The Art of Being a Writer

In conversation with Denarii Peters

My guest is Denarii Peters, winner of the Hysteria Writing Competition short story category in 2023. Denarii’s first collection of short stories, Will You Walk Into My Parlour?, has now been published by Crystal Clear Books [https://crystalclearbooks.co.uk/product/will-you-walk-into-my-parlour/], and is available in all good online bookstores, links below. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindaph.substack.com [https://lindaph.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

In conversation with Chris Cottom

This month my guest is Chris Cottom, winner of the Flash Fiction category of Hysteria 2023 and published in Hysteria 10. His winning entry is titled Hocus Pocus. Chris lives near Macclesfield, England, and once wrote insurance words. In 2023 his stories won the Allingham Flash Fiction Competition, National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand’s Micro Madness competition, the South Warwickshire Literary Festival Writing Competition, The Phare’s Flash Dash competition, and the Off the Rails 3 Minute Story competition (for stories to be read to passengers on the Esk Valley Railway between Middlesborough and Whitby). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindaph.substack.com [https://lindaph.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Hysteria 10 Anthology Launch

The third launch event for Hysteria 10 [https://hysteriawc.co.uk/product/hysteria-10-pdf/], published by Crystal Clear Books [http://htps://crystalclearbooks.co.uk], was a great kickoff to the Christmas season occurring later than usual on the 18th of December. Despite a few hitches related to my sending out the wrong date and time to pretty much everyone lots of people joined us for an evening of readings and announcements. As usual, technical and human glitches kept us all on our toes for the first ten minutes, but once I’d logged out and back in again, things seemed to progress much more smoothly, at least at my end. You can pick up your copy of the anthology [https://hysteriawc.co.uk/product/hysteria-10-pdf/] through the Hysteria Writing Competition website. The product page also lists alternative purchase options too Special guests from the reading team joined me to help read the entries and participate in a round table discussion on the finer points of finding the all-important shortlist of entries to the competition. Hopefully, you’ll find the advice shared useful when entering future writing competitions. It would be fair to say that without the reading team, this competition would not be possible and I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to them all. Of course, the main purpose of the launch is to announce all the overall category winners, as well as the winner of my annual Guess the Cover [https://hysteriawc.co.uk/hysteria-2023-shortlist/] competition. You can listen to the entire event here and it’s also available through Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/01mZH1g1P0RkHQMU2r65jQ] or Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-being/id1544814245], as usual. Finally, congratulations go to: * Annette Iles, winner of the Poetry category for A Woman Who Does Not Believe In Spells. * Chris Cottom, winner of the Flash Fiction category for Hocus Pocus. * Denarii Peters, winner of the Short Story category for Soaking Wet. * Jacqueline Green, winner of the Guess the Cover competition was the first out of the hat guessing Hocus Pocus. Each of our winning entries will be added to the Hysteria Writing Competition website in the coming weeks, and I’m busy planning interviews with all the category winners so keep an eye out for them being added to the podcast here on Substack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindaph.substack.com [https://lindaph.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Meeting Alexandra Packer

I’ve been interviewing writers just like you and me since 2012. I started with written interviews called the Thursday Throng, and maybe at some point I’ll bring that archive over into Substack. Since 2020, I changed it to a podcast. The important thing about these conversations is that these are people who have had the courage to put their words down on paper (metaphorical or otherwise). I find I learn something from all of the lovely writers and authors I speak to, I hope you do too. This month my guest is Alexandra Packer the winner of last year’s short story category for the Hysteria Writing Competition. Her story was titled Et in Arcadia Ego [https://hysteriawc.co.uk/et-in-arcadia-ego-by-alexandra-packer-hysteria-2022-short-story-category-winner/] and you can can read and listen to it on the Hysteria website [https://hysteriawc.co.uk/et-in-arcadia-ego-by-alexandra-packer-hysteria-2022-short-story-category-winner/]. In this month’s episode Alexandra and I talk about: * Et in Arcadia Ego translates to ‘I too am in Arcadia’ and inspired by the Nicholas Poussin painting [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_in_Arcadia_ego]. * How the competition readers make a decision about whether an entry meets the theme requirement. * How to avoid writing about a current war without writing about the Ukrainian conflict directly. * Writing fan fiction vs submitting original work. * How the story represents both the living and the dead, and how the hardest part may be waiting for the dead to return home. * How the events of our lives often influence our writing, as well as what may be called synchronicities and coincidences. * All writing has it’s basis in human understanding and experience of life. * The challenge of writing without having direct personal experience versus the assumptions we make about reinterpreting the totality of human experience. * How much time it takes to write original fiction amidst the business of life. * The ‘writing niggle’ to create something more and where inspiration comes from. * Alexandra’s love of baking and how it can weave it’s way into fiction. * The nature of culture and change and how it infiltrates and infuses our own ability to envision ourselves as well as the worlds we create in fiction. * What is, is! As mentioned in today’s episode * Bath Flash Fiction Award [https://www.bathflashfictionaward.com/] * National Flash Flood [https://www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/index.php/flash-flood/] * Writer’s HQ [https://writershq.co.uk/] * Sussex bake down [https://www.facebook.com/thelatest.tv/videos/sussex-bake-down/408874800178686/] - Facebook * Banana loaf a recipe for solace [https://hysteriawc.co.uk/banana-loaf-a-recipe-for-solace-winner-of-the-hysteria-2012-short-story-competition/] You can meet Alexandra on Twitter @alexandtheweb [https://twitter.com/alexandtheweb] If you’d like to join me on The Art of Being [https://lindaph.substack.com/s/the-art-of-being], just leave a comment below. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindaph.substack.com [https://lindaph.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

How to win a writing competition

Do you want to learn what it takes to win a writing competition? You’ve entered your short story, flash fiction or poetry into all sorts of writing competitions but the ultimate prize has always eluded you. You read the winning entries and wonder what they had that you didn’t, what made them stand out, whilst you faded into the background. Sometimes it’s obvious, even you would have picked them out for a top spot, but most of the time it’s hard to tell why they won and you didn’t. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindaph.substack.com [https://lindaph.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]