Novel Competition
We were uplifted, touched and moved by many of the entries received for the Novel Competition. Some submissions left us panting for more, others left us intrigued, while a few left the reader on a knife edge, with a feeling of uncertainty - that wonderful effect of not wanting the chapters to end - to read on. A lot of the characters were memorable with their quirks and idiosyncrasies, some grabbed our attention and held it making them feel alive and tangible. We were showered with choice: adventure, horror, thriller, love, revenge, childhood recreations and challenges in adulthood. The variety kept us inspired.
It would seem that choosing one novel out of all of these would prove a difficult task for Lorella Belli, but as usual she took on the challenge with her usual aplomb and wonderful sense of adventure. Here is what Lorella had to say:
I have now read the entries and have come up with what I feel is the best of the ones submitted.
There were three or four which I felt showed some promise, and the two criteria's I used to judge were: 1) is it well-written and engaging (for its own genre or readership), and 2) has it got the potential to be published? Basically if this submission had landed on my desk, would I ask to read more?
In terms of the range, several entries seemed to be rather introspective and to deal with topical themes or darker subjects; a number fell into the suspense/mystery category or had a supernatural element if not a straight ghost story – and the good news is that the demand for this kind of books is still there.
I found that several entries were competently written and interesting (in terms of narrative voice, themes, characterization, basic premise of the novel), but ultimately I have chosen the one which I felt was the most likely to attract the attention of an agent or editor as it is, in its current form.
The winning entry is LEGACY by Graham Minett.
Although the premise (a woman is left a country cottage by a person who died recently and whom she doesn’t know) is not original or unique, I felt the author has managed to create a good sense of suspense, curiosity and interest in what’s to come. The characters are well-rounded and the structure (with the interspersed newspaper articles about the teenage killer and his story) seems to work well; the pace contributes to make this an intriguing and page-turning read. The writing is very polished too (which was not always the case with other entries). This is genre fiction and is a good effort – whether this is good enough to find a publisher in today’s competitive market I guess would depend on whether the author manages to sustain what he has achieved here throughout the novel. I will be happy to read the rest of it.
Other submissions which I enjoyed were THE POLITICS OF LOVE by Nusrat Zar, THE VIOLINIST’S DAUGHTER by Virginia Woods, THE BOGEYMAN IN THE WARDROBE by Josephine Leonard-Bezeau and SPOTTICELLI ANGEL by Eithne Nightingale. I also liked the voice and feisty heroine in THE FASHION POLICE by Sibel Hodge, but it would need a fair bit of editing and rethinking for it to work.
Congratulations to the winner and to those who caught the judge's eye. As usual the competition entries were outstanding and highlighted that there are a lot of talented writers in our midst.
We will be accepting submissions for our next Novel Competition from Saturday 1 January 2011. The deadline for entries is at midnight on Wednesday 29 February 2012.
To get in contact please e-mail us, or write to us at Chapter One Promotions, Canterbury Court, 1-3 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6DE, England. You can also call us direct on 0845 456 5364.