Tag Archives: Mslexia

Writers! Enter Mslexia Fiction Competitions 2023

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Mum's eye view cr Judy DarleyThe Mslexia Fiction Competitions are open for entries.

There are threecategories this year: Novel for Adults, Short Story, and Flash Fiction. The deadline for each is 18th September 2023.

Submit the first 5,000 words of your novel for adult, or young adult, readers; a complete short story of up to 3,000 words; and a flash fiction no more than 300 words.

Prizes include manuscript feedback and agent introductions, plus publication.

Mslexia Novel for Adults competition – everything you need to know

  • Judged by author Sophie Hannah, Natasha Onwuemezi of the Bookseller) and Sophie Lambert, literary agent and MD of the C&W Literary Agency, will choose the winner. This competition is open to women who are not yet published as novelist – self-published authors are eligible providing you’ve had fewer than 500 sales.
  • Submit first 5,000 words only in the first instance. Longlisted entrants will be asked to submit finished manuscripts later in the judging process
  • Your novel must be at least 50,000 words long
  • Entry fee: £26
  • 1st prize £5,000.
  • Finalists receive manuscript feedback from The Literary Consultancy and personal introductions to literary agents arranged in partnership with New Writing North.
  • Previous winners and finalists include Imogen Hermes Gower with The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, Polly Clark with Larchfield, Frances Perkins with The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr, Laura McVeigh with Under the Almond Tree, and many more.
  • Read an extract from the 2021 winning novel, Taint, here.

Mslexia Short Story competition 2023 – everything you need to know

  • Judged by Deborah Moggach, this competition is for unpublished complete short fiction of up to 3,000 words in any genre and on any theme.
  • The entry fee is £12.
  • 1st prize £3,000.
  • Three additional finalists will each receive £100
  • The winning entry and three finalists will be published in Mslexia.
  • The winning entry and finalists will be published in Issue 100 of Mslexia, with eight additional finalists, along with the four winners, appearing in Mslexia’s ebook anthology Best Women’s Fiction 2023.
  • Find out how 2022 winner Mónica Ibarra Parle did it here

Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition 2023 – everything you need to know

  • Judged by Tania Hershman, this competition is for unpublished complete short fiction of up to 300 words in any genre and on any theme
  • Entry fee: £6
  • 1st prize £500
  • Three additional finalists each receive £50
  • All four winning entries will be published in Issue 100 of Mslexia
  • Winning entries plus eight more shortlisted entries will be published in Mslexia’s ebook anthology Best Women’s Short Fiction 2023.
  • Find out how 2022 winner Karen Arnold did it here

Visit Mslexia’s entry instructions for a more comprehensive guide on how to enter.

Find full details at www.mslexia.co.uk. Good luck!

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

A 100-word story – Minotaur

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Beach. Photo by Khurt Williams on UnsplashIf you subscribe to Mslexia magazine, you may be aware that in addition to the print magazine, subscribers receive a regular e-newsletter titled Little Ms. This includes news, inspirations, story prompts and opportunities to submit ideas and fiction.

My favourite bit is always the Flash Card, which offers up an often fairly strange image for you to interpret in 100 words of less.

The inspiration for submissions to the October Little Ms showed a man with his head down a hole in a beach.I’m happy to say that my response, below, was selected for publication in the October newsletter.

He had to admit it was a short-term solution at best. But there was something lovely about the dark, cool quiet of the hole he’d stuck his head down. It calmed his urge to snort and paw his feet against the sand. The aim of the holiday had been to escape work stress. It was an unfortunate coincidence that Jan from accounting had booked the same Cretan resort. Off-duty, his natural minotaur head reasserted its dominance. That the hole his daughter had dug into the beach kept this from view could be his saving grace.

Subscribe to mslexia.

Mslexia’s 2019 Fiction Awards

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Mum's eye view cr Judy DarleyThis year, Mslexia Fiction Awards include their Short Story, Adult Novel and Flash Fiction competitions. The deadline for each is 30th September 2019.

Entry fees are £10 per short story, £25 per novel extract and £5 per flash fiction entry.

The winner of the Short Story competition will receive £3,000, plus the optional extras of a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor, and mentoring by an editor at Virago Press.

Three other finalists will each receive £100. All four winning stories will be published in the March 2020 issue of Mslexia.

Shortlisted entries will be judged by award-winning short story author, novelist and performer Irenosen Okojie.

The winner of the Adult Novel competition will receive £5,000 and the option of representatlon by agent Charlotte Robertson. Judges are novelist Louise Doughty, Nicola Holloway from BBC Radio 4, and Literary agent Charlotte Robertson.

The winner and four finalists will receive manuscript feedback and introductions to agents and editors at a special event held in London.

The first prize in the Flash Fiction competition is £500. The winner will be picked by Katy Fish.

Three other flash fiction finalists will each receive £50. All four winning stories will be published in the March 2020 issue of Mslexia.

Find full details at www.mslexia.co.uk. Good luck!

Distant storms

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I’ve been subscribing to Mslexia for many years, and have been relishing the little ms newsletter that goes out to subscribers ever since its launch. It’s full of ideas, inspiration and quirky nuggets of information. Each one includes a flash card – an image you’re invited to turn into a 100-word story.

IMAGE © GABCZI and SHUTTERSTOCK via Mslexia

Image © Gabczi and Shutterstock via Mslexia

They’re fantastic writing prompts, and when I saw the one shown to the left, a story crept into my mind. I wrote a version that was twice as long as it needed to be, cut it down, polished the sentences, rearranged a few, replaced some with others and finally had a piece I liked, so sent it in.

When I opened the October little miss, I discovered to my pleasure and surprise that my tale had been chosen to appear! Such a joy.

Here is the first sentence for all those none subscribers (and I urge you to subscribe at once!).

Distant storms

It’s almost a decade since anyone came by our flooded city, so when the smoke went up, a bruised tower against the sky, my heart jumped in my chest…

Write a monologue in the voice of a life model

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Nude cr Judy Darley

Nude © Judy Darley

In my student days I spent many hours posing as a life model to earn a little extra beer money.

Mslexia‘s latest call for monologues caught my nostalgic eye for this reason. This section of the magazine is aimed particularly towards writers of script, but anyone is welcome to submit.

The biggest challenge is the brief word count, just 200 words. The next issue’s is specifically for a piece in the voice of a life model. It’s a great opportunity to put yourself in the, well, I want to say shoes, but more accurately, under the skin of a life model, whether you’ve experienced this for yourself or not. How do they feel about being naked in a room full of clothed strangers? Are they chilly? Uncomfortable? Or are they to busy thinking about their lives to feel anything beyond the importance of staying still until the art tutor releases them?

The deadline for submissions is 12th January 2015. Send your monologue either to submissions@mslexia.co.uk (with ‘monologue’ in the subject line) or by post to Mslexia, PO Box 656, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 1PZ.

The writer of the published monologue will receive £20.