One of the most effective ways to hone your writing skills is simply to keep writing! There are many opportunities for a writer these days to take part in writing competitions the world over, thanks largely to the power of the internet. A budding writer keen on improving his skills and image as a writer will seize the most appropriate opportunities as often as he can. This does not mean, of course, that one participates indiscriminately in every writing competition one comes across. That would be a stupid thing to do and extremely counter-productive. Continue reading “On Writing Competitions & More”
Tag: Writing Competitions
Sometimes the best way to challenge yourself is to take part in a competition. You may win some, and to be honest you may not win most of them but there are advantages of merely participating in them. Writing competitions are no different. There are ever so many of them. You need to keep your eyes open and spot opportunities which may appeal to you and your tastes in writing.
Some call for only short stories, others are more broad-based in scope. Most of them charge a fee, though you do have some competitions which are totally free. Read the conditions prescribed as they vary from competition to competition, some don’t want you to submit work submitted elsewhere; most others don’t want work already published and so on. Continue reading “Gaining Through Writing Competitions”
Here’s some exciting news. The 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award has just been announced. If you feel your manuscript is ready, have a shot. The rules are here.
The Grand Prize Winner gets a publishing contract with an advance of $50,000 with Amazon Publishing. You could also get contracts with advances of $15,000 if you are one of the five finalists. Winning this contest, I need hardly say, can change your fortunes as a writer.
Recently I was speaking to a group of readers when someone expressed interest in NaNoWriMo, which I have always maintained has been a huge inspiration for my writing. NaNoWriMo is an acronym for the National Novel Writing Month.
Taking part in NaNoWriMo is an exhilarating experience. I did it for the first time in 2009 and from this effort emerged my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You” a psychological thriller. This was in 2010. Since then I completed NaNoWriMo in 201o, 2011 and more recently in 2012.
“Lucky For Some, 13” was my second thriller, which was based on my “NaNo novel” as we call it from NaNoWriMo of 2010. This was published in December 2012.
I came across this presentation titled “WAC and NaNo: Lessons in Letters and Symbiosis” from students of Kaplan University. It has a wealth of detail about NaNoWriMo and I found it most interesting.
Here are some awesome figures:
- In the first year, 1999, there were all of 21 participants with 6 being declared winners
- In 2006, there were 101,510 participants with 15,333 being declared winners
- In 2009, when I first took part, there were 167, 150 participants with 32, 178 being declared winners
- In 2011, there were 256,618 participants with 36, 843 being declared winners.
Of course, I must add that it felt great to read my name in the list of “Published Authors.”:)
I was delighted to be invited to join the panel of judges for the 7th Annual Short Story Challenge 2013, organized by NYC Midnight. It was an honor for me to accept. Continue reading “7th Annual Short Story Challenge 2013”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 