And the winner of the Melton Short Story Competition is…

Time and Time Again by me!

It feels great winning, especially with a story I like and worked so hard on.

So, what exactly went into Time and Time Again?

- An outline on what I wanted the story to achieve

- A year of turning the ideas into legible prose

- Nine drafts (more if you include the line edits)

- Critiques from my writing group

- Two other competitions (one Highly Commended)

- Rejection letters from three publishers

Looking back at the first draft, the voice and plot were there; only the back-story and placement of words and punctuation changed. But what an impact these things have!

The story went from just over 1,500 long-winded words that took a long time to get to the point to 998 punchy ones that demand attention.

What’s the story about? A guy hangs himself in prison and thinks about his life and where it went wrong. As the story unfolds, he goes further and further back in time to an incident of family violence where he wishes he stood up for his mother. The last few paragraphs show how he wanted to live his life and, hopefully, shows that family violence is passed on from generation to generation until addressed.

Where to from here? I hope to submit it to a few of the literary mags that haven't already rejected it. I’ll probably do that until someone picks it up. I’m also considering sending it somewhere overseas—maybe The New York Times.

Wishful thinking, I know, but if my aim is high I might just hit the target that feels so far away :)

Emanuel