Mslexia

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WINNER ANNOUNCED!

2012 CHILDREN'S Novel Competition

Many congratulations to:

Lu Hersey, 1st Prize winner in the 2012 children's novel competition with her book Deep Water.

'I raced through it, not knowing what was going to happen next’ Malorie Blackman
‘such an accomplished, tightly-shaped book, with a depth of information’ Julia Eccleshare

To read an extract of the novel, Lu's 'How I Did It' and what the judges had to say, read issue 57, available now. Click here.

Congratulations, too, to the runners up: Catherine Hayoz with her book Untethered and Wendy Storer with her book Bring Me Sunshine

'It's beginning to dawn on me that winning the Mslexia competition gives me a fantastic calling card for approaching agents – and hopefully will impress publishers too. To be honest I still keep wondering if this is actually happening!'

And to the other shortlisted entrants:
Francesca Armour-Chelu, The Hunting
Alison Bater, Crossover
Philippa Francis, The Selkies of Scoresby Nab
Aisling Lyons, My Dead Best Friend
Anne Mitchell, The Ares Project
Julia Patt, I Was a Fourth Grade Zombie Slayer
Julia Patt, Through Waterless Places
Sarah Price, Electric Summer
Colette Victor, The Zig and Zag of Being Zeyneb

2013 WOMEN's Novel Competition

'Fiction is such a world of freedom. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.' Alice Walker

1ST PRIZE: £5,000

Judging Panel:

Kirsty Lang, arts journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4's Front Row
Val McDermid, award-winning novelist, journalist and short story writer
Charlotte Robertson, literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates

The three finalists will be offered free professional feedback by The Literary Consultancy.

The 12 shortlisted authors will be invited to meet literary agents and editors at a special networking event in London.

The competition is open to unpublished women novelists writing in any genre for adults, including literary fiction, women’s fiction, young adult fiction, science fiction, fantasy, chick-lit, crime fiction, thriller, historical fiction... but not nonfiction or fiction for under 13s. To constitute a novel, your book must total at least 50,000 words.

Closing date: 23 September 2013

Please note: This is NOT an annual competition. The next adult novel competition will not be until 2015 (TBC).

READ THE COMPETITION RULES

ENTER THE COMPETITION

If you would like to receive information and reminders about the upcoming 2013 novel competition, click here sign up to the Mslexia Updates mailing list.

Who is the competition aimed at?

• Women who’ve always wanted to write a novel, but could never find the time. You only have to write 50,000 words minimum for this competition, so even starting from scratch, there’s plenty of time.
• Women with an unfinished manuscript languishing in a bottom drawer. (Could this be the impetus you need to finish it?)
• Women who took up the write-a-novel-in-a-month challenge with NaNoWriMo and have a rough first draft. (Why not polish it up and send it to Mslexia?)
• Women who’ve submitted their completed novels over and over, and have despaired of finding an agent. (If you reach our shortlist, they’ll all sit up and take notice.)

SOME REASONS TO ENTER

• Being shortlisted will put your novel at the top of any agent’s or editor’s in tray – Rosie Garland, winner of our inaugural Women's Novel Competition in 2011, signed a six-figure deal with HarperCollins soon after winning the competition. Her book 'The Palace of Curiosities' is available now!
• We guarantee an anonymous reading, so your book will be judged on the same basis as those by ‘a friend of a friend of the editor’
• We will work with the future publisher of the winning entry to chronicle the book’s progress in the magazine and on our website
• 12 shortlisted authors will be invited to a networking event and introduced to a specially invited group of literary agents
• The three finalists will each received detailed feedback on their manuscript from The Literary Consultancy
• £5,000 – need we say more?

WORKSHOPS FOR NOVELISTS

Keep an eye on our website for NEW writing workshops to help you with your entry to the 2013 Women's Novel Competition, which will be available soon. If you'd like to receive direct reminders about any workshops that become available, sign up to the Mslexia Updates mailing list here. In the meantime, you could try our series of workshops from last year, or explore some of the tips, tricks and advice already available on our website.

Children's Novel Writing Workshops. Devised by Ann Coburn especially for the 2012 Children's Novel Competition, these three workshops explore the liminal, transformational, magical elements of literature for children and young adults.

Workshop One: Setting and Transformation
Workshop Two: Character: Needs, Dreams, Nightmares
Workshop Three: Talismans and Touchstones

Quick Fix Fiction: Struggling with last minute tweaks to your novel manuscript? Need some tips for polishing your entry? Read our feature Quick Fix Fiction, first published in issue 49, in which top manuscript editor Rose Gaete details six last-minute fixes to try with your finished manuscript before sending it out into the world. Read more >>

Visit our Get Published section for a series of intensive workshops to help you with your novel, originally toured with the From Laptop to Bookshop Mslexia roadshow. Find out all about the perfect first paragraph, as well as how to choose a title, compose a pitch letter and write a synopsis in a series of free pdf downloads – and there is also a series of interviews with agents and authors who reveal their secrets and offer up advice to the budding novelist. Perfect if you're honing your entry for the Mslexia women's novel competition! Read more >>

SOME COMMENTS FROM entRANTS TO OUR ADULT NOVEL COMPETITION

'It's been a great confidence boost to be longlisted in such a respected competition’
Tasca Shadix

'This competition has been instrumental in me continuing to write my novel – so a massive thank you’
Kate Fox

‘I have now started sending out to agents and mentioning the longlist definitely grabs their attention. I had a couple of immediate requests to see the full manuscript’
Caroline Ambrose