Francesca Capaldi Burgess

Looking at more competition rules and why it’s important to follow them
To reiterate what I wrote last month, it’s amazing how often competition rules are ignored. Is it because people don’t bother to read them

 When it comes to writing competitions, the saying ‘rules are meant to be broken’ isn’t at all helpful
One of the most basic elements of competition participation is following the rules.

Having judged several

A new assortment of writing competition to enter
There’s another good selection of competitions this month, including one to win a week’s free place at Swanwick Writers’ Summer School this August, which is worth

Flexing our non-fiction muscles in competitions can be good practice for the blogs and interviews we undertake as authors.
Most of you reading this will spend much of your time inventing stories for a cast of

Looking at the different prizes on offer
A happy new year to you all. Here’s a question for you all to consider at the beginning of another writing year. What are you prepared to accept as a competition prize?

Considering Critiques

Is it worth paying for a critique for your short story or novel when entering a competition? Some competitions offer them, but they can vary enormously in price. Some critique writers will

No Explanation Needed
I hope you’re all coping with the current round of lockdowns (or variation, depending on where you are). Here are some more competitions to enter, which may take your mind off the present

Competition Deadlines
This month I’ve been thinking about the importance of competition deadlines. If you don’t enter a competition by the date stated, you’ll almost certainly be disqualified. But is there an

Whichever competitions you’re entering, it’s worth having a look at the winning entries from previous years, which are often featured on the websites. Sometimes you can purchase anthologies with the winning

How to make a good impression
How can you make a good impression with your competition entry? Although not all competitions stipulate a writing font and size, it’s a good idea to stick with something easily

Writing a novel is a long undertaking and it can take a while to reap any rewards. Entering short story and flash fiction competitions can be a good way to fill in the waiting time and earn some money, as

How is everyone’s writing going? There don’t seem to be so many competitions this month, but here are a few more to add to the list of things to do during lockdown.

Stay safe and all the best with your writing

Being on lockdown seems a wonderful opportunity to get going on all those writing projects we’ve had on the back boiler for so long, but it’s amazing how this surreal situation can make you lose focus. Here are

With the current situation in the country with regards Covid-19, many of us will be self-isolating, with time on our hands that we would have used for writing events, conferences, chapter meetings and classes. A

Rights Grabs

Recently there has been much made in the writing world about ‘rights grabs’ by certain magazines that publish short stories. Magazines will normally ask for all rights for a certain time, say eig

Simultaneous Submissions, Entering Previous Winners and Re-entering Unsuccessful Stories
The importance of reading competition rules has been mentioned several times on this post, and one of the things to look

Some photographs to inspire those competition entries 
It’s nearly Christmas, so not long to a brand new year – and a brand new decade. Perhaps among your new year’s resolutions will be one to enter more

Critiquing Not Criticising
Is it worth paying for a critique for your short story or novel when entering a competition? Some competitions offer them, but they can vary enormously in price. Some critique writers

Francesca looks at point of view in short story entries
It’s easy to accidentally switch point of view in the middle of a scene when using third person. This was something I made a note of when judging a short

Francesca considers deadline reminders and time zones
It’s easy to pick competitions you’d like to enter then forget all about them. I’ve done this a few times myself and it’s frustrating.

Simply writing the