Photo credit: dr_tr

Round 2 Announcement Audio

Round 2 Winners Announced!

Well, after many months of uncertainty and a complete lack of funds, I’ve now got enough money in the bank to roll out the winners of the second Toothsoup Prize. If you want to, listen to the announcement and my comments on the winners in the audio above, or just look below if you want to know who has won.

‘Not a Whimper, but a Quadruple Summersault‘ by Adam Carr — $100 and winner of the second round of the Toothsoup Prize.

‘Wombats, Wogs, and Mobs‘ by Sarah Stanton — $40 and runner-up.

‘The Author in a Past Life (i.e. ‘Swum’)‘ by Alex Bennetts — $40 and runner-up.

Make sure to check out the stories at the Stories page!

Thank you very much to everyone who entered! Those who donated to the prize pot will be receiving critiques of their work very soon. If anyone who didn’t donate wanted some quick feedback on their story, feel free to email me at phill [dot] english [at] gmail [dot] com. Any other comments can be directed towards that email address as well.

Stay tuned and keep an eye out on my twitter account (@toothsoup), as I’ll be announcing the third round of the toothsoup prize fairly soon.

Happy writing,

Phill

Here we go again: if you hadn’t heard the news, the second round of the Toothsoup Prize yielded no entrants. Sadface! I’m not willing to let go of this baby yet, so instead of backing down, I’m upping the ante. Read through this post to find out how the stakes have risen.

[NEW] What is the prize?

The prize will now start at $150, but can increase with donations during the submission process. See the ‘What’s with the paid submission option?’ question below for how that works. To fit the increased prize money, the competition will now be open for three months, before closing for a month of judging, and it’s for Australian residents only. The word limit will stay upped to 3,000 words, as a lot of folks told me that they had trouble fitting their story arcs under the 2,000 limit. Given the quality of the submissions last round, I’m more than happy to be reading more words per entry this time around.

What kind of stories are you after?

I’m ditching the theme idea so as in the first round, there are no restrictions to style or genre, as long as they are challenging, well-written, and original. And I mean ‘original’ in the sense of no fan-fiction, no previously published work, and also just generally original. I don’t want to read the same plot I’ve already read elsewhere, by another author, with a better cover. Experimental fiction is allowed but please don’t make it so purely for the sake of it. So no major changes there.

Where do I submit?

I’ve started up a submishmash account for submissions. You can click the ‘Submit’ button above to see the guidelines or click here to go straight to the submishmash page. Entries must be received by midnight, AWST, on the 1st of December.

What’s with the paid submission option?

When you go to the submission page, you’ll see there’s an option to either submit with no payment, or with a $5 donation. Any donation made in this way goes straight into the kitty for the prize. So when you donate $5, the kitty goes up by $5. Last round we ended up with a total prize money pool of $115, starting from $50. Not bad! You also have the option of receiving feedback on your entry if you donate in this way. The third major change to the conditions of entry is that I’m reserving the right to break up the prize pool into 1st and runners-up. My preference is still to award the prize to one stand-out entry, but if that’s not possible, I’ll be looking to give honourable mentions a prize.

What if I want to donate some other way? Like EFT, cash moneys, etc.

That’s great! Contact me at the below email address and we can sort something out.

How will you pay the winner?

It’ll be their choice of cheque or direct bank deposit. Alternatively, I’d love to be able to hand them the money myself, but I’m geographically separate from a majority of the Australian writing community. So that may not happen, but you never know!

Can I contact you with other questions?

Sure! My email address is phill [at] toothsoup [dot] com.

My apologies for the break in communications; I had actually recorded a video explaining what’s going on, but it’s been lost in the digital storm of moving files around between new hard-drives. So I figured good ol’ fashioned typing & words can do just the same. Read on to see what’s happening with the prize!

Round 2. Fight!

Unfortunately, round 2 of the prize didn’t quite fare as well as the first round in terms of submissions. In fact, I received precisely zero (0) stories for the second round! This was obviously pretty disappointing, but I’m totally not going to let it get me down. I understand that maybe people didn’t have enough time to write stories around a  theme in just one month. Also, I really didn’t advertise it as much as I probably should have, as I was preoccupied with stuff like finding a place to live and getting a job. But that part has (kind of) been sorted now, so I’ll be a bit better with pimpage and getting the word out.

So, as a result of all that, I’m going to alter the periodicity (science word!) of the contest to allow for more time for writers, and get rid of the themed thingo. I’ll also try and get the word out to more blogs, newsletters, etcetera. Hopefully that’ll result in a better turnout for Round 2 v2.0!

So what does this mean for you, dear writer?

It means that Round 2, v2.0 will open sometime in the next month or so, with details of closing dates, increased prize money, and tweaked lengths all ready for you to absorb and have a crack at. I’ll be sure to send out the info to various lit news outlets, but if you absolutely want to make sure you hear the news, keep this page in your bookmarks and check it every now and again, or even follow me on twitter. It’s going to be great!

Phill English: Hi Alex, thanks for agreeing to do an interview. Could you give us a brief bio/introduction?
Alexandra Neill: Ok. My name’s Alexandra Neill and I turn 21 on Thursday [that was the 5th of July--P] . I decided I was going to be a writer when I was about 11 which it has just occurred to me is a whole decade ago. I’ve written for Good News Week and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate and been published in Voiceworks. I write a blog called Adventures in TV-Land which people actually seem to read, much to my ongoing surprise. I hate carrots. My favourite colour is purple.

Phill: Your story was chosen as the winner primarily due to the very original and believable voice of the main character. How did you go about writing such a voice?
Alexandra: I’m one of those insane people who talks about characters like they exist in the real world. I think they’re the closest thing grown-ups have to imaginary friends.

I always begin with a character and work from there. I tend to write my way into these people, until I reach a point where I know the voice well enough to recreate it effortlessly. I think the best way to write believable voice is to spent time creating characters who you know and like. If you love a character then there’s a deep desire to do justice to their story.

Phill: Your story is also really funny! Do you think that humour is undervalued in Australian literature?
Alexandra: I’m a huge believer in the power of comedy. Writing about sad things, even the ordinary sad things of everyday life (like feeling awkward at a party), is so important.

I think humour is under appreciated in fiction generally. There’s a stigma which says that something that is funny can’t be serious or important. Humour (especially in fiction) is somehow a lesser art; and yet so many of the books which have changed my life have also made me laugh. Nick Earls is one of my favourite authors, certainly my favourite Australian author. I think the kind of books he writes are drastically under appreciated in the literary community. My favourite stories are ordinary ones, about ordinary characters in which nothing much really happens. Life is funny, I don’t see why our stories can’t be too.

Phill: So what are your plans for the future? Are you looking to break more into writing comedy, or funny writing (if that makes sense)?
Alexandra: In 20 years time I will probably be Liz Lemon. I already relate to her on a slightly unnerving level. Television, comedy and writing are basically my three greatest passions and the idea that I could combine them and actually earn a living is still amazing. The day I discovered you could WRITE for TV was something of an epiphany. I think television as a medium, far from dying out as some people are predicting, is entering a really exciting time.

I also have this crazy pipe dream about writing radio comedy. Scripted audio comedy is such a surreal, beautiful thing. With the rise of podcasting and online media I think it has the real potential to make a come-back.

Phill: Finally, what would be some advice to those wanting to learn more about writing humour? Any particularly good resources you might have on the subject?
Alexandra: The best advice I can give you applies to all fields- find someone who is doing it better than you and ask them a lot of questions (I think I actually stole this advice from someone else). There are definitely tips and tricks to writing comedy but I think, at the end of the day, the best thing you can do is practice. I learnt everything I know about writing comedy by actually writing comedy. Also watching a lot of comedy, that helps too.

What is the prize?

As per the first round, the prize starts at $50, but can increase with donations during the submission process. See the ‘What’s with the paid submission option?’ question below for how that works. Again, the competition will open for a month, before closing for a month of judging, and it’s for Australian residents only. However, there are three major changes to the conditions of entry this time. The first is that I’m upping the word limit to 3,000 words. A lot of folks told me that they had trouble fitting their story arcs under the 2,000 limit. Given the quality of the submissions last round, I’m more than happy to be reading more words per entry this time around.

What kind of stories are you after?

The second major change is that this round has a theme. The reason behind this is that it was really hard judging the wide variety of entries I received last round against each other. I talked with a few folks about what I could do to make it a bit more fair to those entering, and a theme was one of the suggestions. As before, there are no restrictions to style or genre, as long as they are challenging, well-written, and original. And I mean ‘original’ in the sense of no fan-fiction, no previously published work, and also just generally original. I don’t want to read the same plot I’ve already read elsewhere, by another author, with a better cover. Experimental fiction is allowed but please don’t make it so purely for the sake of it. So no major changes there; I’m just trying to tighten the variables a bit so that I can more fairly judge entries.

So what’s the theme?

The theme for this round is ‘Dive‘. You’re free to interpret the prompt as widely as you like, either thematically or literally. Here’s some stream-of-consciousness prompts a la the Voiceworks theme announcements:

The moment your feet leave the ground; break the barrier between phases, while the guy behind you clutches his knees and moans to the referee. Making changes, taking action, pushing away, or maybe leaping towards? There’s no room for thought, just action, spinning and adjusting according to ancient muscle memory. Achieve a weightlessness in between leaving and landing, floating in space or some other fantasy realm. How long until your fingertips make contact with the familiar skin of surface tension?

I’m really looking forward to the places people will take the theme. Surprise me!

Where do I submit?

I’ve started up a submishmash account for submissions. You can click the ‘Submit’ button above to see the guidelines or click here to go straight to the submishmash page. Entries must be received by midnight, AWST, on the 2nd of August.

What’s with the paid submission option?

When you go to the submission page, you’ll see there’s an option to either submit with no payment, or with a $5 donation. Any donation made in this way goes straight into the kitty for the prize. So when you donate $5, the kitty goes up by $5. Last round we ended up with a total prize money pool of $115. Not bad! You also have the option of receiving feedback on your entry if you donate in this way. The third major change to the conditions of entry is that I’m reserving the right to break up the prize pool into 1st and runners-up. My preference is still to award the prize to one stand-out entry, but if that’s not possible, I’ll be looking to give honourable mentions a prize.

What if I want to donate some other way? Like EFT, cash moneys, etc.

That’s great! Contact me at the below email address and we can sort something out.

How will you pay the winner?

It’ll be their choice of cheque or direct bank deposit. Alternatively, I’d love to be able to hand them the money myself, but I’m geographically separate from a majority of the Australian writing community. So that may not happen, but you never know!

Can I contact you with other questions?

Sure! My email address is phill [at] toothsoup [dot] com.

Round 1 Winners Announced!

Today I have the great pleasure of being able to announce the winners and two runners-up in the very first toothsoup prize. Huzzah! If you have a little click on the video above, you can see a short video I put together whereby I discover the authors of the stories I picked LIVE and in SD. But if you can’t be bothered watching a video, here are the place winners:

‘Mercury and Sulphur’ by Alexandra Neill — $75 and winner of the inaugural toothsoup prize.

‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf Parade’ by Sarah Stanton — $20 and runner-up.

‘Florilingus: Araxe and the Language of Flowers’ by Eva Bujalka — $20 and runner-up.

Make sure to check out Alexandra’s story at the Stories page! I’m asking permission of the runners-up to host their work, as this was not included in the initial terms and conditions. But hopefully I’ll have those up soon as well.

Thank you very much to everyone who entered! Those who donated to the prize pot will be receiving critiques of their work very soon. If anyone who didn’t donate wanted some quick feedback on their story, feel free to email me at phill [dot] english [at] gmail [dot] com. Any other comments can be directed towards that email address as well.

Stay tuned and keep an eye out on my twitter account (@toothsoup), as I’ll be announcing the second round of the toothsoup prize very soon, with updated word limits, and possibly a theme. Exciting!

Happy writing,

Phill

What is the prize?

The prize is at least $50 (see below for why that ‘at least’ is there), awarded to the best original piece of fiction of between 1,000 and 2,000 words by an Australian author received during the competition dates, as judged by me. The competition will open for a month, before closing for a month of judging. If it’s a success, I’ll keep doing it. If not, at least I’ll have given a talented writer enough money to buy coffee for a couple of weeks!

Why start a prize?

I’ve wanted to do something like this for a while, but haven’t had the funds or the time to read entries. I’m at a relatively stable point in my life at the moment, so I figured it’d be a good time to start. The reason why I wanted to do it in the first place is that, in the years that I have been writing myself, there has been exactly one pay day for the hundreds of hours I’ve poured into improving my craft. And I know writers who are way more talented than me who couldn’t pay their printing costs with the funds they’ve accumulated. Being paid for the work you produce is a big part in affirming legitimacy, especially for emerging writers (and I use the common definition of ‘emerging’ here, not that of the Australia Council).

tl;dr – There aren’t many paying markets in Australia, so I figured a regular prize for a chance at $50 would be somewhere to start in addressing that.

Where are you going with this?

As above, if it’s a success initially, I’d love to keep it going for as long as my funds allow. There’s a vague possibility of assembling winners and honourable mentions into an ebook in the distant future, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now, this is just something that I want to do which I hope will make people happy and encourage writing.

How are entries assessed?

The judging process is an incredibly detailed and meticulous affair that involves me:

a) reading all the entries, and;
b) deciding which one I like best.

Heh, of course I hope it’s going to be a great deal harder than that, with lots of umming and ahhing and generally hating everyone for being so talented. More importantly, all entries will be read blind. I know and like way too many people in the writing community to do otherwise. If you include your name in your entry, I’m afraid you will be immediately disqualified. So don’t do it!

What kind of stories are you after?

There are no restrictions to style or genre, as long as they are challenging, well-written, and original. And I mean ‘original’ in the sense of no fan-fiction, no previously published work, and also just generally original. I don’t want to read the same plot I’ve already read elsewhere, by another author, with a better cover. Experimental fiction is allowed but please don’t make it so purely for the sake of it.

Where do I submit?

I’ve started up a submishmash account for submissions. You can click the ‘Submit’ button above to see the guidelines or click here to go straight to the submishmash page. Entries must be received by midnight, AWST, on the 18th of May.

How will you pay the winner?

It’ll be their choice of cheque or direct bank deposit. Alternatively, I’d love to be able to hand them the money myself, but I’m geographically separate from a majority of the Australian writing community. So that may not happen, but you never know!

What’s with the paid submission option?

UPDATE: I will be covering the submittable shortfall, so when you choose the $5 option, it’ll add $5 to the competition!

When you go to the submission page, you’ll see there’s an option to either submit with no payment, or with a $5 donation. Any donation made in this way goes straight into the kitty for the prize, minus the submishmash fees ($5.00 – $0.45 credit card fee – $0.80 submittable fee =  $3.76 per donation). You also have the option of receiving feedback on your entry if you donate in this way.

What if I want to donate some other way? Like EFT, cash moneys, etc.

That’s great! Contact me at the below email address and we can sort something out.

Can I contact you with other questions?

Sure! My email address is phill [at] toothsoup [dot] com.