Our magazine review section deals specifically with magazines
for writers. These are not those which feature writers’ work, but the ones
that are directed at writers themselves, to help them improve their writing
and get published. We hope this series might help you decide which one might
suit you, before you opt for a year’s subscription.
Mslexia magazine, ‘for women who write’, has a clear target
audience and remit which marks it out from the other writers’ magazines.
Aimed at women writers at the more serious end of the spectrum, this is not
so strong on the commercial end of the market, but it does carry a lot of
useful articles and has a distinct personality which marks it out from the
others.
MsLexia has a particularly clear and well thought through
structure with a number of regular columns. The letters and other
contributions are followed by longer articles, then there’s 15 pages of new
writing, a creativity section and also useful listings. Advertising is
relatively unobtrusive, giving the magazine a clean, uncluttered feel.
The issues reviewed showed a clear practical approach in many of the
articles. The ‘Insider Trading’ column had Matthew Hollis, a poetry
editor at Faber, looking at what’s hot and what’s not in poetry, and
subsequently Liz Smith, fiction editor of My Weekly, on women’s
weeklies. ‘Making it pay’ dealt with volunteering as a way of getting your
foot in the door, and running a venue. The column entitled ‘Ask the Expert’
gave some useful advice on decoding rejection letters and being pushy (about
putting ideas to features editors).
The most ambitious part of the magazine is the ‘Agenda’ section of longer
feature articles, which dealt with a number of key issues for writers in an
informed and readable way. Thus there’s Mslexia editor Debbie
Taylor on ‘The next big thing: the Big Book and what might be in store for
us in 2005’; ‘The small press revolution’; six literary agents’ predictions
for 2005; ‘One hour a day’, on how to make progress with your writing if you
don’t have much time; an interesting piece by Kate Clanchy on men and
women’s poetry and the differences in the writing; ‘The Death of the
hardback novel’; and ‘Secrets and Lies’, Justine Picardie on writing
autobiography and the delicate balance between what you reveal and what you
don’t.
Lengthy author interviews included friendly and thoughtful discussions
with Andrea Levy and Monica Ali, exactly epitomising the writing
aspirations of the readers.
In common with other writers’ magazines, Mslexia devotes a good
amount of space to writers’ own work. It’s more clearly set out with a clear
theme though, in this case Barbara Trapido’s selection of new writing on the
theme of dogs and the late Julia Darling’s selection on the theme of shoes.
The quality of the writing chosen was impressive.
More innovative is the six-page section on ‘Creativity’, which offers
psychological analysis, advice and encouragement, including ‘Becoming a
therapist for your characters’ and Wendy Cope on ‘Writing to length’.
A generous book review section is followed by listings, a National
Directory of calls for submissions and competitions, and also a regional
directory.
Although the final sections will not be of much use to non-British
readers, the magazine as a whole is so consistent and targeted in its
approach that women writers from all over the world would find much of
interest and many would feel that its supportive approach is very appealing.
My general conclusion was that for women writers who take their
writing quite seriously and are aiming at the more literary end of the
spectrum but who want good practical advice, offered in an accessible and
friendly way, Mslexia is perfect. It’s not so good for genre
writers and definitely not aimed at men, as many of the articles concentrate
on the particular problems of women writers. Its clear focus makes for a
consistent, enjoyable and high quality magazine, which many women writers
would find supportive and encouraging.
Mslexia website
Review of Writers' Forum
Review of Writer's Digest
Review of Writers' News
Review
of ScriptWriter
Magazine review index
