Winners of the 2018 Tudor Ghost Story Contest

I will remember reading the entries for the 2018 Tudor Ghost story contest for a long, long time. Truly, there was not one story I did not enjoy reading – which meant it was not easy to decide the place-getters. But I knew as soon as I finished reading which story was for me the winner. It was a story bringing me to tears. I hope you too are moved by ‘Found’. It is a story written with immense love for its subject, and returned me to when I visited the tomb of Katherine of Aragon at Peterborough Abbey in 2007. It also stirred up so many emotions swirling within me at the moment, as I write my current work-in-progress – the conclusion of my imagined story about Katherine of Aragon. But what I particularly loved was its skilful weaving of a modern story with the threads of the past. It shows why the past remains a part of us, and never leaves us; it walks alongside us, just as Katherine of Aragon walks alongside a grieving mother in this beautifully told story.

Congratulations to L.H.

Deciding on second and third place getters was so, so hard – but also boiled down to the stories giving me the visceral reaction I always yearn for in my reading.

Congratulations to the shared second place getters (you can see how difficult this year’s competition was for me!) – Carol Powers’ ‘The Letter’ and Sammi Cox’s ‘The Thorns of a Tudor Rose’. And third place goes to “Refrain & Departure” by Emily Gardner.

To all our entrants for this year’s contest, I want to sincerely thank all for your stories, and making it so difficult for me to select our place getters. I was impressed, moved, inspired – and have suggested Natalie consider publishing a selection of our best stories next year.

I do hope everyone will write another ghost story for the Tudor Ghost Story competition when we open the door for entries in 2020!

But just a few suggestions…

Remember to read out loud your work to double check for writing missteps. I know if I don’t read out loud my own work, I will end up with mistakes. Writers all do it – but too many writing missteps in a competition results in stories ending up in the pile you don’t want for your story.

Check your research – and remember – if a story is set in the Tudor period –  word choice is important. Writers should build their Tudor world with the aim of ‘hoodwinking’ their reader into believing they have entered a time long ago. A wrong word choice often results in shutting the door on that world for the reader.

Back to research. Margaret Atwood writes, ‘when there was a solid fact, I could not alter it … but in the parts left unexplained – the gaps left unfilled – I was free to invent’ (Atwood 1998, p.1515). That is very much my philosophy too. Writing historical fiction takes a special kind of writing bravery – even more when we dare to play around with established fact. It can work, but sometimes you risk a whole story unravelling because a knowledgeable reader does indeed know their ‘facts’ of history.

I leave you with all my best wishes for this season of love and ‘pastime in good company’, and for the New Year.

Wendy J. Dunn

Atwood, M  1998, ‘In search of Alias Grace: on writing Canadian historical fiction’, American Historical Review, vol. 103, no. 5, pp. 1503-16, viewed 28 March 2014, EBSCOhost