Anyone entered the Cheshire Novel Prize?

[TiroirSousLeMiroir]

It's in its third year and has just closed. It has a £29 entry fee which would normally put me off but you get individual feedback, so I've given it a go and just squeaked in under the deadline.

Has anyone else entered?

I believe there were close to a thousand entries last year. Looking at the short list from last year it seems a load of them are historical fiction.

I wonder if that is representative of the stats of the people who entered, or whether I ought to switch to that category!

Would love to hear from other entrants on here! :-)

"The thing is, they said that the top100 was going up in no particular order but if they announced 48 so far and the other 52 are still unchosen out of another 102, then clearly the first two days choices are preferred by the judges."

This is a really good point.

The prize is run by a tiny team and I think they really have their work cut out, and I absolutely don't want to grumble, but yeah it's all really difficult for the entrants.

I read someone on twitter saying that they had been in the top 100 last year and had entered it again and was in the top 100 again this year, with the same book. How does that work if it's all meant to be anonymised?

Bath longlist is up, in case anyone had luck there.

I entered that a few years ago and didn't get anywhere, and you get no feedback so I didn't fancy it again.

With regards to Cheshire, I was thinking that if there are still 100 which are effectively "doubles", I for one am unlikely to be amongst them, because of the nature of my story.

Ah well.

@TiroirSousLeMiroir why do you say ‘doubles?’

I totally sympathise that it's a very small team and I know Sara Cox, who runs it is thinking of this being the last year as it's just so much work. So I really do sympathise with the work. But I think it would have been better to have just waited a few days rather than to start and then falter because they aren't ready. I dislike the whole 5 day thing anyway, tbh, I think when you drag stuff out too much it can have the opposite effect than intended, because I just feel massively fed up with the whole thing. And I had been strongly considering doing the 6 week course as it seems like great value and now I'm just ready to wash my hands of the whole thing.

@GhostImposter I did the summer school last year and found it really helpful. I signed up with a finished manuscript thinking I was really just after the agent pitch party at the end (!) and discovered in week 1 that I had made some really fundamental mistakes that no one else had picked up on (apart from my husband, which was devastating, obviously!!). It's good value for money - maybe have a think when the drama of this is over...

@Pupsandturtles I think @TiroirSousLeMiroir might be referring to the CNP tweet about how they try not to put through too many from the same genre / similar themes?

Yes that's it, they tweeted that there were a few quite similar ones that they wanted to choose between.

@GhostImposter what happened with the agent event - did you get a chance to pitch?

I think you mean @AmbitiousHalibut I'm just the one moaning about it all.

@TiroirSousLeMiroir Funnily enough, the pitch party got postponed several times (like, from November to May, I think?! Maybe even early June. Can't remember now.) and changed from being several agents to one. I can remember a few people getting disgruntled about what felt like changing rules / expectations. We were all asked to pitch our ideas in up to 100 words and for a long time the agent (on Zoom) was talking about the importance of nailing it in 20-50 words, so that also upset a few people.

I think the CNP team then selected a dozen or so to share with the agent and the agent then spoke about 1 which was spot on as it was, 1 which she had re-written to show how to make it even better, and 1 which was short and snappy and she also liked. To my knowledge none of the 3 got offered representation or any further contact.

If I'm honest I'd say it was a bit of an anti climax given that it was the reason I signed up for the course, but I did learn loads and had a new idea which is what I'm now working on. So I got lots out of the course, just not what I was expecting, if that makes sense.

I should say, if what you want is the chance to pitch to agents, Pitch Jericho seems very good. I was kicking myself as I didn't put as much time into my entry for that, and they really did have several agents and they were asking for full manuscripts from several people. You can enter for a one off (not too bad) fee if you're not a member. Not sure when the next one will be.

Yes, sorry, I'm just in such a frazzle scratching through tweets, looking for crumbs. Moan away though, it's most cathartic.

@AmbitiousHalibut that's really interesting that it wasn't what you were hoping. I think I'd be disappointed too, especially if no-one was offered representation, at the end of a course too - you've presumably followed the lessons and then the agent isn't interested in any of them.

I think it's what anyone with a good manuscript really wants, a chance to pitch to agents, and more than one because loads of them are genre-specific. When you query from cold, you're in the slush pile so a chance of a step up would be amazing

I did read that of last years long list, quite a few were offered representation. But you have to make the long list.

@TiroirSousLeMiroir Yes exactly, my hope was to have a small panel of agents and catch their eye with something shiny and improved upon through the course. When I saw the agent who had agreed to be on the panel in the end I knew I was out of luck because she just doesn't represent my genre. I scanned her agency colleagues in case anyone would be a good fit (hoping I could do a cheeky "I know it's not your thing but how about Brenda?" but none of them looked like they'd go for it.

My goal, honestly, for the CNP prize is/was to make the top 100 and get on the showcase (which I strongly suspect is a Google sheet 🤣). I just want that shot. I freely expect my novel not to be the type that wins awards - it's not "worthy" or ground breaking, but I think it would sell well and be enjoyable. Lots of people tell me it would work really well on screen too. I just want to get in the room and have the conversation.

Anyway, I think I'm coming to the view that if I'm not snippeted tomorrow, I'm taking the summer off from writing. I'll hang out with my kids, be kind to myself and regroup. CNP is very much not the only way. It's hard not to lose track of that!

I held back a bit on the moaning earlier, I'd a whole thing typed up and I deleted it as I was being too moany. The gist of it is that I've felt horrible throughout the five day thing, so I've blocked the whole thing on twitter and I feel a lot better. I absolutely wouldn't have entered if I knew about this dragged out process as all it does is make a naturally hard process significantly more difficult for no reason.

I will say that writing is a craft like any other and good teachers and mentors are utterly invaluable. I don't doubt that the summer school could be very good in terms of teaching but I'm much happier putting this whole thing behind me, tbh.

I would love to read your work, both.

@AmbitiousHalibut I wonder why they didn't get the agents back who had looked at the long list.

I have read heaps about how to submit and write a pitch etc. I'm not sure why so much emphasis is put on the minutaie of the precise number of words.

Sometimes twitter does those things where you can pitch your work into the twitterverse and there are agents reading, but I have zero followers so my tweets just disappear, and I'm not sure about putting your original idea out there for everyone before it's published - or am I overthinking it?

@GhostImposter yeah I feel the same way. It knocks me for six every day. So many people on twitter are so excited, but there is a certain grief to your best attempt falling short.

It's really nice to find people who feel the same, even if said feeling is currently despair!!

We'll look back on this and laugh fondly as we visit our books in Waterstones 🥂

And sneak a few signatures into them!

It’s nice to have found this group. I work mostly alone so i rarely hear how others are feeling.

I wasn’t expecting to get far with any prizes, not least because my writing is satire/ humour and that never seems to do well with awards. For Cheshire I was in the lit fic category, because there wasn’t anything better suited, so clearly I’m up against lots of serious or ‘worthy’ subject matter, as someone said upthread.

Can I ask how far you all are in your process? Have you already begun querying agents? It terrifies me tbh. But I know I need to start.

In answer to your question @Pupsandturtles the first part of my manuscript is finished but the very end isn't. I could really do with the feedback on the latter parts.

My work is fantasy, but when i received the confirmation of entry it said it was crime. There is really no crime at all in the book, and I wonder if that has had an effect on things.

Moreover the winners and runnders up recently seem to be mostly historical fiction. I'm quite a long way from that genre, too.

I have sent out to maybe six agents previously. The one who replied said it was good but not for her.

A few of us on the waiting for agents thread have set up a discord to share resources and chat a little more freely.