Writing Contests—A Few Thoughts
Quick note: what I am about to share here applies to writing contests hosted by literary magazines that have guest judges. While every writing contest has judges who agree to take part just for that piece of the process and could be considered “guest” judges in a sense, they are usually individuals who are affiliated with the organization in some way. For example, an editor who often presents at a certain writing conference might judge entries for a contest. With literary magazines, guest judges are typically a well-known writer who is not affiliated with the publication at all. Maybe they’ve had pieces published in it. Maybe they haven’t. I hope that makes sense.
How Contests Work
Most contests sponsored by literary magazines and other organizations are a form of fundraising. Some of the money might be an honorarium for the judge who reads the selected entries, but the bulk of the entry fees go to the sponsor. That’s why most contests have entry fees. If you find a conference that doesn’t have an entry fee and you would like to enter, do a happy dance and enter.
In general, with a guest judge, the publication is allowing the judge to choose the winner and the runners up (if any.) Writers tend to have huge egos, so it’s important to keep in mind that publications try to avoid making major edits, if any, to the story the judge selects.
If someone really fancy like Margaret Atwood is judging the contest, she is not going to personally review every entry. She doesn’t have time for that. Typically, the entries go through screeners—the same happy people who wade through the usual slush pile. The entries that make it through that filter go to the editorial team and they decide what is worthy of going to the judge.
The screeners are usually tasked with ensuring that the manuscript meets the following criteria (and a lot of these things are well within your control as a writer and lots of people mess up on these):
The entry is within the correct word count.
It’s an appropriate entry for the contest. If, say, it’s a short story contest, that means a short story. No narrative essays. No novel excerpts (and yes, we can tell.) No poetry. No flash.
The formatting is correct. Generally, this means normal margins, not narrow margins. Times New Roman font in 12 pt. You’re welcome to think it’s ugly. It is ugly, but it’s also what people expect. If the focus becomes the formatting of your manuscript, you’re losing. Double space. So. Many. People. Do not double space.
Proofread. In normal submission times, typos and grammatical errors aren’t great, but if they’re in a contest entry and you’re not Nabakov, it’s going in the bin.
Clear theme, story arc, and character arc.
One or two named characters.
Specific time and place (aka setting.)
This isn’t the time to be shocking and gross and probably not the time to write about what everyone else is writing about.
Before You Get Defensive About Those Last Bullets
Contests are about demonstrating skill and standing out in all the positive ways. Theme, character development, structure, and setting are essential parts of the craft of writing fiction. As someone who is not established, the screener has zero trust that you know these things and that you are intentionally breaking rules. If these components are lacking, the assumption will be, you don’t know what you’re doing.
In a short piece, if you get beyond one or two named characters and you have a screener who has to get through 20 manuscripts within the next two days after their day job, they’re going to be totally lost by page three. Keep it simple. You’ll thank me later.
Regarding the gross things, exposè pieces on things like, say, female circumcision or abuse of slaves, rape, etc. Basically think: exploitation. You know what people say about exploitation films? Yeah, guess what, a lot of people in the book world feel the same way about the books only with books, it’s a bigger time investment and it takes more concentration. Also, if you choose a topic like that, keep in mind that your piece is by default going to be compared with everything else that has already been written about the same thing, and the readers have read that stuff.
I’m not here to dictate what anyone writes. I know it might sound that way. It’s not that at all. Submit what you feel is the best fit for the contest, just recognize that if the piece is on something that is a hot topic, unless there’s something truly unique about the story, it’s probably not going to get very far. You know what else is sad? I would say that at that point, the work is judged on the merit of the writing alone, but that’s not where anyone wants to go because you would not believe the quality of writing that typically comes through. It’s usually pretty good. Use caution.
Is it worth it?
I’ve screened for contests. I’ve never won a contest. Full disclosure. I don’t think this means I’m a horrible writer. Some of my friends find contests motivating because there’s a deadline and (usually) a theme. Also, if you win, it’s something you can add to your writing resume and it can be a great form of validation. If you have the time, it sounds interesting to you, and it’s free or in your budget, go with your bad self.
Just be mindful that with contests, screeners and judges are looking for specific things and those same things don’t necessarily apply during regular submission periods—a lot of them do, but not all. Regardless of the outcome, keep writing!
