The Inkitt “Darkest Place” Horror Contest 2015

Today I want to bring your attention to a great website called Inkitt. I was contacted by Lauren, who is head of the author’s community over on Inkitt, and asked if I would write a post to tell you all about the writing competition they are running in February. Of course, I was happy to get involved!

What is Inkitt?
Inkitt is a free platform for writers to cultivate ideas and watch their stories grow. On our site, users collaborate with fellow writers and readers to give each other feedback and improve their work. Our vision is to help writers get the exposure they deserve and the publishing deals they covet without having to jump through the fiery hoops of traditional publishing, or wade in the shark-infested waters of self-publishing.

I love the idea behind websites like Inkitt. They are great places to share fiction with a whole community of like-minded people and can sometimes act as a great platform to get your writing seen by agents or publishers.

So, without further ado, here is all the information you need to know about Inkitt’s “Darkest Place” Horror Contest…

The Importance of Being Competitive

Do you like what I did with the title there?

Nah, I didn’t think it was that good either…

Today I want to talk about writing competitions and how important they are to a fledgling writer. It’s sometimes as easy as Googling “writing competitions”, but other times you’ll only hear about them by word of mouth.

I’ll start by giving you a list of current competitions that you can enter:

• Fish Publishing – These guys run four competitions annually, including a Short Story and Flash Fiction competition. It’s judged by renowned poets and authors and the prize is pretty good.
• Writers’ Forum – This site runs a monthly short story contest. It’s a reputable site and well worth a look.
• Whidbey Writing Competition – A contest based in the USA, but open worldwide. You can write about anything and for any audience.
• Cazart – You can enter short stories or flash fiction, you can swear and it’s £5 to enter. It’s open throughout 2012 each month, so get over and have a look!
• Flash 500 – A humorous verse contest. The prizes are pretty decent, for the length of your piece (30 lines).
• Cinnamon Press – These guys run a range of writing competitions, which change regularly. It’s a good idea to bookmark their competition page.
• Fantasy Writing Contest – This is a yearly contest, run by Fantasy Faction, for fantasy writers. If your story wins, it gets entered into an anthology with a host of other well authors’ work. They start taking submissions from 1st January 2013.

You might be thinking, ‘Yeah, so what? I might win a small amount of money, but I might not win anything at all.’

Well that’s not the attitude to have. If you’re serious about your writing and you want it to lead somewhere one day, it’s a really good idea to enter some competitions. Here are the benefits that I see from taking part:

1. You’re committed to finishing a piece of writing (especially if there’s an entry fee).
2. You’re focused on an end goal and possibly a prize.
3. You’re usually confined to a particular genre/theme.
4. In some cases, you make connections with other writers and it’s great for networking.
5. It maintains your “edge”.

That’s right – like the knives in your kitchen drawer, there’s always one that’s sharper than all the rest. If you want to be successful, you need to make sure that’s you. Writing contests are great for honing your skills, expanding your toolset and exercising your “writer’s brain”.

If there’s one thing you do today, why not commit to entering a competition and start planning out your story?

I’m also going to do a special series of posts during the approach to NaNoWriMo in November, to help you get prepared and learn all about this annual tournament.

If you’ve got any questions about entering competitions or need some advice on writing, drop us a comment below!

~ James

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More on NaNoWriMo from the blogosphere:

• Should I Do NaNoWriMo 2012? (chortleatmygirth.com)
• Who’s doing NaNoWriMo this year? (writeontheworld.wordpress.com)
• Get Ready! How to Prepare for National Novel Writing Month NOW By Rochelle Melander a Rafflecopter giveaway (beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com)
• The Future Of My Writing (musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com)
• It’s Never Too Early For NaNo Dares (chyrondave.wordpress.com)
• 12 reasons to ignore the naysayers: Do NaNoWriMo (sequenturverbe.wordpress.com)
• 5 Things You Will Notice During NaNoWriMo (chyrondave.wordpress.com)
• Flash Fiction Challenge | 10 Options, 100 Words, Limitless Possibilities (joshmosey.wordpress.com)
• Flash Fiction – For a limited time only (dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.com)

Fantasy Giveaways and Competitions – July 2012

Happy Wednesday! Hopefully everyone’s week is going well. Today’s post will be bringing your attention to a couple of fantasy competitions and giveaways that are going on across the web at the moment. These are so easy to enter and you might win something!

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Win a copy of Steven Erikson’s FORGE OF DARKNESS

This generous blogger has three copies of Steven Erikson’s Forge of Darkness up for grabs and all you need to do is send him an email!

Visit this link for more details. Good luck!

Goodreads Fantasy Giveaway

Goodreads regularly give away advance copies of books of all genres. All you have to do is enter and see if you get selected!

The link is here.

Beth Bernobich Double Giveaway

US/Canada Only

Author Beth Bernobich is giving away signed copies of her books, Passion Play and Queen’s Hunt. Here’s a little about the series:

Ilse Zhalina is the daughter of one of Melnek’s more prominent merchants. She has lived most of her life surrounded by the trappings of wealth and privilege.  Many would consider hers a happy lot. But there are dark secrets, especially in the best of families. Ilse has learned that for a young woman of her beauty and social station, to be passive and silent is the best way to survive. 

When Ilse finally meets the older man she is to marry, she realizes he is far crueler and more deadly than her father could ever be. Ilse chooses to run. This choice will change her life forever.

And it will lead her to Raul Kosenmark,  master of one of the land’s most notorious pleasure houses…and who is, as Ilse discovers, a puppetmaster of a different sort altogether.  Ilse discovers a world where every pleasure has a price and there are levels of magic and intrigue she once thought unimaginable. She also finds the other half of her heart.

Visit this link to enter on her blog.