Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-second piece of flash fiction in this new weekly series. This week’s piece is a 697-worder by Joy V Smith. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with two other stories) on Sunday 28th July.
Carnies
Introduction to Paper on Pesticide Alternatives (Talk given by Dr. I. T. Saboutime)
There are still too many pesticides being used today. Spraying malathion in Florida thirty years ago to combat the Medfly outbreak decimated insect, bird, and fish populations; suits are still clogging the courts regarding liability.
After fruitless months of research on alternatives, I came across Randall Schwartz’s book, Carnivorous Plants. He states, “Carnivorous plants can be an organic alternative to insecticides. There are plants so efficient that they capture hundreds of ants each day, and others that consume literally thousands of mosquito larvae.”
I studied the 450 species of the passive, semi-active, and active plants. Here are the results of my work. I shall read excerpts from my journal.
Day 1: I bought a selection of carnivorous plants at the University of South Florida–Tampa campus–plant sale. They told me not to fertilize them. Too slow anyway. DNA’s the way to go, I think.
Day 4: I’ve dredged out a boggy area of a little over an acre to have plenty of room, and I ordered a selection of plant, herptile, bird, and animal DNA.
Day 62: Some of the carnivorous plants are reacting to the smorgasbord I’m putting out for them. The bald cypress DNA is working; the knees are spreading quickly, but only in water.
Day 97: Cindy found out what I was doing with the mice and called ALF (the Animal Liberation Front). I wasted two days in the hospital, then three weeks in the wheelchair. The Giant Drosera regiae (a sundew) of South Africa (which originally had leaves two feet long and was already capable of devouring small animals) are getting faster and more aggressive. (Must be the boa DNA.) One nearly got me yesterday, but I beat it off with a crutch. The small ones seem to be clustering in packs; it could be the wolf DNA.
Day 99: Roadkill a la Interstate seems to satisfy them; there should be plenty of that.
Day 146: Made a mistake introducing the stranglar fig DNA, I’m afraid. Pity about Cindy. (By the way, we might have an alternative to cremation here.)
Day 153: Haven’t gotten anywhere with the passive plants. Sulky little brutes.
Day 176: The drosophyllum, which is not a bog plant, is going further afield, and it’s territorial. This worries me.
Day 217: Two agricultural inspectors showed up today. Said they’d been getting complaints. I had to explain that carnivorous plants are often red. It’s caused by the sun. And that the Cephalotus’ mouth always looks like that.
I am sorry about the missing dogs and cats. I wonder… What about a pet plant–something you could give the run of the house. Those roaches certainly are a nuisance, and I haven’t seen any lizards or toads for a long time.
Day 231: It was not a good idea adding cobra DNA to the Darlingtonia californica (the cobra pitcher plant); I wanted to see if that would make it less passive, and it already had the fangs… Well, it certainly worked. If it hadn’t taken so long to get that mongoose DNA special order, there wouldn’t have been a problem. And the inspectors picked then to come back and poke around some more. Why would anyone put his finger into the mouth of a pitcher plant?!
In conclusion, I think confining the plants to Cedar Key is a bit drastic. Just because John Hammond couldn’t control his experiment… I mean, we are talking about plants here.
He noticed the audience staring wide-mouthed at something behind him. Then he heard the rustling. He smiled slightly, fished a fly swatter out of his back pocket, and gently tapped the tendrils curling around his feet. Other tendrils crawled in several directions, exploring the stage. “I told you to wait in the truck,” he said. Almost immediately he relented and pulled a candy bar out of another pocket and handed it down to a searching leaf. “I wanted one I could trust in the house,” he explained. “So I mixed in hummingbird DNA. What a sweet tooth.” He smiled indulgently at the plant beside him as it carefully unwrapped the candy bar.
I asked Joy what prompted this piece and she said…
My sister, Melody, has had carnivorous plants off and on over the years, and she had carnivorous plant books in her plant book library. So I was aware of them–pitcher plants, sundews, etc.–and always being interested in genetic engineering–not necessarily a good thing, of course, but I’ve read a number of science fiction stories about it, including little critters implanted on characters’ shoulders. So I started from her plants and studied her books. A lot of that information is factual, btw–except for the crosses… I have lots of fun writing those kinds of stories.
Very dark, just my cup of tea. 
Thank you, Joy.
Joy was born on a farm in Wisconsin and still love barns and the smell of silage (“an acquired taste,” she says). She lived in Boston after graduating from college, and is now back in Florida (not retired) where she spent some of her childhood.
After selling wildlife habitat in the country, she bought a foreclosure earlier this year and had to replace the kitchen, among other things. They’d even taken the kitchen sink! Thanks to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which takes place each November, Joy’s now written three novels. She has three blogs:
***
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 5,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).
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For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the twenty-fourth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story where the character hears a noise and then finds out what it is. I’m carrying on Wednesday’s Human Unfriendly. Below is my 140-worder.
*
Scratch, squeak, bark
Natalie’s attention turned away from the gun and to a scratching noise above her head.
As she walked up the stairs, the sound reminded her of the Glis-glis her father had found in the ceiling of their old garage.
The scratching stopped as she reached the landing and turned to face the front bedroom. She edged forward and paused in the doorway.
“Hello!” she whispered, then lunged at the wardrobe as the scratching resumed, and pulled open the door. There looking up at her with weary eyes was Patch, her eight-year-old Jack Russell. His tail wagged slowly but then realised who he was looking at and began squeaking. The squeaking turned to a bark as he looked beside her.
She stood up but before she could turn round, a heavy object struck her head and she dropped to the floor.
***
The Glis-glis is true, by the way.
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 100: Friday 24th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: famous, great, generation, brought, comedy
- Random: the West Indies
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: begin
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 104: Friday 24th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: cream, carrot, orange, organic, night
- Random: green fingered
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: clear
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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I went to a small-but-mighty literature festival last Saturday down in Finchley, North London and wanted to share with you what went on. Here’s my report…
The Second Greenacre Writers Literary Festival
The stage!
My trusty Mrs Sat Nav brought me to the door of the Finchley (North London) Trinity Church Centre. Finding non-residential parking was more difficult but a two-minute drive and I got the last space down the hill, which meant a nice refreshing walk. I was over an hour early so had a cup of fruit tea and a banana (having resisted a nice array of cup cakes).
With the speakers tucked away in one of the side rooms, I didn’t get to speak to them, although I did get a quick chat with crime novelist (and interviewee) Leigh Russell as she came in – we’ve met in real life a couple of times – but I was happy sitting in the foyer as I got to see the comings and goings, plus for the first few minutes we were serenaded by a chap playing the piano!
The venue itself felt very church-like with its arched doors and small step up to the speaking platform. There was plenty of room with about fifty chairs, most of which were filled, and it felt very much like being in on the beginning, albeit it their second year, of a literature festival with great potential.
The man previously playing the piano, Mike as it turned out, gave a two-minute warning and a few people originally in the foyer joined us, followed by the guest authors and we were soon underway.
*
Lindsay (and Mark)
The event kicked off with a short welcome from Mike, another organiser Lindsay Bamfield, then her colleague, Rosie Canning, explained that the theme for the festival was ‘Truth and Fiction’. She then introduced C J (Chelsea) Flood.
CJ gave a synopsis of her book, Infinite Sky, then read out an extract featuring the main character Iris and her father. CJ explained that she started the book before she started her MFA at The University of East Anglia, and added that there was a lot of her father in the character’s father. Her real parents had split up as they do in the book but the mother is very little like her real mother. She then read another extract including the mother. There is a love interest, played by a young male traveller, which CJ said was a composite of some of the men she’s known thus far. A final extract was still from the daughter, Iris’, point of view but CJ did say that while she’d originally written the character Sam based on her brother he became less and less like him. One of the extracts (from Chapter 11) started ‘When we’d eaten more pancakes than was OK…’ which I loved. The writing was very descriptive and you could imagine yourself being there which is what good writing should do.
*
Leigh
Leigh Russell was then introduced, citing accolades from Jeffrey Deaver and Peter James. She started by telling the audience how she came to be a writer. She was walking through a park on a grey day and saw a man who made her feel uneasy then talking about seeing a hand sticking out of a bush. She then admitted the hand wasn’t there in real life but it gave her the idea for the story. Several men have since claim to have been that man(!). Leigh then wondered who the girl (belonging to said hand) was? Her boss would have missed her. Maybe she had a boyfriend who beats her up and is a suspect. Leigh’s first five books have two-word, two syllable titles but then they struggled with the sixth which is still a two-word title but with two then one syllable.
Leigh doesn’t set in a particular time so as not to date the books. Geraldine, the main character, moves to London in the fourth book and leave behind her colleague Ian Peterson… but Leigh’s readers like him so he appears in one chapter of the other books. Her publishers then wanted Leigh to write a spin off series so it made sense, she said, to write about Ian, so she’s now writing two books a year (as does Adrian Magson). Leigh explained that all her books are a mix of drama, character, tension, then read an extract from Road Closed which ended on a hook (the character is trapped in her bedroom with a dead mobile phone and a man with a knife outside). I have it (and her first book, Cut Short) but not read either (sorry Leigh!) yet but I can get to find out what happens next.
*
There were then four readings from Greenacre Writers members staring with Lindsay Bamfield who chose an extract from her fifty-something-Bridget-Jones-type novel which was set at a speed dating and very funny (and having written a forty-something-Bridget-Jones-type novel, I was paying particular attention).
Lindsay then introduced her co-writer Linda Dell and listed a variety of publications; short stories, seven books including self-help and novels. Linda read from an abridged chapter one of a children’s science-fiction story.
Rosie was next reading an extract of her story about a girl who could fly. She, in turn, then introduced Mark Kitchenham.
Mark admitted he’s a beginner and submitted the first draft of his novel to Cornerstones Literary Consultants who said it had potential despite Mark having written it as one long piece of prose because he thought line breaks a waste of paper, which made us all laugh. Mark read out an abridged short story set in First World War Poland with the main character as a young girl hiding with her parents. Although I’d not experienced anything like it, it was very realistic and well-written.
We then had a break for half an hour during which we could buy refreshments and signed books!
*
Lindsay then introduced Gina Blaxill who is a “local girl” and writes crime novels for teenagers. She compared her writing with her brother’s thesis which has loads of footnotes and nonfiction information. She said that although she can do crazy things in her writing, she has to be truthful up to a point, especially emotionally. In early drafts she had a girl go missing but she would have been seen on CCTV at a train station. She wanted another character hiding out in Liverpool Street Station but Gina’s parents then told her that the station wouldn’t be open 24 hours a day so she phoned the station asking questions about their cleaning. Another location is Heathrow but Gina is scared of flying (I’m not a fan) so had never been. She went along to take photographs, expecting to be suspected of being a terrorist, but no one paid any attention.
Gina added that she wants her writing to be accessible by young adults and that everything should feel real, the characters emotionally true. She said that YA hard to write for because of their life knowledge. Her audience is very smart and doesn’t want to be caught out. She wanted to know about technology so she reread her childhood crime books which had instances where they would now have used mobile phones.
Gina then read an extract from her second book, Forget Me Never, and afterwards added that someone had told her that once home, family or friends are threatened, it is the end of the character’s world and great motivation to defend them.
She then summarised her first novel, Pretty Twisted, and read an extract from it. The main character was comparing herself to her older sister and made a really interesting comment that they shared they the same eyes, nose and mouth yet they were very different (her older sister prettier so she pretended to be her when she was chatting to a guy online).
*
Sarah
Rosie then introduced Sarah Harrison (pictured). As Leigh had, Sarah thanked the Greenacre Writers Group and said how much she had enjoyed the talks by Gina and CJ as she assists a Young Writers group. Sarah recommends not writing what you know because we need identification, what we know all about keys us into the characters, and is why romantic novels are so popular. There are different kinds of love, ambition and place, and along the way there will be drama, jealousy etc.
Sarah went on to talk about how often people say they don’t think a film was like the book because the story will be seen differently for each reader.
Introducing her First book ‘Flowers of the Field’, Sarah said that she was going to write it a third of the length as the publisher wanted that but she “went mad”. She then thumped the book down on the table and said it was such good value because of the thump it makes.
Sarah said authors need to research but then only pass on small amounts to the reader although she admitted that she put too much into her early books (which I got the impression a number of the audience had read and really enjoyed).
Sarah said she has to work just as hard now despite having the same publishers since 1980. She usually starts writing early and will often find she’s written a page without really knowing it. She then read an extract from Flowers of the Field.
*
Liz
Lindsay then introduced the first of three more Greenacre Writers, Liz Goes.
Liz explained to the audience that she had wanted to write an autobiography but then ended up fictionalising it and it had grown to three books rather than one.
She then read an amusing extract from her third book, Not Quite An English Teacher.
Mumpuni
Rosie then introduced Indonesian writer / group member Mumpuni Murniati who read out her short story ‘The Drawing’ which was so well written you wouldn’t know that English was her second language.
Wendy
Lindsay then introduced Wendy Shillam who publishes her novella in segments on her blog once fortnight, and compares growing plants to writing: she said needs a deadline because plants have to be sowed at a specific time so she has to be as strict with her writing or they (it) wouldn’t be ‘planted’. I know that feeling (NaNoWriMo and Story a Day May).
Wendy read out an extract from her novel, the only story she said she’d written from a male point of view (my first – still in a file – was from a male pov too). Two of her characters are from Southern U.S. and Russia and Wendy made the writing all the more lively by using those accents (or tried to, she admitted).
*
Rosie
Lindsay introduced Alex Wheatle as judge of the short story competition which closes end September and the winners announced in November.
Rosie then introduced the panel (Sarah, Leigh, Josie, Alex and the moderator Allen Ashley).
Allen starting by asking Leigh about truth in fiction. She says she does a lot of research; about the police (she knows which station sells banana bread for example), market holders (banana boxes most sturdiest) – whatever the book requires because crime writing has to be more believable than many other genres.
Josie said there is a difference between truth and fact and that she had fictionalised her life.
Alex then said that JRR Tolkein had fought in the First World War and that there is a comparison in The Lord of the Rings and that most writers can put a lot of themselves into their writing, especially their first two or three books.
Alex, Josie, Leigh
Sarah mentioned that she’d written a book for Mills and Boon but she hadn’t stuck to their guidelines and so they didn’t publish it.
Allen asked how far from the truth is too far? Sarah talked about fantasy and said that although she doesn’t write it they have to have internal logic. She does write ghost stories and couldn’t be scary for the sake of it.
Alex said readers need to have characters they can believe in and / or relate to and quoted the recent account of the man, Ariel Castro, in America who had three women in his basement for over ten years.
Allen asked what must we do to stay true to ourselves? Sarah said writers should stick with their voice, not write what we think should be written, and be consistent. Leigh added that writers should write to the best of their ability and she rewrites endlessly. Writers should take their readers on a journey, saying that stories by writers like Kazuo Ishiguro are so well-written that she enjoys the writing and is not so fussed about the plot. Sarah disagreed and said she’s read stories that are not so well-written but is hooked on the story. I’m more in Sarah’s camp (sorry again, Leigh!).
Alex said he’s reread The Great Gatsby and wondered if the book would have been published these days because the characters were all so horrible. Personally, I love horrible characters but yes, if they’re all horrible then probably not because we have to root for at least one of them.
Allen then opened the topic of autobiography – how important is exact truth? Leigh said she had not delved in that area of writing but wouldn’t write something that offended people who are still alive.
Alex, Rosie, Josie, Leigh
Josie added that Gulliver’s Travel was sold as truth.
Sarah told the audience that she had recently read Rupert Everett’s and Jeanette Winterson’s autobiographies and although she preferred Rupert’s they showed two insights into two interesting lives.
Alex said he learned more about life from reading fiction (I’m definitely more of a fan of fiction).
Leigh concluded that in crime fiction there has to be some sort of moral order that will be realised by the end. It’s a way of playing through our fears because it’s not real.
Allen then invited questions and a lady asked Sarah to explain more about what she meant by a moral centre.
Sarah explained that if someone suddenly becomes immoral, you must have previously seeded it or it won’t make sense that they change so dramatically.
Allen quoted Kurt Vonnegut, saying that you have to give the reader a character you can root for and I agree completely.
Following on from what Wendy had said about writing a male character, the panel was then asked about writing outside your gender.
Allen said that he only writes as a woman in short stories, anything longer would be from a male pov.
Leigh talked about writing new series from Ian’s pov saying that she will do lots of research including getting her husband to help.
Josie said it’s easier to write as a man rather than as a lawyer – she does have a point.
Leigh came back with that you could shadow a lawyer, as she does with the police, and that she doesn’t want to use stereotypes when describing what men do.
Wendy concluded the topic by explaining that her character has worries that anyone would have so didn’t have to go into too much detail.
Mark then asked the panel whether they’d ever received critique they didn’t agree with.
Leigh reassured us writers that you don’t have to agree with what you’re told, especially if you have written something for a specific purpose.
Two down, many to go…
The festival then ended with thanks to the authors and fellow members of the Greenacre Writers.
Conclusion
Apart from the parking issues, and the armed chairs being a little too snug for my writer’s bottom (thank you Jane Wenham-Jones for creating that term!), the venue was great although I can see it outgrowing as it gains in popularity. Let’s hope so!
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. Guidelines on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/guest-blogs. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the twenty-third in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from the picture below (drawn, and the prompt supplied, by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Below is my 831-worder.
*
It Wasn’t Me
Gwynne looked down at the ripped toy, then into the big brown eyes staring up at her.
“It wasn’t me.”
“Really? Then who was it? There’s only you and I here.”
The big brown eyes kept staring. “Alright. I confess. It was me but it’s your fault for-”
“Henry! You’ve become so cheeky since we gave you the ability to talk.”
Henry wagged his tail.
Gwynne was pretty sure that had enhanced since they, her and her boss, Dr Temple Horne, had injected the dog with the experimental speech drugs. “I thought that toy was your favourite.”
“I was only playing.”
“It’s got dribble all over it. You were shaking it weren’t you?”
Henry nodded. “It’s what we do. We’re dogs. We chase rabbits, cats and things.”
“Anything that moves, I know.”
“So you give me a cat toy and I’m going to-”
“Chase, Henry. You didn’t need to rip it to shreds.”
“It’s not shreds. An ear’s come off, that’s all.”
“What did I say about you being cheeky?”
“Just speaking my mind.”
“If I’d known…”
“What?”
“Nothing. Never mind. Now, Dr Horne and I have some things we want you to do. When we ask you questions, we want your honest answers, OK?”
Henry nodded.
Right on cue, Dr Horne, entered the lab, studying a clipboard. “How is he today?”
“I’m well, thank you.”
Dr Horne looked up from his notes. “Henry?”
Henry smiled. “That’s me.”
“So everything’s OK. Voice alright?”
“More than alright,” Gwynne answered. “Can’t shut him up.”
“I did think it was weird to start with,” Henry said. “I could hear myself. Of course I could always hear myself but it’s like it was clearer, louder and…”
Dr Horne watched Henry’s lips move as he waffled on. “Your lips are moving.”
Henry stopped mid-stream. “Of course. I’m no ventriloquist.”
Dr Horne laughed, looked at Gwynne’s scowl, and laughed again.
Henry turned to Gwynne. “You said you had some questions?”
“Yes. Dr Horne?”
The doctor looked back down at his clipboard. “Number 1. How do you feel?”
Henry frowned and repeated, “I’m well, thank you.”
“Number 2. Has anything else improved since the implementation of the medication?”
“‘implementation of the medication’,” Henry mimicked. “Like what?”
“Memory? Vocabulary? Desires? Motivations?”
“Erm…”
“Maybe a bit too much all at once,” Gwynne suggested.
“No, it’s OK,” Henry said. “Memory. The same, I think. Born, eat, poop, chew…” He looked at the toy. “I couldn’t help it.”
“That’s OK, Henry,” Dr Horne soothed. “That’s what they’re there for. Any frustrations?”
“Apart from it not being a real cat?”
Dr Horne laughed and put a large tick in the ‘sense of humour’ box.
“You asked about vocabulary,” Henry continued.
“Yes,” Gwynne butted in. “And Desires, Motivation.”
“Vocabulary. Now I like hearing the sound of my voice-”
“We can tell,” Gwynne mumbled, receiving a dirty look from Henry.
“It’s not like I’ve studied a dictionary since you gave me that stuff.”
“Interesting,” Dr Horne said while chewing on the end of his pen.
Henry didn’t find that interesting at all. He’d quite like to spend his time studying not only a dictionary but an encyclopaedia as well, but thought that a step too far at this early stage. “As for desires. I still desire to rip up…” He looked up at Gwynne and paused. “Desire to play with my toys. That was an accident. Motivation, being given a fake cat is a good one.”
“Very good.” The doctor nodded and jotted more notes. “Question 4. If you could be any animal what would you be?”
Henry tilted his head.
“Would you like me to repeat that?”
Henry straightened his head again. “You mean you can change me into something else?”
Dr Horne laughed. “Of course not, Henry. We can only work with what we have.”
“That’s a silly question then isn’t it?”
“It’s hypothetical.”
Henry now wished he’d had that dictionary.
“Pretend,” Gwynne added, seeing the expression on his face.
“A giraffe.”
The two white-jacketed humans looked at each other.
“A giraffe?” Gwynne asked.
“Why a giraffe, Henry?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Because all I see all day are ankles. Knees if I’m begging, which I don’t plan on doing again any time soon, by the way. If I was… were a giraffe I’d be able to see anything, wouldn’t I? Even more than you. Any more questions?”
Dr Horne nodded. “A few but I think that’s enough for today.”
Gwynne looked at him startled, so he beckoned for her to join him in the corridor.
Henry watched them leave then turned his attention to the one-eared cat. “They’ll be giving that stuff to you next, although they’d have to sew your ear back on or you wouldn’t be able to hear their questions.”
He then looked back at the glass pane in the door, saw the ecstatic expression on their faces. “If you’re like that now, just wait until I show you what I can really do.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 099: Thursday 23rd May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: man-made, job, find, best, green
- Random: seasonal shower
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Thursday Title: Something similar
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 103: Thursday 23rd May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: remove, pull, four, trim, skier
- Random: different time
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Mixed bag: chef (character 1), supplier (ch.2), champagne bottle (object), windmill (location), clicks fingers (trait), cooking challenge (dilemma)
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of lively writing, is brought to you by humorous mystery / romantic suspense novelist and ‘how to’ writer Morgan St James.
Do you write like a Zombie or with Zest? – Keep it fresh
It is unbelievably easy to slip into the habit of doing what you’ve already done, or even to revamp what someone else has written without realizing it.
Zombie-like writing means using the same thing over and over by rote. Writing like a zombie is not okay unless it’s paranormal and you’ve just gotten into the character of one of the living dead.
Most writers recognize there are only a given number of basic plots. The many variations result in books and screenplays we love. Also, there are only a given number of character types. The widest variety is in a multitude of possible settings. Here is where the trick comes in—how to work with plots and character-types that have already been used in some form or another and make it sound fresh and original. The challenge is to keep an open mind while developing the story. Sometimes an author writes the same story over and over with a slight change in characters or situations, as though one of the aforementioned living dead produced the manuscript. When this happens, readers might think they’ve read the book before.
Other times, it’s just a case of the writer being lazy and producing a new story by adding a few quirks or situations here and there. Once they are peeled away the story is almost the same as a previous one.
Then there is the situation where a series you loved in the past has somehow gotten stale. In fact, a few times I’ve picked up such a book and after a few chapters had to ask myself, “Where’s the zest? Where is that wonderful writing I loved so much?” That’s when you realize a zombie could have written it because the author has “played that song before” and all they did was change a few pertinent details without breaking a sweat. Wait a minute — do zombies sweat?
No matter. The point is to remember you must breathe life into everything you write. Back in the 1970’s one of my relatives by marriage was co-owner of a major animation studio. I happened to be in his office one day when a writer popped in. They had a brief discussion about the plot for an upcoming episode. It went something like this:
“How about using that story from the dogcatcher episode we did last year? You know — if we change the dog to a cat, move a few things around, we’ve got a script.”
I don’t recall the writer’s exact answer, but it went something like: “Hmmm. No, I like the runaway story from last November better. Better opportunities for changes and it would feel fresher.”
That happened many years ago, and I have no idea of what they finally did, but from the conversation I’d bet the final script was probably the same old plot line with a fresh application of makeup.
A few months later, with that conversation still in mind, I checked out TV listings. That day no less than three diverse shows, all set in distinctive places with different themes, had the exact storyline and were broadcast within half-an-hour of each other.
Sometimes you don’t even recognize your own zombie-like writing until someone else points it out.
“Hey, Johnnie — that really sounds like your last book. The guy discovers his wife cheating, convinces her to take out a big insurance policy, then hires a hitman.”
“What are you talking about? In this book it’s the girl who discovers her fiancé cheating, decides to cheat on him and winds up plotting to kill him.”
“And collect…”
“Uh, oh. On the insurance policy he took out naming her as beneficiary when they became engaged.”
Taking the second scenario, see how many different ways that story could be told without emulating Johnnie’s previous book. Here are a few prompts:
- Is it a comedy, a thriller, romance or other genre?
- Does he actually kill her or does it blow up in his face?
- Does the fiancé, who didn’t really cheat on the woman, discover she met with the hitman and turn the tables?
- Maybe she was wealthy and he not only cheated physically but ripped her off. What would turn this into a revenge story?
- A mistaken identity story?
- What if they talk it out, discover neither was really cheating and live happily after?
- Does a third person enter the equation?
There are a multitude of possibilities to spice it up while still following the same basic premise. And, if you’re running out of ideas, true stories in the news on TV, newspapers and online, can provide wonderful inspiration. Maybe your story becomes a composite of a few items, or maybe you just follow the invaluable “what if” path to create something from the starting point of the news story. Comedy, romance, mystery—it really doesn’t matter. Once you have that kernel of an idea, it’s up to you to run with it.
Think about the things that would keep you turning the pages. Dip back into your memory and dig out experiences that might make sense in the story. Expand that. Think about funny or chilling stories that were told to you by someone you know. Start to weave the tapestry of a plot with the threads of reality.
Remember to use details. Make your characters and locations pop to life with details. Not information dumps, but the bits and pieces that make them seem real. Create characters who are someone you would or would not like to know. The pounding heart when you’ve almost hit another car, the delight of a cool breeze on a hot day, the sound of children’s laughter as the character approaches a playground. Sights, sounds, textures all woven into a tightly wrapped story.
That’s zesty writing.
*
I’m definitely a zester (I hope!). Thank you, Morgan.
Award-winning Author / Speaker / Columnist Morgan St. James’ short stories appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul books and other anthologies.
She writes the comical Silver Sisters Mysteries series with her real sister, Phyllice Bradner, has written several novels on her own, and over 500 published articles relative to the craft of writing and people in the industry, as well as the book Writers’ Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction.
Her most recent books are Who’s Got the Money, a Finalist in the USA Best Books Awards, co-authored with Meredith Holland.
It a funny crime caper about embezzling from the Federal prison system and the upcoming La Bella Mafia, a true crime book co-authored with Dennis Griffin as told to them by an amazing woman, Bella Capo.
St. James is an entertaining speaker, presents workshops and frequently appears on author’s panels.
She edits and publishes of the online bi-monthly eZine Writers Tricks of the Trade and writes columns for the Los Angeles and Las Vegas editions of Examiner.com.
All of her books are available at Amazon worldwide and many other online bookstores.
Visit her websites:
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, Morgan St James, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the twenty-second in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from: Natalie arrives home from work and is perplexed that her dog is not there to greet her as usual. In fact, he is nowhere to be seen or heard. Even more disturbing is the semi-automatic pistol sitting on her coffee table and the sound of running water from the kitchen. Below is my 295-worder.
*
Human Unfriendly
Natalie looked under the sofa, Patch’s usual hiding place, but other than dust and a couple of his toys, it was empty.
She was less bothered about the gun lying on the coffee table. She’d not seen it before, it was the longest he’d ever had, but Granddad was often lying strange objects around the house; this one likely to be a new addition to his collection.
One thing he never did though was take Patch for a walk. Letting him out in the garden was as good as it got and she hoped that was what he’d done but Granddad was not what you would call animal-friendly, or human-friendly. He barely tolerated Natalie.
Natalie’s attention then turned to the running water in the kitchen. Washing hands or washing up? It had been running for too long to be either.
She walked through to the kitchen, expecting to see some sign of life but the only thing moving was the water, so she turned if off and tried the back door. As she thought, it was locked.
Looking around the room there was nothing out of place. Granddad if nothing else was fastidiously clean and tidy. She returned to the lounge and called again, waiting for paws or footsteps but the house gave nothing away.
Upstairs was no different; everything in its place. Coming down the stairs, she looked at the coat hooks and Patch’s lead was still there so a miracle hadn’t happened.
She called for them again but knew it was futile.
The gun was the only thing that had changed since she’d left that morning so she went to it, knelt down, and touched it, using the backs of her fingers, she knew better than to leave fingerprints. The gun was warm.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 098: Wednesday 22nd May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: stop, camera, home, some, impress
- Random: fondness and laughter
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: Out water…
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 102: Wednesday 22nd May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: fillet, fill it, muscle, mussel, row
- Random: touching hands
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: It’s not until…
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to the twenty-first in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from the following prompt:
- Imagine a person with a very idiosyncratic way of seeing the world (for example, a low-end drug dealer who’s perpetually paranoid because he’s sure everyone wants to steal his stuff; or an accountant for whom everything is numerical and anally precise)—anyone who, because of mental challenges, profession, or self-medicated state, negotiates the world in a distinctly peculiar, complicated, or unhinged way. For this prompt, have your character witness a traumatic event that does not directly involve him or her (a traffic accident, a robbery, an explosion, etc.). Narrate the event from this character’s first-person POV, incorporating the idiosyncrasies of this invented personality.
The first person that sprung to mind (from the ‘mental challenges’) was the protagonist from my (free) short story Feeding the Father so I’ve used him again but gone back in time.
Below is my 984-worder.
*
Leaving a gap
Hello diary. Hello Diary. Mum bought you for me for Christmas and I am so excited. I doh doent do not know whether to wait until January the first or start now. Next year is a whole week away and we’ve had such a great Christmas Day so I think I am going to start now. I am. OK, new line.
Dad was being a bit quiet today. I think he ate too much. So did I.
Mum was busy cooking so hers was colder than ours because she wanted to do the washing up before she had hers and she had less than us, I do not think she was hungry. She told us not to wait so we did not. I felt a bit bad but Dad said we should do as we were told so we did. I did not eat as quickly as him because I wanted to still be eating when Mum came to the table. Oh yes, you will not know that the kitchen table is now in the dining room. Yes, we have a dining room! So the kitchen table is now the dining room table. I do not think it minds. In fact I think it is really happy. I am happy too because I like it here. It’s bigger than our old flat. This one has an upstairs, where we sleep, which means I have to come downstairs if I need a drink of water when I cannot sleep. Mum suggested – suggested means that she was giving me a good idea – but I did not think it was a good idea so I did not do it. She suggested that I take a glass of water to bed, when I go to bed, but it will get warm. I said that to her and she said it was OK. This place is warmer than the flat. It has fancy white windows with two pieces of glass in each one! So I did not bring any water to bed. I do not mind getting up and going to the kitchen because I get cold and my bed is still warm when I get back.
I am going to say goodnight now because I am tired and it is late. Nearly ten oclock. If I get up to get some water, I might say hello but nothing will have happened for me to report other than me going downstairs and getting the water so I probably will not.
Good morning diary. It is December the 26th.
December 26 – Boxing Day
Good morning Diary. I forgot that diaries have the dates at the top so I have gone back to yesterdays and put December 25 – Christmas Day at the top, just in little writing because I did not leave much space.
This is not a normal diary because it does not have the dates at the top. Mum said she did not want to buy me one of those because it would mean that I could only write on one page and she said I should write whatever I wanted. She called it a journal – she helped me spell it – but it sounds silly to say Hello Journal so I have called it you a Diary. Not a diary with a little d because you are a person like me because when I read you you talk to me.
There are lines so I can write in straight lines. I like it. I try to make my handwriting nice, like I was teached tort at school. That was a long time ago. I am too old to go to school now.
Nothing really happens at home so I do not know if I would fill a whole page anyway but it does mean that I can put two days on one page if I want to. I left a gap on yesterdays because we had a busy day so I can tell you what happened. I will do it later. I will not forget. I have a good memory.
Mum is calling me to go downstairs for breakfast so I am going now but I will write more later.
—-
I have put a line there because it means that I am not here for a while.
December 28 – The Day After The Day After Boxing Day
Sorry I have not written anything for two days. I have left lots of lines so I can write what happened yesterday. I have put in the title. December 27 – The Day After Boxing Day but I don’t want to write it yet.
I think you will want to know what happened so I will put a little now here.
Mum has left us. I think that is why Dad was quiet but he has not said much. He said she packed a few things in a bag and left in the middle of the night. I wanted to go into their bedroom to see which things she took. She showed me her clothes so I know which ones are missing but Dad will not let me. I asked him when she left, what time, but he shaked shook his head.
I said before, to you, that I usually wake up and get a glass of water but I did not. I would have seen her leave, tried to stop her. I would have woken up if she left would not I?
I think it is going to be OK. Just with Dad and I. Mum did the cooking and shopping and cleaning but I can do that. I can do the cooking. I watched Mum. I can clean too. I know what to do.
Dad will do the shopping. Sometimes he goes to the pub for a drink. He is not a alko He does not drink much. He asked me if I wanted to go with him I do not like to go out.
I have to go. Dad wants me. He needs me. So I am leaving a gap.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 097: Tuesday 21st May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: discover, you, great, view, adapt
- Random: looking out over a field
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Tourer
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 101: Tuesday 21st May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: crack, scrape, cut, hit, whip
- Random: running for a train
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: The quality
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to the twentieth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from a young version of a current work-in-progress antagonist. The second novel I wrote (between NaNoWriMos 2008 and 2009), After Jessica, is about a woman called Jessica who dies in chapter 2 (not a spoiler, by the way) and her brother then has to tie up her estate and finds that her life wasn’t as simple as he thought. She isn’t the typical antagonist because she’s dead (and no, it’s not a ghost story) but I thought an interesting person to do. Below is my 253-worder.
*
Before Jessica
Jessica drew her tongue across her upper teeth. The drink was supposed to console her but the shop assistant had put in too much ice.
She took another sip and grimaced. Chocolate. She needed chocolate, the epitome of comfort food.
Epitome. Not a word most sixteen-year-olds knew the meaning of but the dictionary was one of her favourite books.
Simon, her older-by-two-years brother, would laugh at her, her head always buried in something; fiction, non-fiction, Jessica didn’t mind which. She especially loved the law so read crime novels, not the gory type where there’s blood oozing on every other page but clever crime, cosy; Agatha Christie and the likes.
Simon was more of a science-fiction, Doctor Who fan, although he’d not be seen dead with a book in his hands, the TV far more realistic in his opinion, video box sets his only request at Christmas and birthdays.
Jessica didn’t see the point of half-watching a programme, face peering from behind a cushion. She’d rather sit glued to every second, every frame, appreciating the work the cameramen had put in. It was an art. Everyone involved were artists.
She’d loved to do something in films, not act, she had a terrible memory, but something behind the scenes. In case it didn’t work out, she’d enrolled on a typing course, second week in.
She looked at her at chewed nails. Long nails were impractical on a typewriter, even electronic ones. A good excuse, she thought as she slurped the remnants of her orange juice.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 096: Monday 20th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: radio, fourteen, arch, priest, trio
- Random: write a pantoum about writing a pantoum
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monologue Monday: Write a first-person poem about a jelly bean
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 100: Monday 20th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: taste, define, region, true, opponent
- Random: too much garlic
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monday Monologue: It’s your character’s birthday but someone’s forgotten
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the nineteen in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story with one of the following beginnings…
- Nate plummeted to the ground, screaming Kate’s name as he fell.
- Amanda Frobisher stood in front of the entire school, only to find no words would come out of her mouth.
- Jamie stood in the wreckage of his ransacked house, trying to take it all in.
- Max had one bullet left. He had to make it count.
- “So, will you marry me or not?”
Although Max and his bullet leapt out at me (because I write crime more than anything else), I went with Jamie today. I do plan to do the others anyway and will probably post them (if I don’t submit them to magazines) as 5pm Fiction stories. Below is my 432-worder.
*
Wreckage
Jamie stood in the wreckage of his ransacked house, trying to take it all in.
He didn’t even know where to start. Was there a start?
He had to call the police, he knew that, but on this side of the city it was a fairly regular occurrence so he also knew the chances of catching anyone, of them being stupid enough to leave any fingerprints, was slim but he had to for insurance purposes.
Insurance. “Shit!” Wasn’t it due around now?
He went to the kitchen, put on a pair of yellow Marigold washing up gloves then bolted up the stairs to the back bedroom.
He looked at the bookcase but it was empty, the files scattered over the floor. He searched through them, the fact they were all the same shade of blue adding to his frustration.
When he found the right one, he clasped it to his chest, went to the landing phone and dialled 999.
He then returned downstairs, filled the kettle and opened the folder. The reminder letter from Wickett & Pringle lay on the top. Jamie scanned the text then found the renewal date; 17th July. It was the 19th.
Jamie slumped in the chair and hung his head over the paperwork. He stuck out his tongue and blew a half-hearted raspberry.
He hadn’t expected a rapid response to his phone call but had only just made himself a cup of tea, surprisingly difficult to do while wearing washing up gloves, when he saw the flashing blue light outside.
He opened the front door as two officers approached it. He then spotted the ambulance.
“Are you the owner?” the taller of the two asked. Jamie read the officer’s name badge. Townshend.
Jamie nodded. “I only called the police. I didn’t ask for an ambulance.”
“Step inside, please, sir,” Townshend ordered.
Jamie took a step back.
“All the way, please,” his colleague, Rylett, added.
Jamie reached the lounge doorway, still facing the officers. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“Where’s the woman?” Townshend asked, dropping the ‘sir’.
“What wo-?”
“Never mind. Rylett, you look upstairs. I’ll stay down here with Mr…”
“Dawson. Jamie Dawson. But…” He watched Rylett go upstairs then Townshend ushered Jamie into the lounge.
Townshend tilted his chin towards the mess that was surrounding them. “So, Mr Dawson. Domestic or were you looking for something?”
“No. Neither. I’ve been out, only just got in. I don’t know… what woman? Who-?”
But before he could continue, Rylett appeared. “She’s up there. We’re too late.”
“What?” Jamie asked as Townshend strapped handcuffs to his gloved hands.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the eighteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
I’m away today (at Greenacre Literature Festival) so have had to write a piece in advance and have gone with a Saturday single-word prompt of ‘bubble’. Below is my 169-worder.
*
Bubble and squeak
It was the bubbles in the champagne that got Poppy tipsy after just one glass.
“Well, you’re getting no sympathy from me,” Mark said, slamming the car door making Poppy whine. “Seatbelt,” he ordered, a little too loudly.
He started the engine as Poppy grabbed the belt and brought it in front of her stomach. She was about to click it in place when Mark thrust his foot on the accelerator making the car lurch then cut out.
Poppy put a hand up to her mouth and closed her eyes. “Please, Mark,” she said as he restarted the car.
She opened her eyes again as they drove away from the hotel and headed for the motorway. Pulling at her purple and pink bridesmaid’s dress, she debated what to say to break the silence. “Please don’t be angry with me, Mark.”
“I’m not angry with you, Poppy,” he replied. “I’m angry with myself. I always knew it was you I should have been marrying. Your sister will never forgive us.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-seventh, is of debut literary novelist Sharon Baillie.
Dr Sharon Baillie, MSci, PhD lives in the west coast of Scotland with her husband and two children.
Sharon has had short stories published in Morpheus Tales (a magazine of horror, science fiction and fantasy) and the Reader’s Digest website (notably lacking in horror, science fiction and fantasy).
Her debut novel, Magenta Opium, was released by New Libri Press electronically in November 2012 and physically in March 2013. If you search Sharon E Baillie online you’ll find a selection of her published chemical works, although that advice should only be followed if you really want to know about some nifty novel chemistry.
*
And now from the author herself:
As a wife, a mother of two and a full-time student, finding time to indulge in my writing was a challenge! My options were limited: give up sleep altogether or squeeze every moment I could out of any alone time I managed to scrounge. I love my bed passionately, so that ruled out option one. Fellow parents can testify to the 24 hour on-call nature of having kids in a house, so the only “alone time” I truly had was when I was commuting to university for my PhD. Clearly not the ideal way to write a novel, but as it was the only time I could manage it, I managed it! The earphones went in, the music turned up, and all other commuters were instantly forgotten as I lost myself in my writing.
For approximately 30 minutes at a time.
On my BlackBerry.
Yes, BlackBerry. I wrote my entire novel, Magenta Opium, on my mobile phone. It was the fastest half hour of the day and I am certain the regular passengers on the 0803 to Glasgow thought I was seriously addicted to texting. I prayed for delays, broken down trains and signalling problems so my tired wee fingers could type out a few extra paragraphs before the train arrived at its destination and I disembarked back into my real life.
Then all of a sudden it was finished. I had written a novel. And I hadn’t even told my husband. It never came up. At no point did he say, ‘what did you do on your train journey today?’, so at no point did I tell him. When he asked about my day I naturally assumed he meant the bit where I was in a lab doing chemistry things, not the bit where I was sitting on a train. Chemistry stuff = exciting. Sometimes there was fire. Seriously. Train stuff = boring, surely? More fool him, really.
We all know a writer writes, but it doesn’t have to be in an actual office / den / dedicated space or on a proper computer / word processor / notepad. It can be a stolen 30 minutes on a phone.
*
And a synopsis of ‘Magenta Opium’…
The Dempsey family takes dysfunctional seriously. The mother has been AWOL for 8 years, 4 months and 18 days, but who’s counting? The father gets up to something of a highly secret nature, details of which are a bit sketchy at present but possibly a bit kinky, which is detrimental to his hygiene but good for his overall happiness. The prodigal brother had been very naughty indeed. In fact, beyond naughty. Downright bad.
Meanwhile the daughter VERONICA is perhaps a genius. She’s definitely a scientist and arguably insane. Like many scientists, what Veronica likes best is routine. She lives for her schedule and shuns change. But when the police call unexpectedly at her house late one evening their arrival sets in motion a series of events that threaten to destroy her safe environment and sweep her away in a world of drugs, a dead body, kidnapping, piracy, extreme tattooing and legends. Not to mention the Devil himself. And all because of a secret ladder and what the police find in her loft …
In the process of being a genius Veronica discovers a way to make opium better than opium. Her wonder drug has the potential to change the world, literally and metaphorically. With corrupt government agencies and industrial saboteurs bent on stopping her, not forgetting that pesky dead body to deal with (she couldn’t just put it in the bin, could she?), will Veronica Dempsey succeed in bringing magenta opium to the masses?
**
Wow. Well done you, Sharon. If we want to do it, we do, don’t we.
You can find more about Sharon and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Jane Wenham Joneswriting, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the seventeenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story written to spec – use a contest’s guidelines to dictate your story’s genre, length and / or theme but we had a similar prompt last week I wouldn’t be able to post anything I wrote if I wanted to send it anywhere (because posting on here deems as published) so I went off-piste and wrote a second-person viewpoint piece (as I would on a 5pm Friday) from the prompt of ‘speed’. Below is my 154-worder.
*
Worth every penny
You look at the advert in your hand then at the car. The words ‘Trades’, ‘Description’ and ‘Act’ spring to mind.
“And the top speed is…?” you ask the old man who’s staring at his car lovingly.
“Had her over 130 a few times.” The old man steps closer. “When no one was looking of course.”
You look back at the paper, and the price. “Two thousand is a bit steep.”
“Worth every penny,” the man says, stepping back and tilting his chin. “Spent almost that much doing her up.”
You look at the car, its red rusting bodywork and wonder where the money could have gone.
The old man looks at you and nods. He shuffles towards the bonnet and lifts it up.
The sun hitting the engine almost blinds you and you pull down the sunglasses that had been perched on the top of your head. “Wow,” is all you can say.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 095: Friday 17th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: spies, recognize, spot, aunt, pack
- Random: hiding from a friend
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: group
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 099: Friday 17th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: throw, hit, low, enter, blur
- Random: S/he’s spending Christmas with her/his ex
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: eye
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to the sixteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story about Future (Im)Perfect — What if [hot button issue you care about] has [come to pass / been squelched]. 10 years from now, what does the world look like? Below is my 409-worder.
*
Progress
“Remember when this was fields?”
“I do. Not all that long ago.”
“Ten years, just over. A month or two after Sally and Ben got engaged. They were one of the first to buy here.”
“Oh, yes. Paid a fortune too, if I remember.”
“A small fortunate, yes, but they wanted eco-friendly and the King was pushing for that so of course everything cost more.”
“King Charles? Was he on the throne already by then?”
“Not long before. 12th June 2014. Ben’s 30th birthday. The Queen abdicated on Sally’s; 15th May. Guess it came as a bit of a shock so it took them a while to sort out the paperwork.”
“Sally and Ben?”
“No. The coronation. The government.”
“Oh, yes. Nice party. This drinks party, I mean, not the government…”
“Isn’t it? Not many faces I recognise though.”
“Me neither. Bit of a relief to see you, if I’m honest.”
“Likewise. They’ve started digging up old Jack Tyler’s land.”
“Have they? For houses?”
“1,000.”
“No!”
“Yeah. Can you imagine?”
“Not really. 1,000 on the bit of land behind the farm?”
“Oh no, the whole thing.”
“What? What’s going to happen to the house?”
“Flatten. I think they’ve done it already.”
“That lovely old-”
“Progress.”
“So where’s Jack gone?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Heart attack.”
“No! When?”
“When he got the letter offering seventy million.”
“Seventy million? What happened to that?”
“The son got it.”
“Jack had a son?”
“Lives in the States. Married a girl over there and stayed. Didn’t want the farm, of course.”
“Who would when offered that much.”
“The son.”
“Never saw him visit.”
“Think they fell out.”
“Reconciled after this death, though, didn’t they. 1,000 homes. Wow. The council will grant anything these days.”
“It’s the government push… since the shuttles started bringing the… you know, the legal aliens.”
“Of course, but people are leaving too, though, aren’t they?”
“Not as many. We have more resources here.”
“True, but Mars is young and you’d think exciting.”
“Fine for single people, but most have families these days, especially given the couple’s bonuses shooting up since the housing crisis came to the fore, and most wives would be more traditional, you know, happier to stay put. They’ll wait for Mars to be established then they’ll go. If they go. Most can’t afford it.”
“Can if they have farms to sell.”
“Yeah. If only…”
“Well, better mingle.”
“Me too. Nice to see you again.”
“You too.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 094: Thursday 16th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: awake, free, fugitive, way, live
- Random: garden duty
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Thursday Title: Something similar
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 098: Thursday 16th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: pump, vein, dark, taste, obey
- Random: Her/his partner wants a threesome
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Mixed bag: surgeon (character 1), chocolate taster (ch.2), rabbit (object), library (location), phobia of kittens (trait), foot stuck in something (dilemma)
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to the fifteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013.
Today’s prompt was to write a story entitled ‘Beyond The Blue Horizon’. Eek. Below is my 770-word science fiction story. Yes, folks, I’ve written some science fiction.
It’s been a busy day because I also wrote a story for LinkedIn Aspiring Writers May Competition and two 55-worders, the second of which I submitted to Austin Briggs’ monthly competition. :)
*
Beyond The Blue Horizon
Tel stared out through the treble-layer glass at the blue horizon. It seemed to be growing a shade darker every day but he looked down at the printer, at the reports, and they didn’t show anything out of the ordinary; the heartbeat lines pulsating in rhythm with no hint of a deviation. If there was an attack due then the machine wasn’t sensing it.
There was only one other explanation that Tel knew, or rather had heard of. It had never happened in his lifetime.
It was going to rain.
He couldn’t say anything. They’d laugh at him.
No one knew what effect real water would have on man-made water. Would they just blend or would one substance react with the other? Kill the other?
Maybe this was the attack after all. They, the powers that be, had said it was to be an air attack. Could it be something as simple as rain?
“Rain?” an alarmed voice said behind him.
Tel swung round. “Stop doing that!”
“What?” Farbe looked innocent.
“Sneak up on me… read my mind.”
I only read the good bits, Farbe said not moving his mouth. “Now what’s this about rain? You know we haven’t had that since-”
“And we won’t,” Tel interrupted. “The reports are fine, everything’s fine.” He gave a nervous chuckle.
“Then why is the sky getting darker, bluer?”
Tel turned to look at it. “You’ve noticed it too?”
“No.” Farbe leaned in. “I was listening to you.”
Tel stepped backwards, standing, not by accident, on Farbe’s foot.
“Ow!”
Tel faced his colleague. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Since just after you were thinking about what you’d like to do to Evetha.” Farbe grinned.
“Before…? Before! How?”
“I’m a Mark IV, remember.” He tapped the side of his white metal-clad head. “Improved sensors.” He then shook his foot to clear the pain, which appeared to do the trick. “Right,” he said, as if taking authority. “What are we going to do about this rain?”
Tel shrugged.
“There’s a contingency plan somewhere isn’t there?”
Tel’s eyes lit up. He opened a drawer under one of the desks and pulled out a red file.
Farbe stepped forward to join him.
Turning to the index, Tel ran his finger down the alphabetical list then read out, “Railway incidents… Raised blood pressure… Raisins stuck in throat.” He looked over at Farbe. “Raisins? They’ve got raisins but nothing about rain? What are we supposed to do?”
“Maybe you’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so. I can feel it in my…”
“Water?” Farbe laughed.
“Bones. I’ve just got this horrible feeling…”
“Then you should tell someone.”
“They won’t believe me.”
“I believe you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Farbe put on his sincere expression. “I do.”
“Then you tell them.”
“Oh, I can’t do that. I’m only a Mark IV.”
“What were you saying about improved…?”
“Sensors. But we’re still young. No Mark IV I know of has got past Assistant, and I’m not even there yet.” He hesitated then thrust a finger in the air. “I know!”
“Yes?”
“Let’s ask a Mark V!”
“What? There are no Mark Vs.”
“Yes there are. There’s one. It was in the paper.” Farbe held up his right hand, palm facing Tel, and a screen within it burst into life.
Tel read the first few lines then looked back at Farbe.
“That’s no good. We don’t know where it is.”
Farbe sighed. “If you’d read a bit further you’d have got to the bit saying where it was going to be delivered.”
Tel looked out the window, to the right of the horizon, to the city complex and the thousands of home-pods. “Go on, where.”
“Here.”
Tel turned to Farbe. “Here? Really? When?”
Before Farbe could reply, an electronic swish sounded behind them and a door slid open. It was the same sound as they used on the first Star Trek TV series, Tel’s boss a big fan, had been insistent on it.
They stood there open-mouthed as a gold version of Farbe glided in. “Hello, I’m New.”
“We know,” Farbe said first.
“No, my name is New.”
“Oh,” Tel said. “And erm… what do you do?”
“Everything,” New replied, his voice changing tone with every word, like a gentle stream on a summer’s day.
“Everything?” Tel repeated.
“He does,” Farbe said, looking at Tel, then scrolling down the text on his palm screen. “He even tells the future.” Farbe turned back to face New. “We have a question for you.”
“I know,” New said.
“Of course,” Farbe laughed. “You can tell the future.”
“Rain,” Tel butted in.
New faced Tel and gulped.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 093: Wednesday 15th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: sleep, fear, way, turn, forget
- Random: the corner of the room
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: Out water…
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 097: Wednesday 15th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: gas, fast, tense, deep, reason, trace
- Random: S/he’s allergic to cats / dogs
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: Every time I look at you…
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by novelist, playwright, poet and interviewee Valerie Laws.
Writing Comedy? You Can’t Be Serious!
I say, I say, I say. My book’s got no category.
Your book’s got no category? How does it sell?
Exactly!
It’s not funny, trying to sell a comedy novel. Comedy has always been part of my writing, in my twelve commissioned plays, or my first ten published books – poetry, drama, crime fiction – even the best-selling language text books had jokes in them. The more tragic, moving, or desperate the story I’m telling, the more determined I am to include humour and joy. Life is a mix, in the midst of death, we are in laugh. My own painful disabling injuries I used as chuckle fodder for my hospital visitors, how else to keep the grapes and chocs flowing? Even my mother’s dementia had its funny side – the laughter we shared about how strangely we each thought the other saw the world is a cherished memory. More of that anon.
My first actual ‘comedy novel’ is LYDIA BENNET’S BLOG, ‘the real story of Pride and Prejudice’. Like the original Lydia in Austen’s P&P, her eponymous novel is as stroppy, awkward, rebellious and mouthy as any modern teenager, and as shamelessly self-serving and flirtatious. This applies both to the character in my novel, and to the book itself as I try to share my work with the world. LYDIA BENNET has friends in high places, and I’m not just talking about posh beanpole Arsey Darcy or nice but dim Mr Blingley. She has fans to die for, eminent authors I value and respect who gave her fab reviews – Catherine Czerkawska, Dennis Hamley, Paul Magrs; and Linda Gillard, who gave her the ultimate 5* accolade, ‘I laughed out loud. Several times – while HAVING CHEMO!!!’.
But of course to reach beyond these few but choice readers, Lydia B needs to be squeezed into the corset of Amazon categories, though delightful bits of her insist on escaping their confinement. Is the book a ‘parody’? Yes, kind of. But it’s a carefully researched literary in-joke, irreverent but loving, finding new reasons Austen never knew for the events and relationships that bug the Bennets, reasons which make crazy sense and are even moving. Why does Mr Collins fear Lady Catherine so much? Why so desperate for matrimony? What is Charlotte Lucas’ deal? Why does Lydia Bennet broker their marriage and why is it a match made in a kind of heaven? Why is their betrothal both moving and dignified, in the midst of Lydia’s normal lively teenage scorn and invective? It’s not a parody like other parodies. It’s possibly an Austen ‘inversion’, but they don’t have a category for that. Other humour categories don’t really fit. Much of the comedy is in action, much in the language, as Lydia utters a ‘cri de cur’ as yet again her brilliant foresight achieves ‘ouija vu’, or she sabotages yet another would-be suitor for Bing’s bling or Darcy’s dosh, or schemes to bag the gloriously wicked Wickham for her sexy self. It’s not a mash-up like ‘P&P&Zombies’. It’s like ‘Clueless’ in corsets, like ‘Adrian Mole’ in a bonnet. I’ve had a brilliant new cover designed by Alison Richards at designstudio@aahprintersolutions.com to get across the ‘timeslip’, ‘steampunk’ feel – these and other terms are accurate but not comprehensive. I’ve tried looking up books or films in a similar ball-park: ‘Adrian Mole’, ‘Lost in Austen’, ‘Jasper Fforde’s Eyre Affair’: but they are either listed as ‘fiction’ or anything but comedy. Perhaps ‘comedy’ isn’t funny or sexy, although Lydia Bennet’s certainly both.
In fact she’s just the person who’d be flirting at a funeral… which brings me to some serious humour. Dementia, the science of dying, human specimens, dissection + dating Zulu marathon runners, funeral flirtations, sex technology = ALL THAT LIVES, my ‘CSI:Poetry of sex, death and pathology’ which is newly on Kindle as well as in paperback. Well, if ever there was a book to defy categorisation this is it. Why can’t Amazon have a ‘science poetry about pathology, mixed with funny erotic poetry about mid-life sex’ category? As it is, not being about ‘myths and legends’ or ‘spirituality’, I’m stuck with bald ‘poetry’. I lived this book, I did the research into dating and dying. Spending time with cold lifeless bodies, frozen brains… well we’ve all been on dates like that! Seriously though folks, my life for several years did consist of watching my parents die within a year, studying the science of how we die, and beginning to date again after a long marriage ended often to erotic, often to hilarious, effect. Sex and death, that’s life. Finding out about them and writing about them, that’s how I cope. Here’s an example of something my mother and I laughed about together – her insistence that my father was actually two men. The first poem in the book, introducing both strands.
MY MOTHER’S TWIN LOVERS
‘I must get back to the men,’ my mother announces,
Then slyly meets my eye, as I choose this time
To avoid my usual reply. ‘I know what you’re thinking!’
She’s triumphant. ‘That there’s only one of them! But
You’re wrong, you know!’ My mother is having an affair.
She’s cheating on my father with another man, who lives
With them, looks like his twin, and even shares his name.
‘I think they must be cousins,’ she explains defiantly.
Before going to bed with my father she slips next door,
Turns back the spare bed quilt, and leaves her slippers there,
So the other man won’t suspect. She has doubled her marriage,
Two-timed adultery. After blameless years of barely moderation,
Let alone excess in anything, she now has a surplus of husbands.
It’s as if in creating my father’s double she’s conjured up her own
Wicked twin, denied a life ‘til now when time is running short.
She has gained an extra husband while the one I had is gone,
Which is fine, but now my elderly mother, with dementia,
Has a more exciting sex life than I do, kicking up her heels
While mine have been dragging. Perhaps it’s time, I think,
As I take her home to her lovers, for me to get back to the men.
*
Innovative forms I’ve invented too are in the book, see them animated here on youtube, in my AV poetry installation text SLICING THE BRAIN, exhibited in London, Newcastle, Swansea and Berlin so far. Rubbing shoulders with work by Renoir, Degas, Henry Moore, it makes people cry – when I perform from the book, people need to laugh too, and they do, though mixing the two strands is risky. Bring it on, as Lydia Bennet would say!
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Arthur. Arthur who? Author who defies categories.
Badoom – tish! Thank you, I’m here all week.
**
Thank you, Valerie, that was great! I met Paul Magrs at booQfest last September (I’ve been asked back so may see him again ).
Valerie Laws is a novelist (crime and humour), poet, playwright, performer, mathematician and specialist in science poetry / art installations and commissions. She is the author of eleven books, the latest being her first YA comedy cross-over e-book, ‘Lydia Bennet’s Blog – the real story of Pride and Prejudice’, available on Amazon Kindle store and on her blog www.therealstoryofprideandprejudice.blogspot.com.
She is Writer in Residence at a London Pathology Museum and has won many awards and prizes, including a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. In her Arts Council-funded ‘Quantum Sheep’ she infamously spray-painted a new form of poetry onto live sheep using the principles of Quantum physics. She featured in BBC2′s ‘Why Poetry Matters’ with Griff Rhys Jones, with her next random haiku on inflatable beach balls in a swimming pool, and performs worldwide live and in the media. She lives on the North East Coast of England, is disabled but works largely in the mainstream, and is a fanatical swimmer.
You can find out more about Valerie and her writing via:
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the fourteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story that starts, “On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood.” I like to post these up at 5pm (as I was doing with the 5pm Fiction stories) but I only started it writing it at 5.12pm (finished at 5.40pm!) because I’d spent the day writing another story for a magazine competition’s theme of Insomnia (which closed today and I got it done and submitted… just!). So below is my 412-word cabin story.
*
The Ramshackle Writer
On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood. It looks like any ordinary cottage but it’s the stuff of legends, the owner, the hero of legends.
Or so he thought.
“Tommy!”
No, that’s terrible.
On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood. Wood collected from the forest at the top of the mountain.
Jack pulled the piece of paper from his typewriter, screwed it up and threw it at the bin. It missed, and became just one of a pile of screwed up pieces of paper.
On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood. Inside sits a writer with writer’s block.
“How’s it coming?” Nancy, Jack’s long-suffering wife looked over his shoulder. “Oh dear.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“It’s a bit ‘Dark and stormy night’.”
“I know, but it’s the prompt for today.”
“Can’t you change it?”
“We can but I like to stick with what we’re given.”
“It is only for fun.”
“And to put on my blog. By five o’clock.”
Nancy looked at her watch. 5.25.
“I know. I can backtime it.
“Backtime? Is that even a word?”
“Don’t know. Backdate is.”
“If you used a computer like everyone else, it would underline it if it wasn’t a word.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m a writer, I can make up words.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Why don’t I what?”
“Use a computer like everyone else.”
“It feels… I don’t know. It feels more authentic. Like Stephen King. Very… Secret Window.”
“Terrible movie.”
“I know. It’s all a dream and all that. But I’m more productive this way. My ideas flow better.”
“They’re not flowing today.”
“I know, but that’s not the typewriter, it’s the prompt.”
“Then pick another one.”
“No, I’ll persevere.”
Nancy shrugged. “OK, but don’t blame me if…” The rest was lost as she went into the kitchen.
“Another prompt,” Jack mumbled as he pulled out the paper, screwed it up and launched it at the bin. It hit the edge but fell in. He clapped, laughed and put another piece of paper into the typewriter, twisting down the end, until the paper was sticking out a couple of inches from the top.
“Another prompt…”
He sat up straight, hovered his fingers, claw-like, over the keys and started tapping.
It was a dark and stormy night…
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, magazine competition, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, stuff of legends, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 092: Tuesday 14th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: artist, tutor, Jane, unlimited, card
- Random: Tuesday Title: Fortune favours
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Fortune favours
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 096: Tuesday 14th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: strange, not, what, lightning, vein
- Random: S/he has frequent hiccups
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Please forgive me
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to the thirteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story of Sam Chase, who has a mysterious past and an uncertain future. Specifically: ‘Sam Chase has just left a meeting with the big boss. Sam has been offered a dream position — or at least a position that would have been a dream if it had been dangled out there two years ago. But lately, Sam has been beginning to understand that there’s more to life than ambition, career, advancement, the trappings of success. Oh let’s be honest: it’s been coming on ever since last summer. If the only constant is change, Sam thinks, I’m a walking illustration.’ Below is my 310-worder.
*
A win-win all round
Money used to mean everything to Sam. The harder he worked the richer he became… and the quicker it went courtesy of Libby, Mrs Sam Chase. Wardrobes stuffed with carrier bags; Prada, Versace and names he didn’t recognise but the lettering gave away their status, the status Libby thought washed off on her.
He’d not told her that he was up for promotion – he knew what she’d want him to do but it meant switching from ‘on the road’ to behind a desk which in turn meant more time at home, more time with Libby.
George had given him 24 hours to think about it. Sam didn’t need that long but he knew if he turned it down, George would take longer to ask again but Sam also knew that his colleague, Ted was better at his job, a more suitable candidate so it would be a win-win all round if he said “no”.
He left work then drove around for a while thinking about what he should do. Libby was at her dance session so he had plenty of time before she was due home.
Having seen the same shops half a dozen times, he found it wasn’t helping so went home.
There was a light on in the master bedroom when he pulled into his driveway and assumed Libby had forgotten to switch it off before she went out.
Sam let himself in, put his briefcase down in the hallway, read the post, and headed upstairs to change. Opening the door, a predictable sight greeted him; stacks of boxes and bags by the chair, piles of clothes on the floor but unexpected was his wife, dressed in bright red and black underwear. Not only was she not at the gym but she wasn’t alone.
Sam took off his jacket and threw it on to the chair. “Hello, Ted.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 091: Monday 13th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: find, aloof, food, backwards, tuneless
- Random: write a sonnet about writing a sonnet
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monologue Monday: Write a first-person poem about a neighbour
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 095: Monday 13th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: side, lose, other, act, forgive
- Random: S/he cries at the slightest thing
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monday Monologue: It’s her/his first ever visit to…
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to the twelfth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story set at a wedding. Below is my 162-worder.
*
Making up the numbers
“Bride or groom?”
Robbie looked at the pews. Plenty of space on the left-hand side. Groom on the left. “Groom.”
“Name?”
Robbie went with his usual alias. “Jimmy. Cousin.”
The man with the clipboard looked at the left side of his list. It didn’t take him long. “Sorry, don’t see your name here.”
“Ah yes,” Robbie started his well-worn speech. “I was a ‘no’ because I was going to have to work but then at the last minute. You know…”
The man shrugged and added ‘Cousin Jimmy’ to the list.
Robbie took an end seat halfway down the aisle then turned to the woman beside him, holding out a hand. “Jimmy.” He then lowered his voice. “The bride’s side really but I thought I’d make up the numbers.”
The young lady giggled softly and Robbie noticed her blush.
He’d woken up that grey and gloomy Saturday feeling equally dispirited but now it looked like it might be a good day after all.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the eleventh in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month while I write a story a day for Story A Day May 2013.
Today’s prompt was to write a story for submission to a particular market. Micro fiction is incredibly popular and whilst I won’t submit this one, especially because anything published online is deemed published, my very first published (by Woman’s Weekly) piece was a 60-worder. So below is my 60-worder for today…
*
Dating paradise
The Brington Chronicle’s lonely hearts advert read ‘gentle giant 40s sought for romantic picnics and cinema visits by petite blonde late 30s, reply to Box 147’.
Eve waited for over a week for replies to trickle in but by the second week she’d had fifty.
She sifted through them and found her ideal man, Adam… a match made in heaven!
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-sixth piece in this series. This week’s is a 483-worder by Caron Allan. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with two other stories) on Sunday 28th July.
The Blue Dress
“They’ve found something, sir.” A young policeman spoke through the car window. Inspector Smith heaved himself forward on the seat and got out of the car. Seemed like these days he was always tired. Time to quit, go fishing, get away from all this. He’d given them thirty-five years, they’d had enough.
“Is he still alive?” He asked the constable. He looked too young to be a copper. Looked like he should still be in the Scouts. They all did, with their degrees in Criminology and their fresh faces, still with acne, some of them. The constable shrugged.
“The paramedics are still working on him. It doesn’t look too good, sir.”
Inside the funeral parlour, the assistant who had raised the alarm watched as a couple of paramedics laboured over the undertaker. The scrawny white chest was bared for the use of the defibrillator. Smith turned away, the image frozen, a moment in time, imprinted on his mind – a few greying hairs in the middle of the chest, the prominent ribs supporting the pale skin.
“How did you know this wasn’t just a routine call?” The constable was at his side, and the question was a welcome distraction. As Smith responded, they turned about and headed for the rear door. “I mean, we were called out to a robbery gone wrong, and straight away, you knew. It was like magic, sir.”
Smith halted in the doorway and looked at the youngster.
“There’s no magic in this game, son. As soon as we went into the flat upstairs, I saw the dress.”
“I saw it too, sir, but it didn’t ring any warning bells with me.”
Smith looked at him. “You didn’t find it a bit odd that an elderly bachelor should have a blue dress hanging on a mannequin in his bedroom? A blue dress that clearly dated from the 1950s, and was the size of a girl of about 12 to 14 years of age? It didn’t make you wonder if the undertaker had a secret? You didn’t find any of that at all unusual, constable?”
The constable flushed, and looked down at his feet. “Well, I suppose …”
They headed into the back garden. There was a concrete area set aside for client parking, beyond that a tall hedge enclosed a private garden. Some men in plastic all-in-ones had dug up a small patio area surrounded by climbing roses. In any other time or place, a beautiful bower of contemplation. One of the men got to his feet and beckoned the police officers over. He pointed into the shallow pit.
Smith looked. A cold hand clutched momentarily at his heart. He nodded and turned away. The constable was at his elbow like an eager puppy. “Sir? Do you know who it is, sir?”
Smith nodded again.
“Jessie Flynn. 13 years of age. Missing since 1958. The owner of that blue dress.”
*
I asked Caron what prompted this piece and she said…
The inspiration behind this short story came mainly from your (Morgen’s) online novel-writing group daily exercises featuring a photo of a blue dress on a mannequin. In the end I changed the kind of dress it was to suit the story, but the visual clue set off my imagination. I wondered who the dress might belong to and why it was on a mannequin. I could visualise it standing in the corner of an old dark room, a room no one visits apart from an elderly man. I could imagine him stretching out greedy arthritic fingers towards the soft stuff of the dress. It was a symbol, a reminder of a terrible act he had committed in his past. This was a secret that wouldn’t be discovered until he was dead. The prompts also indicated a character who was always tired and this led me to my jaded detective who has seen too much over his years as an investigating officer. Thank you Morgen for the brilliant exercises!
You’re so welcome, Caron. Thank you for doing something (and great somethings) with them!
**
Caron Allan was born in Kent and has lived all over the south east of England, and also spent five years in Brisbane, Australia, which has provided plenty of material for writing novels and short stories, mainly in the mystery / crime genre but Caron also writes fantasy fiction.
Married with two grown up children and now living in Derbyshire, Caron has previously worked as a railway ticket clerk, a classroom assistant, a secondhand bookshop assistant, an archivist, and a University administrator.
When not plotting how to kill people, Caron can be found trawling the aisles of her local grocery store in pursuit of everyday items with lethal potential. Other interests include history and family tree research and chatting on Facebook. Caron self-published her first eBook, Criss Cross, on 1 January 2013, and is currently writing a sequel, which at the moment has the working title Cross Check.
Caron’s novel is available via http://www.amazon.co.uk/Criss-Cross-Posh-Hits-ebook/dp/B00BM9AJ3Q and http://www.amazon.com/Criss-Cross-Posh-Hits-ebook/dp/B00BM9AJ3Q.
***
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 5,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
