again? Where is the group? Can you tell I’m confused?

@jonathan — I agree, I found the twitter writing community really open and helpful. I follow a few writers who like me submit short stories and flash and everybody is always happy to promote each others work and give feedback, I also follow quite a few literary journal. I must be following the right people because I’ve never come across any kind o…[Read more]

Hi Sophie,

I enjoy reading this. I think you have two distinctive voices which makes each part stands out from other. Especially Laura, I am curious to get to know more about her.

I like the sense of urgency and confusion in the first section. Some of the word repetition work well but I think there might too much of it and and the repetition…[Read more]

I enjoy reading this, I get a Station Eleven vibe from it (that’s a good thing) in terms of setting the apocalyptic atmosphere and hinting that something’s coming however I think it might be a bit too much setting up in one go for my liking and I’m not overly fond of the omniscient narrator style (but that’s a personal preference of mine). I agree…[Read more]

@Daedalus – thanks!

Thank you!

My short story ‘Coming Home’ was published in Barren Magazine today https://barrenmagazine.com/coming-home/

Brilliant, congratulations!

Thanks Seagreen, I’m happy to hear that you’ve enjoyed the read.

Hi Squidge,

I only read the second version and I really enjoyed it and found it an engaging opening. I agreed with Philippa when the stake was revealed about what would happened if she failed, Tilda’s reaction felt weak compared to the pressure she has just been put under. Also if this is a school of sorts I would imagine she would have been…[Read more]

Thank you @Daedalus — I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks Philippa, that’s really useful especially your feedback about the scene after the big turning point, I can see how it can feel flat compared to what’s just before so I’m reworking it making it shorter and more to the point.

Also I’ll try to work it some more “wolf” reference about Jezza, maybe referring to him as the leader of the pack or…[Read more]

When writing that painful 1st draft always remember Hemingway wise words: “The first draft of anything is shit.”