Third Anniversary Normal Prize in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry

The Normal School is now accepting entries for the 2012 Normal Prize. All fiction and nonfiction submissions must be 10,087 words or less. Poetry submissions should not exceed five pages or five poems total. No previously published works or works accepted for publication elsewhere. Award is $1000 and publication in each category. All entrants will be considered for publication and will receive a complimentary issue of The Normal School.

Prize Money: $1,000.00.
Entrance Fee for this contest: $12.00.
Last date for your submissions: 02-12-2012.

For contest guidelines, please visit the website.

Tips to write an article for a magazine

Please consider the following tips while writing an article for magazines.

• Choose a magazine that you would like to write an article. You are supposed to write the same kind of articles available in that magazine, if you want to publish your article there.
• Don’t forget to read the guidelines to write articles in that magazine. The writers’ guidelines will be available online if that magazine has a website for publication. Otherwise you can send a hand-written letter to them regarding the guidelines.
• Send an enquiry letter to the magazine chosen. This process is to intimate the editor or a responsible person regarding the article you are writing and confirm if the magazine is willing to publish it.
• Write your article. Then rewrite it. Make it the best article you can.
• Make sure you complete the article on time. This is a key factor while writing an article. This may help you to publish the article and work with the same magazine again.

Spy Fiction - forms of espionage

Spy fiction, literature concerning the forms of espionage, was a sub-genre derived from the novel during the nineteenth century, which then evolved into a discrete genre before the First World War (1914–18), when governments established modern intelligence agencies in the early twentieth century. As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure (The Prisoner of Zenda, 1894, The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1905), the thriller (such as the works of Edgar Wallace) and the politico–military thriller (The Schirmer Inheritance, 1953, The Quiet American, 1955).

History

In nineteenth-century France, the Dreyfus Affair (1894–99) contributed much to public interest in espionage. For some twelve years (ca. 1894–1906), the Affair, which involved elements of international espionage, treason, and anti-Semitism, dominated French politics. The details were reported by the world press: an Imperial German penetration agent betraying to Germany the secrets of the General Staff of the French Army; the French counter-intelligence riposte of sending a charwoman to rifle the trash in the German Embassy in Paris, were news that inspired successful spy fiction.

Pre-First World War

Early examples of the espionage novel are the American stories of The Spy (1821) and The Bravo (1831), by James Fenimore Cooper. The Bravo attacks European anti-republicanism, by depicting Venice as a city-state where a ruthless oligarchy wears the mask of the "serene republic". Kim (1901) by Rudyard Kipling concerns the Anglo–Russian Great Game of imperial and geopolitical rivalry and strategic warfare for supremacy in Central Asia, usually in Afghanistan. In Continental Europe, The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) by Baroness Orczy chronicled an English aristocrat's derring-do in rescuing French aristocrats from the Reign of Terror of the populist French Revolution (1789–99).

In Britain, the term "spy novel" was defined by The Riddle of the Sands (1903) by Robert Erskine Childers. It described amateur spies discovering a German plan to invade Britain, thus being an early example of the invasion literature sub-genre. William Le Queux and E. Phillips Oppenheim became the most widely read and most successful British writers of spy fiction, especially of invasion literature. Despite having been their genre's first and second writers, their prosaic style and formulaic stories, produced voluminously from 1900 to 1914, proved of low literary merit.

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Helping your children prepare for kindergarten

With spring in full bloom, your three- or four-year-old has probably been registered for kindergarten. For a lot of parents, the act of registering your child for school can be a hard one. It is difficult to imagine your little baby all grown up and heading off to kindergarten. You may think there is no way your baby can be ready for school. This can lead to worry - Is your child actually ready for school? Does he or she know everything that will be expected? Might your child fall behind?

Rest assured, teachers expect varying levels of knowledge in their young kindergarteners. One child may have three older siblings and can already write full sentences. Another child may still struggle with writing his or her name at the end of the school year. Parents, to assuage your fears, I have put together a short list of skills that show kindergarten readiness. Take the time between now and September to help your child attain most of these skills so that he or she is confident in his or her abilities when entering kindergarten.

• Speaks in complete sentences, clear enough to be understood by someone outside of family.
• Recognizes rhyming words.
• Can recite the ABCs and count to 10.
• Can retell a short story and answer questions about it.

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Learn how to Write Short Stories

Author: Shantelle Manuel

I really like to write short stories, and I believe that it could make a good pastime for nearly everyone. I have been writing short stories since I used to be about six years outdated, and that i simply merely by no means become bored with it in any respect. However currently, I have been disturbed by a pattern that i've been witnessing. There are all sorts of sites and scoundrels claiming that they can show you how one can write a short story like an expert. As if there's nothing more to how you can write an excellent short story than reading a primer. It takes dedication to write short stories which are price studying, although nearly anyone can be a hack.

I even saw, whereas surfing the internet , a website which claimed that it may inform you tips on how to write a novel in 14 days. Please. If you are someone with the kind of excellent talent which can allow you to write an excellent novel in simply two weeks, you'll not need that nonsense, and if you aren't, You'd higher write short stories till you get the knack of organizing your thoughts. Once you have been writing short stories for a little bit whereas, then perhaps you'll be able to transfer on to a longer work, however until then, forget it in case you please.

There are nice writing teachers who will encourage you and assist you learn methods to write short stories, however there is really no magical method which is able to remodel you into a sensible writer over evening. It takes art, inspiration, and careful craftsmanship to write short stories, and you'll not just dive into it and anticipate your first work to be that good. I guarantee you. I have been writing stories for years, but it was only within the past year or two that I began to persistently write short stories that had been any good. Earlier than that, it was hit or miss, and mostly miss for me!

If you might be unsure the right way to write short stories, I advocate just to drive proper in and strive it your self. In any case, there isn't any better judge of whether you might be writing how you need to be than you. If that doesn't work, a writing workshop can help. There are various nice teachers out there who will present you tips on how to write short stories, if you want to be taught by taking courses. Just keep in mind: have fun!

Article Source: http://www.sooperarticles.com/writing-articles/learn-how-write-short-stories-66620.html

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How To Write Your Own Novel

by Criss White

Everyone of us has a novelist deep inside of us. Whether you are someone who reads every single book on the bestseller list, or reads at least two to three books in a year, or someone who gives books as Christmas gifts or favors such as wedding bookmarks, everyone of us has an inkling to reading in one way or another.

For someone who has a great story in mind and wants to share it with the world, writing a novel is a dream accomplishment. Not all published writers or novelists are experienced. For the writer of the worldwide bestseller, the Twilight trilogy, it was her first time to have written a novel. If she can do it, then you can do it too.

Writing a novel all starts with writing down a map of how the story will flow. Begin by identifying the major parts you want to be included in the story from the start to the end of the novel. You now have the outline of the story, and you can work on the wordings of each part of each chapter later on. You can also go straight into writing the novel without the outline. Whichever works for you, as long as you get to start and finish writing, then it's the right way to go.

You should also identify the plot or the major events, situations, realizations or twists in the story. The plot has a rationale behind it and also a beginning, a middle, and an end. The ending is not the only important thing but rather all three play a crucial part in the development.

You can now identify who your characters are, what they look like, and the backdrop against which the characters are set. You must have a protagonist, the character who goes towards and around the main plot of the story, and the antagonist who is the exact opposite of the main character. You should also create other supporting characters because they are important in the development of the story and solidifying the personalities and values of your two main characters. They may have their own side stories, but they should be weaved towards the main plot. Make them realistic so the readers can relate to all characters.

And of course, the plot and characters should move around an environment that you have created for them. Describe all the major and minor details of the scene but make sure you don't derail the readers from the main storyline. You should eventually go back to the characters and plot once the environment or backdrop has been established.

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Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article247369.html

Selecting Title for Your Story

The best titles capture the emotion and heart of the story. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff (author of The Crystal Rose) says that “titles can determine whether a story is read, in what spirit it’s read, and whether it’s remembered by name or forgotten” in her article, “Taming the Fictional Wilds”.

Titles should not be dull:

When you browse a shelf full of novels, or a collection of short stories, aren't you drawn first to the more unusual titles? So are editors, when they look over a stack of submissions. Not that "The House" or "The Tree" won't be a good story; but titles with a bit more originality stand a better chance. Examples: Gone with the Wind, The High and the Mighty, The Silence of the Lambs, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro,".

Titles should be easy to remember:

It's hard to tell a neighbor or a colleague about a story if the title's too long and complicated, or hard to pronounce. It's a good idea to keep things clear and simple. You might consider Murder on the Wzcyiubjekistan Express the best writing you've ever done, or The Tallahatchie Backroad Honky-Tonk Boogie your literary masterpiece, but I doubt either of them would sell. They probably wouldn't ever make it out of the editor's slush pile.

Titles should be appropriate:

Don't name your science fiction story "Trouble at Dodge City" just because that's what the star fleet crew calls your space station. Editors will think you've written a Western. Similarly, Lawrence Block mentions, in one of his books on writing, a Charles McGarry espionage novel called The Secret Lovers. Block says its title (which refers to spies, who love secrets) led some readers to believe it would be a romance instead. Examples of titles that fit their subjects: Raise the Titanic, The Firm, "A Rose for Emily," The Caine Mutiny, Presumed Innocent, Love Story, In Cold Blood, Riders of the Purple Sage, The Amity ville Horror.

Originality of Title:

Titles are not copyrightable. If your title is fairly common, and doesn't deal with the same subject matter as another story with the same name, you shouldn't run into any legal problems. Whatever the source for your inspiration and whatever title you choose, remember that it needs to be a perfect fit for your story. If not, it can get changed.