How I Entered A Writing Contest (Merky Books New Writers' Prize)

As an aspiring writer, I believe that you should always look out for opportunities in which you can showcase your work and receive recognition for your craft, and what better way to do it than entering a writing contest?

It might feel daunting at first, and you might feel like you’re not good enough, but how would you know if you didn’t try? And what are you really losing here? Usually, these contests don’t cost a thing, so all you’re wasting is a bit of time—but isn’t that a gamble worth taking?

To be honest, I am guilty myself of neglecting that area in my writing career, but it’s never too late to start now. In fact, I stumbled upon the Merky Books New Writer’s Prize in July and knew immediately that I had to give it a shot.

The thing that really drew me to the Merky Books contest is the fact that it specifically caters to minorities like Kay and me. It’s not a secret that literature in the Western world is predominantly represented by Caucasian people, so it’s nice to see an imprint that amplifies the voices of POCs, underlining their different experiences through unique narratives and histories.

But enough with the chit chat!

Here are my tips on how to enter a writing contest smoothly and without any worries.

(Because I already worried for all of us and made a plan to follow along easily.)

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First and foremost, I have to preface this by saying that it would have been a lot easier and less work if I had entered with Project Mirror because I had already gone through several iterations and done the grunt work (worldbuilding, characterisation, etc.). But deep down I knew that Project Mirror wasn’t the right fit for this contest, and that’s my first tip.

#1 Know your audience (and requirements)!

Whilst Project Mirror is always going to be special to me because I started it at the same time as Kayleigh begun her journey with Soulhunters, I wanted to enter with a book that inched closer to the truths of my own upbringing.

A quick look at the previous winners of the contest attests that Merky Books looks for authenticity and raw experiences of POCs. Whilst I don’t think there is a flaw in entering with whatever story you’re currently working on, and the team at Merky Books stress that they are accepting any genre, it’s always good to know what the judges were looking for in past competitions.

You should also familiarise yourself with the contest requirements. Merky Books, for example, asks for a 200-word synopsis and a 1500-word extract. Other contests might require more than that. Make sure to know exactly what you need before you enter, so you can prep accordingly.

#2 Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm!

If you’re like me, and you want to enter a contest with a new story, you need to brainstorm the initial idea that sparked your interest and see if it holds up. Let it marinate for a while. Although if you’re short on time, choose something that you’re excited about. Something that, if you do win the contest, you can commit to for the next year or so.

Personally, I remembered a trip to North London for a dinner date, looking at this gorgeous, old red-bricked building, and thinking to myself that I would love to write a gothic fantasy about a boarding school located in that atmospheric mansion.

Add a pinch of ghost action for the mystery and intrigue, and voila—I had the building blocks for a story that I was excited about. From then on, I further developed the idea, establishing my main character, working up the inciting moment, and planning the trajectory of the story.

This new book idea called Project Wonder is also the first writing project that I started on Scrivener. If you’re curious to see what tools we use for our writing, you should check out Kay’s post (6 Writing Tools I Couldn't Go Without).

One more thing I would highly recommend doing before you start writing is to think about the content of your extract. This is a piece of your writing that should capture the judges’ interest, so how can you make it interesting and gripping from the start?

Here’s where I would recommend starting with the inciting moment. It’s perfect for an extract of your novel because it catapults your protagonist from their ordinary world to a new and exciting (sometimes scary) adventure.

If your story is more character-based, you can write about an interaction between two characters that is packed with tension.

The important point is, it should be interesting and it should encapsulate the main idea of your novel.

#3 Don’t overthink, and start writing!

Once you have a good understanding of your story, and you know where to go with your extract, you should just start writing. Don’t spend too much time brainstorming! A lot of times the ideas will flow once you’re in the zone, once you’re writing, so don’t fret over the small details. It will all come to you, I promise.

Make sure to think about characterisation, setting and voice.

Also consider how much you can actually pack into the limited word count, and cater your text to this restriction. For Project Wonder, I had to rewrite the extract because I realised that I started way too early, and the beginning wouldn’t express, or even arrive at, the main idea of the story.

#4 Edit, proofread, send for feedback!

I already wrote a post on how I usually edit short pieces (How I Got My Short Story Published), but instead of going through all the steps for this extract—I jumped from first draft to line editing, then sent it to friends for feedback.

The last step is a valuable one. You can only pick up on so many typos or mistakes in your writing because you’re so close to it, so make sure to have someone else read it, too.

#5 Keep the synopsis concise!

This might have been the first time since my school days that I have written a synopsis. I don’t usually tend to do it for fun, so it was a bit of a challenge as well as good practice for when I will query with Project Mirror in the future.

Since the word count was limited to 200 words for the Merky Books contest, I created a type of formula that actually worked quite well.

• First sentence = theme and main idea

• Paragraph 1 = introduction of main characters and the ordinary world

• Paragraph 2 = ending that wraps up the character arc

Simple enough, isn’t it?

If you’re interested in seeing a template with examples, let us know, and we will look into creating one that you can easily download from our website.

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So these were the steps I took to enter a writing contest. It probably could have gone a lot smoother, but I quite enjoyed dipping my toes into a new story and world, focusing my thoughts on a set of different characters. Now all I have to do is wait for their shortlist announcement.

Have you ever entered a contest before? If you did, what are your tips for aspiring writers? Tell us in the comments below.

Read my short story Whispers of the Wretched.