Tag Archives: Short story

Fantasy Time or Wishful Thinking

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Yesterday I was thinking about how bored I am with my dining room table lol…..no, I don’t mean the actual table (well, that too but that’s a different post!) I mean where I write *deep sigh*

So I decided to do a free writing session on my ideal writing location and that reminded me of a journal page I did back in, ooooo, must of been 2008 lol

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I love the treehouse idea as a place to write, but, it’s not my ideal writing space……

I’m not greedy, or particularly demanding. A small room would be ok. I don’t need a chaise lounge or a huge desk. A couple of bookcases, where I could store all my notebooks and writing books. A small armchair in the corner for reading and a couple of shelves above my desk for photographs and small nick nacks that have meaning and importance. Some inspiring quotes and pictures on the wall and an old clock, the kind that ticks. The walls would be pale pastel tones, the furniture, natural wood. A stripped wood floor with a large rug and some fluffy cushions on the armchair. My favourite mug on a coaster and a vase of flowers.

A large window in front of my desk that opens wide, with a view of the sea and the beach below. Scented candles and a couple of lamps. A coffee machine or some kind of tea maker (I wonder if you can make tea in a coffee percolator?) and my favourite pair of cozy fluffy slippers. A comfy office chair to support my back and plenty of power sockets for my iPad and netbooks.

White voile curtains at the window that flutter in the breeze coming off the sea. The scent of seaweed and salt filling the room.

Ahhhhhh…..bliss….I’m feeling rather chilled right now lol 🙂

Ok, when I become a best seller (ha bloody ha!) you just know where I’ll be moving to 🙂

What would be your ideal writing space?

Shameless Begging……..
I’ve got one of my stories up on Flash Fiction World and I know I haven’t got a chance in hell of winning lol, but, if you do get the chance, click the link and leave me a comment and rating *flutters eyelashes* 😉

Went to my class last night. I always look forward to it….it’s so nice to have 3 writery type groups that I’m part of 🙂 We did some work on story ideas, and we have homework….to write a short story using a Horoscope for inspiration. Guess what I’ll be doing today? Buying magazines with horoscopes in lol

Yesterday’s prompt about the eyes turned into the start of a short story about a teenage girl with a powerful stare that creeps out all her class mates 😉 Today’s prompt is at the end of an empty street which kind of reminds me of a few pics I’ve taken over the years *goes off to hunt some down for inspiration* 🙂

Second Campaigner Challenge

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Today the 2nd challenge was set for the Writers Platform Builders (see tab above).

I chose to do:

Prompt 1 – Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One persons leg is cut, the other person has wet hair.

Option 2 – Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the chosen prompts.

Here’s my offering which came in at 197 words 🙂

As the sky rains fire they shelter from the falling debris at the remains of the old bridge.The smell of diesel and burning plastic stings their eyes and chokes their lungs.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Tom pushes his wet fringe away from his eyes.
“I know Tom, but I don’t think I can….my leg.”
Tom looks down at the gaping wound in Zoe’s leg, the blood pooling on the concrete.
“If we stay here, we’ll die Zo.” He pleads.
In the distance they hear a piercing scream. Zoe’s heart beats in her throat as she notices the sound of dull thuds.
“Tom, what’s that noise?” She whispers, but before he can respond a body lands a few feet away, it’s limbs twisted and broken.
Zoe screams as Tom wraps his arms around her and shields her face from the horror.
He then grips her shoulders roughly.
“Listen to me Zoe, I don’t know what the fuck is happening here, but I think we need to leave…now! If something hits this bridge…”
Tom is unable to finish his sentence as a large object hits the bridge and Zoe is plunged into darkness.

please let me know what you think, all critiques welcome 🙂

And, if you like it, please vote for me on the link above. I’m number 26

Do I Really Need To Plan?

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This is Joseph Heller’s writing plan for Catch 22 (curtesy of Flavorwire.com where you can find other examples) and I admit, I am absolutely in awe!

I’m not really a planner, but I can see the merits in making sure you have an ending.

My retreat yesterday went well, but I only managed 4 of the prompts. I got too carried away with one of them (whoops), but I did enjoy it 🙂

So now I have another 4 short stories, or rather starts of a short story. So yeah, I think I better start thinking about endings. I hate having so many unfinished pieces 😦

A great article on Writability is definitely worth a read 🙂

Sooo, are you a plotter? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants?

Yesterday’s daily prompt about memory inspired a story about a guy who’d lost his memory. Tomorrow’s prompt is a lie someone told you which might be difficult lol.

Trawling The Net

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I have spent much of the last 24 hours trawling the Internet…….nooooo, I wasn’t procrastinating? (or was I? Lol). I was researching all the short story comps and possible places to submit work to.

A huge thanks to the Womag Writers Blog and Helen Yendall who have both been a wealth of information 🙂

I have discovered there are 18 competitions ending in March. I’ve got myself a folder. Done some ‘calendar’ type sheets and now, I’m ready to go LMAO 😉

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Now, if I stop eating, don’t shower, survive on cat naps (no actual sleeping) and only leave the dining room table for loo breaks and the occasional cup of coffee I might, just, be able to enter them all *snigger*

Seriously, I can enter at least a couple can’t I?

Actually…..I managed to enter 1 last night. The Writers Bureau have a monthly comp and this months was “50 Word Love Story” I can’t post my entry on here, and rest assured, I will be screaming from the rooftops if it actually gets anywhere lol 😉

Yesterday’s prompt about the crosswind inspired a story about a guy losing his toupee (thanks Danny) and a romance is about to blossom between Mr Toupee and the woman who tried to rescue it. What a sweet story to tell the grand children “I met your grandad as I was trying to rescue his toupee from the wheels of a bus” lol. Today’s prompt is it was a daydream which sounds like great fun. I love daydreaming 🙂

Procrastination

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I’ll do it next week…..well, next week might not be ideal because there’s a couple of events I’m attending, and, I really need to de-clutter my wardrobe, and, I’m out with a friend all day Wednesday.

Sound familiar? *deep sigh* 😦

Why can I always find an excuse?

So even when I do have my writing sessions scheduled I should be able to stick to them shouldn’t I? Lol…..ummmmm, nope, it seems not lol….there’s always a ‘but’ lol

I actually bought a book once, all about procrastination, but, I procrastinated about reading it lol (I’m deadly serious lol).

So I have to develop some good writing habits, set some acheivable goals……To get up Mr Procrastinations nose 😉

1. Write every day.
I already do this, well, I miss the odd day, perhaps I shouldn’t…..must try harder 😉

2. Complete short stories.
I have a tendency (esp with the prompts) to not complete some stories, mainly the ones I don’t feel are going anywhere. Will make more of an effort to finish them.

3. Have rewards.
I like goal setting, and goals with rewards are even better. Weekly goals? Monthly goals? An ideal goal would be to submit a short story a week….but can I realistically achieve that?

4. Stop feeling guilty when the house is a mess.
Hmmmmm…..with a family to look after the kids often put the guilt trip on me about dinner. So shopping and cooking is a major part of my day. I do have to do it, I just need to be a bit more organised about it.

5. Set a time for writing and stick to it.
I’ve tried setting myself up a timetable, but that didn’t work. I’ve tried a timer but there’s always something that happens and I end up resetting it lol…really don’t know how to stick to an actual time……help!

6. STOP FAFFING!
Ha ha ha…..easier said than done…..now, if someone could just arrange for the whole WWW to go down I’d be ok lol.

A lady on one of my FaceBook groups went away for 3/4 days, on her own, as a writing retreat. She said it was fantastic. All she did the whole time was walk in the countryside and write. Oh bliss, but we’re not all in a position where we can do that, let alone afford to *deep sigh* If I’m going to make it in the world of short stories I can’t take a writing retreat weekly, because that’s how often I’ll need a completed (edited, ready to send out) short story.

An interesting article on Fuel Your Writing tells me that I’m not alone 😉

So Saturday night hubby went to bed at 9.30 (can you believe it? Humph!!!!) and I had the opportunity to do whatever I wanted….. Did I start my assignment? Nope….. Did I finish one of my short stories? Nope lol….. Did I do some editing? Ummmm, nope lol….. So what did I do?

I ended up watching His Girl Friday on my iPad *snigger* Oh, well, come on…..it was Cary Grant *swoon* He was my first crush when I was a kid (along with Danny Kaye but we won’t go into that just now).

So yet again Mr Procrastination won, got the better of me lol….. I really must kick him into touch…. And quickly lol 😉

I spent most of yesterday afternoon, and the whole evening trying to be organised so that I know when all the competitions are. I’ve got a large folder now with all the info in….I’m really pleased with myself 🙂

Yesterday prompt about the closet saw me back to my old dark ways lol but todays one, write about a crosswind is going to be hard 😉

Yesterdays Workshop

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Thoroughly enjoyed Sally Quilford’s Pocket Novel workshop yesterday.

I learnt so much 🙂

Obviously, most of what Sally was telling us about was in reference specifically to Pocket Novels, but, there was also a lot of information that would be relevant to any type of writing.

I took 11 pages of notes in my notebook lol, which included 2 character sketches (a hero and a heroine) and a scene about a first kiss lol. I picked up some great tips, which will be relevant to any short stories I submit to magazines, and we talked all about Internal and External conflict.

Sally told us about The Hays Code of Filmmaking which is a very handy little guide for how a Pocket Novel should be written, and also gave us some book recommendations. Oh dear…..more to add to my Amazon wish list.

She also gave us a very useful little tip that she admits she shamelessly stole from Della Galton which is to ask these simple 5 questions to any character or situation that you’re struggling with:

How?
Why?
What?
Where?
When?

So all in all a good day 🙂 We even had cake! lol 😉

Sally does an online Pocket Novel course which starts in June….. I think I’ll be joining 😉

Today’s prompt, the long bus ride ended up being another attempt at romance. A woman on a bus on her way home from work ends up sitting next to a man who has an appointment 2doors down from her house. I have some ideas as to what the appointment is, but still not made up my mind 100% Today’s prompt is in the closet which sounds very intriguing…..so many options with that one lol 😉

Archetypal Structure

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I’m a huge believer that the best stories are the ones with an element of truth behind them. I get a lot of my inspiration from real life events.

Someone on my FB friends page posted a link to this very sad story a couple of days ago. It got me thinking. Is it fair to turn other people’s pain into fiction? How easy would it be to take this article and turn it into a short story, but I’d be riddled with guilt 😦

Perhaps there’s a line that has to be drawn…….

As part of my course, yesterday I was reading about Archetypal Structures ie:

Journeys
The Quest
Rebirth
Monsters
The Siege
Tragedy
Comedy
Rags To Riches

Now I have to make a list of the last 10 books I’ve read and decide what Archetypal Structure they fit into. I have been very lapse on keeping a record of what I’ve read, so this is gunna be hard. I thought the easiest way would be to look at my GoodReads profile lol. You can’t really include short story anthologies or biographies can you lol

Into The Darkest Corner Now, this one is a combination IMO….. Journey, Quest, Rebirth, and there’s definitely a Monster. It’s also kind of Rags to Riches lol.

A Kind Of Vanishing I think this one is a Tragedy, but with an element of Quest.

Mr Chartwell Oh definitely Monster and Rebirth.

Bleed for Me A Journey, Quest, Monster and a Tragedy.

Quentins This is a difficult one as its a bunch of stories set in the same place, almost like reading a soap opera. Hmmmm, I think it’s absolutely every single type of structure lol.

Prophecy Is a Journey, Quest, Rebirth, Tragedy and Rags To Riches.

The Magic Of Fish Keeping (my current read) A Journey, Quest, Rebirth, Monster and Rags To Riches.

Sooo, isn’t that weird…every single book has more than one Archetypal Structure present, or am I being too analytical? 🙂

So my next task was to come up with a character, then choose a structure, then come up with ideas that would fit in with that structure. I decided to do it the other way round….I came up with the character, then brainstormed ideas that could happen to him, then looked at what structures would fit that. The results we’re pretty good, although, again, no happy endings for Mr Moorcroft….why am I so evil to my characters? *snigger* 😉

This has been a very interesting exercise as its made me realise I have a huge problem. I tend to start with a character and then want to knock them down. Surely, it should be the other way round…… Rags to Riches, not Riches to Rags lol

I’ve now finished all the exercises on my course, now all I have to do is the final assignment…..then what? I have to make some tough decisions on what I want to do next 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt about fruit picking Became the start of a story about a young girl picking strawberries for her mother *yawn yawn* lol. Today’s prompt is “Everything became shadow” after Arthur Rimbaud so a bit of investigation needed there I think 😉

Lost Moments

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I love having so many e mails hit my inbox every day, I get to see link after link after link lol.

The Writers Knowledge Base is one I could spend hours on lol…..in fact, sod actually writing, I’ll just do lots of writing research instead 😉

But that’s the problem isn’t it…..you can so easily get bogged down with reading articles, blogs, emails, FaceBook (the list is endless) that before you know it a whole morning is gone and you haven’t written a thing 😦

Yesterday morning I was up at 7.30 and still sitting in my PJ’s at 9.50 having just finally caught up with online stuff lol. My timetable really isn’t working for me, probably because I haven’t looked at it for a week lol.

Hubby bought me this a couple of days ago……

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So what was I doing at half past 12 last night?

I’ve not started reading it properly, just flicked, but it looks great!!!! I especially like the character profile list (characterisation is my favourite part of writing…..I can sit for hours making up characters) and the way that it’s advice from lots of different authors. Will definitely be keeping an eye out to see if Vanessa Gebbie is doing any workshops in the future 😉

……and here I go again…… Just stumbled across this great resource to create characters. On Manon Eileen’s site you fill in a form and can print out your characterisation. How good is that? Oh dear…..I don’t think much actual writing will get done today now lol 😉

I did, however, manage to do part of my course…..all about beginnings…..so here are some beginnings from my existing short stories. The point of the first exercise was to have the beginning of a story where the sense of location stands out to the reader. The second was to start with dialogue and introducing the characters by name. I hope they worked 😉

Yesterday’s prompt about the binoculars inspired the start of a story of a bird watcher lol. Today’s prompt is someone is whistling.

Only 6 Months To Go lol

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I sat down yesterday and filled out my booking form for The Writers Summer school, or what is affectionately known as Swanwick

I am sooooo excited lol.

This year we have some great course tutors……
Lindsay Bamfield on Getting Started in Fiction
Alison Chisholm on Poetry
Alex Davis on SF, Fantasy & Horror
Linda Lewis on Short Stories
Benjamin Scott for Older Children & YA Fiction
Jane Wenham-Jones for Non-Fiction Writing

Then for the short courses we have…..
Public Speaking with Phil Barber
Technology for Writers with Malcolm Chisholm
Getting An Agent with Meg Davis
Research & Family History with Roy Devereux
Writing Erotica with Della Galton
Writing For The Media with Simon Hall
Characterisation with Steve Hartley
e-Publishing with Peter Jones
Copywriting with Lesley Lawson Botez
Comedy with David Nobbs
Crime with Michael O’Byrne
Flash Fiction with Alexa Radcliffe-Hart
Writing From The Subconscious with Xanthe Wells
Write a Haunting Tale with Stella Whitelaw

Oh my god!!!!!! how the hell am I gunna choose which ones to do? Lol

On top of all that I have to decide if I want a one on one and if so, who with?

I said last year at Swanwick that I was going to return next August having had at least 1 thing published…..at this rate I’ll be lucky if it’s a readers letter lol 😉

I just hope the weathers a bit better this year, last year i had flu and it was freezing! I’ll make sure I take a few cardi’s this year 😉

I tried my hand at a bit of romance yesterday with the eclipse prompt, but, it didn’t work….there was still a sinister side to the guy proposing on the church roof lol. Today’s prompt is what was seen through binoculars and I already have a few ideas 😉

I’m A Platform-Building Campaigner

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Yes, I’ve signed up in 2 categories at Rachael Harrie’s Blog

Not really 100% sure what I’ve got myself into, but, it’s been great fun looking at the other blogs in my categories. I chose Short Stories & Beginner Bloggers 😉 The only thing is that I can’t seem to get the photo (above) to stay on my side bar….I’m wondering if it’s the theme I’m using *pouts* 😦

Yesterday me and hubby had a DVD fest. We watched all 3 of the Mission Impossible films (I say 3 as 4 isn’t out here yet). So I didn’t get much writing done lol. It’s ok though, as I’m calling it research lol…..I have permission from Write To Done who happened to send me an article yesterday which said “When you’re looking for opportunities to learn, don’t forget the movies. So much can be gleaned by watching films to see what makes them work.” Sooooo, ner! 😉

I’m finally up to date with my prompts….. The one about the skin on her cheek inspired a story about a young woman who’s lost her husband and son in an accident and the gravel road one has turned into the start of a story about a couple house hunting. Today’s prompt is write about an eclipse which really isn’t my kind of thing, but…..I’ll give it a go 🙂