Join the Autumn Writing Challenge!
Young Writers Collective members have chosen the theme of TIME / TIME TRAVEL for our next Writing Challenge.
Submit your writing for publication in our next digital anthology. Deadline to submit: 11 December 2025. Publication date: 18 December 2025.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEME OF TIME / TIME TRAVEL BY YOUNG WRITERS COLLECTIVE MEMBER ROSA GUNNING, AGED 12
“I chose the theme of time and time travel because I find it intriguing and I think other people will too.
There are lots of interesting ways of using time travel in writing. You could write about your own reflections on the past, and describe what you might have done differently. You could travel back hundreds of years to revisit a historic event, or you could go back an hour, and fix a mistake you made earlier in the day.
There are lots of different genres you can explore on the theme of travelling in time, too. For example, a Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a sci-fi book about travelling in time and in space. Ghost stories can explore time travel, like in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Or you can travel in time to other worlds like in fantasy novels. In my opinion, the best time travel books are historic and you can read about what it might be like if you were living in a different time.
One of my favourite time travel books is Moondial by Helen Cresswell. This focuses on a girl called Minty, who is staying with her aunt and finds that in the gardens of a historic house nearby, there’s a sundial, which she uses to travel back in time and meets two children, Tom and Sarah. Minty finds out what it is like when you come from the future, making you the ghost.
I hope you can find great ways of exploring this theme too.” Rosa
How to join the challenge
Become a member of the Young Writers Collective
If you aren’t already a member you’ll need to join in order to submit work for our publications, but the good news is it’s free to join!
Anyone who is aged 11-18 and lives, works or goes to school/college in Sussex can become a member.
All the information about the collective can be found here along with the form to sign up for membership. If you have any questions please email Nikki or Sally at ywc@littlegreenpig.org.uk
Be creatively inspired by the theme: Time/Time Travel
We love to publish all different kinds of work, so whatever your favourite form or writing or genre we want to read it! From poetry to essays, comics, fiction, scripts and more - perhaps you’re into sci-fi, maybe you like to delve deep into your emotions, or maybe you’re a budding comedian? As long as your writing is creatively inspired by our theme of Time/Time Travel then please send it to us for inclusion in the publication.
Across October and November, we’ll be adding more prompts and creative inspiration to our Exclusive Members area of the website. This will include ideas and inspiration shared by Young Writers Collective members. You might like you check out the Inspiration section of this website to get inspiration from professional writers on skills such as creating characters, describing locations, building tension and exploring identity.
You might want to craft a tale about travelling through time, a poem portraying the passage of time, or write a letter to your younger self?
Maybe you’ll write about memories, seasons/times of day, or how it feels to be different ages? Or forecast the future with some fantasy fiction? You might take inspiration from different historical periods, draw upon your own experiences of time, or write a message to future generations? It’s up to you what you write about and the form it will take!
Follow the submission guidelines
We don’t have lots of rules as we believe in using your imagination and expressing yourself freely. We try to publish all the work that’s sent to us. However, there are a few things to remember if you’d like your work to be included in the publication:
All work must be your own original creation and related to the theme of Time/Time Travel
You may submit up to three pieces of work. It can be prose/poetry/non-fiction/dialogue/scriptwriting/a letter- it’s up to you!
You can include images (illustrations, photos etc as long as you own the copyright for these) but we won’t be able to include other forms of media (eg. video, audio) in this anthology.
Please try to keep your piece under 500 words. If you share anything longer than 500 words we may only be able to publish an extract.
Please try to avoid using offensive language or content that could be inappropriate for readers aged 11-18, otherwise we may need to edit your work before publishing it.
You should not use AI to create your writing. We want the writing to be your own original ideas and creation.
Please upload your work as a document or image file eg. .pdf .docx .jpg .png
If you would like support with uploading or formatting your work please email us at ywc@littlegreenpig.org.uk
Submit your work by 11 December 2025
The deadline to send us your work is 11 December 2025. We expect to publish the digital anthology by 18 December 2025. We will email all members of the Young Writers Collective to remind you when it’s getting close to the deadline so you don’t miss out on this opportunity!
Submission Form
Please use this form to submit your work for the Autumn Writing Challenge: Time/Time Travel