• VIDEO — Beginning By Skipping To The End: in this clip from his workshop, "Beginnings and Middles Without End" author Jonathan Wood shares how he approaches the beginning of his story—by skipping to the end.
• Markets and contests with submissions open or opening soon.
• ONE WEEK FROM TODAY - Saturday, May 23, award winning author Lavie Tidhar presents, Ready. Set. Go! How To Write Perfect Openings whether it's for a short story or a novel.
• Care to drabble with us? Each week our drabble community writes 100 words (or they don't—their call) to a single-word prompt.
• This Week's Prompt. An interesting item from the news to provide you with fodder for your creativity. This week, longevity gene from naked mole rats extends lifespan of mice.
  
  

Beginning By Skipping To The End

Markets and Contests

• 📜 Haven Speculative is open to submissions of short stories and poems. They’re particularly interested in work that engages with the climate crisis. Send them stories of up to 5,000 words, or up to five poems, before May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🐲 Dragon Soul Press is open to submissions of horror drabbles, which is to say micro stories of exactly 100 words. They ask for a minimum of five drabbles per submission (500 words) and a maximum of 15. This call closes on May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🏙️ The London Magazine is open to submissions of short stories, personal essays, and poems. Send them up to 4,000 words of prose writing, or up to five poems, before May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🧙🏻‍♂️ Kirby is a new magazine looking for high fantasy stories between 300 and 7,500 words until May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🦊 Black Fox Literary Magazine is open to submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Send them up to 5,000 words of prose writing, or up to three poems, before May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🦇 Were-2 is a forthcoming anthology of urban fantasy stories all about shapeshifters. Send them work of up to 7,500 words before May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🕯️ The Changing Light Prize is open to entries of novellas in verse. The winner receives a $500 prize and publication. Send them full-length work between 90 and 160 pages before May 25th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 📝 The Writers’ College Short Story Competition is open to entries of stories of up to 2,000 words on the theme of “The end of the line”. The winning writer receives a $1,000 prize. Although they’re accepting stories until September, a submission fee will be added after May 31st. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 📗 Unnamed Press is open to submissions of full-length fiction and creative nonfiction. Send them a query letter and full manuscript. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
• 🕰️ WayWords is open to submissions of short fiction and poetry on the theme of “Time”. Send them stories of up to 5,000 words, or poems of up to 15 lines, before May 20th. No submissions fee!
• 📰 Spout Magazine is open to submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Send them up to 3,500 words of prose writing, or up to three poems, before May 29th. No submissions fee!
• 🎁 Infocalypse is open to submissions of writing on the theme of “All we ever wanted was everything”. They have no hard word counts, so look through their site to get a sense of what they publish. This call closes on May 29th. No submissions fee!
• 📈 The Metaworker is open to submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid mediums. Send them work in any style of to 3,000 words before May 31st. No submissions fee!

Ready. Set. Go! How To Write Perfect Openings

• Study classic openings and what they do, in genre and out
• Explore Lavie’s own successful openings, from short stories to award-winning novels
• Learn the who, why, where, when and how of a successful beginning
• Identify the “telling detail” and the how to make use of effective dialogue, action and description
• Prepare that critical three chapters submission package
• Understand what agents and editors look for
• Become aware of the common pitfalls, traps and clichés of ineffective openings

Care To Drabble With Us?

This Week's Prompt