Editor Interview: Fiction Factory Short Story Competition

Competition Entries

We enjoy reading articles in magazines as such as Writers Magazine, and on-line Writing sites like Myslexia. It's so helpful to be reminded of the 'rules' of writing from time to time.

We run literary competitions (Flash Fiction, Short Story and First Chapter+Synopsis) so we don't actually publish anything, as such. Just winning stories and chapters on the website. Our anthology of top rated entries is planned for 2024/5.

Any publication of winning stories is as good as quality of the top stories - something we have no control over. Our winning three stories are always original, beautifully written and compelling. Many entries qualify, and readers may not always agree with our judges' choices, but no once can deny the excellence of the story itself.

For writers wishing to enter our competitions I have plenty of advice, including, believe it or not: Pay attention to grammar and punctuation.
But for us, choosing winners from a long list of equally valid stories, boils down to how much the story affected us. Did we read, holding our breath, swept along by the characters' thoughts, conflicts, inner turmoil? Did we read the last line and say: Wow!

The ideal story is one that leads us straight into the protagonist's world, with hints of the dilemma. An engaging story forces the reader to piece together a picture from dropped clues and hints. The skill of the author is in the creation of real characters, people we can invest in, for good or for ill. Curiosity about the outcome of the story will keep us reading, but only we care.

Many writers believe someone has to die for a story to be thrilling. Nothing is further from the truth. Haven't we all been enthralled by a story where 'nothing happens'? Where a man might sit for hours in a cafe, agonising over a simple question. Will she come in, and if she does, will today be the day she smiles at him? The skill in turning such an apparently 'nothing happens' story into a riveting, satisfying story is one we might all strive to achieve.

We love cover letters. More information about an entrant gives them something beyond a name, and we feel a connection. To know the author is a 90 year old grandmother or a 16 year old schoolboy from Japan or Iceland adds an element of joy to our days. However, obviously, the readers and judges have no access to such information; each stoy is judged on its literary merits alone. Lists of previous credits does interest us of course, but serves only our curiosity.

We can generally tell within the first paragraph if the story has winning potential. However, we do usually read on, in case there is a later surprise.

Each of our Long-Long Listed stories is read by three different readers. The list is then reduced to approximately 25 for a final selection process. Six Short Listed stories are then sent to the judges.

It depends entirely on what stage we are in any given competition. One thing is for sure - we are always busy. Besides recording entries and reading for selection, we almost always have a back-log of requested critiques. These we like to take time over as sometimes the merits of a story take a while to percolate and our aim is to give our writers a personal and in-depth service.

We don't edit ourselves, that would not be ethical in a competition, but we may ask successful entrants to correct errors and resubmit before publication.

No. But we sometimes will suggest that an author submit to another competition/publication if we feel it appropriate.