I am sure you have heard, as I have, that entering contests is like playing a slot machine. You drop in your money, spin the dial, and take your chances.

     However, is it possible that you will be able to improve your odds? Maybe it depends on what you hope to glean from the contest. Usually there are two classes of prizes:  Publication or cash. The one that is more important to you dictates which contests you would prefer to enter.

     Do not enter blindly. Go to the contest website and look at their track record. If there isn’t one, you may want to stay away from it. Your best chance may be in entering a local contest, since the judges will no doubt favor a local entry. Check out the previous winners, where they are from, and what sort of stories they wrote.

     As with agency or publisher submissions, follow the guidelines explicitly, proofread your grammar and spelling, and be sure your manuscript is neat and legible.

     When planning your manuscript, choose a brief, intriguing title that evokes nostalgia, happiness, humor, or satisfaction. Choose one that the judges can remember easily. When you start your contest novel or short story, drop your character down into the middle of the action. You want to hook the reader. If you do these things, you may make it past the first tier of judges and the first 100 pages and on to the next.

     Make the story easy to follow with a point of view that is clear to the reader and does not switch back and forth between characters. Make sure you have a plot that is clear, interesting, and believable. Keep the secondary characters and subplots to a minimum, so that the storyline is easy to follow. Make sure to keep the pacing even and balanced, except when the pacing is purposely varied, slow for important events, or fast for less important ones.

     You want your character to be three dimensional, believable, real, and imperfectly human with weaknesses and flaws. Do not forget the conflict and the resolution. Those must be credible as well. Tie up all loose ends. Do not leave any dangling plot points.

    Finally, consider when to enter the contest. The majority of the submissions usually arrive in the last ten days. That leaves an inordinate amount of reading for the judges to attempt in only a little over a week. You may have a better chance if you submit early.

     It is not a definite, but if you follow all these criteria, you may become a winner. Good luck!

     Jax