The Chopping Blog

The First Page Challenge – a writing contest for novelists (now open to submissions)

May 21, 2020

The First Page Challenge is a writing contest for novelists. Hook us in a single double-spaced page for a chance to win a growing prize pool, plus publication on the Chopping Blog.

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Axe to Grind 2020, 1st place winner: "Keeping Watch"

April 11, 2020

Late dusk. Cicadas drone and the humid heaviness of evening is looming in. The few figures moving up and down Rawson Street are muted silhouettes. Your brother is one of those shadows creeping up and down the street. He calls your name into the darkening.

Contest updates

Axe to Grind 2020, 2nd place winner: "Eleven for Good Measure"

April 11, 2020

Eddy counted out the pills, added one for good measure. Eleven ought to do it. Marie would be home after the late shift. If the ER was quiet, she’d beat the sunrise. It didn’t happen often, but it gave them an hour together. Baby-making time, she’d called it, only not anymore.

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Axe to Grind 2020, 3rd place winner: "Status Update"

April 11, 2020

Your attacker stretches across the table, pushing the phone up to your face. A photo has been uploaded to your pending status.

Your mouth on her husband’s, both of you naked.

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An Axe to Grind 2020—the shortlist

April 02, 2020

It was an honour to read all of your stories. And holy smokes, did we ever get a lot of submissions! The grand total is 174 entries, with 45 that rolled in on the final day, for a cumulative prize pool of $870 CAD.

Contest updates

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The First Annual Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award

March 17, 2020

Here's a self-pub contest we came across on Twitter—a great opportunity for indie authors looking to increase their digital footprint. By extension, the book bloggers network is a great resource to check out.

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Axe to Grind: flash fiction contest update

February 26, 2020

We've just hit 60 entries! That means the spillover to a second-place prize has completed and a third-place prize is now growing.

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Slush Pile Standouts

February 09, 2020

Acquisitions editors, literary agents, and writing contest screeners are often faced with a large slush pile: a heap of manuscripts that must be quickly assessed. What makes one manuscript stand out from the next? What snags and red flags will land your work in the bin rather than on the shortlist?

Contest updates

Axe to Grind: first prize-pool spillover reached

January 27, 2020

We've hit 40 entries, and earlier than expected! That means the prize pool is now spilling over to second place. Third place will begin to grow at 70 entries

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First Page Challenge, 1st place winner: "Cloudland"

October 17, 2019

A police car passed the shelter three times but didn’t see the troubled watcher within. A sheen of ice covered the pavements and empty roads. Night, time of dreams, unfolded itself. Ash began to shiver, her fingers sore, feet numb. Silence hung black as a blanket. The hours cycled and Ash counted each on its way. The dead sat with her.

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First Page Challenge, 2nd place winner: "Unsound"

October 17, 2019

The night before the voices started I was arrested for keying Arsehole onto the side of a brand new Ford Mondeo. By the time I recognised the flashing blue lights, Beth and Mandy had fled.

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First Page Challenge, 3rd place winner: "Stars and Roses"

October 17, 2019

There are twelve important characters in this story: the princess, the blind, the lone wolf, the assassin, the vigilante, the criminal, the good, the silent, the sane, the insane, the wanderer, and the waitress.

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