Saturday 3 November 2012

Competitive Short Story Reading

The Muscular Dystrophy Association Short Story Competition has closed and I and my intrepid team of judges have been wading through the entries this weekend.

We got a number of interesting tales of all sorts of genres and the debate between the judging panel has been hot.  Some stories we all agreed on. Others required much discussion.  None of us envy Judy Bailey the task of selecting the ultimate winners from our shortlist.

 One thing we all agreed on was the importance of remembering the basics when it comes to writing an story structure.  Stories need a Beginning, Middle and End.  Several stories forgot one of these elements - often petering out rather than providing a satisfying ending.  It doesn't have to tie everything up in a neat bow, but it does have to feel ended.

Overall though, these are some great stories and we're very much enjoying the process of this competition.  Hopefully we'll have some results soon.

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