Welcome to the two hundred and twentieth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story including the following keywords: cherry, patient, turbulence, doctor, business. Here is my 670-worder, inspired by Roald Dahl’s Fat Chance (and I’ve given my characters the actors’ names). 
They try to with the food
“Cherry Pie, John?”
“Yes, Miriam.”
“No stones?”
“No, Miriam.”
“Thank you, John.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Oh yes… it’s still warm. Well done you.”
“Shall I put the kettle on?”
“That would be lovely.”
“Right you are.”
Miriam knew the pie would taste even better with the tea but didn’t want it to get cold so took a bite and savoured it until she heard the kettle boil.
“Are you not having any tea, John?”
“I have to go back to work.”
“This late?”
“We’re a doctor down so I’ve been seeing more patients, more paperwork. Don’t wait up.”
*
Had Miriam looked out the window or waved her husband goodbye from the front door, she would have seen him turn left instead of right as he should have done to go to the surgery. Of course John knew she’d still be sitting on the sofa as she did every Monday and Thursday evening when he brought her cherry pie.
*
“Oh, John!”
“Oh, Sheila!”
“That was wonderful.”
“It was.”
“When are you going to leave Miriam?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
“Soon, my darling.
“You know I have a business trip next week.”
“I do and I shall miss you dreadfully.”
“You will?”
“Of course. You know I only want to be with you.”
“Then leave her.”
“I shall.”
“While I’m away. If you’ve not left her when I come back then we’re over.”
“Sheila!”
“I mean it.”
“OK.”
“OK?”
“Yes, my darling.”
“You will?”
“I will.”
“While I’m away.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, John!”
“Oh, Sheila!”
*
“Hello, McNeill.”
“Hello, Doctor Castle.”
“Do you have…”
“I do, sir. You did want this strength, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“They’re quite lethal in the wrong hands.”
“Just as well they’re in mine.”
“Fair point. There we are then.”
“Thank you, McNeill.”
“Good day, sir.”
*
“I’m home!”
“Goodie. Do you have it?”
“I have, Miriam, still warm.”
“Thank you, dear.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Work again, tonight?”
“Not tonight, no. I thought I might go to the club though.”
“You do work so hard.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Not at all. There’s a really good program about dung beetles just about to start.”
“That’s nice dear. I’ll make you a cup of tea first though, yes?”
“Not tonight, John, not thirsty.”
“Alright then.”
“…Not hungry either,” she said when she heard the front door slam.
*
The program it turns out was less interesting than Miriam had hoped and she’d swiftly fallen asleep only to be disturbed by a visitor who hadn’t stayed long.
*
“It’s last orders, Doctor Castle, would you like another?”
“Better not, Derek.”
“Will we be seeing you tomorrow for the bridge match?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll know better when I get home.”
“Not a problem, Doctor Castle. Have a good night, sir.”
“Thank you, Derek.”
*
John Castle quietly let himself into his house and crept into the lounge. He smiled when he saw his wife sprawled across the sofa, eyes firmly shut. He looked at the coffee table and saw no pie.
He was leaning over her when her eyes sprang open and she screamed. He backed away just as violently.
“John! What were you doing?”
“Oh God! Er… sorry Miriam. I thought I saw…”
“What?”
“I don’t know, something moving, I’m not sure.”
“Where?”
“I think it’s gone.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Was your pie, nice?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh? You’ve not eaten it yet?”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“Never mind. You could have it now. I’ll put the kettle on.”
“No need.”
“For lunch tomorrow then.”
“If you buy me another.”
“Sorry?”
“I wasn’t hungry so I gave it away.”
“Gave it away? There was someone here?”
“Only for a few minutes. Was in a hurry. Had to catch a plane.”
“Really?”
“A business trip, she said.”
John swallowed hard. “She?”
“Oh, yes. Sheila, one of your receptionists. Said she wanted an update on something…”
“And you gave her the pie?”
“I didn’t think you’d mind. I wasn’t hungry and you know what aeroplane food is like. If they don’t kill you with the turbulence, they try to with the food.”
***
Photography 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.
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 112: Tuesday 11th June
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: because, always, train, due, town
- Random: heartbroken
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Winter song
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!
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!
*
Story Writing Exercises 116: Tuesday 11th June
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: left, walk, words, much, everyone
- Random: at the vet’s
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Misunderstanding
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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and sixtieth, is of non-fiction author Carol A Butler. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights.
Carol A Butler leads an interesting life. Her day job is as a psychoanalyst and mediator in private practice in Manhattan, providing therapy for adults and couples and mediating divorces as well as family and business disputes. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Clinical Supervisor at NYU in the Department of Applied Psychology, and a docent at the American Museum of Natural History.
After she completed her training as a mediator, she teamed up with a fellow trainee to try to generate some business. They offered a one-day course at NYU’s School of Continuing Education, but not enough people signed up for the course and it was cancelled– but a literary agent saw the course blurb and persuaded them to write a book.
The Divorce Mediation Answer Book was published by Kodansha America in 1999.
On a sunny summer Sunday afternoon in 2004, she was volunteering at an event in Central Park, and she found herself in a tent full of butterflies…and she was hooked. She volunteered that evening to work in the American Museum of Natural History’s butterfly vivarium, and she can be found there on Friday afternoons.
Her interest grew as she learned more in order to answer the questions posed by visitors, and she began photographing butterflies in the vivarium and in the field. She asked a colleague to join her in writing a book about butterflies and moths, and she found a new agent by searching online (the first one had quit the business).
Do Butterflies Bite? was published by Rutgers University Press in 2008, followed by Do Bats Drink Blood?, Why Do Bees Buzz?, Do Hummingbirds Hum?, and How Fast Can a Falcon Dive? For each book she located an expert on that animal to serve as her co-author so she would have guidance and credibility for the text.
She also co-authored a book on salt marshes, Salt Marshes: A Natural and Unnatural History, and her most recent book, Knowing Horses, was published in 2012 by Storey Press. Except for the salt marsh book, her books are written in question and answer format, first giving a direct answer to a wide range of questions and then following most answers with a sophisticated discussion of the topic and the latest relevant research.
*
And now from the author herself…
I am always curious about new challenges, and I find that things develop when I am active and enthusiastic. My life, as is true for many people, is a story of one thing leading to another and another, some interesting and some not. I grew up in the Bronx, and I was coerced to attend the Bronx High School of Science. I discovered that I enjoyed it, and I later married my high school sweetheart and had two children. I majored in music as an undergraduate because I liked it and had no other clear direction. After college, inspired by a terrific philosophy professor, I began a Master’s degree in philosophy but realized quickly that it was a wrong turn. After another detour of six-months at an actuarial firm, I started working at the New York State Employment Service as an interviewer. I said yes to every special project, ended up working with men coming out of jail, which led to a job at a residential treatment center that sent me back to school for my MA. I was supervised there by a psychoanalyst, and I continued on for my Ph.D. while completing psychoanalytic training.
Working at AMNH, I made contacts that were invaluable in writing the natural science books, and it also led to being asked to co-host an internet radio program– The Naturalist on the Heritage Radio Network– that has been great fun. Archived programs can be found here: http://www.heritageradionetwork.com/programs/25-The-Naturalist. A few years ago, I responded to an inquiry and was hired to teach at the Harlem Family Institute, a psychoanalytic training facility. Along the way, I have edited and written for psychology and mediation publications, in print and online, and I have served (present and past) in various capacities on several boards.
Now I’m developing a proposal for my next book and looking forward to the next interesting opportunity.
You can learn more about Carol and her books at:
She is also on Facebook under her own name and as The Naturalist, and is working on connecting with Twitter.
***
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and nineteenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story starting ‘No-one’s told him’. Here is my 725-worder.
Hold On
No-one’s told him how he should be feeling but it’s nice… a kind of tingling.
He stares at his new neighbour. He wants to curl his mouth, if he had one, like he’s seen those pink stick things do. He thinks they’re called ‘peeple’. He’s heard one of them say “sum peeple!” but he can’t be sure. He has to call them something and they’re small, like beetles, so they’re the beetle peeple.
He doesn’t understand their language, still feels like he doesn’t belong, even after all these years.
He did once, he thought, hear familiar words, his mother tongue, but it came from a little black box. He was listening hard until one of the peeple prodded the box and it crackled, like it was in pain, then the voice was replaced by music… loud, unpleasant, not like the birds. He knows music from the birds but that doesn’t help because he can’t speak their language either.
The new neighbour’s really quiet. He’s sure he should be picking up something… maybe she’s still too young. He can’t remember how old he was when he first started sensing things… not feeling, he doesn’t feel as such, but he’s old, wise and knows how life goes – in his part of it anyway.
He’s seen thousands of peeple coming and going, using him as shade, shelter, protection… a climbing frame, until one got very high then screamed as it… ‘he’ went down very quickly. A moving white box with coloured lights came and put him, and a screaming bigger ‘she’, inside and went away making lots of noise.
He prefers it when it’s quiet, and dark, it’s cooler when it’s dark. Sometimes it gets too hot. He thinks where he’s from, originally, is colder, except he can’t really remember. He remembers a journey, going over some water but most of it was land, green like here. He thinks he was young, like his neighbour, when he arrived. It was a long time ago. When she’s old enough he’ll ask her if she remembers. There won’t be so far back for her to think.
After the white box went, some more peeple came and put a barrier around him, and big yellow squares with black squiggles he couldn’t understand but he knew what it meant; that no-one could touch him anymore, couldn’t climb, couldn’t hug.
He liked it when peeple touched him, even when they cut squiggles into him. It didn’t hurt, just tickled a little, felt nice, like they were making him their own, like he belonged.
But now he has a different kind of company, his own kind and he can’t wait for her to grow, to have someone to ‘feel’ with.
There’s that tingling again. It’s like… no, it can’t be. He tells himself not to be so silly. He knows ‘silly’ from the little peeple. They’d do funny things with their faces then tell each other not to be silly, but silly looks like a lot of fun.
It is! It… no, it can’t be… It is! A new bud!
He’d felt sick for ages, not like the little ‘he’ who’d fallen from him because ‘he’ hadn’t moved… but tired, old. It’s not like that now. It feels like when little ‘he’ started climbing, to explore, reach out… grow.
They’re taking the barrier away! He must be better. He can have peeple touch him again. He feels like being very silly today!
There’s a big ‘he’ with a large shiny stick. What’s he doing? He’s pulling a bit of… something out of it and it’s making a roaring noise, like he’d seen one of the little ‘he’s do which made a little ‘she’ scream. All the other peeple laughed but he didn’t find it funny. The little ‘she’ had looked scared. He remembered scared from when the sky grew dark, and the rain came, and there were loud noises way above them and the peeple screamed and ran to him, and he made them feel safe.
Hey! He’s cutting squiggles into him, making him his own. It’s not unpleasant but it’s not stopping, he must really like him.
He feels all wobbly, wants to put his branches out to balance himself. He felt like this when he got sick, but he doesn’t feel sick now, he feels… free. He feels… aliv…
“Timber!”
“Hold on!”
***
Photography 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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 111: Monday 10th June
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: love, alive, sense, sonar, desk
- Random: late for work
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monologue Monday: Write a first-person poem about a flashing light
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!
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!
*
Story Writing Exercises 115: Monday 10th June
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: tempted, carry, recover, teabag, moist
- Random: shirt dotted with blood
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monday Monologue: Your character is about to meet his / her partner’s family for the first time
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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-ninth, is of thriller / suspense novelist Darcia Helle. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights.
Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny.
Suspense, random blood spatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind.
Join Darcia in her fictional world. The characters await you.
*
And now from the author herself:
What would it take to push you over the edge?
This is the question I ask of all my characters when I begin writing a new book, most specifically with my Michael Sykora Novels. In fact, the series began with and is based on this premise.
Michael was an average guy, living a happy but uneventful life. Then his fiancé was raped and murdered by a repeat offender. In life, we all have a defining moment and this was his. Someone else’s act of rage pushed Michael over the edge.
The need for revenge sets Michael on a lifetime path of vengeance. While the words revenge and vengeance are often used interchangeably, there is a subtle but marked difference.
Revenge is a deeply personal act of retaliation through physical and / or psychological trauma or murder. Revenge is less about justice and much more about getting even, inflicting pain, and lashing out against the person or people that hurt you.
Vengeance is an act of retribution in which a person is attempting to achieve his / her idea of justice. The goal here is not so much to lessen your own pain by hurting the other person, but to achieve some sort of balance in a chaotic world.
One act of extreme violence forever changes the person Michael was. He was pushed over the edge of that figurative cliff, and there is no going back. His life becomes about the pursuit for vengeance. In his mind, he is balancing the scales of justice.
Many people won’t agree with Michael’s methods, believing our criminal justice system, while flawed, remains our best option. Others might wish they could do the things Michael does.
Wherever you think you stand, none of us can ever truly know until our own lives have been touched by this kind of violence. Hopefully, none of us will ever have to answer the question that now defines Michael Sykora’s life.
**
You can find more about Darcia via…
and her Michael Sykora novels:
***
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 novelist, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, Darcia Helle, 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, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and eighteenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story using the following mixed bag: student, tree, gate, bubble gum, moon. Here is my 29-worder.
Lock-jaw
As he swung the gate until it hit the tree, Johnny chewed his bubble gum and stared at the mooning student, finger in the air, until his jaw locked.
***
Photography 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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-eighth, is of multi-genre author Hayley M Coates. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights.
Hayley Merelle Coates was born in Belmont, Australia in 1982. She grew up in the town of Port Macquarie, N.S.W with her half-brother, Guy and mother, Coleen.
An eighties child at heart, Hayley reminisces about Rainbow Bright, The Care Bears and Pippy Longstockings. An eccentric and dramatic child, Hayley remembers putting on dance and acting performances, as well as selling found items at her brick fence to passersby; such as shells, potpourri and mud pie.
In grade two, Hayley received her first writing award. It was for an entirely plagiarised story called, ‘Cowboy Jack and the Hoopsnake.’ From then on she started writing short stories, songs and poetry. At age nine she attempted to perform one of her songs, and was laughed at, causing her to put her pencil away for a while. Hayley focused on another love: dance. Ballet, Jazz and Modern, to name a few. Hayley performed many times over the years and still has a love of being on stage.
At the tender age of eleven, Hayley found Stephen King. At bedtime, she would creep out into the hallway where there was just enough light to read on. When the couch squeak signalled her mother’s movement, she would rush back to bed and hide under the covers. Tommyknockers, It and The Stand became some of her favourites. Hayley went on to fall obsessively in love with reading and spent hour upon hour in the clasps of an eclectic bunch of authors from R.L Stein and Paul Jennings to J.R.R. Tolkien. Hayley found her love of writing again, and began to imitate the greats. She soon found her own style. The many stories in her head were finally being put onto paper.
Hayley began drawing around the age of twelve and would look through tattoo books at her mother’s friend’s garage. She would copy the images until she began to form a style of her own; witches and warlocks, dragons and naked women were the tattoo trends of the nineties. Hayley was exposed to the biker scene having ties with the Port Macquarie Bandidos. It was a feast for the eyes, for a young girl obsessed with art.
At fourteen, Hayley found herself yearning for more. She was skipping school, and going down a most undesirable track. Rather than continue, Hayley decided to move away from her family and friends and come to the Gold Coast, in Queensland to stay with a friend of her mother’s. She attended Miami High School and never looked back (her family later followed her to the sunny Gold Coast – a wonderful change for them all).
Hayley was ‘unable’ to attend a tattoo parlour for her work experience placement in year eleven. It was a good thing, too, apparently, because her second choice was a primary school classroom. She fell in love with the students and realised her calling in life was to teach. Dabbling in all subjects from English and math, to dance, drama, art, science and history, she realised that she would be able to share her passions with primary school students.
It was her dream to attend university. She graduated high school in the year 2000 and was accepted into Griffith University. While completing her double degree in psychology and education, Hayley started writing her first novel, White Walls.
It was then, too, she found the drums! As if there wasn’t already enough going on, Hayley just couldn’t get enough out of life – always happy and enthusiastic, but eager and excited to learn more, and to do more. She bought a $100 third-hand drum kit and never looked back. She now drums with an African group called Imamba. They gig all over the Gold Coast.
Hayley’s first teaching job was at Biggera Waters Primary School. In her three years there, she worked with an amazing teaching partner, Brooke Curly, became a God-mother, and met and fell in love with her fiancé, Keith.
Standing on the oval, at Biggera Waters School, Hayley saw another of the many ‘signs’ that curbed her life. It was the fifth visit she’d had from a dragonfly in two days and as one swirled above her head, her teaching partner told her to Google them to find their meaning. It lead her to a site called dragonfly toys, which happened to be Waldorf / Steiner made. Having recalled the word ‘Steiner’ from University, she then found the site for the Silkwood Steiner School, who were looking for new teachers the following year.
‘You have to work there. You know that, don’t you?’ Her teaching partner saw that Hayley had found her calling. Perusing their philosophies, she found she was a Steiner teacher, without previously knowing what a Steiner teacher was.
She wandered up the golden path for a visit to the school, to find a place that held the arts in high regard, taught curricula through stories from around the world, studied all religions, was positioned in nature, used natural materials, and was immersed in spirituality. She started work there in 2009 and has been there ever since. Although the school is no longer Steiner, it holds the initial beauty and ideals that lead her there to begin with.
Her pseudo father (her half-brother’s dad), Eddie, fell ill. It came as a sad shock and she travelled with her brother to Newcastle to be with him. When Eddie passed, Hayley realised how very short life was. At his wake, several of his pub mates asked her if she’d published her novel yet. It was that day she knew she had to. Hayley had no idea Eddie had been so proud of her.
Hayley fell pregnant and while on maternity leave in 2012, was finally able to sit down and complete the novel that she’d been working on since attending university. The last few chapters of White Walls were finally complete and the editing process began – as she sat with her newborn daughter, Charlotte, strapped to her chest. Now, after many years, White Walls is complete and will launch June 20, 2013.
*
And now from the author herself:
The Journey of White Walls
I was actually sitting in an Abnormal Psychology lecture nine years ago (yes … nine years) when the idea for White Walls emerged. It’s been a long process! White Walls was a hobby, whereby I wrote between work, university, art and drumming.
Keeping in mind, I’d had no ‘official’ writing training – only school, a teaching and psychology degree – I then sent the manuscript to my amazing American friend, Carson Buckingham. She is a horror writer, editor, ex-journalist AND comedian (that woman is crazy talented) and she tore White Wall to shreds. It was the BEST learning experience of my life.
I was picked up by a small publisher here on the Gold Coast. After learning so much about the industry, I realised that I wasn’t happy with them. I was doing most of the work myself and that’s when I decided, I needed to do this on my own. White Walls is now being self-published. It’s definitely the right choice for me.
Behind the Book
I began to question the whole idea of ‘sanity’. Some people are free from social restraint – thinking and acting in ways completely unbound by what is expected of them. Often, they are misfits or outcast, and in extreme cases, ‘insane.’
Then, we – the ‘sane’ ones, eat harmful chemicals, let corporations and money rule, sit in front of television sets, take a panadol instead of looking at why we’re actually getting headaches, starve ourselves thin … and that’s just the beginning. Don’t even get me started about Government. We have our clear lines of right and wrong and everyone’s right and wrong are just so different.
That’s the intended, underlying meaning.
The characters and the storyline were fun to create, as you can imagine.
Family and Writing
I’ve been asked so many times; ‘how do you find the time to write?’
It’s not easy! I write at night, or whenever my ten-month-old, Charlotte takes a nap (like right now). It can be done, though! In fact, I appreciate my writing time even more. I try to write a few hundred words a day. I’ve written more since Charlotte was born, than ever before.
Future Projects
My next manuscript is called Robert Mumpkin Myer and the Wish Makers. It’s a rite of passage adventure novel about a young boy’s journey in a magical realm. I’m having even more fun with this one. Especially considering, as a teacher, I have many children that want to read one of my books … they most certainly won’t EVER be allowed to get their hands on White Walls. I just tell them that it’s for very ‘old’ adults – like drinking coffee or driving cars.
Robert Mumpkin Myer is for my daughter.
I have three anthologies on the go, too.
The first is a post-apocalyptic horror/sci fi, called Arid Lands – part of the Writers’ anarchy Anthology: www.lulu.com/shop/multiple-authors/writers-anarchy/paperback/product-21025783.html
The next is an Australian drama called, Bobby, Be Good.
Lastly, I am hoping to get into The Horror Society anthology this year with a short called, Hilary’s Shadow. Fingers crossed!
It’s important to always be sharpening your teeth, or pencil, so to speak.
I probably have my fingers in too many pies, but that’s normal for me.
Advice for Writers
Stop writing for peanuts, unless you think that’s all your worth. I know that sounds harsh, but I mean it. Here in Australia, $30 is enough for milk, bread and a packet of cigarettes, OR two large bags of cashews. I think a paperback copy of a good book is easily worth that.
The second piece of advice I’d like to give is: write your first draft as if no one will read it and then edit like everyone will. The reason my first novel took far too long, was because I obsessed over every paragraph. Allow the writing to flow in your first draft. You can obsess later. Get that story out!
Thanks for hosting me, Morgen.
To all the readers out there, please visit some of my site below!
H.M.C
Links
H.M.C, White Walls.
BLURB
Psychiatrist Jade Thatcher thinks that returning to her small, Australian hometown to start again, will be a healing experience – until her new job proves to be just the opposite. Her patients are linked in ways that she can’t explain, and the hospital has seen too many doctors come and go. It’s not long before she is lured by a well-guarded secret; one that sends her to a dark and dangerous place, with little hope of returning.
EXCERPT
Sunlight peeked through the gaps in the canopy. The Australian bushland spread over either side of the road, and above them, like a welcoming arch. The quiet shade and cool air made Jade feel secure. Lawyer vines and creepers twirled around the old Gums and Paperbarks. The ground was covered in native grasses and layer upon layer of leaf litter.
It was breathtaking and it reminded Jade of her childhood. She remembered the smell of rain as she ventured through the undergrowth with nowhere in particular to be. There was no set time to be home, as long as it was before the sun went down. She would watch, delighted, as Angus would throw rocks into the creek, catch tadpoles and jump from rock to rock. A much simpler time – just like her mother and grandmother would profess about their very own childhoods. Were we all doomed to become more and more complex?
This was why she returned to Fairholmes. To try to regain some of that happiness that had been here … just where she had left it. Angus spoke, and he had to repeat himself before getting her attention.
‘I think they’ve given up,’ he said.
**
You’re very welcome, Hayley. Great to have you join me today. I blame Stephen King for me wearing glasses (reading his books under the duvet with a torch as a teenager).
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 novelist, 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, Hayley Coates, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, HM Coates, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and seventeenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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.
Today’s prompt was to write a story with the single word of ‘finger’. Below is my 294-worder.
*
Elimination
Using the height of the moon as a guide, Tom headed in its direction, the only other company the bare trees of the Australian outback.
Blowing out his last stick of bubble gum he let it pop and cover his nose and for a moment he felt like a child again. A safe child whose mother would smother him in a warm blanket and tell him everything was going to be all right.
His eyes locked onto a light on the horizon, a gated track leading to it. As Tom walked nearer he saw movement behind the light, one corner of a small single-storey house.
He reached the gate and read the sign. ‘Private Property – Trespassers will be eliminated’.
“Eliminated?” Tom said out loud. “That’s ridiculous. It should be prosecuted. Who eliminates people? He looked around him, turning in a slow meticulous circle. Having spent the last three hours trying to find signs of life, someone to take him to the nearest town, someone to return to fix his rental car, he decided he’d risk being ‘eliminated’.
Signs didn’t mean what they said. They were just there to scare. It would work with most people but when faced with no other option, it didn’t scare Tom. So he opened the gate then closed it behind him, reverently as if it would help his case. He started walking the two or three hundred yards to the house, slowly in case of confrontation at any moment. He was about halfway when he heard a click, his right foot hitting something hard. He froze to the spot and looked down, but saw nothing but earth. Heart thumping, he crouched down, careful not to move his feet then screamed as he brushed away the dirt with his fingers.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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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.
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-seventh, is of literary and contemporary novelist Rayne E. Golay. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights.
Whenever she pauses to think about her past, Rayne E. Golay realizes she’s lived three lives in one. Some people are lucky to spend their whole lives in the village or town or country where they were born. They’re surrounded by relatives and friends they’ve known since childhood, have deep roots. Rayne is convinced they are very rich. Her life has been made of a different cloth with hues of the rainbow. It’s been about change and adaptation.
Born in Helsinki, Finland, on the eve of the Finno-Russian Winter War, Rayne together with her family survived the heavy bombardments, food shortage, exceptionally cold winters with her mother, grandparents and aunt. Her father, like all able-bodied Finnish men, was on the front fighting to maintain freedom from Russian dominance, their country independent only since 1917. Despite the hardship of those years, Rayne considers herself fortunate; she wasn’t among the war children, uprooted from their homes and sent to Sweden to live with total strangers; she was spared the horrors of a concentration camp and extermination.
When Rayne was a very young child, her mother used to read to her. When she was done reading “A Thousand and One Nights” Rayne’s passion for books and writing was born. From then on, Rayne read everything with the printed word: matchboxes, newspapers, pamphlet and books when they were available. She was no older than six when her father obtained a library card for her, the happiest day of her childhood. To this day, she reads at least three books a week. In school, Rayne always had high grades in composition, and wanted to be a journalist, but her parents had other plans. Complying, she obtained a Masters degree in psychology and certification as drug and alcohol counselor in England after studies in the United States.
Skilled in languages, at the age of fifteen Rayne translated dialogues of Hollywood movies from English into Finnish and Swedish. This, her first paying job, came through her father, who was the Nordic managing director of a prominent American film company.
After graduation, she married and had two children in rapid succession. Her then husband was transferred to Geneva, Switzerland, so that’s where she moved with their children. The marriage didn’t last; four years after the transfer, she divorced her husband, but stayed on in Geneva with her daughter and son.
In Geneva, Rayne worked in a multinational company as a drug and alcohol counselor with responsibilities for all of the company’s European subsidiaries. During this time, she wrote two non-fiction books: one about alcoholism, another about dysfunction in the workplace. She also wrote the script to “Something of The Danger That Exists,” a 50-minute video, used within the company as part of an educational program, which she facilitated.
When corporate politics changed in the early 1990s, the result was massive layoffs of employees. The multinational company that had employed Rayne for more than twenty-five years, offered her early retirement. Glad to accept, she finally had the time to pursue her dream to write.
After a life long dream of writing, you’d assume that Rayne threw herself into the craft with enthusiasm and heartiness, but not so. Two years into retirement, she celebrated her birthday with her family in a Chinese restaurant. Along with the bill, came the inevitable fortune cookies. The slip of paper in Rayne’s said: “You’re a lover of words. One day you will write a book.” Her son wanted to know why she wasn’t writing, she who’d so often talked about it before she retired. Rayne explained that she didn’t quite know how to go about it because at work she’d used a word processors until they were replaced with the PC. It was all mechanics to her, she explained. Her daughter reached under the table, grinned and handed her a fairly big gift wrapped packet, saying, “Here’s how. Now you have no more excuses.” Her family’s gift was her first laptop computer.
*
And now from the author herself:
Watching a handyman paint my pool deck, my vision for my first book took form. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was about this man that intrigued me, but he became Michael in this story. Over one summer, alone with my computer, either in my office or on the lanai, I wrote this book with the working title Falling Into Michael. Once I was done editing, before I offered it to agents and editors, the title Life Is A Foreign Language occurred to me, which synthesizes my protagonist’s outlook on life.
Not to lose my mind while I waited for the phone call or the letter as Life Is A Foreign Language made the rounds, I started working on my very first effort in fiction writing; a formless mass of words that I wrote when my family gave me a PC. My professional experiences counseling alcoholics, addicts and dysfunctional individuals gave me the framework of what is now The Wooden Chair.
A believer in writing about what I know, about locales familiar to me and themes drawn from life experiences, enriched by working as a psychotherapist and addictions counselor, I made The Wooden Chair follow the geographic trajectory of my own life. I strove to give as intimate a portrayal of my protagonist’s experiences as I could. Some readers may imagine the story is autobiographical, but that is not so. Though wonderfully realistic, the characters and their actions are fictitious.
None of the characters in The Wooden Chair exist as such. From the female protagonist, Leini, to the rescue dog, Nutella, every person is a composite of various persons I have known combined with my own imagination. I did move from Helsinki to Geneva, but in reality the move happened about ten years later than described in the book, and for different reasons. The landscape I paint of places and situations is real, as true as my faulty memory allows.
The Wooden Chair went through ten rewrites, first with a writing mentor, later with my critique group. I submitted it to a huge number of agents. Most rejections I received were very complimentary to both the story and my writing. But there was always a “but”. The story didn’t fall into any particular genre, so agents were not sure where to pitch it. The Wooden Chair was a runner up in a couple of contests in which I entered it and won the Royal Palm with Florida Writers.
Somebody with less perseverance than I would give up, but I kept offering it to editors and small publishers. I believed in this story, believed it had a readership, believed it was good enough to be published. I do believe it will do well now that it’s published. Through rejection after rejection, Richard Bach’s words kept echoing in my mind: “An author is a writer who didn’t give up.”
**
Absolutely. If a writer loves writing enough they won’t (myself included). Thank you, Rayne.
You can find more about Rayne 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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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, Rayne Golay, 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 Flash Fiction Friday and the ninetieth piece in this series. This week’s is a 325-worder by novelist and short story author JD Mader, which was the first FFF story I posted on the blog – I’m replaying it because I’ve run out of submissions!
Green
She felt the warmth of the rising sun crawl up her legs, but beneath her the grass was cool with dew. The contrast was pleasant, like jumping into a hot bath after playing in the snow. Her mind was calm, and she could see each blade of grass distinctly, green towers reaching toward the reddening sky. Each blade was the same height, the tops torn off by angry mower blades. Every so often a stalk stood proudly, knowing that it had escaped the fate of its comrades.
She could hear the distant call of birds. Their songs were lost in the thick air and became blips and screeches as they clawed their way through the morning haze. Her mind was simultaneously lost in the present and the past. She was lying in the grass. She was also standing on a stage. Her dance had just finished. The adults were clapping. She did not want to be a dancer. That did not seem to matter.
There were many things that did not matter. It hadn’t mattered when she told her mother that she wanted to be an astronaut. It hadn’t mattered when she then decided to forego college and travel the world. It hadn’t mattered when she was fifteen and she told Billy Abrams that she wanted him to stop. Funny how it all worked. Not funny funny, though.
There was a line of ants marching through the grass. She blew on them and they scattered, reforming their ranks like soldiers once the wind had passed.
The reflection of the sun expanded as it rose. It cast a pale green glow that seemed to coat her in peace and tranquility. Behind her, she could hear the moaning of the other passengers. An occasional scream. It was all very far away. She could smell the burning airplane, but somehow none of it was as important as the soft green grass and the tender warmth of the sun.
*
I asked JD what prompted this piece and he said…
I teach writing workshops. We do all kinds of writing prompts and write for five minutes or so. I always write with the students, and then we share what we wrote. Pretty standard stuff. The prompt for this piece was, get ready for it, “Green”. We all wrote about the color green. A lot of times I use my portion of the writing time to try and show how you can subvert conventions and make any idea your own. Green conjures peaceful images for me, so I tried to go as far away from that as possible. Or to combine the tranquility of green with a backdrop of terror. The piece came out pretty well. I wish I could say that it happened like that every time. Green is a very short piece. My stories are usually longer, but the impact of the stark contrast is so immediate that I think it works. I never contemplated expanding this piece. I think it would detract from the overall effect.
**
I think so too… thank you JD.
JD Mader is a teacher and writer / musician based in San Francisco. He has been fortunate enough to encounter many giving and inspiring people in his life. He hopes to repay the debt. And to make enough money with his writing to buy a house. His website is http://www.jdmader.com where you can read more of JD’s writing and if you’d like more (and why wouldn’t you?) his novel Joe Café is available here.
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and sixteenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a second person-viewpoint story including the keywords: threw, cut, road, cobbled, candle. Below is my 194-worder.
*
Incessant Vera
It’s the roadworks that drives you nuts, not helped by Vera’s incessant whistling. You want to turn off the radio but then she’ll only start talking; snippets of conversation cobbled together from the week’s W.I. meetings or yoga sessions that she’s convinced you’d be interested in, except you lost interest 30 years ago.
She’s still not forgiven you for cutting down her favourite rose bush. She’d stood there waiting for an explanation but you knew there wasn’t going to be one. You’d bought her a rose-scented candle then wondered why she’d burst into tears, threw you a look that reminded you of her mother – the mother languishing in her home now far enough away to visit once a month instead of the weekly trips that you’d made before you’d moved.
You’d made Vera think that her been her idea too. Reluctant at first, given the distance, the loss of friends but she’d made new ones, quicker than you, and everything else had slotted into place; warmer summers on the patio of a grander horse, the patio that could do with taking up and relaying – with that in mind you turn to Vera and smile.
***
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 110: Friday 7th June
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: alive, fail, sparkle, product, sale
- Random: a noisy animal
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: obsession
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 114: Friday 7th June
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: grade, issue, millions, single, anonymous
- Random: finds out a secret
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: copy
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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-sixth, is of biographical trilogy writer Patrick C Notchtree. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights.
Patrick C Notchtree has been a teacher and a police officer. He has always been ‘good with words’ and used to get good marks for writing stories at primary school. Although the demands of later education meant much of his later writing was more factual, this never left him. Indeed one police inspector remarked that his statements were the most readable he had to deal with, “It reads like an adventure story, I can see it happening”.
He has travelled widely in Europe, North America and has set foot in Africa. Indeed while there he was offered a hundred sheep or five camels for his fiancée who was with him. Happily he declined the offer and married her instead. They have two children and now three grandchildren.
His life has had its troubled, darker side which led to a major crisis in his sixties and then to the writing of his biographical memoir in which he seeks to explore those influences that made him the troubled and conflicted person he readily admits he is.
Patrick now lives in the north of England with his wife and has his son and two granddaughters nearby. Much of his life is reflected in the biographical trilogy “The Clouds Still Hang”, so to repeat too many biographical details here would be something of a ‘spoiler’!
*
And now from the author himself:
I started writing things down many years ago, thinking about my childhood, my first love and how much he meant to me. Making notes, gradually building memories. The idea of a published book came much more recently. After the trauma of my early sixties, I had to seek help. For my own PTSD, which remained undiagnosed for decades, I found talking was very hard. To speak about the ‘principal event’ was impossible for a long time and in the end it was my wise counsellor who suggested writing rather than talking. This painful process eventually managed to break the logjam in my head and of course eventually led to my book. The whole thrust of the book is the damage that early sexualisation can do, even when not coercive, and this is developed at length in the chapter in the last book where ‘Simon’ goes over the past with a psychiatrist.
The result is my autobiographical novel, “The Clouds Still Hang”. Rather than write in the first person I chose to tell the story mainly through the eyes of ‘Simon’. This gives the writer flexibility to step outside the main character from time to time. By fictionalising the account I was also able to shield the true identity of many characters to protect the innocent – and the guilty!
I am one of many – I now realise – of my generation who grew up denying and hiding their gay sexuality. Struggling to live a ‘normal’ life, the protagonist of the book, Simon, does what is expected and remains firmly in the closet. Structured in three sub-books, the first tells of Simon’s childhood, his friendship, love and eventual sexual relationship with an older boy, the second the trauma of the 1960s including the ‘principal event’ referred to above, the third his continuing struggle to comply with social expectations, unsuccessfully, leading to his eventual downfall and re-emergence as a man at last true to himself.
The book was written as a way of expressing much of what has happened in my own life and was written over two decades, but the bulk of it in the last few years.
The title is a line from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, and as readers will find, Simon identifies with the troubled prince as he struggles to come to terms with the cards life has dealt him. In some respects there are clouds that will always hang over him.
The cover was produced by myself. Is the young man looking along the road to his past or his future? At the clouds of the troubles he has experienced? Or is the rainbow the symbol of his innate optimism and emerging true identity?
There are some parts of the book I found very hard to write. Two sections in particular led to tears being shed anew and much emotion relived. To say which sections would be a spoiler but readers will no doubt reach their own decisions. But the memories evoked in the writing also brought relived joy and happiness as well. Like life, the book is a roller coaster ride.
It is a fictional biography, written because it tells a strong story which raises many issues over six decades, the post war baby boomer generation who in many ways never had it so good.
My own experience is probably unique, yet will strike a chord with many others who have been through similar things, as well as those with an interest in such matters, either personal or professional, such as police and probation officers, criminologists with an interest in this field or those investigating the developing ‘queer theory’. It’s a varied, exciting, demanding, sometimes terrifying life story.
In its small way it has been controversial. This is because the first part contains descriptions of sex between teenage boys. These are a part of the story but it is not an erotic book, in fact I was as careful as I could be to avoid pornographic narrative and most reviewers have been positive about a sensitive and caring portrayal of adolescent love. The book would make no sense without these scenes and neither would the rest of the trilogy which describe Simon’s later life. It was important to be honest.
There are three main love stories and some explicit sexual scenes, both gay and straight, so it is recommended for over 18s and those not easily offended by such narrative, including one scene of sexual violence.
The first part was originally published in March 2012 under the title “The Secret Catamite Book 1 – The Book of Daniel” which is still available separately in downloadable formats only but is available free!
**
You can find more about Patrick and his writing via his website: http://www.thecloudsstillhang.com.
***
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.
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Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by novelist, how-to / short story author, journalist, speaker (and much more) Jane Wenham-Jones.
Do you really want to be a writer?
If so, watch your backside, says Jane Wenham-Jones, author of Wannabe a Writer?
“It seems,” publisher Alan Samson told me a few years ago, “as though in every street in Britain, someone is writing a book…” (“And I do wish they’d stop,” he added, but I didn’t quote that bit.)
He was, and is, right. Becoming an author has never been sexier. Thousands of new, self-published books appear on Kindle, over a quarter of a million hopefuls sign up for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, each November, critiquing and Hope-to-be-spotted websites abound. And there are more manuals on the subject than you can shake a stick at. (I wrote two of them).
Why?
Because being an author sounds terrific!
Imagine. Nothing to do but sit around all day twirling your typing fingers, going to glamorous literary parties and counting your cash. After all, bestsellers fly off the shelves in their millions, become block-busting movies and bring fairy tale endings for single mothers who write in cafes one minute and top the Rich List the next. Or, most recently, sweet-looking TV executives who smash every sales record since the beginning of time by making it almost de rigour to be reading about spanking on the tube.
As a writer, you can get away with spending hours staring out of the window with a strange expression on your face, and call it “working” and then, since it’s well-known that most authors are bonkers, collect the children in your pyjamas. (Smiling mysteriously as other parents in the playground whisper “she’s a novelist, you know,” instead of thinking you’re being taken care of in the community.)
And there is no doubt that one’s name appearing in print is very exciting and a massive ego boost – the first time I had a short story published, I bought 14 copies of the magazine and invited all the neighbours round – and seeing your own books on the shop shelves (should you be so lucky!), an utter joy.
So why do so many start to write and so few, despite the sea of self-published books out there, make it? Leaving aside the small matter of whether one has the talent – it’s an odd thing that nobody expects to become a professional singer because they have a croon in the bath, but anyone who’s ever penned a note to the milkman thinks they could knock out a best-seller – it comes down to staying power.
Writing may sound easy but it’s hard labour and even boring tasks can become attractive in comparison. In her early days as a novelist, Carole Matthews told me, she used to tie her leg to the desk to stop her wandering off to do the ironing.
Producing a 100,000 word manuscript takes many hours, weeks and months of staring at a computer screen or hunching over a notepad, waving the family away with a vague hand, or shrieking at them when they’ve only come to tell you you’ve burnt the oven chips – again. You may talk to yourself, have strange dreams and need to sacrifice your social life.
Although the latter may be a blessing because from now on, your bum will always look big in this. (Writer’s Bottom is a little-mentioned hazard of being a scribe, previously passed over by many a fine how-to book until I lifted the lid on mine.) Still, never mind, writers come in all shapes and sizes and while it never hurts to be thin, gorgeous and sexy, the good news is that when it comes to books sales, the short, fat and ugly have reached the top too.
Could you? Only if you really, really want to.
For quite frankly it’s hard enough to keep going when you’re totally driven. It’s going to be a non-starter if you’d just as soon paint the spare room.
You’re going to lose heart, lack confidence and think everything you write looks like drivel. But remember this: It’s meant to. Every successful writer I’ve ever met, thinks their first drafts are rubbish. That’s what editing is for.
It was one of the most important things I learned when I was collecting wit and wisdom from other authors for Wannabe a Writer? And here’s another one: it really doesn’t matter where you write, or how you write – as long as you do. Frederick Forsyth spends a year researching and thinking about his books and then writes them in 45 days. Freya North doesn’t plan a thing; Katie Fforde makes strange-looking charts. The important thing is that you keep at it and write every day – even if it’s only a sentence.
Even if you have an overwhelming urge to make a Mars Bar Gateau or tidy the airing cupboard instead.
Yes, you’ll get tired and dispirited and fed-up with friends chortling “Ha Ha Ha have you been published yet?” (When you have, they’ll change it to: “Ho ho, have you sold as many as EL James yet?”) (It used to be JK Rowling). You might have a fat butt and a disgruntled family and spend a lot of time muttering and wondering why you do it. (Your partner may demand to know this too.) Especially when you DON”T make a fortune.
You could drink too much, eat too much, forget the shopping and get hooted for at idling at green traffic lights while you day-dream plots. You’ll almost certainly stay up late, have to get up early and never see your friends. But when you do finally see your name in print, it will all – despite poverty and exhaustion – be worth it.
Which is why so many of us HAVE kept going – all the successful authors I’ve ever met also have their rejection tales – and why, if you really want to be published, you should too…
*
Thank you, Jane. I’m a terrible procrastinator… up to now.
Jane Wenham-Jones is a novelist and freelance journalist and the author of Wannabe a Writer? and Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of? (Accent Press Ltd).
You can find out more about Jane 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. 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.
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and fifteenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a dialogue including a jealous partner. Below is my 140-worder.
*
Smile
“Don’t look at her like that!”
“Like what?”
“You smiled.”
“So? She smiled at me first.”
“She shouldn’t have.”
“It’s a ‘thank you’ smile. I’ve just bought something from her.”
“That wasn’t a ‘thank you’ smile.”
“What was it then?”
“It was a ‘I want to get inside your jeans’ smile.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. She’s got to be 50 at least, old enough to be my mother.”
“That’s not stopped you before.”
“That’s not fair! She was only 39 – 14 years older. Thirteen and a half… and a bit.”
“Exactly. Old enough to be-”
“Not legally.”
“But physically.”
“Are we going to have this every time we go out somewhere?”
“When you smile like that, yes.”
“So I can’t even buy anything now?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you.”
“Just don’t-”
“Oh Alicia, grow up!”
“Mark. I’m 15. What do you expect?”
***
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 109: Thursday 6th June
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: chamber, laid, bull, publicity, headline
- Random: an unexpected response
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Thursday Title: Summer swim
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 113: Thursday 6th June
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: middle, big, Bob, every, imagination
- Random: betraying a friend
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Mixed bag: opera singer (character 1), gas engineer (ch.2), bottle of sparkling water (object), hallway (location), self-importance (trait), front door won’t shut (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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Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-fifth is of military mystery / suspense / action novelist and interviewee CN Bring.
CN Bring gravitated toward military intrigue and suspense coming from a family whose members served in the Army and continues with relatives still serving. She earned her Associates Degree in Criminal Investigation for Private Investigation. Her extensive research and life experience lend an authentic feel to both her Celia Kelly Series (military / mystery / thriller), as well as the Jack Sleuth Series (crime / mystery) for youth.
Bring is an advocate for heroes and heroines in all walks of life. A big supporter of the military and our country’s Constitution, Wounded Warriors, Missing In America Project and Lupus Research. Bring is also a supporter of all who take the time to serve others in their communities and given professions. We can all make a difference one life at a time. There is a hero in all of us.
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And now from the author herself:
The first time I thought about writing was several years ago. My husband was away from home for long periods of time with his job, when I first had the story idea come to me. After the kids went to bed, I would go to work on my story.
I have always loved mysteries and books about the military. My goal was to create a mystery / suspense novel that was engaging, inspiring, fun, and page turning without being offensive. The Pact originally started out self-published and then I signed with independent publisher Bad Day Books, an imprint of Assent Publishing in January. In March I signed the rest of the series with Assent.
I am inspired by those who serve our country and those within our borders who go above and beyond to keep us safe every day, those in the military, law enforcement, doctors, nurses and many others. My book was inspired by everyday people who are everyday heroes in extraordinary circumstances.
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And about ‘The Pact’:
Commander Celia Kelly is a perceptive Naval Intelligence Officer rebuilding her life after the tragic death of her husband. The suspicious suicide of a fellow Officer has Celia questioning the mission she’s been assigned.
With the help of a one-of-a-kind secretary, by the book assistant, and a Navy SEAL, Kelly discovers she’s been set up. Digging relentlessly, nothing is as it seems.
Someone is after twenty million dollars that disappeared when Kelly’s husband died and now that someone is after her! With surprises at the turn of every page, the original characters and three dimensional plot lines keep the suspense going until the very end.
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Other Celia Kelly Series & Jack Sleuth books coming soon:
The Lie
A new President. A new team. A scandalous lie. In the latest of the Celia Kelly series, the Naval Commander finds herself caught up in political intrigue as the next mystery has her questioning everything. The President brings with him his inexplicable past. Death hits close to home as Celia deals with a mission that collapses ending in the loss of a SEAL. After returning home Kelly discovers the new President may have had something to do with the mission’s failure. As secrets begin to unravel, they run over everyone in their path. The price will be high when Kelly and her team finally uncover the truth. And just when you think that it’s over… it’s not!
The Truth
Terrorism hits close to home killing the President’s wife, youngest daughter, and leaving his oldest daughter paralyzed when a bomb goes off in Washington, D.C.. Commander Celia Kelly and the SEAL Team are sent on a wild goose chase trying to negotiate with terrorist Amar Nycofi in order to find a second target before it is too late. Everyone is at risk as the hunt begins for the second target… When a Navy SEAL becomes a prisoner, during the rescue, another prisoner, long forgotten, is discovered in a Middle Eastern prison. Celia finally finds the answers about her husband…Is he alive or was he part of the Pact? In the mean time, the Pact resurfaces and the truth about everything finally comes out. No one is who Kelly thought they were as the suspenseful action unfolds. Where will the truth lead them? Will this mission prove to be too much even for Commander Celia Kelly?
The Disappearance
The newly settled life of Commander Celia Kelly suffers when a seemingly routine flight out of Nairobi becomes an unlikely catalyst. The Deputy Director of the CIA goes missing in Africa. His bags make the plane…he doesn’t. In the mean time, an imposter with an agenda takes another man’s seat for a free trip into the United States. Commander Celia Kelly and the Navy SEALs are called up to find the missing CIA Deputy Director Bradley Turner. While the mission takes action in Africa, the FBI begins an investigation into the mysterious passenger now somewhere in the United States to determine why he is here and what or who his target is. The FBI, Commander Kelly, and the Navy SEALs are set on a collision course as each Agency’s individual research force them into a parallel climax. With the help of an old opponent from the Pact, CIA operative William Dixon, they come together only to be shocked by what no one sees coming…
The House Across The Street
Nothing ever happens in Next, Arizona. Certainly never to Jack Sleuth who’s biggest adventure so far is trying to avoid being tormented by the neighborhood bully. Jack and his friends Kyle, with a high IQ, and Curley, who has a disease called Alopecia, end a quiet summer vacation by becoming involved in solving the biggest mystery to ever hit their boring town. When Jack suffers a case of Deja vu, Kyle and Curly try to help him sort it out. Coming across an FBI Agent who drops the ball, Jack and his buddies must rescue the Agent, figure out who’s who, avoid the neighborhood bully and pick up the ball to save the Agent’s first case. The humor and suspense builds as the boys investigate The House Across The Street.
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You can find more about Cindy 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, Cindy Bring, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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
Tonight’s second book review, of The True Diary of a Mum To Be by Charlie Plunkett is brought to you by novelist Julia Hughes.
The True Diary of a Mum To Be by Charlie Plunkett
Synopsis: The True Diary of a Mum-to- be a pregnancy companion. Charlie has only done two things in her life that she considers truly grown up. The first was to get married and the second was to start a family. It wasn’t long before she realised how little she knew about pregnancy and birth…
Review
Personally, I’ve always preferred Samuel Pepys minutiae of 17th Century London, to Robinson Crusoe’s fictionalised account of an island. It’s the little details that build up the larger picture of life, and one of the biggest life events is having a baby. Having devoured Charlie’s previous diary “of a Bride to Be”, I eagerly downloaded the next snippet of true life according to Charlie – it didn’t disappoint.
Beginning at the beginning, Charlie bravely explains the heartbreak and bewilderment of suffering a miscarriage, not once, but twice. This tragic and traumatic experience is one that not too many are keen to talk about, and although obviously feeling saddened and even frightened that her dreams of motherhood may not come true, Charlie’s frank account of this nightmarish time serves to reinforce the authenticity and indispensability of this book.
With renewed determination, the author conducts her own research, keen to discover all she can about increasing her chances of becoming pregnant, and carrying her baby successfully to full term.
In my opinion, this diary is touching and inspirational; at the time of writing, Charlie and her loving husband Dave could only have hoped for a happy outcome. That hope continues to grow and blossom, enabling readers to share a newly wed couple’s excitement and growing awe as they embark on the most important and life fulfilling role ever.
Charlie has a natural gift for inviting people into her world, in addition to providing a ‘must have’ friendly guide on what to expect on a week-to-week basis during pregnancy, we also experience life through Charlie’s eyes. Whilst reading this book at times I shouted out loud and the usual comment from my own family was ‘What’s Charlie done now?’
The answer was loads – related with a wry humour that kept me giggling and eager to find out what would happen next: by turns funny, reflective and informative, this book is a keeper, and one to recommend to anyone who shares Charlie’s dream of becoming a mum, or those who remember only too clearly the magic of introducing a new life into this world. Having said that, this diary is thoroughly entertaining, and I’ve no doubt those of the male persuasion will also enjoy this fascinating account of the true adventures of a mum to be.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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Another 5/5. You’re picking some great books. Thank you, Julia.
**
Julia Hughes is a London based author of the Celtic Cousins’ Adventures: A Raucous Time, A Ripple in Time, and An Explosive Time. Her latest YA / Fantasy is The Griffin Cryer. Julia’s website is http://www.juliahughes.co.uk.
***
If you would like to send me a book review, see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/reviews/book-reviews for the guidelines.
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!
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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.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, Charlie Plunkett, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime novelist, 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, Julia Hughes, Kobo, LinkedIn, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and fourteenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a monologue of a fairy tale from a different perspective. Below is my 204-worder.
*
Getting to seven
What was she expecting, asking such a stupid question. Who’s the fairest?
Of course I’m not going to say her, The Queen, especially since she’s had all that Botox.
Not that she smiled anyway.
I was brought up to not to lie and I’m not going to start now.
Now Snow White’s not around, I have less people to choose from, but even Grumpy’s prettier.
“On pain of death,” the Queen threatened, clearly forgetting that I’m a mirror. I don’t have feelings. Shatter my glass and it only means that she can’t look at me… which between you and I wouldn’t be a bad thing.
The Prince is taking his time. He’s supposed to wake her up – Snow White, not the Queen. Ew, what a horrible thought.
That would round off the fairy tale nicely, but he’s forgotten his sat nav and is doing circuits round the M25. Thinks he’s Lewis Hamilton or that Button fellow.
Still, he’ll get here soon enough, kiss Snow White and she’ll come back, get rid of the Queen then we can have decent conversations like we used to, or play that game where you have to name all the dwarves – she might even get to seven this time.
***
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 108: Wednesday 5th June
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: rivers, protest, banned, book, parody
- Random: peering through a window
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: The boat to Italy…
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!
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Story Writing Exercises 112: Wednesday 5th June
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: new, taking, OK, quote, problem
- Random: Sentence start: Frankly bored…
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: Frankly bored…
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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-fourth is of children’s author and interviewee Goldie Alexander.
Goldie Alexander writes for both adults and children of all ages; her books are published both here and overseas.
Her novels for adults include “The Grevillea Murder Mystery Trilogy” and ‘Mentoring Your Memoir’ and how-to-write.
Her historical fiction includes “My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove”, is now in its 10th edition.
A new YA novel includes “The Youngest Cameleer” about the finding of Uluru in 1873.
She has three collections of short stories for young readers: “Killer Virus and Other Stories”, “Horribly Cousins and Other Stories” and “Space Footy and Other Stories”
Novels appearing in 2013 include the ebook YA “Dessi’s Romance,” “eSide: A Journey into Cyberspace” for middle grade readers; and “Gallipoli Medals” for junior readers.
She also writes scripts and non-fiction.
Her website is www.goldiealexander.com which also features a useful blog. As an experienced author who has taught creative writing for some 17 years, this blog contains many tips about writing and could be useful to emerging authors.
*
And now from the author herself:
Some Of My Publishing Experiences
I learnt my alphabet at the age of three and that set me on the path to becoming a voracious reader. It was my way of escaping a family that always seemed to be on the verge of chaos and I still use this as an escape route when life takes an unfortunate turn. Back then I made up lots of stories. But I never considered writing them down because there were too many strictures – I had teachers who pushed spelling and grammar at the expense of imagination and I supposed I was, at least on the outside, an obedient child. Even so as I grew older, when anything of significance happened no matter how traumatic, part of me always stood back, used that ‘shard of ice’ that other authors speak about, because I always knew that one day I would write about them.
I was in my early forties before I started jotting down some of my experiences and weaving them into stories which I sent off to various publishers. No luck there, because I really didn’t know what I was doing. My first promising experience was having an adult short story accepted by the ‘Australian’ which ran a ‘literary section’. Straight after that acceptance, this section ceased to exist and my story never appeared. My disappointment was profound.
Having come from twenty-five years of teaching secondary students English and History, my next attempt was a novel for Young Adults. I can’t remember what this novel was about, only that it had a fashionably long title that possibly had nothing to do with the story. But I was learning on the job. And my luck turned when Greenhouse Publishing under the title of ‘Dolly Fiction’ let it be known that they were looking for authors to write about independent girls in contemporary situations. Their rules were strict: a maximum of 32,000 words. No fantasy, science fiction or magic realism. In the space of a year I wrote four Dolly Fictions under the pseudonym of ‘Gerri Lapin’ and I covered themes that have since been used many times by other authors.
Dolly Fiction’s payments were generous, but now knowing what I know, I wish I’d insisted on royalties instead of being paid outright, and written those books under my own name as they were widely published in the UK and South Africa and appeared in most school libraries. Many of our better known Australian authors began their writing careers with Dolly Fiction. The problem now as I see it, is that these books had the unfortunate label of ‘romance’ which back in the 90’s seemed very unliterary, if not positively embarrassing. What a shame as many young women I meet have mentioned reading those books and from them absorbing some excellent values.
Since then I have been writing for kids for over two decades. In that time I have had periods of flood and drought, feast and famine. There were wonderful years when everything I wrote was picked up immediately. Others, when it took more than a decade to find a publisher for a particular ‘orphan’. This meant I had to ask myself if I had sent out that ms out at the wrong time, or to the wrong place, or in the wrong format? Perhaps the market wasn’t ready for it. Sometimes, on rereading, I realised that the ms needed more work, and then I would rewrite and resubmit. I certainly kept redrafting until that ms was finally sold. The synopsis and opening pages were vital. If I couldn’t attract a submissions editor, I was in trouble. Sometimes changing a title, or even cannibalizing the ms, could prove fruitful. Thus several lengthy stories were condensed to join my three short story collections. I never sent out an ms without first checking if it needed cutting, fleshing out, or more on line editing.
Thus my latest is YA novel “Dessi’s Romance” is also on the edge of a revolution in that it is only being published as an ebook, which of course saves my publisher www.indra.com printing costs, paper and warehouse storage, though certainly no skimping on editing and layout. However, the question still remains; how are we to market this work? Once this was done by professionals. These days it is up to us. And what’s more, we have to do this without spending lots of money on a professional marketer.
My primary technique is through my website. I regard this as my ‘shopwindow’ and of greatest importance. As it has been updated by a young webmaster into a completely new design, I feel he knows what will appeal to other young people. That website also carries a blog that I fill with news about my latest books, both those that appear in print and on line, and about the process of writing.
I use Facebook and Twitter to spread the word and all offer advice to aspiring and emerging creators. Other creators have helped promote my latest YA novel as many have blogs and seem happy to interview me, particularly as I make it easy by always emailing a list of questions and answers they only have to ‘cut and paste’. I write articles for the better ezines which keeps my brand, AKA my name, in the public eye, and I feature other writers on my blog.
**
You can find more about Goldie and her writing via… www.goldiealexander.com and www.goldielexander.com.blog.
***
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.
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Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by crime writer / reviewer, interviewee and Flash Fiction Fridayer Graham Smith.
Baiting Your Hook
As a crime reader, writer and reviewer one of the things that interests me most is that all important first paragraph. A good one grabs me straight away while a bad one turns the air a kind of sweary blue colour.
A good opening paragraph draws the reader into the book and immerses them in the story from the get go. Small errors later in the novel are forgiven or ignored because the reader is so engrossed in the story. Beware though, when it’s bad the reader may never make it far enough to read all the really good bits of your novel or story.
Mundane everyday routine is a serious no no in any part of a novel and doubly so in the opening chapter let alone that all-important first paragraph. What the reader wants is for something to happen and it’s gotta be exciting. We want a kidnap, violence or the discovery of a body to get our pulses racing. Introspection, routine and banality are not what crime readers want to start off with. Sure, use them as character displaying tools later on to round out your novel but wait until the reader cares about the characters.
Take for example these two opening lines I’ve just made up. One should tickle your interesting bits while the other is blander than white fish with plain rice.
- Detective John Harrison washed the plate, returned it to the cupboard and trudged exhausted up the stairs. Creeping into his children’s bedrooms he kissed them both goodnight before undressing in the master bedroom. The hall light shone onto his wife’s beautiful face and he was tempted to wake her, to tell her of his long boring day shuffling endless forms. Deciding against it he slipped beneath the quilt and fell asleep in seconds.
- The severed head of a child bounced off my windscreen as I pursued the Corvette. Blood splattered the now starred glass. Two months I had been chasing the McAvoy brothers. Their paedophile ring was going to get shut down. Today! Reaching beneath my jacket I un-holstered the Sig Sauer I always carried.
The first instance is to my mind bland and dull. It shows Harrison as being mostly desk bound and any cop who lives at home with a wife and kids is unlikely to be interesting to a reader unless he has a double life. This could only be used as an opening paragraph if the next paragraph was the one where the action kicked off.
The second instance starts you right in the action with a car chase, murder and paedophilia (surely the most despicable crime) there is also the prospect of revenge or vigilante action and the pulling of the gun announces its imminent arrival.
Get it right and you’re onto a winner right away. Get it wrong and you are struggling to retain your reader’s interest.
Please share your thoughts as to the opening lines that have grabbed you by the throat and forced you to keep reading or the ones which have repelled you.
*
Morgen: We often use sentence starts in our writing groups and it’s always amazing how varied authors go using the same thing. From a reading point of view, if a hook doesn’t work and I have to read it a couple of times to work out what’s going on, it doesn’t fill me with confidence for the rest of the book. Thank you, Graham.
**
Graham Smith is married with a young son. A time served joiner he has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. For the last eleven years he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.
An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well respected review site Crimesquad.com for over three years.
He has three collections of short stories available as Kindle downloads and has featured in anthologies such as True Brit Grit and Action: Pulse Pounding Tales as well as appearing on several popular ezines.
You can find Graham via…
And his books via…
Anthology Entries
Graham is also running ‘Crime and Publishment’, a fantastic weekend of crime writing courses (I can say that because I was at the first one last March). 2014’s author tutors are Chris Ewan, Zoe Sharp and Michael Malone. Darren Laws of Caffeine Nights will be teaching attendees how to pitch to a publisher and will also be accepting pitches. More information on Crime and Publishment can be found at http://www.crimeandpublishment.co.uk and https://www.facebook.com/CrimePublishment.
***
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.
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 novelist, 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, Graham Smith, 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, Literary Festival, 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 two hundred and thirteenth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story with the following keywords: daffodils, bedside, CD, silent, sank. Below is my 454-worder.
*
Eddie’s Fault
“Daffodils, Eddie! Mum’s favourites are daffodils. What are these?”
“Gerberas, my love,” Eddie replied, deflated. “It’s all the shop had left.”
“I suppose it would make a change,” she conceded.
Eddie looked at the vases of daffodils filling the hospital bedside table and nodded. “How is she?”
My love, Thelma, burst into tears.
“She’ll be fine, my love,” Eddie said reaching out for his wife’s hand, which remained in her lap.
“She won’t! And stop calling me ‘my love’!”
“I’m sorry, my… People come out of comas all the time. I could bring the CD player and her favourite Andre Rieu… might cheer them up too.” Eddie looked at the only other bed in the room; at the other crying relatives, the other silent patient.
“It’s your fault she’s here!” Thelma snapped, bringing his attention back to her.
“My fault?”
“If you hadn’t… oh, there’s the doctor.” Thelma leapt to her feet. “Dr Chapada…”
“Chapadandraha, Mrs Boyle.”
“Yes, quite.” Thelma looked at Eddie, who was still seated, and glared at him.
He duly stood and waited for Thelma to continue, not an expert on hospitals but an expert on Thelma.
“Any news, Doctor?”
“The tests have come back negative…”
Thelma yelped and grabbed Eddie’s hand who yelped as she crushed it.
“I’m sorry…” the doctor started.
Thelma whimpered.
“No, I mean…”
“Will she be OK?” Eddie chipped in.
“Should be fine, Mr Boyle.”
“Should be?” Thelma eased up on her grip of Eddie’s hand.
“She’s under an induced coma, Mrs Boyle, but her brain activity is normal so in usual circumstances, patients even with her level of crush injuries do go on to make a recovery.”
“Full recovery?” Thelma pressed.
“We’ll know more when she wakes.”
“Thank you,” Thelma said, a little more cheerful.
The doctor nodded and went to the other bed, where an elderly man had had complications after heart surgery.
Thelma returned to her chair and sank slowly, staring at her mother as she lay unconscious, every now and then eyelids twitching.
Eddie watched his wife sit down then joined her. He replayed the events of the previous day in his head; of Thelma driving him back from the supermarket, of her mother coming out of the house to greet them, of the cat dashing across the driveway from under a bush, of Thelma’s confusion between foot pedals and the screaming.
“Thelma,” Eddie started gently. “Thelma,” he repeated, knowing she’d heard but not responded. “What did you mean when you said it was my fault?”
Thelma turned to him, the glare returned. “He’s your cat!”
There was one thing Eddie knew; he was only ever right when Thelma was wrong and he wasn’t going to hold his breath on that one.
***
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 107: Tuesday 4th June
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: know, some, speculate, couple, them
- Random: refusing to cooperate
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Local vacation
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 111: Tuesday 4th June
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: piece, another, same, self, own
- Random: bad behaviour
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Talking about it finally
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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Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-third, is of suspense novelist Suzanne Brandyn. Suzanne is running a competition, detailed after this spotlight.
Suzanne Brandyn was born on the edge of the outback of NSW Australia.
She pursued life from the hot, red dust of cattle country to many Australian cities and small country towns.
She has mustered sheep on a horse and a motorbike, spotlighted for foxes and learned to shoot a rifle, dived the Great Barrier Reef and surrounding islands, speared fish, swam with sharks and dolphins, avoided sea snakes and moray eels, and taken free rides on sea turtles.
*
And now from the author herself:
I frequent my place of birth in rural Australia as often as I can. The air seems to bring an inner peace and the people treat you as though you have never left. They say there is no place like home. I agree. That is if I can keep my feet still long enough and not have one boot over the mountain, or the other stilettoed foot tapping away in a city.
I have four novels published with an e-press publisher, and I’m about to go INDIE and publish Outback Fear, a suspense with a touch of romance. Outback Fear is a story of one woman’s courage of fighting back, of redemption and newfound love.
Women are a resilient species, and we often pull through some of the toughest times in life. Let’s follow our dreams.
And a little about her book ‘Outback Fear’…
Savannah Harris is determined to raise her three-month-old daughter in the best possible environment, and flees home to Grace Creek, an inheritance from her recently deceased mother.
But even this peaceful property cannot cocoon her from her abusive husband or a stranger who intends to rip her life apart.
In an atmosphere thick with fear, Savannah realises she cannot keep running, she must fight back or risk losing not only her life, but the only family she has left, her precious daughter.
And what others have said…
“Outback Fear is a tour de force of suspense and psychological and physical terror. Savannah is a remarkable heroine readers will love – and cheer for. She truly took back her life, once and for all freeing herself and Amy. What a heart-stopping and satisfying ending to a story of courage and hope.” Valerie Susan Hayward
**
You can find more about Suzanne and her writing via…
***
And last but not least, Suzanne’s competition:
Win a sapphire pendant valued at over $250 Au, set in Sterling Silver.
To celebrate the release of ‘Outback Fear,’ Suzanne is running a competition for readers to win a sapphire pendant set, with sapphires taken from the soil of Grace Creek, the fictional name of the property in Outback Fear, the property she lived on for many years. The competition began May 15th and runs until July 17th.
****
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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, Suzanne Brandyn, 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 Post-weekend Poetry and the seventy-ninth poem in this series. This week’s piece is by poet and author Marc D Brown.
Product of Boredom?
We all bleed out shades,
A product of boredom from yet another day,
that’s has stayed the same just like all the rest.
CRYING OUT FOR SOMETHING NEW!
CRYING OUT FOR SOMETHING NEW!
But nothing ever changes.
Just another day with the same old faces.
This has become my product of boredom,
more ink on more paper,
but are they just words with no real meaning?
Or is this all real?
Is this what I’m thinking?
Who knows? Who cares?
Just words on paper for you to sit and stare.
…but, in the back of your mind do you find a hidden meaning?
Oh yeah… just remember…
Who knows? Who cares?
But who knows what I am thinking?
And if you do have a clue, do you really believe it could be true?
But who cares? I don’t and neither do you.
Or do you?
Are you still reading and are you intrigued?
And would you believe this is just a product of boredom
for me and for you?
I’m writing and you’re reading…who would’ve knew?
But who really knows?
Did I write this for you? A product of boredom, or just to confuse?
*
I asked Marc what prompted this piece and he said…
A Product of Boredom is EXACTLY what it says. I remember being in my mums kitchen sat at the dining table just twiddling my thumbs waiting for my friend to call round. I noticed my dad had left a pad of paper out, I just picked up a pen and started doodling then the doodles turned into words.
That first line “We all bleed out shades, A product of boredom from yet another day.” It’s how I felt, just sat waiting watching the clock…. each second felt like a minute and it was draining, bleeding the life right out of me. I can be quite an impatient person at times, I like things there and then when I’m ready. Although looking back now, I’m happy my friend was late calling for me as I would never have written one of my favorite pieces of work, I would have just left the house to go to the pub.
Thank you, Marc.
Marc D Brown, a 27-year-old Poet & Author from York, UK. Marc started writing poetry when he was around 15 years old after reading ‘The Sick Rose’ by William Blake in an Facebook class at school.
Through his teenage years he listened to a lot of rock music and heavy metal, this definitely inspired his style of writing.
Through the teenage years a lot of his work was as expected, quite ‘angsty’ and rebellious.
As Marc matured so did his writing style, developing a unique, straight to the point and honest approach that most people will appreciate.
Avoiding the risk of sounding like just another ‘pretentious’ poet, Marc D Brown stays true to himself exploring dark and in some cases disturbing subjects such as the poems ‘The Recipient’ which is about an sadomasochistic relationship or ‘The Note’ which delves into the world of depression.
That is not to say his books are lacking any positivity or happiness, with poems like ‘A Tale of Two’ & ‘Autumn Leaves’ from An Introduction to Marc D Brown.
With something for everyone’s tastes, Marc D Brows work will never disappoint.
**
If you’d like to submit your poem (40 lines max) for consideration for Post-weekend Poetry take a look here or a poem for critique on the Online Poetry Writing Group (link below).
** 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.
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, literature, Marc D Brown, 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 two hundred and twelfth in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
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. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story with the following sentence start: ‘Swinging the gate open’. Below is my 166-worder.
*
Full Moon
Swinging the gate open, Jody winced as it complained. Looking up at her parents’ bedroom she waited for a light. Above the house, the moon was bright and whole, splintered by next door’s laylandia. She smiled as she thought of the scene from Bruce Almighty where Jim Carrey enlarges the moon and pulls it closer.
With the house still in darkness, she put her key in the lock, slowly, silently, and held the handle as she pushed the door away from its frame, closing it again just as quietly. Climbing the stairs she avoided the step that creaked and was grateful that she’d left her bedroom door open when she went earlier that evening.
In the bubble of her room, she leant against the windowsill staring out into the night. She could hear her father snoring next door and she smiled as she imagined her mother’s efforts getting to sleep.
Jody was making shapes out of the stars when she felt a finger jab her back.
***
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 novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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 106: Monday 3rd June
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: desperate, answer, client, handcuff, recreation
- Random: flicking through a magazine
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monologue Monday: Write a first-person poem about a jealous child
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 110: Monday 3rd June
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: wrong, agreement, people, article, original
- Random: an interview
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monday Monologue: Your character solves a problem
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
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fifty-second, is of debut equestrian novelist Christine Meunier.
Living in Victoria, Australia, Christine Meunier has published her first book, Horse Country. Particularly passionate about the world of breeding horses, Christine teaches horse breeding at a TAFE in Victoria, Australia.
Drawing from her own experiences, she has put together a fictional but factual novel regarding work in the thoroughbred breeding industry and a metropolitan horse riding school. It was at 13 years of age that Christine was introduced to first having a horse, but from a much younger age, that she started to learn about them through fiction and non fiction books. She continues to learn about them from books, but recognises that horses cannot be learnt from books alone.
Having studied horses from the age of 16, Christine is currently undertaking the Bachelor of Equine Science in Australia. Previously she attained her Certificate II in Horse Studies, Diploma of Horse Studies (Breeding) and Certificate of Merit from the Irish National Stud. Before teaching others about horse care and breeding she worked at numerous thoroughbred studs in Australia as well as overseas in Ireland.
This was followed by gaining experience in a couple of Melbourne based horse riding schools, instructing others with regards to riding the horse. A trip over to South Africa followed, allowing Christine the chance to gain many hours in the saddle and improve her own riding.
It is the education of people regarding horses being a viable career option that has been the catalyst for writing a blog about equine related vocations, education and travel.
*
And now from the author herself:
My first novel follows the lives of four young women working with horses. The first two – Lise and Wes – are undertaking work with thoroughbred stud horses in North East Victoria, Australia. Horse Country follows the seasons of the thoroughbred breeding world, looking at the day to day working on a stud.
I have also looked into the prospect of working in a riding school, having written about sisters Maddie and Melanie that teach horse riding at the East Riding School, owned by their parents.
Horse Country is set for release on July 1st, 2103 and will be available in hard copy and ebook format.
It is my hope that this novel encourages those who love the equine species, to pursue a career working with them. I hope that they find the novel informative and entertaining and realise that horses are indeed a viable career.
I have written Horse Country to cover the weanling, yearling and breeding seasons of the thoroughbred breeding world and the weekly running of a riding school and what school holiday programs with horses can look like. Horse Country is a large novel of close to 500 pages, clearly depicting what life can look like working with horses each month of the year. I have woven the story around the lives of four different women, enlightening readers to different characters and personalities, as well as the point of view of those already in the industry, and one student working her way into the horse industry.
**
You can find more about Christine 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, Christine Meunier, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime novelist, 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, Literary Festival, 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
“Cherry Pie, John?”
