Last week was quite amazing.
Anna James over in The Pool chose The Good Son as her number one choice for a beach read.
The Lonesome Reader found it ‘startlingly unique’ in his wonderful review. You have to read the backstory to the review. It involves a tube station, a drag queen and a bookshop in Navan. It’s a story in itself.
And finally, there’s a thoughtful review in The Incubator Journal page 93-95. Joanna O’Sullivan finds it ‘impressive and insightful’.
I hope you had a good week too!
“The Good Son” is a startlingly unique coming of age tale which makes the Troubles come alive through the eyes of a boy who has known nothing else, but dreams of better things beyond it.”
A lovely review of my book – but check out the story of the reviewer who while reading the book at a tube station had it snatched out of his hand by a drag queen and the help c/o a Good Samaritan from Navan. You couldn’t make it up!
I’m judging this short story competition alongside Laura Del-Rivo. You have until 31 August – here’s the details. Or click here.
For this new competition we’re taking inspiration from Arthur Rimbaud’s famous declaration ‘Je est un autre’ – ‘I is another’.
The task
We would like you to write a story in the first person about someone who is not you but which is about a subject close to year heart. Therefore the storyline will really matter to you but the story should not be autobiographical.
It should have a strong theme such as betrayal, sorrow, lust, jealousy or revenge and be under 2000 words.
Take your inspiration from:
Cathedral by Raymond Carver
Notes on Time by Laura Del-Rivo
Development by Karen Jennings
What is the prize?
The author of the winning short story will receive £200.
The winning short story and runners-up will be published in our online magazine.
The winner and runners-up will be announced at an awards ceremony in central London.
The Judges
Paul McVeigh and Laura Del-Rivo
Who can take part?
We accept stories from anywhere in the world but submissions have to comply with these guidelines:
The short story has to be written in English
Translations are not accepted
The short story should be 2000 words or less
The short story must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been previously awarded or published
You can only send in one short story per entrant
We only accept electronic (email) submissions
When is the closing date?
You can send in your entries from 1 February and the competition closes on 31 August 2015.
How to submit your entry
In order to enter the competition you have to email us: submissions@hollandparkpress.co.uk We regret that we cannot process entries that do not follow the guidelines set out below, so please read these instructions carefully.
The short story must be attached as a single Microsoft Word file
The Word file has to be named as follows: ddmmyy_firstnamesurname_another.doc, where ddmmyy is the date on which you send the email, firstname and surname are your names.
‘I is Another’ must appear in the subject line of the email
The body of the email should contain your contact details
Please do not add your name or contact details to the Word file attachment that contains your story
Good luck! We look forward to receiving your story.
I’ll be running my ‘That Killer First Page’ class for Bath Short Story Award October 17. Here’s the details. Hope to see some of you there.
…We are delighted to host this three-hour workshop with Paul McVeigh, co-founder of the London Short Story Festival, Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s leading short story salon and a reader and judge for national and international short story competitions.
Saturday October 17th, 1.45 pm – 4.45 pm Bath Central Library, Bath. Cost £40. Book here, places limited.
Find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. You’ll get tips on staying focused, where to start the action, how to write with emotional impact, and how to edit your story Then you’ll have a go at writing the opening of your story and get brief feedback from Paul. You’ll also look at submission opportunities; how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.
Paul McVeigh’s short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 4. He has read his work on BBC Radio 5 at the International Conference on the Short Story in Vienna, the Belfast Book Festival and the Cork International Short Story Festival where he is appearing again in September this year. He is also appearing at the Wroclaw Short Story Festival Poland in October.
The Good SonPaul’s novel The Good Son was published to acclaim in April by Salt publishing and has recently been short listed for the Guardian Not the Booker Prize.
This year he is judging the Penny Dreadful Novella Prize alongside Sarah Baume and Colin Barrett, The I is Another Short Story Competition alongside Laura Del Rivo and is the sole judge of the Bare Fiction Short Story Prize.
Last year this Killer First Page workshop was a sell out in Melbourne Australia, and Waterstones Piccadilly. Spaces limited to 20.
Comments from previous workshop participants
“Fantastic! Practical, targeted advice like this is wonderful!”
“This was my fave course yet! Informative, entertaining, and engaging. Hard to beat.”
“I emerged from the sleepy hamlet of my writing infancy last Saturday and was sky-rocketed, hurricaned, tsunamied, autobahned and g-forced out of my head by Paul McVeigh’s “That Killer First Page” Masterclass at Waterstones, Piccadilly. He’s on top of his game, gives instinctive, constructive criticism and in a few short hours, had conveyed the essence of how to make a story compelling and unputdownable from the first few lines. Get on one of his courses if you can.”
I’m so thrilled that The Good Son has gone from a longlist of 70 books down to the last 6 to make The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ shortlist. That it got there by public vote is a fantastic feeling, making the shortlisting all the sweeter.
Thanks to everyone who voted for me.
Read all about it here.
I’m judging this year’s Bare Fiction Short Story Prize which has opened for entires. If you’re based in Northern Ireland I’ll be running a class at the Crescent Arts Centre on August 5 called ‘That Killer First Page’ all about how you can make your work stand out to judges and editors. Get writing. Get submitting.
International awards for Poetry, Flash Fiction, and Short Story.
Our inaugural prize of 2014 was a great success with an extremely high standard of entries. You can see the results of last year’s competition by clicking here and you can read the winners in our March 2015 edition of the magazine.
Paul McVeigh’s short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 4. His novel The Good Son was published by Salt Publishing in April 2015. He is the co-founder of London Short Story Festival and Associate Director at Word Factory.
1st, 2nd & 3rd prize winners will be published in the Spring 2016 issue of Bare Fiction Magazine and on our website, with the prizes to be awarded at the Spring launch reading in London in March 2016 (date to be confirmed).
Poetry (max 40 lines):
Flash Fiction (max 500 words):
Short Story (max 3000 words):
£5 / £3 for subscribers
£6 / £4 for subscribers
£8 / £6 for subscribers
You can subscribe during the submission process if you wish.
Payment can be made by Credit/Debit Card, PayPal or by Cheque (GBP Sterling).
I’m delighted to have been longlisted for The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize. The shortlist is created by readers votes. You chose two books from the list and leave a very short review of one.
So if you enjoyed The Good Son it would be great if you could pop over and give it your vote. Click here.
Thanks 🙂
Elizabeth McCracken’s wonderful short story collection ‘Thunderstruck’ won the prestigious The Story Prize in the USA this year. ‘Thundserstruck’ has just been released in paperback here in the UK. You can read my interview with Elizabeth here.
I hope you enjoy it.
Cate Kennedy and me at the International Conference on the Short Story in Vienna.
I interviewed the wonderful Australian author Cate Kennedy in Australia. Here’s Just one of the amazing things she had to say about writing… “My problem with having any kind of creative life was that I was a hoarder. I was a hoarder with my own assets. A miserly little person who had this wallet of ideas and I would count them every morning and dole out one for this thing or that. I was a miser. And that is nothing but grief, down that path. The amazing thing that happens when you spend it all, when you put everything you’ve got into that next story, everything you’re hanging on to, make it the best thing you can do, don’t worry that you’ve got nothing else to save, because tomorrow, when you wake up, like a well, it’s rising from beneath. Better ideas. Better currencies. Better things than you’ve been hoarding in that little purse of yours. Don’t be a miser. Be profligate. Spend it all. That was a gigantic turning point for me. That made me realise I really wanted to do this. and I wanted to do it even if it meant self-publishing and getting a blanket on the ground and giving it away.” Read the full interview here…
I’m coming home to Northern Ireland for the Aperture Festival 29th July to August 2nd in Ballycastle. I’ll be giving a reading Sat night. I’m taking part in some panels and giving a class there on Saturday 1st on creative writing.
The following week I’m in Belfast and will give 2 classes at Crescent Arts Centre That Killer First Page and Social Media for Writers. Click to see more about each class and if you’d like to do both, contact me for a discount.
That Killer First Page has sold out in Melbourne, London and Cork. The course helps writers get an insight into what competition judges and editors look for in a short story. This year I’m judging 3 competitions in UK and Ireland.
Social Media for Writers gives my personal experience of using social media and blogging to create and grow a public profile and to generate paid work. My blog is getting 40,000 hits a month and has had over 900,000 visitors.
I hope to see some of you there.
Paul McVeigh 