December 2015 Winner Announced - Nancy Bachana

Congratulations to Nancy Bachana for her winning story, Twenty-Three Hundred!

The Pen Factor HQ in The Apple Isle spent the morning organising a Skype call to the Big Apple where our winner, Nancy Bachana, lives with her husband and children. Nancy kindly spent time talking to us about the inspiration behind her story and her writing dreams.
It wasn't long before we opened some champagne and announced her as our competition winner. The final decision was made by our guest judge, prize-winning crime author, Susan Moody. View this morning's surprise announcement on YouTube. Don't forget you can keep up with all The Pen Factor news and announcements by liking our page on Facebook!)

Well done, Nancy!

Read our article about Nancy and her short story as our December Writer of the Month.

Finalists Announced for December 2015 Competition

The Pen Factor team, headed up by guest judge, Susan Moody, is delighted to announce our five finalists for the December 2015 Competition.

Congratulations to:
- Mark Hildebrandt (Redlih B. Kram) - The Warrior King
- Rachel Bryan - The Unlikely Serial Killer
- Nancy Bachana - Twenty-Three Hundred
- Stephanie Allwright - The Karma Chronicles
- Alex Ambrozic - Homecoming (a Translation)

We wish all our finalists the best of luck as Susan makes her final decision in the coming weeks.

Special mention to the following writers who narrowly missed out on becoming finalists:
- Mary Rogan - After Vince
- Rosie O - Searching
- Travis Kennedy - The Devil's Room 
- Kirsten Leggett - Horatio 

Keep the dream alive. Keep writing!

Guest Judge for December 2015 Competition - Susan Moody

The Pen Factor judging team is delighted to welcome crime novelist Susan Moody as its 2015 December Competition guest judge. Susan was born and brought up in Oxford and has been a professional writer for nearly 30 years. She has published 34 crime and suspense novels, including the Penny Wanawake series and the Cassandra Swann series. She has also written many stand-alone novels, among them Losing Nicola andA Final Reckoning. The Colour of Hope was an international best-seller and sold in 20 different countries. Her novelization of the Gold Blend coffee ads, Love Over Gold, reached the Sunday Times best-seller lists.

She is a former Chairman of the Crime Writer's Association, served as World President of the International Association of Crime Writers, and was elected to the prestigious Detection Club. Susan Moody spent two years as Creative Writing Tutor at Bedford Prison and is a past Writer-in-Residence at the Universities of Tasmania and Copenhagen. Susan is married to the Australian mathematician, Professor John Donaldson, and divides her time between England and France.

Her latest novel, Quick and the Dead, the first in a brand-new mystery series is out on the 29th January 2016.

Quick and the Dead, a contemporary British mystery by Susan Moody

The Pen Factor Writer of the Month: Nancy Bachana

Twenty-Three Hundred - Nancy Bachana
December 2015

Our current feature story is the grittily realistic tale of a young girl’s experience while interning at the downtown sheriff’s office. Danielle, a well-intended but inexperienced sixteen year-old, finds herself way out of her depth on the wrong side of town. Through her probing, restless narrative, Nancy Bachana takes us deep into her character’s lives, leaving the reader with an uneasy sense of pity and foreboding.

Nancy started writing fiction in 2009, as a creative outlet from a creatively stifling job. Originally from North Florida, Nancy now lives in New York City with her family. The inspiration for Twenty Three Hundred came from a real-life interaction with a co-worker at McDonalds, when Nancy worked there during high school. When Nancy announced her intentions to go to college the following year, her co-worker’s rueful response was “I envy you”; a quote used to great effect in Nancy’s short story.

Nancy found out about The Pen Factor while searching for writing contests online. She was interested in the competitive aspect of the writer’s forum – “critiques can be more honest when they are anonymous and competitive … less likely to go soft on fellow writers”. Nancy found the 1,500 word limit incredibly helpful for her writing, resulting in more polished, stronger stories.

“Crafting my submissions for The Pen Factor has given me a new approach to writing – if I can't craft each scene to be as strong and necessary as a gripping short story, cut it!"

At the moment, Nancy is revising her young adult novel. She dreams of being a published writer who can inspire girls and young women to “take action, explore and accomplish things they can be proud of and not get side-lined by boys or sexy vampires!”. Nancy would be ecstatic to write ‘good reads’ that readers will treasure and share long after they’ve been read.

Read Nancy's short story here: Twenty-Three Hundred.

The Pen Factor Interviews: K. M. Zahrt

Ken Zahrt has seized the reigns of his burgeoning writing career. Since becoming a serious writer ten years ago, Ken has self-published two books (Thanksgiving with Pop-Pop (October 2013) and Odd Man Outlaw (February 2014)) and is poised to release his third, a mystery novel with a literary twist. In June 2015, his short story, Pink Panties, Chocolate Pudding, and a Proposal, was The Pen Factor Runner-up. Guest-judge and award-winning writer Nicholas Shakespeare described it as “well written and fresh”.

Ken’s mystery-thriller novel, Odd Man Outlaw, wades through an increasingly murky trail of evidence surrounding the arrest of security guard, Edward Waters, suspected of aiding and abetting a known fugitive. Ken wrote the entire first draft by hand in composition notebooks on a flight to China in August 2007. The story was inspired by a job he took after college as a security guard at a nursing home. “There was a boiler room at the nursing home where homeless people would try to hide for warmth and shelter in the winter time. The story was built out of that place and evolved over time.”

Odd Man Outlaw by K. M. Zahrt

Ken values the feedback he received from submitting to The Pen Factor. “The Pen Factor is unique. I've never come across anything like it. It's really beneficial to get good feedback to know how your work is resonating with readers. When you send out work anywhere, rejections are inevitable, but there's no way to tell if there's something wrong with your story or if it simply doesn't fit what editors are looking for at that particular moment. The Pen Factor gives you a chance to get some honest feedback in a low-risk environment.”
Ken found his passion for writing via studying film and video at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. In 2006 he won the Department of English's Oldenburg Writing Contest for one of his first scripts and has been hooked ever since. Ken likens writing to a game of golf: “You can play the same course over and over, but the journey and the outcome of each round is different ... That's what's so engaging and challenging about it. The next round might just be the round of a lifetime.”


K. M. Zahrt reads from his book, Odd Man Outlaw

You can buy Ken's book here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615958125/
Website: http://www.kmzahrt.info/

The Pen Factor Writer of the Month: Rachel Bryan

The Unexpected Serial Killer - Rachel Bryan
November 2015

The Unlikely Serial Killer is a first-person narrative story that delves into the mind of a most unexpected murderer. Intriguing, witty and dark, Rachel Bryan's comedy-thriller is a compelling read from first line to last.

Rachel is based in the Columbia Gorge in Washington State. Strongly encouraged by her grandma, she has been writing fiction since she was 12. After an early encounter with a Stephen King novel ("I was too young to be reading those kinds of things..."), Rachel started delving into darker subject matter which gradually morphed into dark comedy as she matured. The inspiration for The Unlikely Serial Killer came from a lightbulb moment at Baja Fresh when Rachel knocked over a stack of salsa containers she had filled up.

"A lightbulb went off and my first sentence just played out in my head and the story wrote itself from there". The entire story was subsequently finished in under six hours!
Prior to submitting The Unlikely Serial Killer to The Pen Factor, Rachel had never shared her writing with anyone other than her grandma and friends. After receiving such great responses from fellow writers at The Pen Factor, Rachel gained the courage to apply for a freelance job and now writes sports articles for the local newspaper.

"That's what appealed to me so much about The Pen Factor - the feedback. I am always wanting to grow more as a writer and you can't do that without good feedback."

Rachel has started a writing group in her area in an effort to create a writing community. Her writing dream is to eventually publish a book and help others get published as well. 

Read Rachel's story here!

Peter James reviews The Pen Factor June 2015 Winner, Ryan Glasgo

We are honoured to have received a spectacular review of our June 2015 winner's work from Peter James. Our winning story is The Rock Fortress by Ryan Glasgo. Ryan was one of six outstanding finalists shortlisted by our online algorithm for review by the judging panel.

"What talent this Ryan has - I was really, genuinely blown away. It was a treat to read it." — Peter James

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The Pen Factor is delighted to welcome international best-selling writer of crime fiction Peter James as its guest reviewer. Peter has written 26 novels, including the highly acclaimed Roy Grace crime thriller series, which have been translated into 36 languages and which have sold millions of copies worldwide.

~ o ~

June 2015 Winner Announced - Ryan Glasgo

Congratulations, Ryan Glasgo!

It's with much delight that we announce the winner of our June 2015 Pen Factor Writing Competition. The Rock Fortress was one of the six outstanding finalists shortlisted by our judging panel. Ultimately it was guest judge, Nicholas Shakespeare, who had the final say in selecting our winner, although it was a very close competition.
The warming story of a mischievous boy on a Sri Lankan train was vivid, engaging and beautifully written. 

Ryan Glasgo receives his award from The Pen Factor

"Thanks for all the support, the contest was a fantastic and rewarding experience for me! Really nice of the team to come over to Oxford. Such a pleasure." — Ryan Glasgo 

Ryan was presented with his award by James, our Pen Factor representative in the UK. Next, Ryan will receive a full professional feedback service from the chosen consultancy, as well coaching on how to advance his writing career from here. We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Ryan and our finalists for their brilliant pieces of writing.

Read Ryan's story here: The Rock Fortress

Our other finalists:
Pink Panties, Chocolate Pudding, and a Proposal by K. M. Zahrt
The Sea Pool by Sharon Moore 
A Communion in Solitude by Shane Humpherys
A Good Drying Day by Mary Rogan
Black Ink Guilt by Sarah Kee

Read a review of The Rock Fortress by best-selling author Peter James here.