First Novel Award 2021 Winners Announcement
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First Novel Award 2020 Shortlist Announcement
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First Novel Award 2021 Longlist Announcement
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Judges:

Literary Agent: Hellie Ogden of Janklow & Nesbit

Author: Kiran Millward-Hargrave

The team at Blue Pencil Agency will oversee all submissions.

Submission: Opening chapter or chapters up to 5000 words plus a 300 word synopsis and a covering letter

Entry fee: £20 for each submission. Online entry only. 

Closing date for submissions: May 31, 2021.

THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED FOR NEW SUBMISSIONS

Long listed writers will be contacted by email with announcements of the titles on the website in July.

Short listed writers will be asked to submit 20,000 words (includes the initial entry).

The winners will be notified by email and announced on October 30, 2021.

A video recording of a live event with Hellie Ogden talking about what she is looking for is available now. Check out the details here

Favourite Lines: we will post our favourite lines on social media from April until the Long List announcement in July.

What we’re looking for:

· any genre with the exception of children’s fiction and non-fiction. YA is permitted provided there is an adult crossover

· a strong voice

· an original and unforgettable story that grips the reader

· an attention grabbing first paragraph

. open to writers living outside the UK as long as the work in in English

Eligibility
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• Authors must be over 18 years old at the time of entry.
• The Award is open to unrepresented authors of fiction at the closing date of May 31, 2021.
• Writers outside the UK are eligible and entries welcome from around the world.
• Writers must advise the organisers if they accept representation during the judging period or win any other prizes. They may still be eligible for the Award.
• Self-published authors are accepted. Entrants who have had other types of books published such as non fiction, memoir or poetry are also eligible.
• Previous BPA editorial clients are welcome to enter, but please let us know who edited your work and when. Mentorship clients are ineligible.
• The novel must be completed or close to completion at the closing date of May 31, 2021.
• Long listed or short listed entries in other competitions are eligible.
• Entrants may submit more than one novel but as separate entries.
• Entries must be written in English
• Entries can only be submitted electronically via this site and payment made via Paypal.
• Entrants may withdraw entries but fees cannot be refunded.
• Judges’ decision is final. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries.

When reading submissions, what is it that makes you want to read on?

My eye will always be drawn to the pitch paragraph of any submission. I look for an original, daring idea, interesting sounding characters, a clear hook and an emotional way in. If I can see potential, I’ll dive right in and in the first few lines I can often tell if it’s a voice for me.

What do you look for in that first chapter?

Definitely a unique voice, always a sense of place, an atmosphere. I’ll want to start connecting with a character, and be given just enough that I’m dying to read on.

Any tips for the first page?

A corker of a first line, no cliches (!), and think about tone too, and who you are writing for, trying to position it for the right audience.

You describe yourself as looking for warm quirky love stories, crime series, psychological or high concept thrillers, historical fiction and literary fiction, which is a pretty broad spectrum of fiction that I’m sure will be music to our clients’ ears. Is there a quality that you feel is integral to all the authors you’re attracted to?

I read broadly, and that’s reflected in my list too. I like a range of different voices, different experiences. All these novels, though, have a clear hook, excellent voice, unique plots and are all totally addictive!

You suggested Kiran Millwood Hargrave be our author judge. Can you tell us what stood out for you as far as her work was concerned?

I still have shivers when I think back to first reading Kiran’s work. Her writing is so sharp, so well observed. Kiran is a poet too and I could feel that on the page. She is lyrical but also has a rare ability to carry plot too exceptionally well. Her ideas are pure magic, I’d never read anything quite like it.

How do you think your view will compare to Kiran’s?

I actually think we might have quite similar ideas. We both read broadly, we both love talking editorially. I guess I come at it with my business head on too, ideas of positioning and strategy and knowing what editors are asking for, but I can see us seeing eye to eye, we both just love a good story!

For writers that don’t necessarily fit with the genres you currently represent, is it still worth their while to enter the competition, i.e. sci-fi, fantasy, horror?

Yes it is, I really am open to all.

Who are your favourite authors of our time? And the classics?

Ohh that’s hard, so many! I am a huge Maggie O’Farrell fan, one of the few authors I make time to read the SECOND her work comes out. Ditto Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Sarah Waters I can read on repeat, Penelope Lively for comfort. For a modern classic Isabel Allende. She wrote an incredible memoir called Paula about the death of her daughter. I read it travelling around Chili, where much of the story unfolds, I can remember so many little details of that book, and so many moments of my travels in the Atacama Desert reading it. It will stay with me forever.

Anything that puts you off that our writers should be aware of?

Cliches and bodily functions on the first page!!

Any other advice for entrants?

I’m really excited to read! Enjoy it, triple check it (!) and be brave!

What will you be looking for in the competition line up?

Someone who wants to tell me a really good story, which can mean a gripping plot, intriguing characters, or a vivid setting.

Any advice for the first page?

Start as you mean to go on, with intent and drive. This doesn’t mean action from the first moment, it means having confidence in what you are trying to achieve.

Top three tips for the first chapter.

Edit! Whilst my first lines often stay the page, beyond that everything tends to change. If you are writing in a linear fashion, you’ll probably have written your way in. The reader doesn’t need to see that. Find where your story really starts, so that your first chapter isn’t filler, but rather something essential.

What advice would you give to writers submitting to agents and competitions?

Persevere. Know that writing is subjective, and a rejection doesn’t mean you’re no good. If you can learn to be a reader of your work, that’s the most useful thing – what would capture your attention if you were a judge?

What are you reading at the moment?

I’m deep in the grip of a draft so I’m reading around my themes and dipping in and out of several novels – The Wave Theory of Angels by Alison MacLeod, Perfume by Patrick Suskind, Music & Silence by Rose Tremain.

Tell us a little bit about your writing day.

It hugely varies depending on where I am with deadlines and publications etc. A good writing day means no admin, no checking emails. I’ll spend all day at my desk, following my characters, though I make sure now to get up and stretch a couple of times an hour, or to go for a long walk. I find the pomodoro technique very helpful for days when the admin is piling up – I’ll work in intense 25 minute bursts, take a 5 minute break, and repeat until my inbox is clear and I can get back to work. Other days, I don’t write at all, only read, or spend the day cooking and watching Netflix. It’s all writing, really – thinking time is important.

Your novel, The Mercies is a Sunday Times best seller. Tell us a little about that journey.

I’d already published three novels for children and one for YA readers when The Mercies was published. It was a unique experience because of the clarity with which the story came to me, and the intensity with which I wrote it. The draft was a real team effort with my agent, Hellie – we took it from conception to auction within two months. Both of us were gripped and consumed by it, and it certainly helped us bond! But it also took an immense toll on my mental and physical health. Writing is draining, you need breaks and balance to sustain yourself – hence the stretching!

What do you think made this novel a best seller?

There is always alchemy behind any bestseller. This time, it was a combination of the right publisher, the right publicist, the right marketing, the right book. And then the support of retailers and booksellers all over the country, and around the world. But some books receive all of this and still don’t make ‘the list’. It’s important as a writer not to think too hard on it – all you can control is the writing.

Tell us a little bit about your writer’s journey, your relationship with Hellie.

Hellie has become the person I trust most outside my immediate family – and I trust her more on certain matters! I submitted my debut, The Girl of Ink & Stars, to her on a Wednesday, by Friday she’d requested a full manuscript, and the following week we’d met and decided to work together. It was very fast, very clear from the moment of meeting that she was the right agent for me. I think it’s easy to feel powerless as an un-agented writer, but it’s important to remember this industry is built of relationships, and those are two-way. Not all of my writer friends have such close bonds to their agents – it’s all about what sort of person you are and what you want. I wanted someone I could talk to openly, who would be honest and direct with me, and always kind but firm and fair. Fierce and friendly – that’s Hellie to a T – and I adore her.

How do you think your view will compare to Hellie’s?

I will be coming to it as a reader first and foremost, and I suppose that means I will be more forgiving in some areas, and less in others. Potential is key here – I know the wonders an agent can work – but there has to be a spark. Language is vital to me as a reader and a writer. How you tell the story matters as much as the story itself. I guess I’ll be reading with less of an eye towards commercial viability too, and more with my heart. Hellie has to do both, which is far harder!

Entries
Opens
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Dec 17, 2020