Be heard! Join the Sheffield Novel Slam 2017

It’s that time of year again! The novel slam is now part of the official Festival Fringe of Off the Shelf in Sheffield.

On Monday 9th October, at 7.30pm, the novel slam launches at a new venue, DINA https://www.facebook.com/dinavenue/ DINA is a new venue for the arts. Expect an intimate feel, a stage with a touch of glittery glamour, and importantly, a bar!

Once again, we have a panel of judges with a world of writing expertise, our very own X-Factor style judges of fiction talent. (Don’t worry, they will be friendly!)

The novel slam is still a unique concept – there are lots of poetry slams, where poets can find their voice, but we novelists had no outlet to reach an audience or get feedback from professionals. If you are writing a novel – or a novella, this is your chance to entrance the audience.

Please take the plunge – it takes a little courage to pitch your novel and read out extracts, but in return for preparing well and rehearsing, you’ll get feedback from award-winning authors, and the chance to win writing related prizes such as coaching, critiques, and feedback from a literary agent.

If you don’t want to compete, we would love to have you as part of the audience. Come and meet Sheffield’s new writing talent! You also get to vote for your favourite entries, so the night doesn’t happen without you.

Tickets cost £5 /£3 concessions on the door.

If you want to compete in the Novel Slam, call Anne on 07815966784, or email sheffieldnovelists@gmail.com to book  your place. Entrants from previous years are very welcome to have another go, particularly with a new book. New writers are especially welcome too!

There is a Facebook page for the Novel Slam so if you’re going to the event, please use it to help us to spread the word! Sheffield Novel Slam on Facebook

Tickets for audience members and entrants will be available on the door, but you can also reserve tickets here via Eventbrite: Reserve a ticket.

Watch this space for more news about the judges and our compere for the evening.

The Rules

The novel slam is a fun, yet slightly competitive way to promote new writing talent. Everyone is welcome to enter, and the atmosphere is warm and supportive! Please don’t be daunted by the prospect of entering. There will be constructive criticism from the judges, but they know what they are talking about – they’ve won prizes for doing it!

The first round is a time one minute pitch of your novel. You have one minute to wow audience and judges alike. Don’t explain your whole plot, just write a blurb that would make readers pick up your book and buy it straight away. The title is very important too!

The audience then votes for the novels they most like the sound of, and there will be a short break. Ten people will make it through to the next round.

The novelists then have three minutes to read an extract from their novel. Here are some tips:

• Most writers choose to read from their first chapter, but some winning competitors in previous years’ Novel Slams have used particularly funny or thrilling scenes from further into their novels.
• If you feel that the opening of your novel isn’t particularly thrilling – why? Readers (including agents and publishers) are looking for something that grabs them immediately. Preparing for the novel slam may be a good chance to test and re-draft your novel.
• Choose an extract with lots of drama and action, but avoid scenes with lots of dialogue by characters that the audience won’t know about.
• Avoid spoilers – you don’t want to give away any big secrets that readers won’t know until later in the novel!

The judges will give constructive feedback to each writer, and the audience and judges will vote for their favourite novel extracts.

In the final round, the four finalists will read for a further 5 minutes each and will each receive more in-depth feedback from the panel of judges. The overall winner will get the first choice of prizes.

Practise makes perfect: craft your pitch carefully, test it out in front of your family and friends, use a timer when you’re rehearsing, and edit your extracts to read so they’re engaging, attention-grabbing and intriguing.

The Judges

Meet the Panel

Stacey Sampson:Writer, actor and drama practitioner, well known for her work in This Is England. Her first novel won the Arvon Award at the 2013 Northern Writers’ Awards, and she is the winner of the 2017 Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition.

Daniel Blythe: The author of many novels for adults and children, including The Cut, Losing Faith and This is the Day. He wrote the bestselling Doctor Who adventure Autonomy for BBC books, and his books for younger readers include: Shadow Runners, Emerald Greene and the Witch Stones and Emerald Greene: Instruments of Darkness for younger readers. He also works as a writer in schools, inspiring a new generation of writers.

Bryony Doran: Novelist, poet, short story and script writer. Bryony won the Hookline novel award in 2009 for her debut novel The China Bird. Her short story collection The Sand Eggs has also won critical acclaim. One of her latest works is Home Front, a a quadrilogy of book-length sequences by four female poets living in a state of separation from sons or husbands who are in a war zone. Bryony’s poems in the book telling the story of her son joining the army and his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Bryony also works as a creative writing coach, helping other writers’ creativity to flourish.

Gavin Extence: The author of best selling novels The Universe Versus Alex Woods, The Mirror World of Melody Black and The Empathy Problem, he is an alumni of the University of Sheffield and is the patron of Walkley Carnegie Library, supporting reading and creativity in the community.

Our compere for the evening will be Iain Broome, author of novel A is for Angelica . He is also a freelance writer, editor and content producer. Once again, he will be poised with his horn if any novel slam entrants go over their time limit!

Good luck!!