Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas a restful New Year, and is now looking forward to the challenges 2022 will hold.
Challenges?
Writing challenges, of course!
Here’s a challenge for writers who have not yet published a book: enter a writing contest.
Why? I can think of several good reasons:
Honest Feedback
Writing contests are a great way to get honest feedback on your writing, and we all need honest feedback. Feedback is a gift which can show us what we’re doing well, and where we need to improve on.
Feedback from Writers
But it’s important to get feedback from the right people. We can ask family and friends for feedback. While they might give encouraging feedback (You’ve done a great job! Keep it up!), it might not be accurate. Family and friends will be proud of you for having written a book, and may be able to tell you what they enjoyed and why, but they probably can’t tell you what needs to be improved (unless they happen to be successful writers who know your genre).
In contrast, contest judges are fellow writers, usually people who write in the same genre. Some will be fellow unpublished authors, some will be published authors, some will have won awards. All are willing to give up their time to help other writers improve their craft.
Targeted Feedback
Because they are writers (or editors, or agents), they know what good writing looks like, and they will judge accordingly. Most contests use a score sheet which looks at different aspects of the writing, such as the opening, the characters, the plot, and use of point of view or showing vs telling. Entering a writing contest will show you if you have issues in some of these areas.
Finding out you’re not using point of view well may be painful, but it’s better to find out from an anonymous contest judge early in your writing career than to polish the manuscript for months (or years), submit to a publisher and be rejected because of your point of view. (And point of view isn’t your opinion on a subject. If you’re a fiction writer and don’t understand what I mean by point of view, you need to learn).
Anonymous Feedback
Judging in unpublished contests is blind, which means the judges don’t know whose entry they are reading and judging. Most contests for unpublished writing ask writers to say who has read the entry so the contest organiser can avoid assigning the entry to a judge who may be biased. In addition, judges are encouraged to notify the organiser if they have seen any entries before so they can be reassigned.
Blind judging means judges can give feedback without worrying about that feedback potentially affecting a relationship (as can happen if you ask family or friends to critique your writing).
Bragging Rights
Finalling in or winning a contest gives you bragging rights aka a line in your query or proposal to an agent or editor. Many well-known Christian writers credit contests with helping them land an agent and/or publishing deal.
Contests
But how do you find a contest to enter? Well, Omega Writers has the deal for you …
The 2022 CALEB Awards.
The CALEB Award is run by Omega Writers although books don’t have to be overtly Christian.
Some of our winners have been “defiantly Christian”. Others have been great books by Christian writers with underlying Christian themes like love, honesty, or the importance of family.
While we do accept entries that aren’t specifically aimed at the Christian market, we do ask that all entrants state their agreement with the Omega Writers Statement of Belief. We also remind entrants that we are judging books based on a Christian world view, so general market titles are unlikely to score well.
The 2022 CALEB Awards will include unpublished manuscripts in up to three categories (depending on the number of entries):
- Adult fiction (any genre)
- Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction (any genre)
- Nonfiction
Entries will open in March, so now is the time to start polishing your first fifty pages and writing a synopsis.
Click here to find out more about the CALEB Award.
ACFW Genesis Awards
If you write fiction and are seeking a traditional publisher, then I would also recommend entering the 2022 Genesis Awards run by American Christian Fiction Writers. this covers adult and young adult fiction across a range of genres, and many winners and finalist have gone on to be published by big-name Christian publishers such as Thomas Nelson and Bethany House.
To enter, you’ll need a one-page synopsis (single-spaced), and the first fifteen pages of your manuscript (double-spaced).
0 comments:
Post a Comment