Writers in the Storm

by Kris Maze

January is a time to reset the clock and to check in with our fountains of creativity. To use the cliché of pumping our thoughts out like water, we have a limited resource of creativity and, when neglected, it can also run dry. But if you are a regular reader of this blog, you are probably inspiring your muse and keep a healthy creative balance.

In this post, I will write about 8 hidden benefits of joining a writing contest. Whatever your experience level with writing competitions, you may find new motivation to try one.

Want to follow up these reasons and try a competition? Browse lists of competitions at the end of this post. Familiar with writing contests? Do you know of ones that I’ve missed? Tell us in the comments and share with our readers.

7 Reasons to Join a Writing Contest in 2023

#1 - Don’t Let the Creative Pump Run Dry

If you have been grinding away on a project, switch up your focus and write a short story for a contest.

#2 - Join a Contest With Friends

I was introduced to NYC Midnight by other writers here at WITS. We have competed side by side a few times. It’s great to have a person to commiserate with. It is good to utilize our collective knowledge of various genres.  

According to their competition descriptions, each contest holds a writer to very specific constraints. Writers get three prompts, depending on which challenge they join, like genre, action, character, setting, object, subject, or a word. They have a time frame ranging from 8 days to 24 hours to submit their work. They also have a tight page or word count. This challenge both freaks out the writer when they get an unexpected element and/or pushes them to expand their writing skills.

#3 - Challenge your Chops

Again, NYC Midnight challenged and encouraged me as a writer. Reasons I found this valuable include the following:

• It made me find the edges in my ability and to push them further. 
• I tried new things and found that I was better at some types of writing and good at some I didn’t expect.
• I wrote alongside other WITS writers, and we commiserated during the process. It was fun to help one another write under a tight deadline, especially since we were asked to write outside our comfort zones.

#4 - Connect with Genre

Many contests are genre specific. A quick internet search of “writing contests” and “mystery” brought up several articles showing 55 contests and more for 2023. Search for your specific needs. There may be a contest directly related to the work you are looking to showcase.

#5 - Show Off Your Latest Work

If you have a short story, entering it into contests is one way to shop it around. Winning entries are often published in contests, giving your story—and your list of publications—a boost.

#6 - Get Excited with Some Friendly Competition

Get ready to rumble and put your finest work out there. Writers tend to submit their best work, so competition can be tough, but motivating as you polish up your own story. Let the competition energize you and have fun with it.

#7 - Feedback from Experts

Most contests have experienced judges that will read through and select the winning entries. Many of these contests offer a feedback option regardless of who wins the prizes. Search for the ones that do if that appeals to you. Getting commentary on what worked in your story can be a valuable part of the contest process.

Tips for Finding the Right Writing Contest for You

A little research can help you get the most from your writing contest experience. Think over these considerations before submitting your work.

Is a contest free or paid?

There is a trend in writing contests to only join free contests. The idea that there are many more entries than prizes can raise some eyebrows, but holding a contest has costs writers should pay attention to as well.

Things to ask and research may include:

• Do they pay their judges for their time?
  • How many entries are there typically in the contest and the odds of winning?
  • How many past winners are there, and can you see their work in publication?
  • How many prizes are awarded?
  • What other benefits does the writer entering the contest get for contests charging a fee?
  • Does the organizer of the contest support writers in other ways?
  • Does the writer get detailed feedback on their work after submitting it?
  • Are there other free contests that are worth more of your effort?

Writers may live the creative life without always receiving pay for their work, but it doesn’t mean they should. If a contest is held by what you deem a reputable organization, it may be worth supporting them. 

Entry Fees?

Many online services charge the organizers fees for submitting entries. There are also many costs associated with hosting a contest and keeping the information readily available online, on a website, and throughout social media. Think of ways to your entry fee can inspire other writers by keeping contests open and available.

What Benefits Do You Get from This Contest?

Writing contests vary. And so do the needs of each writer. These aspects may help a writer decide on which contest they want to join.

Is there a cash prize?

The bigger the potential prize, typically the more entries and higher level of competition

Is the competition local? 

Smaller contests are great chances to get noticed. Local contests can connect writers to other writers and editors in your community. This could lead to more writing resources and friends nearby. 

Is the judge someone known in your genre of writing?

Putting your work into a contest can get exposure of your work to others in your area of interest. This is especially nice if the judge will also provide feedback. 

Is it an option to get published?

You may not be able to enter your work into another contest or publish it if you have put it into certain contests. Always check the entry rules carefully.

Is your work right for the contest?

Check the entry rules carefully again. It wastes the time of judges (and potentially your money) if you haven’t matched your work with what the judges are looking for. You may have a suspense spy story, for example, but the contest is looking for stories that depict the noir and crime elements of that genre. Save yourself and the contest judges' energy by only entering contests that match your story well.

Blog Posts Listing Contests in 2023

Writers UnBoxed has many great resources for writers. This post gives detailed reasons to join and lists prizes and benefits of each contest. Here is a list they recently posted: Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time in Winter 2022-2023 .

Reedsy has articles written by editors and has many insights into the publishing industry. They also host a weekly contest with a prize of $250 and a chance to be on their blog. Here is their list of writing competitions curated by Reedsy: The Best Writing Contests of 2023 .

Poets & Writers is a nonprofit magazine that offers a list of writing competitions here. This post allows the writer to filter the contests by fee, genre, and deadlines.

Writer’s Digest offers several contests and requests that writers enter through their Submittable Portal. According to their description, this long-standing staple of writer knowledge has been offering contests for over 90 years.

“Honoring writers across a variety of genres and formats, including short pieces (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, performance scripts, articles (print or online) and self-published books, Writer’s Digest has a competition to highlight your work.

Winners are eligible for cash prizes, free trips to our ever-popular Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Conference, promotion in our print magazine and website, and more. “

Writers Digest Online Magazine

Final Thoughts on Writing Competitions

This is just a starting point for finding writing contests. Look online for your genre with a simple search. Check the websites and publications of your favorite writing organizations (local, regional, national) for chances to submit your work. Look to your library and community colleges for other opportunities. 

Writing competitions can bring new energy to your writing process. Try a contest and maybe it can bring positive changes to your writing career.

Please brag about your successes below in the comments and share the benefits writing contests have provided you. New to contests? Let us know if you are planning to try one and we can cheer you on.

About Kris

Kris Maze is an author, writing coach, and teacher. She has worked in education for many years and writes for various publications, including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and the award-winning blog Writers in the Storm where she is also a host. You can find her horror stories and young adult writing on her website. Keep up with future projects and events by subscribing to her newsletter.

A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors.

And occasionally, she befriends trees.

by Eldred Bird

You’ve just come up with what you believe is a brilliant new idea for your next short story, novel, or screenplay. You sit down at the keyboard, stretch your back, crack your knuckles, and flex your fingers. You stare at the screen for the next twenty minutes or so waiting for inspiration to hit.

When it doesn’t come, you begin to question the life choices that led you down the path of becoming a writer. This leads to doubting your original premise and asking yourself, “Do I really have a story worth telling or not?”

Whether it’s our first tale or our thirtieth, we've all been in this position. So, how do you answer the question? A great place to start is with the Six Essential Questions from screenwriter Glenn Gers. Not only will these six questions help you evaluate your story idea but elevate it as well.

The Six Questions

1. Who is it about?

The first question to ask is who the story is about. I’m not talking about a name, but a description. Who are they as a person and what makes them interesting enough to follow along their journey. Where did they come from and where are they heading? What makes them different? What are their hopes and fears? The more you know, the more interesting you can make the character.

You can have one individual or an ensemble, but remember the more main characters you have, the more complicated things can get. You’ll need to ask these same six questions for every character.

Bottom line—the deeper the characters, the easier it will be for the readers to form an emotional attachment. When the readers care about the characters, they’ll care more about what the characters want, and that leads us to the next question.

2. What do they want?

As Kurt Vonnegut famously said, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” That’s what drives a plot and keeps the story moving forward. If your character is content and lacks for nothing, then there’s nothing pushing them out of their comfort zone. Without that motivator there is no story. Need is the carrot on the stick dangling just out of reach.

What a character wants can be external or internal. Are they moving toward something or running away from it? Maybe they are being pushed to achieve a goal or stop someone else from reaching theirs. Ask this of every character in every scene and you’ll have a more compelling tale.

3. Why can’t they get it?

This is where we throw roadblocks in the path of our characters. If a character gets what they want too easily, we’re going to have a pretty uneventful narrative. We need to complicate things for them.

Let’s say your main character (we’ll call her Beth) is hungry. Beth walks into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, and takes out half a sandwich left over from lunch. She eats it and goes back to whatever she was doing before the hunger struck. Pretty boring, right?

Now let’s say Beth opens the fridge and finds it empty. The cupboards are the same. She checks her pockets and purse but finds only a few pennies. No money equals no food. What Beth wants is food. What stands in her way is lack of funds to buy it. Now we have a motivator to drive our story forward.

Physical limitations and other characters often impede a character getting what they need, but roadblocks don’t have to be external. Some of the biggest challenges characters often have to overcome are internal. What are your character’s biggest fears and phobias? Overcoming them is a great way to show growth in a character.

4. What do they do about it?

What are they going to do to overcome the obstacles you’ve placed in their path? They need to come up with a plan, but don’t make it too easy. Put something at risk, either physically or emotionally. The best stories get us emotionally involved, so keep the stakes high.

Make the plan something that will test the character’s limits. Push them beyond what they perceive they are capable of but keep it believable. If you go too far it’s easy to lose the suspension of disbelief and the interest of the reader.

5. Why doesn’t it work?

If the plan our character comes up with works right out of the box, then we’re going to have a short and anticlimactic story. We need to complicate things. The first try should fail but teach the character something they need to know. Think of each setback as a learning experience where they discover something about the obstacle or, more importantly, themselves.

Let’s look at Beth again. She needs money for food. The obvious solution is to get a job, but there’s something stopping her. She’s afraid to face the outside world after losing her spouse in a tragic accident, so she decides to look for a job where she can work from home.

Unfortunately, every employer she queries requires an in-person interview. After several failed attempts to leave the apartment, she finally works up the courage and steps outside. A victory, right? Time to complicate things a little more. Now she’s afraid to get on the bus.

The new stumbling block has sent her right back to step three. The character has to reevaluate and come up with a new plan, so it’s rinse and repeat until they gain what they need to reach their final goal.

6. How does it end?

There are countless ways to end a story, but basically it comes down to the main character either getting what they want or not. You decide whether it’s going to be a happily-ever-after moment or learning to live with the disappointment of a quest unfulfilled. In either case, the character should experience some kind of growth.

My favorite tales are the ones where the character gets what they need rather than what they want. It really shows growth when someone can break the pattern of what’s expected of them and end up in a much better place as a result.

Final Thoughts

I think Glenn himself summed it up best when he said:

“Every story is about someone trying to get something, and the people and things that get in their way.”

So, every time you sit down to plot, write, or edit, answer these six simple questions. Do it for every story, every chapter, and every scene. Then when you ask, “Do I have a story?” you’ll be able to answer YES.

Pick something you’ve written and answer these six questions. Did you cover all the bases or find something you missed? How do you evaluate your stories? Let us know in the comments.

About Bob

Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.

When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking, and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives).

His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.

Top Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Have you been told you have “flat characters” in your story? Reel in your emotions and re-examine your characters. Does your character have little to no internal life? As your character moves through the story, does she overcome nearly every obstacle? Does she have a crystal-clear need? Is she unchanged at the end of the story? If even a few of your answers are yes, you probably have a flat character. Is that a problem? Probably. Flat characters are usually uninteresting and unmemorable. Got flat characters? Don’t worry. You can take your flat characters to genuine in 8 (sort of) easy steps. 

1. Diagnosis: Flat vs Round Characters

What Does Flat Mean?

If you guess flat characters are the opposite of round characters, you’re right. But let’s take it a step farther. Typically, when a reader says your characters are flat, they mean the characters don’t feel real. They want to read about realistic characters, people like themselves or people they know. Writers often call realistic characters round characters. A round character is a character who has multiple-dimensions to their personality.

In real life, we humans are a complicated bag of emotions, contradictions, and quirky bits. Our relationships with others are just as complicated as we are. We often make a whole range of mistakes in relationships, jobs, and every other aspect of our lives. In order to write a “simple” story, authors must be certain their characters come across the page as just as complicated, even if not all those bits show up on the page. So the first step in diagnosing flat characters is to see what IS on the page.

What’s On the Page?

To fix a flat character, you must re-examine how that character appears on the page. Re-examining your character is harder than it sounds. You created these characters. You likely know them as well as yourself. Unfortunately, that may be part of the problem. As the creator, you read things into the story and character that may not be on the page. 

If you don’t see why readers say your characters are flat, print your manuscript. Mark your primary character’s internal thoughts, emotions, dialogue, and descriptions. (Hat tip to Margie Lawson’s excellent courses.) Then take a step back and look at your pages. Missing one area? That’s a definite area of flatness. If one color dominates the page, lack of balance may be part of what makes your characters flat. Don’t despair. You can fix flat characters. 

Must Every Character be Genuine?

The short answer is no. Nearly every story has at least one character who is less developed than the primary characters. Some are observers, scene extras, or spear-carriers. Can they be flat? The short answer is yes. If every character is complex, your story will become an unending bog of details. However, your story’s verisimilitude will suffer if all your side characters are one-dimensional. Your story will be more interesting if some of these characters have one or two interesting traits, habits, or speech patterns.  

2. Pick a Place to Start

Each author has a method for developing characters for a story. Some writers need to fill out a detailed bio for their characters and it works for them. If you’re like me, it may feel artificial or arbitrary and awkward. And if the author includes all those nitty-gritty details in their story, it can drive a reader away.

Some writers have a “feel” for a character and discover who the character is as they write the story. With a good (intuitive or educated) understanding of people, this can work very well.

If you are neither a deep-dive into minutia type or a discover-as-you-write creator, there are other options. 

Start with a Theme, Emotion, or Plot

You may start with a theme, emotion, or plot you want to explore via your story. When you do this, you’ll be tempted to design a character entirely focused on your chosen story part. Is that a bad thing? No. Some genres are more focused on one aspect of the story. If it’s appropriate for your story to have flatter characters, so be it. Your complaining beta reader may not be your ideal reader. Too much focus can create a flat character that impedes your story’s flow. Depending upon the genre you’re writing, choose only one or two things to round your character a little more and make your story flow.

One way to avoid making your focused character flat is to complicate your character’s life. Give them a want that opposes that theme, emotion, or plot (which is their need.) For example: in a coming of age story, your primary character can want the football captain to fall for her, but her need is to be accepted for the nerd she really is. Choose solid reasons for your character’s want and give them opportunities in the story to learn what they need and why it’s important.

Start with a Name

The first thing I do is look for their name. Note, it’s a feeling thing. I will know the right name when it feels right. Not very helpful, is it? But it’s more than my own feelings. One of the first things you learn when introduced to someone is their name. Often you associate that name with someone you’ve known and formed opinions about. You’ve attached your opinions to the name, even if the new person does not project those values. So when you choose a name, you instinctively or deliberately choose one for psychological reasons. Your story will be infinitely more interesting if your character’s name evokes a type or value that complicates their journey.

Start with a Description

Characters with extremely detailed physical appearance can be successful. (Poirot anyone?) These characters and stories are successful because the primary character’s personality and appearance are unusual and presented in contrast to a reader-like person (Hastings or Dr. Watson).

Some characters have a flaw in their appearance that affects who they believe themselves to be or are hints about who they are. (Ugly Duckling, Hunchback, Harry Potter).

Skillful authors pepper the details into the story a small dose at a time. If a beta reader talks about how slow your story is or how the character just didn’t interest them, you may have overdone the details. 

3. Give Your Character a Secret

We humans like to think we are an open book, but most of us have a secret or two. Secret desires, secrets we think reveal what a bad person we are, or secrets we keep for the “good” of someone else. Characters who hide a secret create instant tension when other characters get close to figuring it out. That secret and the tension it creates are almost always instant wins with your readers. (Read more about character secrets in my Lies, Secrets, and Scars post).

4. Give Your Character a Flaw

A lot of advice for writers emphasizes giving your characters’ flaws. There are entire books on character flaws to help or confuse you. It doesn’t have to be confusing. 

We humans are all flawed. Some of us may think we’re perfect, but none of us are. Anything, from a secret to a scar or tendency to exaggerate, can be a flaw. Tiny or big, flaws help make our characters more realistic.

5. Make Your Character Unique

One reason flat characters are unappealing is that they all look, sound, and act the same. Make each of your characters unique. By unique, I don’t mean give her an odd-ball characteristic or standout flaw. Small touches, like the words she uses in speech or self-talk, can make her unique. Often the small unique things make the biggest impressions on your readers.

6. Twist a Stereotype

Stereotypes are oversimplified, uncritical, and often prejudicial views of certain people. Many times, stereotypes are so ingrained in your background or society that it’s hard to recognize them. Stereotypes are often hurtful to a group of people. Use them with extreme caution (sensitivity readers can be useful for vetting this). Satire is one of the very few (if any) instances where stereotypes can be effective in fiction. 

In certain stories, you can twist a stereotype against itself to make a point. Ebenezer in The Christmas Carol starts as a stereotype, a miserable miser. As the story develops, we learn why and how he became a miser. By the end of the story, he is the opposite of his miser beginning.

The best way to avoid stereotypes is to create a fully rounded character. 

7. Add Internal Conflict

Internal conflict is when a person holds two sets of conflicting values or belief systems. A person raised with a strict religious belief system may confront a situation where she must violate one of her beliefs in order to help her dearest friend. Or a person can have the internal conflict of honesty vs. compassionate dishonesty. For example, someone values honest above all else but keeps a secret to protect a loved one from pain. 

Many writers believe that the only way to convey internal is through internal thoughts. That is one way. A person’s compressed lips can express internal conflicts, or turning away without answering a question, or evasion of the question also shows a conflict. 

8. Show more than Tell

Sometimes in a story the writer must tell, but a list of descriptive phrases drone unmemorable in a reader’s head. If you tell us your character is generous, it’s assumed to be the character’s own thoughts. The reader might interpret this as vanity and see it as a negative thing. Showing is often more effective. You can show beauty as an overheard negative comment or as a friend’s admiring comment. You can also show it in the way your character gives away possessions or time. Those conversations or acts make impressions on the reader and allow her to draw the conclusions you want. Bonus—often showing takes fewer words than telling the same thing. 

Bonus Step

These eight steps are only a piece of creating characters. There are great characters who have more traits and fascinating characters who only show a few of these things. The ease of using these steps is unfortunately on you. If you find it difficult to create genuine characters, give yourself an ongoing assignment or two. 

First assignment: Observation

Go to the park or local shopping mall and people watch. Take notes on what you observe that is different between the people you see. Jot down what your first impressions are and how those were right or wrong. Ask yourself what assumptions you make about them. Jot down some casual conversations and note what makes each person’s speech unique.

Second assignment: Read

Read books on how to create characters but don’t stop there. Next time you finish reading a fiction book, record your impressions of the major characters. Then go back through the book and underline the sections that created those impressions. Journal about why those passages worked (or didn’t.)

It takes time and practice, but you’ll observe more differences and be able to capture differences in the characters you create. Soon, you’ll take your characters from flat to genuine.

Which book characters are your favorites and why? What is your best tip for creating realistic characters? 

About Lynette

Lynette M. Burrows is an author, a blogger, a creativity advocate, and a Yorkie Wrangler. She writes thrilling science fiction about women who make courageous choices.

Her Fellowship Dystopia series, Fellowship, My Soul to Keep and, If I Should Die, takes place in an alternate 1961. The first Prophet saved America from the Great Depression and the war overseas. Now the Fellowship guides the country and their rules aren’t optional. Miranda, a daughter of privilege, chooses to disobey and learns how dark and dangerous life beyond her privilege has become. Readers say the stories are unputdownable. Find your copy at Amazon or your favorite online book seller.

Lynette lives in the land of Oz. When she’s not procrastinating by avoiding housework and playing with her dogs, she’s blogging or writing or researching her next book. You can find Lynette online on her website, Facebook, or on Twitter @LynetteMBurrows. 

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Images purchased from DepositPhoto.