Win Writing Awards To Gain A Five-Figure Income
How do you submit a large number of short stories to win writing awards? The greater number of contests you enter, the better your odds of winning. But each award scheme appears to have precise requirements.
For instance, a competition might demand a particular plot. For example, 'imagine that somebody opens up a document or diary they are not supposed to read. What occurs after that?' Some other award schemes may well set a contestant the initial words of a story eg: 'My life could have been completely different, if simply I had...'
Do you need to craft a new story every time to abide by such rules?
Certainly no! Any kind of properly constructed narrative includes a powerful plot component or 'nugget' that is certainly independent of its personalities, descriptions, occasion, place or even genre.
Therefore it is possible to recompose that nugget to match virtually any competition. And submit the same core story over and over!
Do you recall account of Bluebeard's Cupboard? That theme is actually noted in different cultures throughout the world ever since records began. The exact same tale has appeared in drama, ballets, poetry and, needless to say, pantomimes.
And yet surely (you might cry) my account is basically sad. How can I revise that into a happy or witty one? Or the opposite way round? Easily enough. All sad tales include a sufferer. Incorporate amusing endings and then the tragedy turns into a comedy. Get rid of the funny ending and your jest becomes a sad story.
It's the truth! In the 1600s, a producer produced Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as 'tragi-comedy' then 'farce' on alternative days. With the witty variant, he eliminated just one or two scenes then put in positive endings in the pre-existing scenes.
Hence... just re-create the story to the requirements of each contest!
You will have to do very little more than write a fresh first paragraph, and create a few incidental variations to personality names, dialogue, setting and key occurrences. That way, if you're a knowledgeable writer, you may find it feasible to develop a number of fresh entries within a single working day from just one initial, solidly created story.
Submit six stories a day, each to a different award scheme and - provided you're competent at your craft - at least one entry per working day might win you a prize, at the bare minimum. It may be a lucrative top prize!
Whether you go on to adapt your winning entry and re-send it to further award schemes will depend on the requirements of those award schemes. Nevertheless do be cautious which contests you opt for when re-entering a newly tailored story. Or else, before long, every award scheme judge in the world will chuckle when your entry arrives and murmur: 'here comes that idiot once more.
Needless to say, don't cheat
Award scheme organisers usually allow a variety of entries from the same contestant. Even so, it would certainly not be a wonderful idea to make multiple entries to the same competition under numerous fake names, using the addresses of your accommodating buddies, in some foolish scheme of enhancing your success rate.
Simply think. Suppose you won just about all the awards and had to arrive personally to receive them! You wouldn't know where to hide.
If you wish to pursue chicanery, go directly into PR. It's lawful.
But if you merely customize your award scheme entry to the requirements of every competition, utilizing one core story, it's not being deceitful. It's a win-win story system!
About the Author
Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing, is director of the writing awards centre Writers' Village. A university lecturer in creative writing, he has been for many years a contest judge. You'll find hundreds of ingenious strategies to win major prizes in his 7000-word manual How to Win Writing Contests for Profit. Acquire it free now at: http://www.writers-village.org/writing_awards
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