A novel that began life on the University of Chichester’s MA Programme in Creative Writing has won a prestigious national competition.
The opening of Graham Minett’s novel Legacy, which uses locations from the Chichester area, beat off entries from throughout the UK to scoop the £500 first prize in the Chapter One literary contest, a London-based contest designed to attract work from unpublished novelists.
In her report, the judge, Lorella Belli, a literary agent, wrote: “Although the premise (a woman is left a country cottage by a person who died recently and whom she doesn’t know) is not original or unique, I felt the author has managed to create a good sense of suspense, curiosity and interest in what’s to come.
“The characters are well-rounded and the structure (with the interspersed newspaper articles about the teenage killer and his story) seems to work well; the pace contributes to make this an intriguing and page-turning read. The writing is very polished too, which was not always the case with other entries. This is genre fiction and is a good effort. I will be happy to read the rest of it.”
As part of his prize, Graham, a postgraduate of the University’s MA programme in Creative Writing, will sign a contract with Chapter One to finish the novel in the next two years, working with an editor from the agency. If they like the finished product, it will be re-submitted to Lorella Belli, who will then decide whether to take it to publishers.
Graham was a teacher of languages at Felpham Community College before transferring to the Angmering School, initially as Head of 6th Form and subsequently as Assistant Head Teacher. Four years ago, he switched to an administration role at the school, in charge of curriculum development and responsible for creating the timetable, reducing to four days to create more time for writing.
He studied the two-year MA in Creative Writing, graduating in 2008, and won the inaugural Segora Prize with a short story which had been workshopped as part of the course. The following year another short story was long-listed for the Bridport Prize.
“What I really want, though,” he said, “is to be a published novelist, so this competition win is a big boost to morale. If they ever get to read it, local readers will hopefully enjoy the fact that the modern day part of the novel is set in the Chichester area, based around the fictional village of Ryhill, with several references to local landmarks. It would be even nicer if they simply enjoyed the story itself.
“I know you can't afford to get too far ahead of yourself in this business, so I'm desperately trying to play it all down for now - there’s long way to go! I'm still enjoying my work at Angmering School, so I'm very far from being a full-time writer. It's just nice for the question to be raised and to find there are others who are prepared to take my writing seriously. I suppose I'm a bit closer than I was a few weeks ago but I’ve got to keep my head down and keep working.”
Graham wrote the opening of the novel as part of his dissertation project with English Department tutor Alison MacLeod, gaining a Distinction.
He said: “The idea came from a couple of news items quite some time ago, which I tucked away somewhere and planned to develop into two short stories. It was only later that I realised there was the potential to combine the two and make it into a novel.
“The opening chapter, which needed to be eye-catching, was originally submitted for an MA module. A later chapter owes a great deal to the professionalism and patience of Alison and in particular her eye for detail.
“I've since moved on and have completed 70,000 words, much of which will need to be redrafted. The book has already benefitted immensely from workshopping which started during the MA and which has continued informally since then. I’ve had such fantastic support from my wife, Elaine, and from Jill and Ellie who were fellow MA students. If Legacy ever sees the light of day, it will owe so much to them.”
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