We had some fantastic entries for our last competition of the year, which was to write a short story as an epistolary, i.e. in the form of letters (or diaries or other means of communication). Our judge, the ever excellent Alex Davis, gave us a shortlist of five and here are the results, preceded by his judge’s report.
A wide and varied range of stories, though the epistolary theme seemed to bring out a lot of story exploring memory, nostalgia and longing, which was a visible thread throughout all the entries.
For me, the best stories were the ones that really embraces the concept of being epistolary and showing communication and ‘back and forth’ in that vein. There were a handful that were ostensibly letters but could just as easily have been told in prose, which weighed against them as not truly embracing the core theme and concept.
It’s also fair to say epistolary writing is a challenging form, and it can be hard to push against its limitations as a form – in many respects it only enables you to truly tell part of a story rather than the whole story, so finding a way to make something compelling and engaging within that is a challenge of its own.
The leaning was definitely towards letters – which of course make up the bulk of one of the most important epistolary novels of all time in Dracula – though a handful of stories were using more recent/modern mediums like email, text etc. There is a common argument that letter writing is something of a dying art, so it was certainly fun to read these stories embracing the approach.
FIRST PLACE
The Red Mug by Kate Diamond (Blaby, Leicestershire)
This was the story I found myself thinking back to and reflecting on most in the days after reading the entries, which is always a good sign! The epistolary set-up was a strong choice here, and while the narrative isn’t especially straightforward as a depiction of dealing with loss and grief this one packed an almighty punch. It felt like a pitch-perfect depictions of the ups and down of trying to deal with bereavement, how the good days can lift you so high only to be knocked down by something small and seemingly insignificant. The small and concrete details here were excellent and really worked well to make the story feel really – excellent stuff.
SECOND PLACE
Paper Bridges by Mark Smith (Farndon, Nottinghamshire)
As I mentioned in my overall comments, there was a real thread of loss and nostalgia to many of these stories – and for me this was one of the pieces that ultimately deployed it best. The emotional power of an annual letter from a mother to their children, and the foster parents actually looking after them, was heartbreaking and left a strong impact on me as a reader. It was clear in the words and often the subtext the struggles the mother was going through, and just how much she was missing out on the key childhood moments – which as a father myself hit even harder! The sparsity and relative simplicity of this one was a real boost for it.
THIRD PLACE
Just Browsing by Linda Cooper (Newark, Nottinghamshire)
I’ve always been a big fan of metafiction, and this letter to the writing group itself certainly hit all those notes! Humour is always hard to do in stories, but I thought the subtle, light touch here really worked as our lead describes the sad loss of letters to modern technology – while in term gradually showing just how much modern technology they use in their everyday life! The reveals were even more effective because it felt like the protagonist didn’t even realise that they were basically flying in the face of their main message.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Dear George by Nicola Billington (Corbridge, Northumberland)
I thought the layout of this story was very clever, with little reveals of bits of information as we went. George is effectively the main character here, though he doesn’t appear in the story in any direct way, and I thought the use of the one-sided letters until the very finale was a strong structure. There was a feeling of genuine affection towards Anya and Jack’s elderly name, but it ultimately didn’t quite have the emotional impact of some of the other pieces.
The Shop Girl by Karen Batchelor (Newark, Nottinghamshire)
I think that the presentation here was very clever, and the mix of letters and newspaper pieces was a good touch. The story itself was very satisfying, and definitely had an element of schadenfreude seeing some of the less pleasant characters getting their comeuppance! It also captured the times and the societal values of the era, so it was an enjoyable read all round.
We had a lovely evening session with Alex discussing the competition and even had Nicki join online from Northumberland, although technical gremlins our end caused a premature end. We’d like to thank Alex and all of the entrants to the competition, with some stories coming to us from all corners of the UK and even one from the Caribbean. See you all again for more competitions in 2025, starting as usual with Poetry.
Image generated by HotPot.AI & amended by Nick.
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