Last year when Ian Atkins ran the first Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Competition, I was flattered to have several people ask me for tips, simply because I’d written a few Short Trips for Big Finish. As I’ve already been asked again this year, I thought I’d post the advice I give everybody, and add a couple of bits.

Advice

I have no special insight into how Ian Atkins will select the winning submission, and I would by no means expect success if I could enter. I do have experience of publishers, and the core advice is:

• Read the rules
• Follow them.

The rules are referred to in the news item: THE PAUL SPRAGG MEMORIAL DOCTOR WHO SHORT TRIP and can be found here.

Next (and as suggested in the rules):

• Download and listen to Joshua Wanisko’s winning entry Forever Fallen from last year, including the PDFs of his submission. (It’s free!)
• Now read the original outline.

If you want more, Ian gave a recent interview about the competition to the Raconteur Roundtable

Finally if you’re on The Divergent Universe, there’s a thread devoted to the competition.

PS: My own personal thoughts, if I were eligible to enter:

• Only submit two entries, more will dilute your creativity
• Only write the first page, not the whole story of each
• Write then put away for a few days, re-read then submit
• Don’t invest too much emotion. The world will not end if you aren’t successful (unless that’s your plot!)

Good luck!