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Skip the Workshop take me straight to the submissions

This is a Competition Workshop set by crime writer Judith Cutler who will be donating one of her books to the winning entry. Whilst it is a prose competition, should you wish to send in poetry this will be posted for comment in the usual way but will not be included in the competition.

Judith says:

One of the best exercises I did when I was teaching creative writing was to play a version of Consequences with the groups. They'd write down off the top to their heads certain elements, I got them to incorporate these into short stories. Rumour has it that Dick Francis got the themes for his thrillers in much the same way.

So what I'd like your members to do is incorporate at least two-thirds of the following point in their work:

Time - 6 a.m.
Place - An English country town
Weather conditions - up to them
A debt - could be financial or moral
An animal
An illness or an injury
A means of transport
A stranger
An unusual name.

Please keep the length of your short story to less than 2500 words.
Poetry submissions (not for competition) less than 40 lines
Sorry, no articles this month.

And why do we call the competition 'Go out with a Bang'? Because the closing date for submissions is November 5th 2003. Members comments will have a strong reflection on the winning entry and so please be fair, if you enter please be prepared to comment on another's work. We will add extra time to the closing date to receive comments.

This competition is now closed. Any further submissions will be accepted in the same way as normal workshops.

Judith found it impossible to find an outright winner and gave an autographed paperback novel to both Dorothy Spry and Jo Austin along with comments on their work.

Submissions are from:

In Honour Bound by J. M. Robertson (Short Story)
A Ride in the Dark by Darren Manion (Short Story)
All in a Lifetime by Dorothy Spry (Short Story)
Mercy Mild by Eleanor Dixon (Short Story)
Angel by Judith Clements (Short Story)
Drink First by Ray Hardy (Short Story)
The Final Tribute by Jo Austin (Short Story)

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