What’s the one thing stopping you from finishing your current WIP right now? Procrastination? Perfectionism? That endless research rabbit hole? We are have something - share yours below.

Just to let you know where we are with the contest. We don’t like reading on a screen, so we send the entries off to a printer and get them back in big ring-bound booklets. Then we annotate, produce feedback for those who have requested it and work out who will be commended or long-listed. Good luck all!

Hello everyone, Not sure whether I'm looking for sympathy or advice, probably both, but I wanted to ask: has anyone else redrafted their WIP about ten times, only to discover the ending is far too complex and doesn't make sense? I've been working on this for years and I seem to remember the end was brilliant. But looking at it with fresh eyes over the Christmas break, I realise the final chapters are too complicated and a bit ridiculous. (You know that feeling when you cringe at your own work?) I'm with you @Lorna Riley when it comes to new ennui, but I was thinking some of you may have experienced this sort of crushing epiphany moment in your own writing lives. If you have, please could you share what you did next? Thanks 👍

Congratulations to all those who entered the prize. We had over 533 entries, which is significantly more than last year (which was our first). Judging & feedback will proceed in line with the schedule on our website.

I'm really interested to discover the extent to which people plan before starting to write proper. I'd be keen to know to what extent others stick to or modify their plans and whether they impact the final result at all. Do you just dive in and fix things in the edit later? Perhaps you start with a theme, but not necessarily the whole plot. Do you do any work to find the voices of your characters before kicking off? Maybe you have every element mapped out before starting.