Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i Writing Magazine

It’s that time of year, isn’t it WM writers, when we’re thinking of how we can turn our writing dreams into reality? How we can make this the year where we get to grips with a dream project? Make inroads into that manuscript that’s begging to be tackled? Try something new to revitalise our writing? Send out our work so it can find its readers? When we fix our writing resolutions, or get planning and setting our intentions for the year ahead? So we’re here to help you do just that! However you measure success, picking up this magazine is a great step towards turning your visions of what you’d like to achieve into something you’re going to make happen. Perhaps you’d like to make this the year that you…

STAR LETTER FREE COPIES So your friend wrote a book? They didn’t just sit down one afternoon, tap away for a bit, and bosh, novel complete. No. They spent months, possibly years, researching, plotting, re-plotting, un-plotting, and wondering why on earth they ever thought writing was a good idea in the first place. They built characters with personalities, backstories, and emotional baggage that would keep a therapist in business for years. They dropped hints, twisted plots, and stared at sentences for hours trying to make them behave. Writing a book isn’t just typing, it’s a lifestyle! And when they finally reached ‘The End’? It wasn’t. Not even close. Cue endless re-reads, rewrites, typos that breed overnight, and the realisation that Milly has become Millie halfway through Chapter twelve. Then come…

Francesca Riccardi’s journey into the publishing industry began at the RNIB, transcribing books into accessible formats for blind and partially-sighted readers. After that, she moved into marketing and sales, working for several publishers including HarperCollins, Canelo, and Constable & Robinson. Today, her authors include Jenny Morris, Alison Watterson, Hannah Hendy, Daneil Sellers, and Heather Burnside. How did you become a literary agent, and what do you enjoy about the job? I worked in-house at publishers for over fifteen years before making the leap into agenting in 2023. I got to the point in my publishing career where I found the best parts of my days were the bits spent talking to authors, and planning the next steps on their books. Agenting felt like a good fit for me, and luckily…

Mills & Boon Afterglow Mills & Boon, the UK’s biggest publisher of romance fiction is open to submissions for its latest imprint, Afterglow Books, which is overseen by senior editor Stacey Boyd in the company’s New York offices, writes Gary Dalkin. Targeting the under 35-year-old contemporary romance reader, Afterglow is a trend-led, trope-filled list (think small-town settings, fake relationships, grumpy vs sunshine, enemies to lovers) with diverse, authentic and relatable characters, a wide array of voices and representations, real world trials and tribulations. The imprint capitalises on at the popularity of the #SpicyTok hashtag on TikTok, which has had over 4.5 billion views, so every story has to have a generous dose of steam. If you want to write for Afterglow Books first check out the titles at www.afterglowbooks.co.uk Recent…

Stygian Lepus Magazine Stygian Lepus Magazine is open every month, from 1 to 25, for submissions of dark fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry in all dark genres, styles and wordcounts. Submit by email and attach the work. There is a token payment of US$5 USD plus a digital copy. Website: https://www.stygianlepus.com Heroica Heroica is a global storytelling platform dedicated to sharing stories about all aspects of gender oppression. Submit pitches for articles and essays, For poetry, submit 1 to 3 poems in a Google Doc. Payment is a £5 flat fee Website: https://www.heroica.co Off Topic Off Topic celebrates good writing and thought provoking ideas. This time they seek creative non-fiction up to 3,000 words from ‘all women. BIPOC and queer writers’. The topic is: ‘More Than a MILF: Sex and…

The Bristol Short Story Prize 2026 The Bristol Short Story Prize is for original, unpublished short stories up to 4,000 words, in any genre or style. It is open to all writers, published and unpublished. The first prize is £1,500, and there are second and third prizes of £500 and £250. Twelve further shortlisted writers will each win £50. All shortlisted entries will be published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology. The entry fee is £14 per story. 250 free online entries are available for writers for whom the entry fee is a barrier to submitting. The closing date is 31 January. Website: https://bssp.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/about/ Claret Press Short Story Competition 2026 The competition is for stories up to 5,000 words that reflect today’s politics. To enter, send creative prose in…

The Bath Novel Award 2026 Win a £5,000 first prize in the contest for unpublished novel manuscripts. The International Bath Novel Award for emerging writers is inviting entries of manuscripts aimed at adult and young adult readers by unagented writers who are unpublished, self published or independently published. The winner will receive £5,000 and one longlistee will be awarded a place worth £1,980 on the online Cornerstones course Edit Your Novel the Professional Way. This year’s judge is literary agent Amanda Harris. To enter, send the first 5,000 words and a one-page synopsis of an unpublished, independently published or self-published novel. Writers entering the competition must not have received an offer of publication with advance for the submitted novel. The entry fee is £33 per novel. Sponsored places are available…

Hodder & Stoughton open submissions Major UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton is currently open to unagented submissions by new authors of commercial fiction in the following genres; crime & thrillers, including psychological thrillers and cozy crime, historical fiction, romance & romantic comedies, writes Gary Dalkin. The company currently publish such bestselling authors as Isabelle Broom, Sophie Hannah, Anna Jacobs, Peter Robinson. You don’t need to have any prior publishing experience to submit, and authors of all backgrounds are encouraged to send their manuscripts. Titles will be published in paperback, ebook and audiobook. Submit your complete, novel-length manuscript to: opensubmissions@hodder.co.uk In your email, briefly introduce yourself, include a short pitch, and mention some other authors/titles you think are comparable to your writing. Response time is aimed to be within a month…

In your hands, writers, is your key to unlocking competition success in 2026! Within these pages, you’ll find listings of writing competitions throughout the year, so you can start planning your competition calendar and working on your entries. For a lot of us, the great draw of writing competitions is the possibility of winning. Even more than the cash, winning a writing competition validates you as a writer, which is the biggest prize of all. It can get your name in front of industry gatekeepers too, because agents and publishers really do keep an eye on competition winners and shortlists. A competition win can mean that everything you’ve wanted to achieve as a writer – publication, representation, visibility – suddenly lands in your lap. But that’s the cherry on the…

Which way to go? Lynne Hackles is toying with writing in a new genre – but which one? ‘I was writing rom-coms with cakes,’ said Sue Watson. Then, smiling sweetly, she added, ‘but what I really wanted to do was kill someone.’ Now, many murders later in her psychological thrillers, Sue is a Sunday Times best-seller. Is changing genre a good idea? Writers do, but they often change their names at the same time. Sue has managed without doing this but romcoms and thrillers by the same writer wouldn’t upset anyone. Not so for the writer I met who writes about hedgehogs in petticoats for little kids and erotic fiction for adults. For her, using a different name for each genre sounds sensible. I am considering changing genre. I’ve finished…

The University of Nebraska Press publishes scholarly and general-interest books in topics ranging from anthropology and literary criticism to history and sports, writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon. In addition to the Nebraska imprint, the Press also publishes books under Bison Books, The Backwaters Press, and Potomac Books imprints and publishes the books of The Jewish Publication Society. The editorial team are proud to publish and make accessible works of intellectual and cultural significance which advance the boundaries of human knowledge and experience. Submit work by email. Read the detailed guidelines for each imprint at the website and send the work to the correct acquisitions editor. For more scholarly proposals include the working title a brief description of the project including its main arguments with an explanation of how the project contributes to…

The Awards from New Writing North are open for entries from writers based in the North of England. The Awards are given to support work in progress by new, emerging and established writers, enabling them to develop work towards publication and progress professionally. The Awards are supported by Northumbria University, Arts Council England and a variety of publishing and media partners. 2026 sees the launch of a new category, The Great Northern Read Award. The awards open for submission in this window are: • The Great Northern Read Award for emerging writers (unpublished, unagented) of gripping, page-turning fiction in any genre. Submit the opening 3,000-6,000 words and a synopsis. One winner will receive £2,500 and a structutred mentoring programme from Johnson & Alcock literary agency. • Northern Writers’ Awards for…

Quick Reads 2026 Coinciding with the National Year of Reading 2026 (see p59) charity The Reading Agency, which supports readers who have lost confidence, face concentration challenges, or are living with or recovering from illnesses such as cognitive disorder or brain injury, has revealed its latest collection of Quick Reads, a programme designed to help adults overcome barriers to reading by providing short, accessible books by leading authors. Gary Dalkin writes, Unlike other short-form fiction, Quick Reads go through a rigorous review process to ensure accessibility – including testing for readability, concentration, and suitability for those rebuilding reading confidence. The new titles will be published in the run-up to World Book Night (held on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday, 23 April 2026), when thousands of free copies will be gifted…

China Books Review China Books Review is a US digital literary magazine on all things China and bookish which in intended for general (rather than academic) readers interested in China and the Sinophone world, writes Gary Dalkin. It was founded in 2023 by Orville Schell of Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and David Barboza of The Wire China and is and based at Asia Society in New York. Managing editor Alec Ash is the author of multiple books on China. The title is open to submissions for the following sections: Reviews, 1,600+ words, or 3,200+ words reviewing multiple books. Essays, either 1,600+ words or 3,200+ words, that engage with broader ideas and trends relating to China or the Sinophone world. Literary profiles (3,200+ words) of prominent Chinese or Sinophone…

Enrealment Press This is a publisher with the intention of bringing works ‘inspired by the fire of sacred purpose into the world,’ writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon. It welcomes submissions but check their About Us page to ensure that the work is consistent with their particular focus. Send a minimum of three chapters, but they do prefer to see a finished creation. The team want work which puts ‘sacred purpose, above all financial and egoistic concerns.’ Include a synopsis of the creation and explain why the world will benefit from it. How is it different from or more profound than others in the genre? Who is the audience? What are ‘your truest intentions and hopes for it.’ And what is the social media and PR plan to sell it? Website: https://www.enrealment.com Magra…

THE REFERENCE GUIDE YOU’LL USE ALL YEAR ONGOING Furious Fiction 500-word short stories, written in 55 hours. Prizes: Publication Entry fee: Free Closing date: First Friday of each month www.writerscentre.com.au Booksie Contests Rolling programme of contests for short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. Prizes: Various Entry fee: Less than $9.95 Closing date: Year-round booksie.com Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award Previously unpublished writing of 15,000-20,000 words Prizes: £10,000, £3000 x2 Entry fee: Free Closing date: Biennial deborahrogersfoundation.org Dream Quest One Poetry and Writing Contest Stories (max 5 pages) and poems (up to 30 lines) Prizes: See website Entry fee: $10 writing, $5 poetry Closing date: Quarterly dreamquestone.com Ink 2 Screen Short Screenwriting Challenge Short screenplays based on prompts; up to 15 pages Prizes: $300 and 6 months entry Entry fee: $49 Closing date:…

Some of the most successful memoirs in recent years, such as The Outrun by Amy Liptrot and the now-controversial The Salt Path by Raynor Winn have been stories where place is a powerful presence. These are both set in spectacular coastal landscapes but wherever your story is set, you can harness the power of place – Croydon could cut it with a writer who feels a strong sense of positive or negative connection. For Amy Liptrot, Orkney is home and family, the childhood place she left and then returned to when her life in the city fell apart. It’s a complicated relationship, but deeply felt, as Orkney is essential to her sense of identity and belonging. Raynor and Moth Winn don’t have any sense of belonging on the Cornish coastal…

Having already looked at how to populate a Scene of Dialogue with the various components of action, thought, feeling, movement, etc. and the need for Dialogue to sound Real-ish, in this issue we will look at how Dialogue Tags can help us achieve our goal of writing a sparkling Scene of Dialogue that conveys character, mood and plot. What is a Dialogue Tag? A Dialogue Tag is primarily the verb – and dare I say it, the adverb – that provides information to the reader on who is speaking, and how they are saying the words. Every aspect of our Scene of Dialogue components can also be part of a Dialogue Tag. A Dialogue Tag is literally ‘tagged’ on at the beginning, middle or end of a line of Dialogue.…

SHORTLISTING AND SUCCESS Being shortlisted for the 2025 Creative Future Writers’ Award has been a massive confidence boost, writes subscriber Manjit Dhillon. Sixteen hundred writers had entered in three different categories. The realisation that I’d made it to the final fifteen in the non-fiction section felt nothing short of a miracle. Being in the running for the top prize and judged by industry experts was the cherry on the cake. This year’s theme for the competition was ‘Wild.’ In my entry, I recalled memories of my troubled childhood and the sanctuary found in our West London garden. I was surprised how readily I was able to bare my secrets. It felt akin to volunteering as a nude life model in an art class or handing over a personal diary to…

If you have a query for Lisa, please send it by email to lisacuttsenquiries@gmail.com Q Television often shows police officers taking calls and dashing out in the middle of the night or during family meals. Is this the norm in real life? Do police officers get paid for this? Sam Berkley via email A Police officers often answer their phones when off duty, especially those of a higher rank. It doesn’t necessarily mean they will attend the call but perhaps field the call and inform either a colleague or their Force Control Room who can redirect it. Some officers are paid an on-call allowance, although who receives this and the amount is determined by the Chief Officers of each force. It can and does vary. Dashing out in the middle…

Much time and agonising is often given to the protagonist – and antagonist – of a novel, yet what about the other characters within the world you’ve carefully built? Supporting characters might be lacking a central focus but can leave a lasting impact on the reader, even stealing a scene. The playwright Tom Stoppard exploited this in his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where he follows two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He exploits their state of confusion in this absurdist play but also uses them to explore important themes such as fate versus free will as we see the two men become fatalities of events beyond their control. At Cornerstones, we often work with authors on strengthening elements surrounding the central story, to give it more heft, credibility…

Cats Protection Short Story Competition 2026 The national contest is for short fiction celebrating the bond between cats and humans. Cats Protection, the UK’s leading cat welfare charity, has launched the competition for stories up to 1,000 words with cats at their heart, aimed at adult readers. Winners will be published the The Cat magazine and online. The judges are authors Jane Fallon and Anne Twist, and TV presenter Gail Porter. ‘Cats have a magical place in my heart,’ said Gail. ‘My cat always knows… well, my cat knows everything! Her special presence makes me feel so happy and I hope I do the same for her. I’m delighted to be involved in a competition that involves the many magical, wonderful stories you have about what makes cats so special…

Hollow Oak Press This new press likes to produce ‘quirky, mysterious, magical anthologies’ aiming to ‘breathe life into a person’s reading experience,’ writes PDR LIndsay-Salmon. As well as anthologies they publish short fiction at the website, and seek stories, 1,000 to 1,500 words, to publish digitally in the Acorn feature. All Acorn stories must feature a speculative element, like magic or monsters. It can be ‘as subtle as a hint of the unexpected in the real world, or as pervasive as secondary world fantasy.’ All subgenres of speculative fiction are welcome, but watch military/political/alien-based SF, not too hard. For the Cosy Fantasy anthology submit stories, 3,000-8,000 words, set in any definition of fantasy, ‘second-world, urban, historical, paranormal, as long as it has cozy themes.’ They want ‘whimsical, slice-of-life, optimistic stories…

Riddle Fence Riddle Fence team is ‘a hub for fast-paced literature from Newfoundland and Labrador,’ writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon.’ Publishing four times a year, they welcome high-quality fiction, non-fiction, poetry, visual art, and creative non-fiction. For poetry send 3 to 5 poems in a single submission. For fiction and creative non-fiction, no more than 3,000 words. Shorter essays are preferred. Payment:’US$50 per published page for written works’. Website: https://riddlefence.com Third Wednesday Magazine Third Wednesday is an independent journal aiming to showcase the best in literary and visual arts, writes PDR Lindsay-Salmon. It reviews submissions anonymously as they ‘value creativity over experience; and publishes poetry, short fiction (under 1,000 words) and visual arts All types of poetry are welcome, from formal to experimental. Submit no more than three poems. Flash fiction under…

The Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets 2026 The Awards recognise the importance of pamphlets in contemporary poetry publishing. The Awards are in four categories: • The Michael Marks Poetry Award is for an outstanding pamphlet published between 28 September 2024 and 1 October 2025. There is a prize of £5,000 and a winner’s residential trip to Greece. • The Michael Marks Publishers Award recognises and outstanding publisher of poetry in pamphlet form. The prize is £5,000. • The Michael Marks Award for Environmental Poetry Pamphlet is a new award for a pamphlet of poems on an environemental theme. The winner will receive £1,000 and a residency in Greece. • The Michael Marks Illustration Award offers a £1,000 prize for the most outstanding illustration of a poetry pamphlet published in…

I had a very nostalgic moment recently: I came across a copy of a book called The Specialist, * which I had been given in childhood as it was regarded as teaching a useful lesson. Originally published in the 1930s, it is a little gem. With wry humour, it tells of a skilled carpenter who specializes in constructing the kind of small shed-like toilets that used to sit out in back yards years ago. Though his work may seem repetitive, he has become expert at it, is in great demand and takes pride in his skill and delight from his customers’ satisfaction. Now, as one who has written across a wide range of genres, I am greatly in favour of doing so. If you come across or make diverse opportunities…

GRAND PRIZE 2026 Win a whopping £1,000 first prize for short fiction in any style and on any theme, up to 2,000 words. WM FEBRUARY OPEN: CRIME STORY 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s death. To honour her tremendous legacy, we’re inviting entries of crime fiction in any genre. POETRY: THE SEA Make waves with your poems that conjure any aspect of the sea that appeals to your imagination. WM MARCH OPEN: FIRST PERSON STORY Show us a world and an unfolding situation through your main character’s eyes in our competition for stories written from a first-person perpective. SUBSCRIBER ONLY: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SETTING Create a location with main character energy, where the setting has a real influence over the story – and makes the reader feels as…