SLUSH PILE CHALLENGE October 2023 Results
Ludo Cinelli and Steven Evans of Eve White Literary Agency set and judged the October 2023 Slush Pile Challenge.
Ludo Cinelli
When we considered the submissions as a whole, we agreed that the ones that really stood out were those that managed to find a good balance between story arc and the central hook. This is a really difficult thing to get right, and we felt THREE FOR TRUTH by Ian Wilson as well as ELLIE ANDERSON IS DEAD by Sophie Clarke and FINN’S GAP by Louise Roberts were the best at achieving this. Still, many of the other submissions had something praiseworthy about them: perhaps they had a unique hook or character, but we didn’t feel they quite had the narrative to sustain it; or else they had a well-constructed narrative but just needed to add that extra twist to make the work stand out (a special character, relationship, setting or theme); or, maybe they had brought in too much, with three or four ‘special somethings’ making for a plot that in the end lacked focus and prevented us from connecting emotionally with the character and the story.
WINNER:
Three for Truth by Ian Wilson
COMMENDED:
Ellie Anderson is Dead by Sophie Clarke
Finn’s Gapp by Louise Roberts
Our thanks to everyone for taking part, and we wish all the authors the best of luck with the next stage of their writing journey!
Ludo and Steven
Congratulations to Ian Wilson from all of us at Words & Pictures. We hope you are well on your way towards getting your writing published.
Well done to Sophie Clarke and Louise Roberts for being commended.
Thanks to everyone who entered. Keep writing and we hope you will be encouraged to try your hand at appropriate competitions.
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Ludo Cinelli is an Agent and the Managing Director at Eve White Literary Agency. He joined the company in 2017 and began to grow his list of clients in 2018. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.
He reads widely across fiction and nonfiction. The books he loves might challenge him with their ideas and style, but they might also be a simple story beautifully told. He does this job because of the variety, the excitement, and the potential it offers. He takes pride in building strong, long-lasting relationships with his clients and publishing colleagues alike.
He was shortlisted as British Book Awards Literary Agent of the Year in 2022.
In his spare time he enjoys good and bad films, cooking, eating, and sporadically attempting to improve at chess.
In no specific order, here are some older and newer books he’s enjoyed recently:
• Bad Behaviour by Mary Gaitskill
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Luster by Raven Leilani
• …And Away by Bob Mortimer
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
• Underworld by Don DeLillo
• No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
• Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
• The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight
• Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flynn
• Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage
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Eve White Literary Agency is UK-based representing internationally published authors. A Member of the Association of Authors’ Agents.
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Elaine Cline has been a SCBWI member for over eight years and loves to write picture books, chapter books and middle-grade. She loves writing about food. She lives by the sea and has a dog. Elaine is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge for writers. Connect with Elaine on Twitter: @elaineccline
Thanks for the detailed comments Ludo and Steven. The one about “making children more aware of parents’ mental health and illness” being best done as “an incidental, peripheral part of the narrative” was really helpful for me and my WIP. I appreciate your time and help.
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