It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was howling through the trees outside and as I sat alone in my dimly lit home, my eyes cast downward. On the table, I beheld a sight that chilled me to my very marrow. A pile of unmarked exercise books!

Ok, perhaps that does not sound all that scary to you. Perhaps you could do a far better job of engaging your reader with a suspenseful tale that will leave them worried to switch off the light?

‘Young Writers’ (Instagram handle @youngwritersCW) are offering you the opportunity to have a go at writing a spooky tale with the chance of winning some cool prizes in the process.

The competition is entitled ‘Spine Chillers’ and is centered around the theme of gothic fiction, which most of you will remember from your KS3 English lessons.
All you have to do is write a short story with this theme in mind. Something that is tense and gripping for your reader and may just chill their spine. However, it must be no longer than 100 words. That may sound like a lot but just to give you some idea as to how ‘short’ that actually is, you’ll notice that I have underlined the word ‘go’ earlier on in this article. That is the 100th word that I typed. So use your words carefully.

The competition is open to all year groups (ages 11-18) and the deadline for submission to myself is Friday 9th July 2021.

Past competitions have seen some of our students commended and published in the final anthology and I for one was very proud to see their stories printed in such a professional-looking book.

I look forward to seeing your entries. Please bring them to me in my classroom (E5) or hand them in at the staffroom and asked them to be placed in my tray. Happy writing!