Resources for Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction Writers
We’re here to help! This is where we post and share everything we think might help you most in your writing journey: competitions to apply for; prizes to win; opportunities for writers from under-represented backgrounds; writing advice from published authors; the best Twitter accounts to follow; advice on agent proposals for those of you seeking agent representation; and publishers open to unagented submissions, for those of you who aren’t.
Bath Novel Award – 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Bridport Prize – international creative writing prizes for multiple categories: Poetry, Short Story, Flash Fiction, Novel and Memoir.
The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize – 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award – biannual prize. 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Bristol Short Story Prize – 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize – 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
The Raymond Carver Short Story Contest – 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Manchester Fiction Prize (short stories) – submissions close 1st September.
V. S. Pritchett Short Story Prize – for unpublished short stories.
Northern Writers’ Awards – 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Society of Authors ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award – for short stories. 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Society of Authors McKitterick Prize – for a first novel by a writer over 40 (published or unpublished). 2023 submissions now closed. Earmark for next year!
Creative Future – Writers’ Award Competition for all under-represented writers.
The Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize – for unagented, unpublished writers of colour.
Owned Voices Novel Award – for unagented writers from an under-represented background.
#Merky New Writers’ Prize – for young, underrepresented, and unpublished writers from across the UK and ROI. Submissions close in September.
WriteNow – Penguin’s award-winning programme to seek out, nurture and publish new writers from communities under-represented on the nation’s bookshelves.
Bad Form – award-winning books magazine by and about writers of colour.
Black Girl Writers – a free mentoring programme for Black women who write. Pairing Black women with industry experts, and hosting online workshops throughout the year.
Malorie Blackman Scholarships – City Lit’s Malorie Blackman Scholarships for Unheard Voices provide three annual awards worth up to £1,000 each, to fund one year’s study within the Creative Writing department at City Lit. The awards seek to support and encourage the creative and professional development of ‘unheard voices’.
Platforming Under-Represented Writers – a project by Literature Wales that offers writers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and writers with a disability or illness (mental or physical) grants of up to £1,000 to develop their professional and artistic potential to create opportunities to kick-start or advance their career.
The Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize – a competition that’s exclusively open to unagented, unpublished writers of colour. The winner will receive a two-book publishing contract with Avon with an advance against royalties of £10,000 (£5,000 per book), an additional £3,000 grant to support their writing, and representation from Mushens Entertainment.
Owned Voices Novel Award – for unagented writers from an under-represented background.
Creative Future – Writers’ Award Competition for all under-represented writers.
#Merky New Writers’ Prize – for young, underrepresented, and unpublished writers from across the UK and ROI. Submissions close in September.
Ink Academy’s advice on How to Get an Agent’s Attention.
10 Steps to Getting a Literary Agent from Writers&Artists.
Wonderful advice on writing your non-fiction proposal, from Mushens Entertainment agent Silé Edwards.
Useful, practical guide from Jericho Writers.
What Editors Want – brilliant podcast interviewing industry-leading editors on what they look for in a book. Hosted by Ink Academy tutor Philip Connor.
Mslexia – the UK’s bestselling magazine for women who write. They regularly post writing prompts, inspiration, advice and opportunities.
Litro Magazine – always looking to publish new voices.
York Literary Review – York-based literary journal designed to showcase diverse work from talented writers.
The Write Practice – help, tips, prompts and general galvanising to get you going.
Advice to Writers – Jon Winokur’s advice, quotes and inspiration.
National Centre for Writing – a place of discovery, exchange, ideas and learning for writers, translators, readers and everyone who loves words.
New Writing North – supports writing and reading in the North of England.
Writing Prompts – they post at least one new writing prompt every day. Good for breaking down writer’s block.
Merriam Webster – they post a new word every day.
#AmWriting and #WritingCommunity – for all things writing-related. Help you feel like you’re not completely alone…
This article by George Saunders is the most gorgeous description of how a writer writes, and why, and why it matters.
“The language must be put through the wringer, over and over and over, so that when a reader finally picks up the book, they can say: I know exactly what she means.” Anna Pitoniak on ‘What Being an Editor Taught Me About Writing’.
“You will get some bad reviews. It will hurt. A lot. No matter what, NEVER ENGAGE. That way lies madness and public humiliation. Go for a walk. Eat some cake. And did I mention NEVER ENGAGE?” Vanessa Faye’s ‘Letter to my Pre-Publication Self’.
“I write a sentence. I delete it. I wonder if it’s too early for lunch.” Yaa Gyasi on her writing day.
“My first novel—which I had written in a prolonged state of panic, knowing I had absolutely no idea what I was doing—was in the process of being rejected by every agent and editor in New York whose contact information I could wrangle from the internet.” Yoojin Grace Wuertz on the long road to her first novel.
“I write at night when the world is asleep.” Odafe Atogun on his writing day.
“Take a moment to read through your story. Read it from start to finish. Mark the places where you grow bored. Assume that an editor will stop five pages before that.” Brandon Taylor on escaping the slush pile.
“Writing a novel is like hacking at the rock face … Two or three years of hacking, usually, for me.” Penelope Lively on her writing day.
“Just try to write. You can do it better tomorrow.” Bernard MacLaverty on his writing day.
“I am at the stage where everything is connected to this book, I keep bumping into it. I love this feeling.” Anne Enright on her writing day.
“Sometimes childhood can be a treasure chest of potential narratives.” Tim Gautreaux on knowing what you write, not writing what you know.
“I recently won a literary prize, a truly wonderful and absurd amount of money out of the clear blue, and I was struck how the news here in New Zealand described me as “pocketing” that money. That sly verb “pocket”—because writers glide around in huge coats lined with pockets in case the opportunity should arise to pinch something to which they feel entitled, like a scented candle or another coat lined with pockets.” Ashleigh Young on making, and not making, money as a writer.
Apply now for the Ink Academy Writing Course
Applying to the Ink Academy Writing Course is quick and simple. Just upload a sample of your writing below, along with your name and email address, and we will be in touch with enrolment details.
The sample of your writing does not need to be polished or perfect, or even from the work you want to develop on the course. It is just so that we can ensure our course is best placed to help you. For more details, please see our FAQs.
