It's done. After five hundred and forty entries, more reading and re-reading than I can account for, and a great deal of heated debate, we have our final ten. These are the openings our judges have chosen to carry through to the last stage of the Marlowe & Christie Novel Prize. Reaching this point, out of a field this large and this genuinely strong, is no small thing, and I want to say clearly that the standard across the whole competition this year has been extraordinary. If you were commended or highly commended and aren't on this list, that is not a verdict on your book. The line had to fall somewhere, and it fell among work I'd happily have championed either side of it. The final ten (in no particular order): 🔟 The Break-up Artist 🔟 A Murder of Crows 🔟 Sea of Clouds 🔟 Flotsam 🔟 Pigeons 🔟 The Dog That Didn't Bark 🔟 Crooked Little Smile 🔟 All That Has Wings 🔟 Nonsuch Island 🔟 Rathaus Here's what happens now. These ten go forward together, anonymously, judged on the writing alone, to be read by four people from the publishing world. The winners will be chosen from this stage. They are: 📚 Alec Shane — a literary agent at Writers House in New York, one of the largest and most established agencies in the world, representing fiction from literary and historical to crime, thriller and horror. 📚 Jenny Hewson — a literary agent at Lutyens & Rubinstein in London, who joined after a decade at Rogers, Coleridge & White. The authors she represents have been shortlisted for and won prizes including the Booker and the Women's Prize, and she has a particular love of distinctive literary voices. 📚 Katie Seaman — an editor who spent a decade commissioning fiction at major publishing houses including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, now a freelance editor and book coach across commercial and literary fiction. 📚 Patrick Gleeson — a novelist whose Theatreland Mystery series (Hattie Brings the House Down, Hattie Steals the Show and Hattie Breaks a Leg) is published by Bedford Square.

What is the best piece of advice you have received on the craft of writing? I like 'Write what you love and love what you write'. It may be cheesy and cliched but what is the point of writing without passion and joy? Of course there are days when its a slog but I guess thats the payoff.

Hi ive written part of a crime thriller its currently at 15k words. It kind of has 2 or 3 mini storys should I keep going for a full novel or to people prefer shorter stories now

Hi folks I deliver one-off workshops and ongoing courses for a local college (for adult learners). The topics are all aspects of writing and publishing, fiction related. The college has asked me if I’ll deliver next year, and for the first time requested that I pick my classes for the whole academic year, now. For various reasons (that I won’t bore you with) they can’t currently give me insight into student requests - which would have been my starting point! I’ll definitely be repeating my intensive 1-day course on novel writing and probably the sessions on self-publishing. I was thinking of offering a short one called ‘Getting it done!’ About productivity/ procrastination/ plotting, etc. So… my question is, if someone was offering classes very close to your home, what would you love to see on the prospectus? I’m sure we’re a varied bag of confidence, skills, backgrounds, and experience here, so I’d really appreciate any thoughts! I also realise some things may be beyond my own skillset (always learning) but without boring you with my whole CV, I’m happy to take any ideas for reflection. Courses are face-to-face and can be pretty much any length, but intensive Saturday ones work better much better for my schedule. NB. I can assure you I’m not trying to sell you anything - unless, in the extremely unlikely event that you live on the same tiny island as me off the coast of France! 😁

I was thrilled to be included in the Commended section of the shortlist. Thanks so much to Issy and the rest of the Marlowe & Christie team. Congratulations to all, and the very best of luck to the entries that will move on!