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Fiction Free Flash Fiction – FFF Competition Thirty-Two — A quick, low-pressure flash contest for very short pieces (100–300 words) on any theme. Due date 23 Feb. Learn more Brick Lane Bookshop – 2026 Short Story Prize — A UK bookshop-run short story prize that’s great for literary fiction and strong storytelling. Due date 2 March. Learn more 3-Minute Arts – 2025/26 Writing Competition — A short story competition designed for punchy, performance-friendly writing that reads we

One of the most common problems in early drafts is dialogue that floats. The voices are sharp. The information matters. But the scene feels flat because the characters aren’t doing anything. They’re just heads in space, trading lines. This is what novelist Elizabeth George  famously warned writers about. Flat dialogue keeps your scenes from coming to life. Even when writers add the occasional beat — a sip of coffee, a shrug, a bit of pacing — the scene can still feel static.

As the air turns crisp and the light softens, it’s the perfect season to settle in with your writing — and send it out into the world. This autumn, we’ve gathered a fresh list of contests and journals ready to read your words. Good luck, writers! Please note: This list was created to support the Writing Grove community. We’re not affiliated with these publications, so please don’t send us your submissions. Click the links to view full details and submit your work directly to

Top places to submit your writing this summer

Top places to submit your writing this summer

If you’re an indie or self-published author dreaming of seeing your book on physical shelves, you’re not alone—and you’re not dreaming...

Top places to submit your writing this summer

By Lynne Moses Working full-time as an editor in fiction and memoir, I often see the same issues crop up in people’s writing. This blog...

5 top tips to edit your work that you can use TODAY!

Infodumping is a little like doomscrolling: a dysfunctional relationship to information that does more harm than good.   For those...

(Scroll down for Italian) Davide Zambon is a professional ghostwriter, and a writer. He's also a digital nomad - he lives in the Italian...

The key to writing successful fantasy lies not just in creating worlds of wonder but in making them believable and relatable to the...

By Maggie Holman, teacher Maggie Holman has more than forty years of teaching experience. She writes speculative fiction and has...

Below is an interview with New York based actor-playwright-director Peter-William Jamieson on his play, inspiration and writing about...

Impressions of Colombia's second city: Afro-Caribbean, green corridors & art This is part 2 of the Colombian Sketches series.  You can...

Today, I’m bringing you an interview with chef Wil Reidie. His recipes are inventive, delicious and unexpected, especially what he does...

Hello Readers, Below is the first instalment in a four-part series about my impressions of a recent stint in Colombia. In other news, the...