The Blank Page

Exciting news! The BBC Radio “Two Minute Tales” Christmas Competition is back!

This competition has become so popular it’s now in its third year and I’ll be judging it again with novelist, playwright, and BBC National Short Story Award winner, Lucy Caldwell.

There are three age categories covering ages 5-16 and you have to write a Christmas themed story in just 300 words. Finalists will be performed by a professional actor on the radio and winners will have their stories animated on the BBC Radio website!

The website also has a brilliant Creative Writing Kit, including games and activities to help you come up with ideas and write your stories so do check that out (in fact, it’s fun and useful even if you’re not entering this competition).

Remember, 300 words is not a lot of words but that doesn’t make it any easier! A short story still has to have a beginning, a middle and an end, just like a novel, so make sure every single one of your words is working hard for you. Be ruthless and cut any that aren’t!

The closing date is 12th November

So do pass this on to your young writers, and for more writing advice on super-short stories check out:

This post on last year’s Two Minute Tales Competition

This video on how to write Flash Fiction

September already! How did that happen?

Luckily the tireless folks at Fighting Words have spent the summer dreaming up new opportunities for young writers! This is definitely one to pass on to your writing clubs and English students:

Journalism Club is a free 12-week course for teens with mentoring from professional writers, editors and publishers. This will be such a great experience. Fighting Words workshops are always brilliant, they’re a hugely supportive and friendly bunch and I know the kids who’ve done their playwriting programs have really loved it and ended up putting on amazing plays with professional actors in the Lyric!

So if you know any aspiring journos, send them this way! Who knows where it could lead?

And if your kids prefer prose, poetry or plays, Fighting Words’ Write Club is continuing via Zoom and all teens are welcome. As well as our fortnightly creative writing sessions, we’ve been doing virtual ‘field trips’ to the Dublin Write Club for Q&A sessions with professional writers including Roddy Doyle, which has been such a treat! And being on Zoom means geography is no barrier so do spread the word to all your young writers (or indeed any adults who’d like to volunteer to work with Fighting Words)!

I think all the NI schools are wrapping up now so I’d just like to say a massive well done to everyone for getting through this absolute melter of a year!

I do hope your writing groups have provided some relief/entertainment/therapy/comradeship and above all inspiration through all that’s happened. My Fellowship is coming to an end and I’m so glad I set this up online because I’ve loved hearing what you’re up to via Twitter and it’s been a joy to be able to connect and share here when we’ve had to be so distant.