Tough Day at Work wins short story competition

The winning writer is Holly Smith-Williams of Ecclesall with the story Tough Day at Work.’

The judges’ verdict on the winning story was: “Out of all of the entries, this one had the best twist. It was engaging from start to finish, deceiving in a good way and kept us gripped. It made great use of the parlour and described it in such great detail.”

Holly Smith-Williams said: “I was jumping for joy when I was selected to join the Murder in the Mayor’s Parlour writing workshop for the day and when I found out that I had won the competition, I was absolutely thrilled!”

Holly, who’s currently writing her debut thriller novel set during a school reunion that brings up sinister secrets, went on: “The day in the parlour was really inspiring. I loved being immersed in the very bones of Sheffield's history.

The whole experience gave me so many ideas for murder! For me, learning from the professionals and having a round of edits on my work was invaluable."

The two joint runners up are Claudia Downs with ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ and Sarah Dobbs with ‘Undying Mysteries.’

About ‘Delusions of Grandeur’, the judges said: “Claudia did a really good job building tension, suspension and character. It had some wonderful imagery and effective, descriptive writing. We also liked that the reader had to do some of the work - the story wasn't overly spelt out for you.”

On ‘Undying Mysteries’, they said: “Sarah’s story stood out because it was different. She didn't do the obvious storyline and went for something a bit more unusual, which we really liked. It had a strong narrative voice and we enjoyed that it was scary.”

The Murder in the Mayor’s Parlour project is the brainchild of outgoing Lord Mayor, Cllr Sioned-Mair Richards, who wanted to support and develop the next generation of writing talent across the city.

One of the participants, writer Zainab Tasneem, said: “Having the pleasure of being a part of this project was a great learning curve. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know about everyone’s experience within the literary world.

“Additionally, being able to have the creative freedom when writing my story was amazing and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet the Lord Mayor and write a piece for her project.”

Another participant, writer Graham Bloodworth, said: "We were lucky to have experts in the field coaching us, and the setting was fabulous.

The first draft feedback invaluable, to any author. A good day was had by all, and a tour of the building got all our imaginations working overtime."

All fourteen stories on the theme of ‘Murder in the Mayor’s Parlour’ are available to read in an online anthology at https://murderinthemayorsparlour.uk/ (live from 24 May).

The competition judges were Sioned-Mair Richards, Nancy Fielder, from National World, award-winning novelist Dr Yvonne Battle-Felton and Russ Thomas, author of the Sheffield-based Tyler and Rabbani series of crime novels.

Dr Yvonne Battle-Felton, said: “I’ve always loved a good mystery. Being part of the workshop day was very special, and I loved seeing the influences and being pleasantly surprised at the different directions the authors took.

It was great to see characters killed so creatively, they were a joy to read and to judge - the whole thing was really fun.”

The Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Cllr Sioned-Mair Richards, said: “The competition was difficult to judge as all the entries were great. The writers had obviously all worked hard and used the advice that they’d been given at the workshop.

“Even being killed was fine, although I'm not sure what I did to upset them!”

Russ Thomas said: “I was pleased so many people delivered a good story in such a short space of time. They all used the setting well, they listened to what the judges said and used all the advice available.”

Nancy Fielder, said: “Crime stories are my favourite and I love books which are set in Sheffield so it was fantastic to see such talent from all the writers. It was wonderful to be able to recognise places from the great descriptions.”

Fifteen Sheffield writers participated in a workshop held in the luxurious and inspiring setting of the Lord Mayor’s Parlour in Sheffield Town Hall, led by some of the best writing talent in the city.

After writing the first drafts of their stories, the writers had the opportunity to work with professional editors Hannah Boursnell and Lorna Partington to polish their work.

The launch of the online anthology will take place on Thursday 8 June in a special edition of the Sounds About Write open mic night, held in partnership with The Writers Workshop. Tickets are available now.

The event will include a panel and Q&A with some of the judges - Sheffield-based crime author Russ Thomas, Nancy Fielder, the editor of The Star, and the Lord Mayor of Sheffield. There will also be readings from the winning stories. Any Sheffield writer is invited to volunteer and participate with an 'open mic' slot.