Some books are so good you wish you'd thought of the idea first. One such book is the superb short story collection 'Freaks' by Nik Perring and Caroline Smailes. So wonderful is this anthology that the Spudling wrestled my copy off me when it arrived (I'm so not kidding - that's him in the photo below, intently examining the cover!).
The blurb for 'Freaks' says:
"The weirdest stories you will ever read.
A bizarre collection of short stories, each featuring a character with an unusual superpower.
- Meet The Photocopier, a woman who can reproduce herself at will and who attempts to teach her daughter to do the same.
- Or the zombie hairdresser who is able to reanimate every time she dies.
- And the man who can break his way into his lover’s dream.
Over fifty freaks and misfits feature in this unforgettable book, and each is illustrated by comic book artist Darren Craske."
Not only am I a fan of short stories and flash fiction (I can't recommend Nik's flash anthology 'Not So Perfect' enough), I love films about people with superpowers (X Men, Spiderman, Batman etc) and I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. What I expected was a bunch of short stories about people with superpowers, something light and breezy - a loo book if I'm honest! - but what I received was an anthology of brain tickling, heart string plucking, eyebrow raising literary short stories bursting at the seams with weird and wonderful characters. There aren't any capes, costumes or lazer beams shooting from eyes in this wonderful anthology. Instead it's crammed full of strange foibles, odd thoughts, twisted relationships and unusual ambitions. Every time I dipped into it I didn't know what to expect but I was never disappointed. Each story is a delicious literary morsel.
If you don't normally buy short story anthologies because you think they're long, boring and turgid then this is the book you've been waiting for. You won't find anything quite like it in bookshops or on the Internet and, like I said at the beginning of this post, I so wish I'd come up with the idea. Congrats Nik and Caroline, it's a little belter!
Buy 'Freaks' now!
Now...onto the subject mentioned in the blog post - an insight into the mind of a flash fiction judge. Here's the very brilliant Nik Perring...
Mostly, I’m a writer.
But, as a writer, I’ve been asked to judge competitions and to guest as an
editor at a few literary venues, so I suppose I’m a judge too. And that’s what
I’m here to talk to you about, because Cally has asked me to tell you what
turns me on and off about stories when I’m reading submissions.
I’ll start with the most
obvious. What really gets me going is a
great story. And how do you define that? Well, to be honest, you can’t. A great
story is simply a great story. It’s a brilliant idea converted into a brilliant
and affecting story. They’re a bit like magic. And they’re almost always told
in the way the story wants them to be told. Now, that might sound like a
strange thing to say, but in my experience, there are a lot of entries that
read like the writer’s trying to write a competition winning story, or trying
to write like someone else, or, on occasion, writing in a way that they think
will impress me. Those, while admirable, are usually mistakes. The story should
come first. If it’s great, then a judge or an editor will see it. So try to
write the best possible story you can without thinking too much about where
it’s going to go, because you can find that out once you’ve finished it.
Of course there are
loads of things you should be doing and should not be doing. Here are my top
five tips.
DO…
Make sure your story is
finished. Do it justice and PLEASE don’t send something half-done in just to
make a deadline. You’re competing with good, and often, professional writers,
so a half-finished story a) won’t stand a chance of winning b) will waste a
reader’s time and c) will waste your time – don’t forget, while you’re waiting
for that short list to be announced you could be finishing it, making it
awesome, and sending it somewhere else.
DO…
Make sure you get the
writing bits right. That means spelling, punctuation, grammar, making sure
there aren’t any typos. Think of it this way, if it wins it’ll be published.
The people who’ll publish it will want to publish something they think
represents the best of what they do – and that will not be something that’s got
errors in it. Plus, you’re a writer! Getting the writing bits right is your
job!
DO…
Try to be interesting.
If you’re looking at entering a competition that’s themed, try this:
Write down the first ten
things on that theme that come to mind. So if, for instance, the theme’s
‘spring’ you’ll probably write things like: a
spring, spring (the season), to spring (the verb), spring cleaning, having a
spring in your step… And so on.
Those will be the ideas
the majority of the other entrants will have chosen. So, once you’ve finished
your list, throw it away. Then start a new list and pick one from that. It’ll
be more original and that means that it should be more interesting.
DO…
Read and observe the
guidelines. I know this should be quite an obvious one but not going over word
limits and formatting your story as you’ve been asked are really important. Those
guidelines are there for a reason and if you don’t take them seriously then why
would a judge or editor take your story seriously? (Hint: they probably won’t!)
DON’T
Think that not winning,
or being placed, or being rejected is a sign that your story’s rubbish or that
you’re not good enough. Yes, it’s true, sometimes stories aren’t anywhere near
good enough, but of all I’ve rejected a huge number have been brilliant and
simply haven’t quite turned me on as
much as the winner. It’s a matter of judgement – simply someone’s opinion. So
please, don’t be disheartened. If your story hasn’t got anywhere, have another
look at it, see if you can make it any
better, and send it somewhere else – there are plenty of other wonderful places
where it could find a home.
So, there you have it.
My top tips for submitting. And remember: the most important thing is making
sure the story comes first. A brilliant story will almost always find a good
home – so making it brilliant is the most important step. If you do that,
everything else should fall into place.
Good luck, everyone!
*
Nik Perring is the
co-author of Freaks!,
and the author of Not
So Perfect. His website is http://nikperring.com
and he’s on Twitter as @nikperring.
