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2026 FICTION CONTEST AND LITERARY SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
And here’s a truism: if you’re going to give yourself the best chance of success with your fiction this year when it comes to submitting it to different outlets, make sure you follow the fiction contest and literary submission requirements to the T. You’ll find these requirements (or submission guidelines) on the contest and entry pages, and if you’re logging into Submittable or Duosuma or Moksha or Subfolio or wherever, the submission requirements should be pretty prominentl
Cully Perlman
Apr 85 min read
GUEST POST: JOHN DUFRESNE COMES UP WITH NOVEL TITLES
If you’re like me, more often your title will emerge during the writing. Before it does, however, it’s a good idea to have a working title or titles as you go. A working title keeps you focused and on track—until it doesn’t. To this point, E.L. Doctorow wrote, “You’ll find a better title, and it will have a certain excitement for you; it will evoke the book, it will push you along. Eventually, you’ll have to choose another title. When you find the one that doesn’t get used u
John Dufresne
Mar 39 min read
2026 WRITING CONTESTS
If you’re looking to test the literary waters without querying literary agents, or if you’re just starting out, consider submitting your short stories and novel excerpts to literary journals and literary contests. Some offer payment in author copies while others actually pay you for your work, especially if you win or place in literary contests. Below are a good number of literary contests and journals with upcoming submission deadlines. So, polish your work and get your entr
Cully Perlman
Feb 195 min read
YOUR EVOLUTION AS A WRITER FROM BEGINNING TO FOREVER
Beginning writers are easy to spot. Often, it’ll only take a line or two for someone with experience to realize what stage of writing you’re at, and what they’ll expect to encounter as they read your short story (most writers begin writing short stories, as they are, well, short, and thus less intimidating to attack when learning how to write). I was a beginning writer many years ago, and I recently found a few of my short stories. They were better than I expected, but they w
Cully Perlman
Feb 312 min read
TOP 10 CREATIVE WRITING VIDEOS
While we lament what the world is and has been becoming for some time, not just in politics and interests, in literature and the world’s collective move away from “serious fiction,” many of us still know that no matter how much we know, we’ll never know enough. We continue learning. We continue writing. And we continue seeking out the resources that maintain our growth when it comes to the craft we love.
Cully Perlman
Jan 277 min read
Is It Worth It to Query Literary Agents in 2026?
More and more agents are closed to queries or are only open to queries via referrals. Which means you shouldn’t waste your time querying them. They won’t likely read your query, and it’s possible you’ll just be considered a rookie or annoying. It’s like putting a no soliciting sign on your door and still having the Avon representative knocking at your door. If Avon is still a thing—I have no clue and I’m not even going to bother to Google if it is.
Cully Perlman
Jan 79 min read
WRITING THE BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END OF a NOVEL
Two days ago, I completed another full edit of a novel I’ve been working on for 23 years (yes, 23—that’s not a typo). I have a beginning I sort of like. I’ve worked on it again and again for over two decades. The beginning of my novel, which deals with the mental trauma experienced by a young boy in a small town, trauma that naturally follows him through the rest of his life, including during WWII and upon his return home, starts out with a lot of violence. Things change.
Cully Perlman
Nov 4, 20257 min read
IS FINDING TIME TO WRITE IMPOSSIBLE?
Finding Time to Write is up to You. We're all Busy. We all have Jobs. Ask Yourself This: Do I Really Want it? For some people, the answer is absolutely. For others, not so much. I bring this up today because someone in one of the writing groups that I’m a part of on social media made the comment that they weren’t able to start anything because they weren’t going to be able to finish it, or something to that effect. They have a full-time job (I don’t even think they have kids,
Cully Perlman
Oct 28, 20256 min read
10 Self-Publishing Resources to Help You Get Your Novel Published
Today I want to provide a list of resources for you brave authors, you rebels heading out on the publishing journey all on your own. You’ll likely have heard of some of the resources I’m going to mention (KDP, IngramSpark, Scrivener, and more), but there’ll be some in here that you may not know about. I’ll try to provide as much of a descriptive blurb as possible so you know before clicking through to the site what to expect.
Cully Perlman
Oct 20, 20259 min read
THE UPS and DOWNS of WRITING FICTION
I read something funny one time about a writer, though I can’t remember who that writer was, but someone interviewing the author asked a question (and I’m paraphrasing) about what they thought when some other author got a novel published or received a high advance for their book. Naturally, the interviewer was expecting some nicety from the author or whatever, something like, “I love her!" But instead, the writer replied, "I hope she gets hit by a bus."
Cully Perlman
Oct 14, 20256 min read
I Haven’t Written a Word of Fiction in Two Months, but It’s Not Writer’s Block
Norman Mailer said writer’s block was a “failure of the ego.” Hilary Mantel and others recommend getting away from the desk and engaging in other activities to get the juices flowing. (Hilary Mantel died in 2022, but she said it when she was alive!). Jack London said you must actively pursue inspiration rather than waiting for it. And Anthony Trollope made sure he stuck to a strict schedule so that he produced writing consistently. You do what you must.
Cully Perlman
Sep 16, 20255 min read
Is the Publishing Industry Rigged?
People buy books. Publishers sell books. Literary agents are the middle people between authors and publishers. And while publishers ask themselves many, many questions, the most important ones are these: Will this author’s novel sell? And Will people buy this author’s book? Agents ask themselves the same questions prior to taking on a new client. The publishing industry is just that—an industry. Publishers are businesses. For profit businesses, for the most part.
Cully Perlman
Aug 27, 20256 min read
The Hunt for Your Literary Agent
Literary agents are the middlemen and middle women between you and the trade publishers, often referred to as the Big 5—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and their imprints, meaning the smaller publishers beneath them (there are also . Of course, you can go a different route, e.g., self-publishing, using a vanity press, hitting the independent publishers like W.W. Norton, Graywolf, Akashic, Algonquin . . .
Cully Perlman
Aug 15, 20253 min read
Is My Idea a Short Story or a Novel?
What’s the underlying message I’m trying to communicate? Is it faith versus doubt? Government overreach/government against the people? Man/woman versus self? Revenge? For me, it’s likely a good combination of all of those and various/many? more. It’s just how I write, and from what I’ve read, most writers are (intentionally or not) doing the same. i.e., incorporating more than a few themes, either in their shorter works or their novels.
Cully Perlman
Aug 5, 20256 min read
Targeting Your Dream Literary Agent with Your First Chapter
In order to give yourself the best shot at getting a literary agent to represent your book, you need to be a student of the game. You need to make sure you know what your dream literary agent is hungry for, and you need to give them plenty of it. You should read everything their clients have published in the last two years, or at least the first one or two chapters. If your novel fits in with what you read, you may be on your way to ensuring you have the best chance you can h
Cully Perlman
Apr 15, 20259 min read
Beware of Your Social Media Posts
Today I’m thinking about the wild west of social media, and how you, dear authors, should beware of your social media posts.
Cully Perlman
Feb 18, 20255 min read
WHY I WRITE NOVELS AND FICTION
I write novels and fiction to make sense of the world. I write to express myself, to communicate the things I find important in this life.
Cully Perlman
Feb 11, 20251 min read
What You Leave Out of your Novel is More Important Than What You Leave In
I’ve written first drafts in three weeks, and others in six months. Some have taken me years. Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road in three weeks.
Cully Perlman
Feb 4, 20256 min read
5 WAYS TO GET YOUR WRITING DONE.
There is nothing in this world like writing a novel and seeing it in print. Nothing. But it requires sacrifice. It requires patience.
Cully Perlman
Jan 21, 20257 min read
The Key to Proper Etiquette and How to Support Authors Hawking Their Books
If someone wants to buy your book, they’ll buy it. If someone recommends it to them, they’ll buy it. Desperation isn’t what readers need.
Cully Perlman
Jan 7, 20255 min read
Writing is a job. It's fun. It's trying. It's hard. But if you're committed to getting published, you have to put the work in. Come to Novelmasterclass.blog to get tips, read and watch interviews and book reviews, and learn how to write.
THE LOSSES
A novel
"I've just read Cully Perlman's hefty, ambitious, and radiant debut novel, The Losses, and I was flat knocked out. This is much more than a promising first novel by an inordinately gifted writer; it is a dazzling literary achievement. Perlman is an enchanter, casting his spell with lyrical prose, evocative details, and spellbinding characters. He explores familial chaos, reckless behavior, and tragic love with poise, savvy, and tenderness. What talent, what nerve, what a wondrous and spellbinding novel."
--John Dufresne
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