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Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (Summer 2018)

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What are your submission or rejection goals for 2018? Inspired by Lit Hub’s 100 rejections per year post, I got 93 rejections 2017 and aim to cross 100 this year. Since my Spring 2018 contest roundup, I’ve earned plenty of rejections and published the last season’s responses in a fun format I dubbed The Rejection Quarterly.

Summer tends to be a slower time for submissions. A lot of literary journals close their reading periods and are slower to respond. I love using this time of fewer deadlines for more in-depth writing—especially novel revisions. This submissions season covers fiction contests with deadlines between June 1, 2018 and August 31, 2018. Thanks to Literistic, Poets & Writers, and Submittable Discover for many of these contests.

Much like editors are looking for reasons to reject work, I want to focus on opportunities worth my time. Thus, my list of writing contests below includes reasons to submit to that particular writing contest. May you find a promising opportunity among this list and spend less time searching for where to send your exceptional work.

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Frankenstein Unboxed: On Reimagined Classics, and a Monster of a Giveaway

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Congratulations to contest winners Heather, Lara, Christine, and Mark! We'll be in touch with you about your books. Pride & Prejudice. Gone with the Wind. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Gulliver's Travels. Frankenstein. We know these classic stories and their beats, and can't imagine them any other way. But some authors who can are part of a trend focused on reimagined classics. You only have to look at the recent surge of rebooted TV series to imagine why readers love them: They … [Read more...]

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (Spring 2018)

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What are your submission or rejection goals for 2018? Inspired by Lit Hub’s 100 rejections per year post, I got 93 rejections 2017 and aim to cross 100 this year. I plan to include literary agent rejections in this year’s tally, which should incentivize me to query more. Since my last contest roundup, I’ve earned two more acceptances. The journey to publication for my latest flash fiction, “Rivet Here”—including full rejection letters—is available on my blog. This submissions season covers … [Read more...]

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (Winter 2017 Edition)

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Inspired by Lit Hub’s 100 rejections per year post, my goal was to make at least 50 submissions in 2017. Since my last contest roundup, I’m at 108 submissions and 79 rejections. I’m also delighted to share that I’ve earned my first acceptance for publication in fiction and nonfiction. It’s nowhere near New Year’s but I’m already breaking down my next series of writing goals. This submissions season is stacked with late December and early January deadlines. Here’s a chance to get started on … [Read more...]

Whose Line Is It Anyway? Mastering Deep POV (+ Giveaway!)

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Please welcome Jess Lourey (rhymes with "dowry") and Shannon Baker back to WU today! Jess and Shannon have written over 20 books between them, and are currently on their second national blog tour, Double-booked Round Two. Shannon is promoting Dark Signal, the second in the Kate Fox series (Longmire meets The Good Wife) and Jess is promoting the 11th book in her funny Murder-by-Month series, March of Crime. A little more about them: Jess is best known for her critically-acclaimed … [Read more...]

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (Fall 2017 Edition)

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Inspired by Lit Hub’s 100 rejections per year post, my goal was to make at least 50 submissions in 2017. Since my last contest roundup, I’m at 78 submissions and 51 rejections. That rejection count has been a bittersweet goal to reach, but the year’s far from over. Fall is submission season! Many literary journals reopen their reading periods as another academic year begins so there should be no shortage of places to send your work. I’ve curated another list of promising contests for your … [Read more...]

Write a Page-Turner for a ($499) Prize in Flog-A-WU CONTEST

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Therese here to introduce a fun summer contest, with a quick turnaround time. The window for receiving entries is a mere 24 hours, so let's get right to it. The Why We haven’t had an Epic WU Contest in a while, so when the opportunity presented itself to give away a truly worthy prize – a Freewrite, valued at $499 – we thought it was time to put ourselves back into contest-mode. The What This is what you're playing for: a new Freewrite will be shipped to wherever you live, whether it's in … [Read more...]

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (Summer 2017 Edition)

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Inspired by Lit Hub’s 100 rejections per year post, my goal was to make at least 50 submissions in 2017. Since my last contest roundup, I’m at 64 submissions and 34 rejections. Summer tends to be a slower time for submissions. A lot of literary journals close their reading periods and are slower to respond, but there are still opportunities out there! I’ve curated another list of promising contests for your submitting convenience. Much like editors are looking for reasons to reject work, … [Read more...]

Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time (April, May, June Edition)

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We're so pleased to introduce Art Klepchukov to the community today, along with a new potential series on CONTESTS for fiction writers! Art writes literary and speculative fiction from numerous San Franciscan cafes and the occasional park. He completed The Lemon Tree House Residency for Writers in Tuscany and has read at Lit Camp’s Basement Series. Art was awarded Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future contest. He loves hosting Shut Up & Write meetups. Follow his writing journey on … [Read more...]

AUTHOR IN PROGRESS is here to help you Prepare, Write, Improve, Rewrite & Persevere

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https://youtu.be/BwgzxDwUC-Q AUTHOR IN PROGRESS is officially releasing TODAY, and we're so excited for you to meet our book -- filled with NEW essays on the journey every writer takes to produce a novel. That's not just the journey of the not-yet-published author either; it's also the journey of the published author. The end of one book is never the end of the journey for an author in progress. AUTHOR IN PROGRESS is divided into 7 sections, with drill-it-down tips to help you move through … [Read more...]

Flash Fiction Contest 2015: The Winner Revealed

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After twelve months worth of competition, the time is finally here to announce the grand prize winner of the 2015 WU Flash Fiction Contest. Thank you again to everyone who participated in making it such a wonderful experience. Before we jump in to the grand announcement, I'd just like to share a little story. After posting the prompt and finalist's stories last week, we had a an email from Stefano Corso, the photographer responsible for Red Rain. He reached out to thank us for using his … [Read more...]

Flash Fiction Contest Grand Final

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Welcome to the final round of the 2015 Flash Fiction Contest. After a full year challenges, we're down to the last contest, and one of our finalists will be taking home the grand prize. I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported our year-long contest by reading, writing, and entering the monthly challenges, and another special thank you to our panel of judges, who have done a great job all year. Grand Prize:  The overall winner of the 2015 Writer Unboxed Flash Fiction … [Read more...]

Announcing the Winner of the Flash Fiction Contest Round 11

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Thank you to everyone who participated in Round 11 of the WU Flash Fiction Contest. What an exciting month is was, with a higher number of entries than almost every other round this year. (The only month with more was January.) As always, the quality was high, and choosing a winner was difficult. And that's it, my friends. We are at the end of the year-long contest. There's only one round to go, where the finalists compete against each other for the grand prize. More on that shortly. But, … [Read more...]

Flash Fiction Contest Round 11

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Thank you to everyone who participated in round 10 of the WU Flash Fiction Contest. Every month, I am surprised and impressed anew by the different perspectives everyone takes using the same prompt. Can you believe it's already November? This is your last chance to score a place in next month's grand final. As always, you have seven days to write a 250 word story based on the image above. We're getting so close to declaring our overall winner, I can almost taste the anticipation. There have … [Read more...]