Hal’s Ladder won the Mystery Women Crime Story competition in March 2011. The first sentence was provided: ‘Poor Hal. I knew him well – like a brother …’ The story had to be under 1000 words and crime. This was the first real monetary prize Sue won for a short story and it set her on the road she’s still walking. Find it here.
Sue Dawes’ flash fiction ‘The Undertaking’ has now been published in the Museum of Walking’s Winter Chill anthology. The idea for ‘The Undertaking’ came after Sue read a fascinating internet article about the life of a mortician, which then led to further research and the question: ‘What if?’ which is always a great place to start a story. It began as a much longer piece about a man who could only find love in death and was then reduced to flash fiction. The challenge was balancing the uncomfortable description of the studio and mortuary procedures, whilst leaving enough details of the crime for it to work.
The prompt was to write a flash fiction, under 100 words with a twist. The Facebook page and details of the next competition can be found here.
‘Before the Fall’ is a short story by Sue Dawes about an old man whose pride gets in the way of his health. This story has had many forms, before finally finding a home in an anthology by Pure Slush Books, an independent Australian publisher.
Sue’s story ‘The out’, won second place in the April edition of the Writers’ Forum (out now). The judge described it as ‘a chilling tale of a woman torn by past loyalties and present dread.’ Originally shortlisted for a local crime competition, and with a year of drawer time, Sue rewrote it extensively before submitting. There’s a lot to be said for distancing yourself from a piece of writing in order to be able to look at your work critically. It also helps to have a judge that understands what you’ve tried to do.
Sue’s flash fiction appears in Pure Slush, the ‘Envy‘ edition.
“The twins reacted differently. I thought they’d be identical. / from No more Wonderland by Sue Dawes.
Sibling rivalry in under 300 words.
After ten years of volunteering, Sue has decided to hand over the reins of the writing project and spend more time focusing on her own work. This is her last postcard, on the theme of ‘Change’.
Sue recently won second place in The ‘Writers’ Forum’ short story competition, which meant payment and publication (the two most important things for a writer after the actual slog of imagining and editing a story).
So what is her advice to get your story noticed?
Sometimes it takes a few submissions to get your story placed and that enforced ‘drawer time’ when the story is out there, is always positive. Sue was lucky with this one but others she’s had published before, have been rejected and rewritten before acceptance by another publisher.
Good luck!
Sue ran a creative workshop for the ‘M Festival’, a pilot event at the University of Essex. Attached are the slides. Why not have a try yourself?
The poem, written by Sue Dawes, was designed to go with the picture of ‘Pearl’ , a graphite on paper portrait, of a young girl with plenty of attitude. The artist is Robert Priseman. Sue is working on a series of poems about ‘unspoken things’. The postcard is available to collect at Firstsite and Wivenhoe Railway station.
