Just Write 2020

9 Things We Recommend You Do Before Entering Any Of Our Competitions.

Hi New Writers

We hope that all of you have been staying healthy and safe in lockdown/quarantine. This chapter is all about how to improve your entries before you submit them (it will also help you get more reads and grow your audience). We recommend you do these before you submit as you never know when your story will be judged during the submission period. Make these changes before you submit so then you won't have to worry about making them before the judges get to your submission.

As always, this is not an attack on you or anything like that, it's simply things we think are important during judging and therefor our judges forcus more on these things. 

1. Edit your work. This one may be self-explanatory, but it is vitally important that you edit your work before we judge it, and not just the once over you give it before publishing. We mean really really edit your work. We will be releasing a chapter/s on how to edit your work properly and a grammar chapter on common grammar errors you should look out for. 

We would also like to emphasize this to writers writing in English when it is not their first/home language. Why? Because English is quite literally the dumbest language on the planet and has exceptions to every rule. We specifically recommend that you get an English speaker to help you edit your work because of all the nuances on the language. 

2. Ensure that your story actually fits the criteria of the competition.  This one is a big one for us. We love reading your work and we really enjoy helping you grow as writers but please, for all that is good and bright in this world please make sure that you have followed all the rules and instructions before you enter. Please make sure that you are actually eligible to enter. 

We do not like writing the words 'Submission declined' as much as you don't like reading them. So please follow all the rules and instructions and please make sure you're eligible. 

3. Tag your story correctly. This is particularly important when it comes to judging. Judges have preferences over the genres that they judge, if you have not tagged your story effectively you may be assigned a judge that isn't particularly fond of your genre. This could result in you getting marked down or the team having to deal with a frustrated judge. We are not saying that we support biased judging but it can be hard to judge fairly when you're judging something that you don't particularly enjoy reading.  

4. Monitor your author's notes. Author's notes can be a great way to engage readers but they can also be a fantastic way to make judges second guess themselves. If you have any author's notes that go a little something like this:

"Hi guys! I hope you like this chapter! This is the first book that I've ever written and I'm not really sure where its going but we will see. I also don't think it's the best chapter but I promise the next one will be better, I also make spelling and grammar errors so please point them out in the comments for me and I will fix them. 
Love you xx
author"

REMOVE THEM

Here's what our dear darling author did wrong: First they pointed out that they haven't planned the plot at all. If your judge reads this they might detract points from planning and research and points for the story because you have just told them that you didn't plan your story and that you haven't done any research on the topic.

 You also told them that you don't think that your writing is good if they really liked that chapter they might go back and re-read carefully to find out why you're making such a rash statement. The whole grammar and spelling errors thing just points out that you haven't edited your work. Another reason to take points away. 

5. Get advice from your readers. This is a great way to learn where you can improve, what your strong points are and how to engage more readers. Even if you only have 1 consistent reader that votes on every chapter, slide into their DMs and ask them what they like and don't like about your writing. Ask them where you can improve and what to do more. Ask them about your characters: Do they feel real? Do you want to get to know them better? Asking these questions will help you to grow and develop your writing. Please don't badger your poor reader, greet them kindly, ask them how they are doing and thank them for reading your story. When you have a bit of a conversation going, ask them if you can ask them some questions and explain why you are asking them questions. 

It's good to say things like: I want to improve the story so you will enjoy it more, I want to make it more interesting for you and stuff like that. It's almost like having a non-anonymous judge to give you advice and prepare you for the real deal. 

6. Connect with other writers on forums. This is a great way to build your readership, find someone to edit your work, find beta readers and make friends. Writing can be a lonely journey but connecting with people can make it easier and loads more fun. You may learn tips and tricks from other writers, develop your skill and make some great penpals. 

7. Establish your story. We advise you not to enter your story if you published it that day. There is a reason there is a min word requirement for the Watty's. You need to have more than 1-3 parts in order for the judges to fully grasp where the story is going and get a grip of your characters. This includes poetry. Judging one poem means the judges have more time to judge that one poem intensely meaning that you may get marked down as your mistakes and errors will shine. 

8. Prepare yourself for 'loosing' or not getting the score you want. We don't particularly think that not winning the competition is loosing because you gain so much in the process of entering and being judged. You find out about the weak areas in your writing, you get advice from judges, you might make some new writing friends and you might get some reads. But most importantly: you grow. 

However, this is, after all, a competition and someone has to win and with nearly 100 submissions is just our first month, that person might not be you. So before you enter any competition you need to prepare yourself for rejection and evaluate what that will do you as a writer. We don't want the prospect of you doing badly to hamper or stop you from writing. We want you to use this platform as a way to launch yourself into the world of writing. So do some soul searching and figure out if you will be able to handle not doing well or scoring low.  

9. Make sure you have a good cover. The cover has absolutely no impact on the judging process but if you're going to give your book a makeover may as well do it all in one go. Whoever says they don't judge a book by it's cover is a liar. We all do it some point. The cover is the first look your potential readers have at your story. A bad cover can drive your readers away and make them less inclined to read your book. If you aren't particularly gifted at graphic design then you can enter your book into a cover shop or ask a friend or family member for some help. 

That's it, those are our 9 tips on how to prepare your story and yourself for any of our competitions. We hope you liked our advice and that is aided you in some way. If you have any requests for things you would like to know more about in the writing sphere then please let us know what and we will put it in a future chapter. Also, we wanted to know if you want to learn a little bit more about The New Writer Awards? Do let us know. 

We look forward to reading your stories
The New Writer Awards Team