© Thames Valley Writers’ Circle
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It’s a short story competition…
…so try to avoid memoirs, monologues, poems etc. Have a plot with
jeopardy, dialogue, a chain of events leading to a conclusion, hopefully
unexpected.
Watch the word count
Keep your writing tight, don’t waste words - especially when writing humour.
Lights, Camera, ACTION
Don’t spend half the word count setting the scene. Get into the action as
soon as possible.
Maintain the pace
Try to avoid interrupting the story flow with information dumps or back story. If
the reader needs information, keep it brief and relevant. And don’t cheat by
having characters tell each other information that they would already know.
Iain Pattison’s Tips
Iain has been judging a competition for us each year, for many years. During that time he has given us great
feedback on how to write for a competition. Below are some tips gleaned from his comments that we hope will
help you to polish your work
One more tip…
Although the above points are specifically aimed at entries for the Barbara
Olive Smith Memorial Trophy, which Iain judges for us, they are probably a
useful guide for other events as well.
There’s more from Iain under the Writing tab.