Local author Spencer Sekulin is being recognized for his work as one of the winners of the Writers of the Future contest.
"The writers of the future contests is probably one of the largest ones in the world," he said. "The whole premise of it is to be a contest for people that are just getting into writing and you haven't gotten into the professional sphere yet."
Writers can submit science fiction or fantasy short stories to be considered for the contest. Submissions can either be rejected, receive honourable mention, or awarded semi-finalist, finalist or winner status. Sekulin has been submitting stories since 2019 and has had a couple of honourable mentions and a few rejections, but this is his first win.
"That's the nature of writing in general. You submit stories over and over and over again and they get rejected a million times and then you get one acceptance," he said. "That's how it was for Stephen King. He had a massive stack of rejection letters, right? That's just the nature of the game."
Sekulin described his winning short story as a post-apocalyptic fantasy. It will be published in the anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39 which will be officially released in April 2023.
Science fiction and fantasy is the genre of choice for Sekulin who began writing in his first year of university back in 2012. He said he didn't like the way a favourite author ended a series, so he wrote his own ending and it took off from there. He has written both longer form and short stories.
However, writing is not a full-time job for Sekulin. He has been working as a paramedic in Simcoe County and will be going to medical school to become a physician. He said working as a medical professional has helped his stories to feel more real and connected.
While reading a lot can help you write a good story, the human experience helps shape it a lot, Sekulin said, adding, "How does it feel to love and how does it feel to hate? How's it feel to be terrified?"
As a winner of the Writers of the Future contest, on top of having his work published in the upcoming anthology, Sekulin will also be flown out to Los Angeles for a week-long trip featuring an awards event and master classes from some of the top names in the industry.
"It's a pretty big deal both for learning and for networking and sounds like a blast," he said.
This is the 39th year of the writers of the future contest. It was founded in 1983 by American author L. Ron Hubbard. The contest continues to be funded by Hubbard's estate.
