This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
September has been (and still is being!) our blogging month. October will be our reading month. Then, most of the Crowvus team will settle into writing in November.
Our reading is, of course, ghost stories - the stories you have submitted to us for consideration in our competition. We love this! It is a highlight of our year, and it is always difficult to make that final decision on those which will appear in the book, and those which will win the big prizes.
Enter the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story Competition!
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| Crowvus HQ last Hallowe'en Night |
What we're looking for is not always the same thing. This is why there are a number of judges, so that different styles and plots can be accommodated. Over the years, there have been stories which have stuck with me which never even made the book. By the nature of the judging system, I have no idea who wrote them, but there are some stories out there that I hope managed to find their home, as they have left a haunting impact on me.
Given that I look for things which my fellow judges might not find as important as I do - and vice versa - I thought I'd provide you with a few bullet points of what we all look for:
- Is there a ghost? This might seem like an obvious point, but you would be amazed by the number of horror stories we receive that have no ghost in at all. Double-check your story has a ghost of some description. It never has to be seen, but it does have to be experienced.
- Are there strings of typos? Don't worry if one or two slip through - this happens to us all. But a couple in every paragraph makes it very difficult to read.
- Have you used a readable font? We don't have strict rules about formatting, but if a story is in a script or heavy font, it can hinder the enjoyment of reading. And, leading on from this...
- Does the writing look right on the page? This is not a biggie, but it is worth experimenting with spacing and indents to find what you think works well. Take a look at this blog. There are gaps between the paragraphs, making the writing more comfortable on the eye. Again, this is not a "make-or-break" factor, but a story is always more inviting when it looks attractive.
- Is your story original? Over the last nine years, we've read hundreds of ghost stories. Somehow, people are still managing to impress us with originality - we love this! It may not be the idea which is fresh, it might be the characters, or the writing style. But ask yourself if there is something which makes your story your own.
And then an extra one: - We all love a twist - even a little one. Can you create an unexpected twist? Something we've never seen before? Something we never saw coming?
If you've gone through this checklist and you're confident you've got the right answers for each of these questions, answer this one:
What are you waiting for?
Check out our Ts&Cs, and share your story!
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