We are taking a hiatus from writing contests

Yes, it's true. We're taking a break from hosting three contests per year, specifically Clash of the Query Letters and the Synopsis Skirmish. (The First Page Challenge, however, will continue.) And we're not sure how long of a break. We will reevaluate in about a year.

Why we started doing writing contests in the first place

When we launched the website back in 2018, we thought contests would be a fun way to help spread the word about our business while also giving back to the writing community. Our initial contests paid out of a growing prize pool: every cent that came from the entries went out to the three winners.

Later on, we thought we would attract more attention by having a fixed prize pool of $1000 CAD. That meant the entry fees wouldn't always cover the prize, but we thought it was worth the expense as a means of advertising. Shortly after that, we introduced the option for participants to pay for feedback. That added to the workload, but it ensured that the costs were, at a minimum, covered.

Then and Now

As the owner/operator of Darling Axe, I (David Brown) have had a crash course in business that I never expected. One of the biggest challenges for me has been work-life balance. While our contests have been an undeniably great way to connect with the international writing community, they also take up a lot of time. 

In the future, with the help of my friend and colleague Michelle Barker, I want to take the Darling Axe in a new direction. Last year we came out with our first craft book, Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling. We have several more books planned, and for the time being, we need to dedicate our efforts to getting our ideas out into the world.

Stay tuned. I don't know if we will resume the contests, but with the extra time, we will be writing and blogging up a storm.

Thanks for your understanding!

David Griffin Brown is an award-winning short fiction writer and co-author of Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling. He holds a BA in anthropology from UVic and an MFA in creative writing from UBC, and his writing has been published in literary magazines such as the Malahat Review and Grain. In 2022, he was the recipient of a New Artist grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. David founded Darling Axe Editing in 2018, and as part of his Book Broker interview series, he has compiled querying advice from over 100 literary agents. He lives in Victoria, Canada, on the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.