Perilous Adventures: Finding Opportunities by Inga Simpson

ISSN 1836-8441

Finding Opportunities

by Inga Simpson

This month sees the opening up of a new opportunity, Scribe’s new Fiction Prize, for an unpublished manuscript by an Australian writer over 35. The winner will receive $12 000 and publication by Scribe. It’s a timely good news story amid all the talk of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), proposed changes to parallel import legislation, and ever narrowing opportunities for unpublished and emerging fiction writers in Australia. With most publishers having closed their doors to unsolicited manuscripts, and many agents following suit, it is becoming increasingly difficult for unpublished writers to get a start.

Competitions offer an opportunity to have your work considered by a panel of judges, build your profile, perhaps make a little money, and, in some cases, achieve the goal of publication. An award or shortlisting is a great addition to your writing resume and may just help you get in the door with an agent or publisher.

Until Scribe announced its new prize (with the loss of the ABC Fiction Prize last year) the only other national opportunity for unpublished fiction writers was the Vogel, restricted to writers under 35. Some of our best-loved authors have been unearthed in this way: Gillian Mears, Andrew McGahan, Tim Winton, Mandy Sayer, and so on.

For those of us who were a bit slower getting started, however, Scribe’s initiative is welcome news. Scribe’s Aviva Tuffield explains the award is intended to recognise that ‘many novelists, especially women, only find the time and have acquired the life experience to write novels later in life.’ As Scribe’s Fiction Prize is, however, also open to published writers, it will be interesting to see how many new writers it unearths.

A stocktake of the other major manuscript awards open to unpublished writers in Australia includes the following.

For indigenous writers, there is the Arts Queensland David Unaipon Award, part of the suite of QLD Premier’s Awards, with a prize of $15 000 and publication by UQP. This national award has discovered writers like Tara June Winch and Samuel Wagan Watson.

For Queenslanders, the Premier’s Award for Emerging Queensland Author is open to unpublished fiction or non-fiction manuscripts. The prize is $20 000 and publication by University of Queensland Press. From 2009, the Queensland Writers Centre offers shortlisted authors editorial support on their manuscripts. Some short-listed authors have also been published out of the competition. The award’s winning manuscripts have, however, tended toward social realism.

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards feature a Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer is offered for an unpublished fiction manuscript, which may be a collection of stories or a novel. This prize does not include a publishing contract.

In 2008, Penguin Australia ran its Most Wanted crime manuscript competition, with publication as the prize. As Rosemary Sorenson commented, this would seem to be the Penguin’s core business, so it was an interesting approach. Perhaps it suggests that not enough crime manuscripts are making it through the usual channels. It does not appear that the competition will run again this year.

For genre writers, there are some overseas opportunities. This year, science fiction publisher, Tor UK, is seeking entries from outside of the UK for its competition to find the new voice in science fiction and fantasy. No prize money, but lots of publicity and publication by Tor.

Also in the UK, the Crime Writer’s Association (CWA) Debut Dagger is open every year to writers who have not yet had a novel published commercially. This one is not sponsored by a publisher, so the first prize does not guarantee publication, but does include feedback on the work and £500 plus two free tickets to the CWA Dagger Awards, and a night’s stay for two in a top London hotel. Shortlisted entrants receive a selection of crime novels and professional assessments of their entries, and are also invited to the Dagger Awards.

Arena (an imprint of Allen and Unwin) Friday Pitch offers unpublished writers of popular adult fiction and non-fiction the chance to email a synopsis and first chapter on a Friday for consideration. You’ll hear by the following Thursday, if they want to see the rest. At least it’s quick!

Text offers an annual prize for young adult and children's writing, for an unpublished manuscript by Australian and New Zealand writers. Both published and unpublished writers of all ages are eligible to enter with works of fiction or non-fiction.

Short story competitions are also great opportunities to raise your profile. Deadlines (and the potential for monetary reward) can also motivate you to get writing and finish a project. The Josephine Ulrick Prize is one of the richest and most prestigious, offering $40 000 in prize money for short story and poetry. Also well regarded, The Age Short Story Competition offers a $3000 prize and publication to an unpublished short story.

In Queensland, One Book, Many Brisbanes has evolved into a short story competition with an attractive $6000 prize and publication in an anthology each year for stories in or about Brisbane by Queenslanders.

The Annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards also offer a rich pool of prizes for crime short stories. Previous winners have been published in the anthology Scarlet Stiletto: the fist cut, and there is talk of another anthology soon. Writers like Cate Kennedy and Tara Moss got their starts through this competition.

Other opportunities include the Bridport Prize, Alan Marshall Short Story Award, and of course, the Perilous Adventures Short Story Competition.

It is part of your job as a writer to monitor your writers centre magazine and website for upcoming competitions, as well as the arts pages of national newspapers and magazines. Lots of writers, too, do a great job on their blogs or webpages, of listing upcoming opportunities and deadlines. Mark them on your calendar and factor them into your writing schedule.

Before you enter, do your research. Take note of previous winners, and, if possible, read their stories/novels. Note, too, the judges and read their profiles. This will give you some sense of their interests and preferences.

It sounds obvious, but give it your best shot. It might be the only opportunity your manuscript gets. Give yourself plenty of time. Get some feedback from a mentor/editor/writer (not your mum) on your work well before the competition closes. Edit, edit, edit. When you think it’s good enough, do more. If you can, get someone else to proofread it for you, just to make sure it’s perfect.

Most importantly, read the guidelines and requirements. Make sure you are eligible, and follow all instructions to the letter. If, for example, the competition calls for six double-spaced, one-sided hard copies, do it, no matter your reservations about the impact on the environment.

Take careful note, too, of what you are signing up for. By entering the competition you are agreeing to its terms and conditions. If you sign the entry form and tick the box, it’s a contract. Things to watch include distribution rights, first right of refusal, time frames for publication, and royalties. If you are not clear, get some advice from your writer’s centre or a few writers who have been through the process.

There is no guarantee of winning a writing competition, of course. No mater how good you are. Judging is a subjective process and there are many other talented writers out there. What is certain is that if you don’t enter, you absolutely cannot win. There’s a story I like to tell the pessimists; those who talk themselves out of giving it a go. I call it the Bradbury effect. Not Ray Bradbury (Jaws), but (forgive the sporting analogy) Australian speed-skater Steven Bradbury. It was the 1000 metre sprint, Winter Olympics 2002. Few Australians were even watching, and I’m sure Bradbury expected to come in last. Instead, on the news that night, the whole world saw him skating to gold, arms in the air, coming from 15 metres behind after the rest of the field toppled over in an ugly tangle.

Bradbury’s win was even more unlikely. He won his heat but in the draw for the quarterfinals, Bradbury was allocated to the same race as the favourite (Ohno) and defending World Champion (Gagnon). Only the top two proceed to the semi-finals. Bradbury finished third and thought it was all over. But then Gagnon was disqualified, putting the Australian into the semi-finals. In his semi, Bradbury was coming last, well off the pace. Then, three of the other competitors crashed, putting Bradbury in second place, through to the final, and on to the most unlikely gold medal.

Unbelievable luck? Yes and no. Bradbury had been a competitor since 1991, part of the team that won the 5000m world championship final (the first Australian win in a winter sport). In 1994, his team won Australia’s first winter Olympic medal, a bronze. Bradbury was favourite for the individual 1000m but was knocked out in collisions, relegated to 24th. During the 1995 World Cup, a collision with another skater resulted in a near-fatal cut to his thigh. It took 18 months to recover. In the 1998 Olympics, Bradbury was again a medal favorite and again impeded by collisions. In 2000, Bradbury broke his neck in a freak training accident. He was told he would never skate again. Determined to compete one more time, he made the team again in 2002. Slower but wiser, he adopted the deliberate strategy of cruising behind the favorites, hoping for a collision. After winning his gold, Bradbury said ‘Obviously I wasn't the fastest skater. I don't think I'll take the medal as the minute-and-a-half of the race I actually won. I'll take it as the last decade of hard slog I put in’.

We all dream of instant recognition. Worldwide publication of our selling novel to widespread critical acclaim. For most of us, it takes a bit longer, a lot more work. Even for those writers enjoying what seems to be sudden success, in most cases they have been working away for years, and have had their share of bad luck, setbacks and disappointment; dark times when they considered giving up. If you keep writing, work hard at your craft, and keep entering, applying, submitting… the rewards will eventually come; a bit of good fortune, a break, getting that agent’s card.

Sometimes it can take longer than seems bearable. I know one talented writer who was published for the first time this year after ten years of working away, making shortlists, getting positive feedback. A long time, but so worth it now she’s there. I know another writer, extremely talented, who entered one of the competitions mentioned here. They didn’t win, but that year the judges created a special category, a kind of one-off second prize, to recognise the quality of their work. Even if you don’t win, a shortlisting can mean other opportunities, feedback, contact with judges and publishers. It can be a great first step.

If you are serious about your writing, you have to give yourself every opportunity to succeed. Writing competitions offer that opportunity, and keep the hope, the dream, the possibility of a breakthrough, alive for all writers.