finding writing competitions

[Listener]

Anyone have any useful links on finding writing competitions? I find I write better on deadline, but I can't impose the deadline on myself. It has to be imposed upon me by a contest or competition. It's just hard to find competitions that are on the level -- I'd hate to pay a $10 entry fee just to be scammed.

[jrderego]

Anyone have any useful links on finding writing competitions? I find I write better on deadline, but I can't impose the deadline on myself. It has to be imposed upon me by a contest or competition. It's just hard to find competitions that are on the level -- I'd hate to pay a $10 entry fee just to be scammed.

Ralan.com

http://www.ralan.com/index-f.htm

Speculative fiction and poetry contests.

[Sgarre1]

And if you want to try to outfox your brain, you can always use Duotrope's "theme calendar" function - it lists deadlines for upcoming "themed" issues of publications - just like a contest (themes/deadlines), just no prize!

http://www.duotrope.com/themecal.aspx

[Listener]

I always forget Ralan.

For me, the prize is being published by a legitimate publication. I'm not necessarily in it for the money... although money is certainly a plus.

[Unblinking]

If you're looking for something to help you impose a time limit, you might want to try Liberty Hall:
http://www.libertyhallwriters.org/

They have a weekly 90 minute flash challenge.  Once you sign in, then they give you a "trigger" to start your story from, and you have to complete the story within 90 minutes.  Then you send it in, and all the submitters read each other's stories and vote.  There's no prize other than ending up with a story, but I've gotten several really good flash stories out of the deal.

[Rachel Swirsky]

I'd suggest submitting to themed anthologies. There's always one or more going (right now, there's the one for MoCon, and one from Norilana books rewriting the 1001 nights) and you don't have to pay to submit.

[LaShawn]

And there's always Writers of the Future. They have four quarterly deadlines each year and it's free. Great contest!

[kibitzer]

And there's always Writers of the Future. They have four quarterly deadlines each year and it's free. Great contest!

Your link is a little bit screwed up there...

http://www.writersofthefuture.com/

[LaShawn]

Whoops! Thanks!

[lowky]

Just saw that New Scientist magazine is sponsoring a flash fiction contest.  While I subscribe to new scientist's rss feed, i only saw this on io9

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17779-new-scientist-flash-fiction-competition-2009.html

[DKT]

Murky Depths is going to be running a contest in their next issue. Mike Carey (Hellblazer, The Devil You Know fame) is writing the first half of a short story. You write the second half, and Carey judges it. Of course, you have to buy issue 10 to read the first half of the story...

http://www.murkydepths.com/carey.php

I will say, it's a really well put together magazine. Of course, I'm biased

[Listener]

http://absentwillowreview.com/contest -- they're charging a $10 entry fee, but AWR is a pretty well-respected publication (so I hear)... I'm generally against entry fees, but in the collective opinion, is this something worth entering?