A press release has wafted across the Books desk today that has got me a riled. It's for a writing contest and the prize on offer is a contract with a small Exeter-based publishing house and a £500 advance.
Nowt wrong with that. What I do find slightly rum is that it is open to "anyone on a registered creative writing course at a university". Or, to put it another way, this "search for new writing talent" is limited to those who have already been vetted by a university and presumably deemed to have the talent - and the funds - to have a shot at being professional writers.
Further fuelling my ire, this is what Andy Brown, director of the Centre for Creative Writing and the Arts at the University of Exeter has to say about it:
"This competition arose out of a need to create platforms for talented writers emerging from universities nationwide. Too many find it hard to maintain their momentum and enthusiasm and struggle to meet editors, agents and even other writers."
Well, frankly, if these would-be writers "find it hard to maintain their momentum and enthusiasm" outside the confines of the creative writing classroom then perhaps they should be encouraged to go off and do something else, the poor loves, rather than gently coaxed further into the cold world of professional fiction writing.
That they "struggle to meet editors, agents and even other writers" is just adding insult to injury. What is the course teaching them, in that case? Yes, it can be difficult to meet editors and agents, although the best of these courses - think UEA - are regularly scoured by agents on the hunt for fresh talent. But "struggling to meet other writers" after attending a course full of them? If Andy Brown's view of his students is to be believed, rather than a new "talent competition" perhaps these delicate flowers would be better off with a kick up the bottom and an initiative injection.
Or am I being a grumpy old woman?
