Tonight’s book review is brought to you by novelist and short story author Jenny Worstall.
A Letter for Maureen
Synopsis: When it’s Maureen’s turn to chair the local book group meeting, choosing a new outfit turns out to be the least of her worries. A secret confided in Maureen by a fellow reader impacts on her life greatly over the following year. Then comes a revelation which could change the way Maureen lives her life altogether.
The disaster-prone Maureen, recently recovered from her comic mishaps in Venice, stars in a story that is both hilarious and heartbreaking.
A novella of ~18,500 words. This is the second to be published in the Maureen series, but the book can be read as a stand-alone story.
Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Jonathan’s website is jhillwriter.com.
Review
Another wonderful adventure about Maureen from Jonathan Hill!
I particularly enjoyed the account of the Library Book Club meeting, chaired by the indomitable Maureen.
We meet Nigel the librarian, desperate to catch people breaking the rules, Winston the book club bore (don’t they all have one?), and a suspiciously familiar young man with red hair who spends his time observing Maureen and taking copious notes.
During the meeting Maureen tries to pass off shop mince pies as her own baking and the earlier scene where she is compared to Nigella Lawson as she attempts to bake in her own kitchen at home is absolutely priceless.
The transition to a darker mood towards the end is skillfully handled and every reader will surely feel the same hope that Maureen will bounce back and be ready to face the world again.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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Thank you, Jenny. I love book-related books, especially short ones and Maureen sounds like a fun lady.
Jenny is a musician, teacher and writer, and lives in South London with her husband and two teenage children.
As a child she moved between Portsmouth, Dartmouth, Bath, Naples and Shaftesbury. She went to London as a student to study music and has lived there ever since, teaching in an East End comprehensive, a grammar school and a convent school.
Choral singing has always been a passion and it was during a rehearsal with the BBC Symphony Chorus that she looked across the choir and saw the man she was to marry. After starting a family, she gave up full time class teaching, increased her piano teaching and at last found time to write.
She has written many short stories (including one that made it to The People’s Friend!). Make a Joyful Noise is her first novel.
You can find out more about Jenny and her writing via:
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For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the two hundred and twenty-eighth 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 about variety. Here is my 238-worder.
Spice of life
I can do it. I’ve been doing it but my brain hurts. ‘It’ by the way is writing a story a day, for my blog.
Some people think I’m mad, got better things to do, but we should be writing something every day, shouldn’t we? Us writers. 300 words daily is 100,000 words a year, a bit over, but who’s counting?
They say variety is the spice of life. ‘They’ clearly aren’t writers because it’s a cliché and we’re told to avoid them… er, like the plague.
Variety is good though, so I have a different format for each day: sentence start on a Monday, five keywords every Tuesday, and so on. Today’s Wednesday so it’s a monologue.
I’m pretty good at talking to myself but wasn’t sure what to write about today. Not really for any reason than I started treating my writing life like a day job. You know; 9-5, concentrating on things that would make me money, so my head’s full of that.
I just have to avoid the ping of the emails, the numbers indicating updates on Twitter and Facebook until my lunch break. It’s only taken me a year since I quit my job to get my act together, encouraged by a crime writer friend. Second opinions are always invaluable.
So the clock’s ticking (quite literally – there are two in my office alone).
As for the monologue, I’m sure I’ll think of something.
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
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 118: Wednesday 19th 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: charmless, unfunny, assume, brilliant, genuine
- Random: no personality
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: They would never be…
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 122: Wednesday 19th 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: heritage, particular, world, lamenting, happened
- Random: a topical discussion
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: Increasingly tired…
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
or
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 thirty-eighth, is of novelist and short story author and interviewee Leon Puissegur.
Leon Puissegur is a disabled Vietnam Veteran with three children and nine grandchildren. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for 43 years. He has been writing opinion pieces over the years and in just the last few years has written 4 books and a large amount of articles on many sites.
‘The Oil Man’ won an Honorable Mention “Award” at the Great Southeast Book Festival on February 28th 2013, placed 16th out of hundreds that were entered.
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And now from the author himself:
I had the opportunity to enter one contest that I could afford, it was the “Great Southeastern Book Festival held in Louisiana. I entered my recent book, “THE OIL MAN” an Action/Adventure about oil workers and a small piece of crystal that changed their lives. The characters had to fight to keep from being shot; they even had a gunfight in the Empire State building in New York City! I did not expect anything with the book but out of over 1,000 entries, I obtained an “Honorable Mention” AWARD! I actually ranked 16th out of that number and was very surprised and happy because now I can call myself an “Award Winning Author” even if it was an Honorable Mention, it won an Award and that is a step in the right direction for “THE OIL MAN”! I will be entering other contests when I can afford them. Got to the Facebook page of “THE OIL MAN” and leave a comment, you can also go to www.leonsbooks.com to see excerpts of the book.
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You can purchase his books, including his latest, “Award Winning” book, “The Oil Man”, at LeonsBooks.com. and Leon is a Contributing Writer to www.freedomoutpost.com www.louisianaconservative.com www.westernjournalism.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
or
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 The Serial Dater’s Shopping List) 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, Leon Puissegur, 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 guest blog post is brought to you by humorous mystery / romantic suspense novelist and ‘how to’ writer Morgan St James.
Location, Location, Location
When writing fiction, locations are important whether the book or story is light and funny or technically detailed. It is one of the areas dotted with landmines if descriptions or references aren’t right. The reader might not know an ion from an atom or a tort from a tart but the possibility exists they know the Empire State Building isn’t in Brooklyn. Okay, that’s carrying it a little far, but the point is, depicting a location correctly requires research. A character should never take a freeway where one doesn’t exist. An author unfamiliar with the good and bad parts of town, could place a corporate executive’s sumptuous home in the middle of the worst crime section of the city.
It is always best if the writer either lives in the area they are writing about or at least has visited it and has a clear mental picture of the state, city, town, street or neighborhood. Find out about quirks in the area, perhaps something it’s known for that isn’t common knowledge. The desirable and undesirable aspects. Make it as real as possible.
When I placed a scene in the town of Cotati, California (U.S. A.) I’d never been there but researched its history, read everything I could find, looked at photos from different eras and tried to get it all right. In the process I discovered it was known for the annual accordion festival and that a hippie fashion statement known as the Cotati look had been very popular at one point in its history. After the book was published, as fate would have it, I met a woman who was actually from Cotati, and had read my book. She said she was sure I’d been there and wanted to know when. That told me I’d gotten it right. Even if your book is fantasy or sci-fi, all of its characteristics are what you see in your mind, but create a location the reader can feel.
Back on earth, take the time to research. Use the internet, find photos, speak to people who have been there. If it is a different country, find out about customs. For example, the first time I went to England a nice man helped my friend and me when we got lost. We inadvertently insulted him by asking if we could buy him a drink. He said in England offering to buy one a drink as we had meant giving him the price of a drink as a tip. When we explained we were suggesting that he join us for a drink everything changed. See what I mean?
Movies, TV dramas and comedies are often shot in places totally different than where the story is set so they are not necessarily reliable for reference. Travel shows like Rick Steve’s series are much better for reference. Locations are the inspiration for one of my writer friends. She sees places that “call” to her and beg to be written. From that point, the bones of the story evolve. You can feel a first hand experience in what she writes because her locations are as much a part of the story as the plot and characters.
By all means, don’t make the mistake of choosing a place, only doing some cursory research and then writing it wrong. I once read a book that opened in Maastricht, Belgium, a city many are unfamiliar with. The author portrayed it as dark and dank—a depressing place the protagonist felt he had been exiled to. The location helped to set the scene for the character’s state of mind, right? Wrong. I happened to have spent three days in this medieval city and it was fascinating with amazing architecture. Not even close to the picture the author drew. I asked why he used Maastricht when I’d assumed he’d never been there. He asked how I knew he hadn’t been there, and I had to say, “Because I have been there and you got it wrong.”
On the other hand, crime author Robert Crais had scenes in Marina Del Rey, California in one of his books and to my delight the protagonist happened to be driving down a street where I’d lived. The street has some unique features that are not apparent on a map. Only one who had been there would know what they are. I loved that story because not only was it extremely well-written, but every detail of the city was perfect from the beach to the nearby Hollywood hills. It made me feel like I was walking the streets with the characters.
Sure, not everyone would have recognized the locations. For example, most had probably never been on my street, but because the author obviously had been he was able to make it completely three dimensional. Keeping that in mind, creating fictional towns, streets, neighborhoods and points of interest is always a good option in fiction. You can parallel many of the characteristics the location in the story must have by creating something similar but nonexistent. The author is the only one who has really been there so any description is the right one. However, if you have set it down in the middle of a real place, make sure that all of the details for the surrounding area are correct. For example, don’t have someone winding through a mountainous two lane road, when in reality there is a multi-lane highway in that location.
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Thank you, Morgan. That was great.
Award-winning Author / Speaker / Columnist Morgan St. James’ short stories appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul books and other anthologies.
She writes the comical Silver Sisters Mysteries series with her real sister, Phyllice Bradner, has written several novels on her own, and over 500 published articles relative to the craft of writing and people in the industry, as well as the book Writers’ Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction.
Her most recent books are Who’s Got the Money, a Finalist in the USA Best Books Awards, co-authored with Meredith Holland. It a funny crime caper about embezzling from the Federal prison system and the upcoming La Bella Mafia, a true crime book co-authored with Dennis Griffin as told to them by an amazing woman, Bella Capo.
St. James is an entertaining speaker, presents workshops and frequently appears on author’s panels. She edits and publishes of the online bi-monthly eZine Writers Tricks of the Trade and writes columns for the Los Angeles and Las Vegas editions of Examiner.com.
All of her books are available at Amazon worldwide and many other online bookstores.
Visit her websites:
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog
.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, Morgan St James, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the two hundred and twenty-seventh 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: Californian, cocktail, model, chest, nervous. Here is my 619-worder (continued from yesterday’s story).
Police escort
Watching the policeman in her rear view mirror, Rosie clicked the button to release the central locking and got out the car.
“Surprised you got here at all,” he said softly, kicking her flat tyre.
Rosie had watched enough TV to know his American accent to be Californian. “Me too,” she said, not meaning the car.
“But we’ll have away in no time.”
“No hurry,” she said and hoped he’d take all day. With the choice of views being him or the sea she could think of nowhere else she’d rather be.
“Do you have a spare?”
“No,” she said, knowing that her model of car didn’t come with one. “I thought they had to, by law, but apparently…”
“No problem,” he said. “You’re travelling a bit back-heavy? Got a body in there?” He laughed, exposing brilliant white teeth.
Rosie had never been good at spontaneous laughter and didn’t think now was the time to try so just smiled and shook her head. “Moving house.”
“Oh, all your worldly possessions.”
“Yes,” she said quietly, picturing the heavy old chest that took up most of the boot. The man stopped smiling.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK, really it is. New life, new start.”
“New man.”
Rosie didn’t reply.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, “just here to fix your wheel. I’m new… I’ll shut up now and…”
“It’s OK, really it… I’ve said that already.”
“Don’t be nervous. It’s the uniform, I know, even makes me nervous.”
She laughed then, a natural laugh, and enjoyed it.
“That’s better,” the man said and held out his hand. “Bryan… Josh Bryan.”
As Rosie looked at him, she imagined him not in his uniform but in a dinner suit, sipping a cocktail that had been shaken not stirred, with a gun tucked discreetly under his jacket.
“I have some stuff in my trunk that’ll fix your car… what is it you Brits say? In a jiffy?
Rosie laughed again. “We’ve not said that since Jeeves and Wooster.”
“PG Wodehouse! You read?”
“I do… try to, when I have time.”
“I love the old ones. Really funny. Not as far back as Jane Austen, the romance, but…”
“You don’t like romance?” Rosie surprised them both with that question. “I mean, the classics.”
“20th Century is as old as I get. Still living there so my wife says.”
Rosie’s shoulders slumped.
“Ex wife, I should say. She’s still in the States. Couldn’t see why I would want to live here, but just look… the sea, the beach, the sun…”
“But don’t you have all that in California?”
“How did you know? Oh, the accent. Giveaway isn’t it. We do but it’s a different kind of sun. It’s… anyway, you’ll be wanting to go and we do need to fix your car.”
“We do.”
She watched him go the back of his patrol car, return with a yellow and black can, connect the tube to the air valve then reinflate the tyre. “Is that it?” she asked when he screwed the caps back on both the tyre and can.
“Not permanent. Should get you to the gas station.”
“Oh.”
“Of course, you won’t know one, will you? I’m finishing in a minute anyway, you can follow me.”
“Really?”
“Sure. There’s one just down from the PD… I mean police station, just down the road from the garage not gas station. I said I was new.”
Rosie smiled. “Thank you for everything. You’re very kind.”
Josh nodded and they returned to their cars.
Rosie followed him at just below the speed limit, without the sirens she’d hoped for but knew wouldn’t be warranted. It’s not every day you get a police escort and Rosie hoped it wouldn’t be the last.
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
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 117: Tuesday 18th 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: deconstruct, debrief, mark, particular, remember
- Random: repetitive comment
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Bandy
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 121: Tuesday 18th 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: male, mainstream, direction, private, pilot
- Random: a bad sense of humour
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Doing something about it
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
or
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 sixty-seventh, is of contemporary fiction writer Laurie Boris. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights
.
Laurie Boris has been writing fiction for almost thirty years, inspired by the work of Joyce Carol Oates, TC Boyle, John Irving, Vladimir Nabokov, Gail Parent, Nora Ephron, and many other brilliant, prolific, and funny writers.
With a degree in advertising and psychology from Syracuse University’s SI Newhouse School of Public Communications, she started writing articles for her local newspaper and promotional copy for freelance clients. Between projects, she tried a few short stories, some which were published in small literary magazines and later, on the Web. Two won honorable mention in a Writer’s Digest annual competition. One took first place in a contest sponsored by a women’s website, judged by author Katherine Center.
In her early thirties, Boris began writing a novel, mainly on a dare from her husband. Enlisting the support of her critique group and the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG), of which she’s been a member for almost two decades, she completed the novel and wrote eight more. Over the years she’s attended countless workshops on writing and been mentored by some generous and spectacular authors.
Writing novels while working at a succession of demanding full-time jobs in graphic design, advertising, and marketing was a challenge, in energy and time management, but it taught Boris an important lesson in priorities. She missed a lot of movies and can’t tell you what happened on the last episode of Lost, but she pounded out a lot of words.
While she has attempted several genres, Boris feels most comfortable with contemporary fiction, literary fiction, and humorous women’s fiction. She is the author of three novels, The Joke’s on Me, Drawing Breath, Don’t Tell Anyone, and the upcoming Sliding Past Vertical (due out in August 2013). The Joke’s on Me was a finalist in General Fiction in the 2012 Beach Book Festival.
The critically acclaimed Drawing Breath, chosen as a “Grub Street Great” by Grub Street Reads (now Compulsion Reads), was inspired by the improvised life of a friend who survived into his thirties with cystic fibrosis, at a time when doctors didn’t expect CF patients to live beyond their teens. Drawing Breath also placed as a finalist in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
In between and during all these novels, Boris has been a columnist for PNN.com, posting daily blogs on health and well being, a judge for a local school district’s yearly literary contest, and an occasional contributor of impassioned pleas for a variety of political, social, and environmental causes that impact New York’s Hudson Valley, where she now lives. She is also a five-time participant in National Novel Writing Month’s (NaNoWriMo) November challenge.
Currently, she is a contributing author and associate editor for Indies Unlimited. Also, she offers writing services (
http://laurieboris.com
), including ghostwriting, copyediting, and proofreading. She’s written over a hundred web articles, copyedited technical manuscripts, and “ghost edited” a well-reviewed children’s chess book, but she especially loves to help her fellow indies get their novels ready for publication.
*
And now from the author herself:
When I write the first draft of a novel, I normally don’t think much about marketing. I tell the story that falls into my head, the one that has the most energy and won’t leave me alone until I finish writing. And then I think about how to sell it.
Even while I was writing Don’t Tell Anyone, I knew I’d face some serious challenges once I published it. But I still felt compelled to complete the novel and release it, hoping it would find an audience, secretly terrified that even if it came out well-written, thought-provoking, insightful or whatever good adjective you want to plunk on it, people would hear the word “cancer” and run.
I wrote it and published it because of my mother-in-law, Madeleine. She died from breast cancer, the progress of which might have been slowed or even arrested if she’d done something about it earlier. In fact, if she’d done anything about it earlier. Panicked out of her mind because (as our theory went) the cancer treatment she was familiar with—her mother’s, a horrific experience—was so traumatic, she kept her own lumps a secret for years. I found out later that she’d sought therapy in order to gather the courage to tell her family. Which became a moot point when a health emergency outed her to my husband, his sister, and me.
That it was a shock to all of us would be a gross understatement. I’d liken it more to having our guts wrenched out. We pushed our feelings of shock, grief, pain, resentment, and anger to the side, however, as we helped get her through the now-aggressive treatment her oncologist recommended: a radical double mastectomy, chemo, and radiation. The usual things happened, some they show on TV, some they don’t. She lost her hair. She lost her sense of taste and smell. She made a few dark jokes. She fell into a deep depression. The long-awaited remission brought her little joy; much as we tried to bolster her spirits, nearly all she could think about was when it would come back. Five years later, it did, and killed her.
Now we were left to face our emotions alone. My husband’s and his sister’s are private things and I’ll leave them to talk about them publicly or not. But my mother-in-law and I had a special relationship. Sure, we had our bumpy parts. My husband and I lived in her house for a few years out of economic necessity; I was not as tidy as she would have liked me to be, and we became much better friends after my husband and I moved out. But she called me her “favorite daughter-in-law” (yeah, big joke, only daughter-in-law, yet she said it with such joy) and she was one of my biggest fans. She nagged me to finish my novels because she said she needed something good to read.
I, however, needed to reconcile my own feelings. Especially the big question: why? Why stick your head in the sand? Why do that to your children? She had no quarrel with doctors. She had decent health insurance. She lived a scant few miles from a compound of medical services. Why not get that lump checked out, particularly because of her genetic predisposition?
The questions dogged me, long after her diagnosis, long after her death. So I wrote about it. That’s my way of exploration. I gave the situation to Estelle Trager, the matriarch of the novel. Then I let it play out with her fictional family, who already had a boatload of problems of their own. I wanted to know why she’d made the choice (and not making a choice is still a choice) to ignore her condition. I wanted to explore the effect that choice had on family dynamics between and among her children, which lead to some difficult, sometimes painful, sometimes sweet, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny moments.
So let me leave you with one funny story from my mother-in-law’s treatment, which I would have put in the book if the situation arose, but it didn’t.
After my mother-in-law’s double mastectomy, she was kept in the hospital a few days. But given the bottom-dollar-focus of HMOs, we were warned that once released, her aftercare would include our tending to a series of drains that filled with fluid and needed to measured, monitored against signs of infection, and emptied regularly. When we arrived at the hospital to pick her up, she was already dressed and sitting up in a chair. Four plastic drains, about the size of hand grenades, were pinned to the outside of her blouse. She gave us a devilish grin and said, “How do you like my new jugs?”
**
You can find more about Laurie and her writing via…
Social Media Links
Sales Links
***
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
or
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, Laurie Boris, 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 Post-weekend Poetry and the eighty-first poem in this series. This week’s piece is by romance, paranormal, Gothic and comedy author, and poet Linda Hays Gibbs.
Splinters in My Head
Like splinters in my head
I grieve for the dead,
What a waste, what a waste
Cursed they faced in horrible haste
Men’s hearts cry for a better dream
Even if it be a nasty lie
Give them a better scheme
A much higher thought to know to fly
To lift them up not bring them low
A brighter cause a noble thought
Let them be caught in prayer to
A God of love with work to do
One who would not kill you
But born again to help their fellow man
To give a helping hand
To kiss their beaten brow
Enfold in love and show them how
To fulfill God’s plan With love and harmony
Sweet good perfumed charity
Turn before too late from murderous hate
Think of Golgotha’s hill
A sacrifice for peace and goodwill
A God of love and mercy too
Even for you, even for you
For If you give torment and pain
What do you forever gain
No rich paradise of which to tell
But eternity to burn in tortuous hell
The splinters in my head
Cry for your dead and you
Will you not listen to
A still small voice and do
Work to enrich your soul
With a higher goal
God is love not hate
Turn before tis too late
For the killing you do only assured you pain
For murdering is not a noble gain
If your heart is set to do God’s will
I tell you. It is NOT to kill!
But love, peace, and goodwill
*
I then asked Linda for the inspiration behind the poem…
Splinters in My Head was inspired by the horrible Boston Bombings. I was so upset by the senseless slaughter and ruined lives of so many innocent people. It was like a continual aggravation of pain like splinters in my brain. It’s a constant reminder of how helpless I feel and how I wish I could help. These people think they will go to paradise and I don’t believe in a God that rewards murder.
Tuscaloosa was devastated by a tornado but that was nature not people bent on causing pain to children or anyone. Crazy people are pitiful but people with political or religious fever that propels them to murder are just as insane.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to get on a soapbox but I can’t seem to express how I wish they would take a look at the other side. The side of peace, love and hope and where you are not owed anything. That your life is what you make it. Those boys (that did those horrible bombings) had a bright future but someone poured poison into them. My God is not poison. My God is Love!
They will not go to paradise! They will go to hell when they murder in whatever name or reason or political stand.
**
Another powerful piece. Thank you, Linda.
Linda D. Hays-Gibbs was born in Mississippi and married at a young age. She went back to school late in life, graduated with a BA in Anthropology from University of Alabama. She always loved Indiana Jones. Anthropology was so exciting to her until she could not use her imagination to write her papers. Her instructor insisted she stick with the facts not fantasy.
She loved to write poetry and jot it down all the time. Her fourth book, “My Angel, My Light As Darkness Falls” really meant more to her because she worked on it for such a long time and because she was determined to make her writing much better than it had been. Kim Richards and Sally Odgers from Eternal Press were inspirations for her. Barbara Metzger, one of her favourite authors gave her encouragement too. She loves writing and hopes to continue to do it for the rest of her life along with anything she can do for her God and children. You can also find out more about her from:
***
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
or
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, Linda Hays Gibbs, 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 twenty-sixth 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 ‘As Rosie drove over the hill’. Here is my 321-worder.
Ocean Drive
As Rosie drove over the hill and caught her first sight of the sea, The Lighthouse Family’s ‘Ocean Drive’ was playing on the radio. ‘It’s a sign,” she said to Bertie, her tabby, now meowing from his carrier on the passenger seat of her bright yellow Suzuki Swift.
Escaping Trevor had taken seven years and nothing was going to spoil this moment. Looking in her rear view mirror at a clear road, she pulled into a layby and onto uneven gravel.
She sat for a few minutes, just thinking, staring at the cloudless sky and blue sea, a postcard in the making. Fishing around in her handbag, she found her camera. She’d come up here, she decided, whenever she could, at… she looked at the dashboard clock… midday, and take a photograph regardless of the weather. They’d remind her that however gloomy the photographs or things got, this had been the perfect start to the rest of her life.
Looking through the lens she was about to take the shot when there was a tap at the window. She flinched and dropped the camera into the footwell. She knew she had to turn round, had to look through the window, had to see the face.
“Be strong,” she whispered then flinched again as a second tap came.
Checking the central locking, which she knew to be secure, she slowly turned to her right and looked at the face. Heart thumping, Rosie recognised the uniform. “Oh no!” she said. Bertie whined in unison.
The man pointed down at the ground and said something inaudible.
Rosie pressed the button for the window, moved it down a couple of inches, but said nothing.
“Madam,” the man said, “you have a flat tyre. Want me to change it for you?”
Rosie looked at the stranger’s dark skin, pale green eyes and broad white smile, and knew she was going to like living by the sea.
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
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 116: Monday 17th 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: Norwich, time, guest, really, obviously
- Random: making a phone call
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monologue Monday: Write a first-person poem – staring at the ceiling
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 120: Monday 17th 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: baby, time, detrimental, overshadow, shout
- Random: too young
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monday Monologue: Your character needs to dump his / her business partner
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
or
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 sixty-sixth, is of children’s writer Sarahjane Funnell. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights
.
Sarahjane Funnell is a children’s picture book author and also full time PR Officer for Lush Cosmetics.
She currently writes the Phillipa series of picture books and has previously had stories Princess Rose and the Royal Tea Castle, published in the children’s magical anthology A Pocketful of Moon Dust by Rebel Books, along with an independent YA fantasy ebook, Blake.
Phillipa is a Trademarked series of picture books by Sarahjane Funnell published by Gibson Publishing.
The first title in the series is Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory and the Ice Cream Castle, along with her new book Phillipa Fairy Cake and the Secret Pets’ Tea Party.
*
And now from the author herself:
So it’s been about 18 months since my last post on Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog and it’s been a busy year and a half at that. My last post coincided with the launch of my debut picture book Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory and the Ice Cream Castle, independently published with Gibson Publishing (March 2012).
Now, after running over 30 children’s book events with my first book, alongside working full-time as a beauty press officer for ethical cosmetics brand Lush, I am now launching my second book in the Trademarked Phillipa series, Phillipa Fairy Cake and the Secret Pets’ Tea Party.
Producing two picture books in less than two years is no mean feat. It takes an unbelievable amount of energy, passion, will power and determination. From writing the initial story, through to copy editing, getting the ball rolling again with the chosen publisher and sourcing and commissioning an available illustrator, the process has taken almost 9 months from start to finish (which is an incredibly fast turn around compared with traditional publishing).
Though things may be stressful at times juggling dual careers, directing all 32 pages of the book as well as organising design and print schedules, the overall outcome of having a second book to call your own, far outweighs any sleepless nights suffered.
The decision to publish a second book within 18 months of the first was always in my publishing plan. The first title even makes reference to the second book on the last page where it mentions ‘…Look out for Phillipa Fairy Cake.’ My reasoning for this quick turn around being with picture books, particularly if you are planning a series, it’s important to capture your audience while they are still within the relevant age range for your books. This really helps to establish a loyal following of readers by maintaining their interests with new material. It also shows you are serious about your career as a professional writer.
My first book Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory, launched at Waterstones Hastings during March 2013. This was the nearest bookshop to where the title was published in East Sussex. With the launch of my second title with the same publisher, I wanted to run the second book’s launch again with the same shop. The Phillipa Fairy Cake and the Secret Pets’ Tea Party launch took place on Saturday 15th June and the very talented Hastings team put together a wonderful event with a beautiful display of both book titles side by side. I then added some personal touches including character cut outs from the book and some imitation grass to emphasise the garden tea party theme.
During the event, many customers who had come along to the launch of my first book also came along to this new launch. These repeat customers were delighted to find there was another Phillipa book, some of which had bought the first book as a Christmas present and others mentioned they had loved the first book so much they were incredibly delighted to see a second title to add to their collection.
As an author, being told by readers that your book is ‘their child’s favourite story’ and ‘how much they love reading it’ makes writing all the more special knowing your work makes someone happy and captures their imagination.
The team at Hastings Waterstones including Lizzie, Laura and Linda, are absolutely lovely and so supportive – especially with the book being a local title, and that really matters to an author too – knowing you have the support of book experts behind you too.
So, my advice to anyone wondering whether to take that first or second step into the independent publishing market would be, as long as you have the determination, a clear vision of your goal, you’ve sufficiently tested your readership and have a plan in terms of both time and finance to take you there, then go for it. Not only is it a huge achievement having your first or second book in print or ebook format, you are very likely to have some very happy, new and loyal readers to share it with too!
**
If you would like to find out more information on the Phillipa Series please visit @PhillipaBooks and www.phillipaknickerbockerglory.co.uk and find Sarahjane @Sarahjanestyle
***
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
or
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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Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘short stories’ episode number 27 went live today and contained four flash fiction pieces that have appeared on my blog as Flash Fiction Fridays. Do email me (morgen@morgenbailey.com) should you like to submit your own.
This episode contained:
*
See the links above to read the stories… or hear my dulcet tones on the podcast.
The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).
*
BIOS
Based in Northamptonshire, England, Morgen Bailey (“Morgen with an E”) is a prolific blogger, podcaster, editor / critiquer, Chair of NWG (which runs the annual H.E. Bates Short Story Competition), Head Judge for the NLG Flash Fiction Competition.
She is also a freelance author of numerous ‘dark and light’ short stories, novels, articles, and very occasional dabbler of poetry. Like her, her blog,
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com
, is consumed by all things literary. She also recently created five online writing groups and an interview-only blog.
Her debut novel is the chick lit eBook The Serial Dater’s Shopping List.
**
John Brantingham is the author of East of Los Angeles, and his work has appeared on Garrison Keillor’s daily show Writer’s Almanac. He has had hundreds of stories and poems published in the United States and England in magazines such as The Journal, Confrontation, Mobius, and Tears in the Fence. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for a poem in his chapbook Putting in a Window, which was published by Finishing Line Press, and his second chapbook, Heroes for Today, was published by Pudding House Press. He is a full-time professor at Mt. San Antonio College in Southern California and one of two fiction editors of The Chiron Review, a nationally distributed literary magazine.
His latest suspense novel is Mann of War, available at Oak Tree Press. You can check out the trailer for his book and many more of his humorous vlogs at johnbrantingham.blogspot.com.
John lives happily in the city of Walnut (what a great name) with his beautiful wife, Annie and their canine companion, Archie.
**
Della Galton is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist; she is also the agony aunt for Writers’ Forum and has been writing and getting published for over twenty-five years. When she is not writing she enjoys walking her dogs in the beautiful Dorset countryside where she lives. Her hobby is repairing old cottages, which is lucky as hers is falling down.
You can find out more about Della via:
***
Thank you for downloading / listening to this short story episode – I hope you enjoyed it. The next episode will be another short stories episode in a fortnight’s time.
All the details of these episodes are listed on this blog’s Podcast Short Stories page and my email address to submit your stories is morgen@morgenbailey.com.
The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, Della Galton, 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, John Brantingham, 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 twenty-fifth 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 from the following mixed bag: grandmother, girl, red jacket, Scotland, autobiography, memory. Here is my 547-worder.
Sentimental keepsake
It was the little girl in the red jacket that Eileen remembered the most from Schindler’s List.
She’d imagined it was her mother, she’d have been about the right age. Hilda had a prominent nose but that was the only similarity. She didn’t speak German, never had an interest in going there, and certainly wouldn’t watch any war movies, favouring comedies and the lightest of family dramas.
“Life is hard enough than to be reminded of it,” she’d say and Eileen knew she’d had her ups and downs but couldn’t imagine anything would have been as bad as that but understood living that era had been close enough, so didn’t press the matter.
It was too late to ask her now. Eileen wished she could turn the clock back a few months, to when they had their long conversations every other month when Eileen visited from her Scottish home. She should have persevered with the idea of Hilda writing her autobiography, recall those missing years hushed into the corners of her mind. Like an old house, the dust was swept aside, different memories uncovered during each visit. It was only in the last few months of her mother’s life that Eileen started to write things down, the last few weeks recorded on her dictaphone. She would recount previous conversations, to check her facts, only to be met by blank stares as if the events had happened to someone else. Even mention of Frank, who Eileen had been too young to remember, would merit a tilt of the head and the offer of another cup of tea.
Then a few weeks later Eileen had received the call she’d been dreading, travelled the journey long enough to dictate earlier conversations and the jobs ahead.
There followed the paperwork, the funeral, distant relatives giving their condolences to a woman they barely knew. Eileen had put her mother’s house on the market and set to the task of dividing her possessions between charity shop, skip and sentimental keepsakes.
In one of the drawers in the bedroom’s dresser, Eileen found an envelope containing a small silver key, with it a note of the bank and box number. Having lived frugal lives it was the last thing Eileen had expected so drove straight there and asked to see the box. She’d taken her mother’s death certificate and probate documentation and after a phone call and hushed conversation, the bank manager had introduced Eileen to his colleague who would show her the vault.
The man shut the door behind him, leaving Eileen alone surrounded by what felt like her school’s changing room, only the lockers would have held much richer contents.
Eileen stared at the metal box and turned over the key in her hand. Like the room, it felt alien. Her box was one of the biggest and yet, she guessed, one of the lightest; not light enough to be empty but not containing weighty jewels, bonds or cash that she suspected the others housed.
The key glided into its hole and turned easily. Lifting the lid slowly, it made no noise but as Eileen let it fall backwards she leapt back as it clanked onto the hard counter top and exposed the contents within. Just one item, a child’s red woollen jacket.
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and sixty-fifth, is of YA / fantasy / mystery T J Perkins. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights
. I’m short of them so yours could go live in the next few days!
TJ Perkins is a gifted and well-respected award-winning author in the mystery / suspense and fantasy genre. Her short stories for young readers have appeared in the Ohio State 6th Grade Proficiency Test Preparation Book, Kid’s Highway Magazine, and Webzine ‘New Works Review,’ just to name a few. She’s placed four times in the CNW / FFWA chapter book competition. Her short story of light horror for tweens, The Midnight Watch, was publication Oct 2007 by Demon Minds Magazine. Her self-publishing achievements are being greatly recognized and TJ is also conducting speaking engagements at colleges and libraries, offering advice to others.
Finished works of her young reader’s chapter books are entitled: The Fire and the Falcon (which won two chapter book awards), Wound Too Tight, Mystery of the Attic, and On Forbidden Ground. Published books in the Kim & Kelly Mystery Series include: Fantasies Are Murder, The Secret in Phantom Forest, Trade Secret, Image in the Tapestry (which won a chapter book award) and In the Grand Scheme of Things (all with GumShoe Press 2006).
Mystery of the Attic was made into a play by the Café Theater in NJ, Oct. 2005. The storyline of this book will be the basis for a new and exciting interactive family amusement park ride currently in the hands of dark ride manufacturer Alterface.
*
And now from the author herself:
As I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed that my writing has matured, as well. Those of you who have written for years and years may have noticed the same with your stories. The concepts and ideas you started off with may have been good back then, but as our reader’s thoughts and views evolve so does their demand for the next big story idea that’ll move them.
With my new five book series Shadow Legacy, the concept and style has a flow and direction all its own, blooming with thoughts and beliefs I never before would’ve used. What started off as a story for young adults, has become a series for teens and older people – chock full of battles, death, reawakening, villains welding unusual dark magic, demons, trolls and a host of other magical / spiritual beings.
Art of the Ninja: Earth and Power of the Ninja: Fire is available and soon to join them in June 2013 will be book 3 Heart of the Ninja: Water. Each book assigned an element based on the hero’s journey, his trials, battles, failures and accomplishments. Each cover based on the chosen character and their animal fighting style and spirit energy.
Modern day teen assassins trained in the way of the ninja, Shadow Legacy is pulsing with Zen, Tao, Hindu and new age powers and beliefs. Dive in, take a chance on an all new cross-genre of fantasy that reads like a good manga and follow the legacy…
**
You can find more about TJ 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
or
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, TJ Perkins, 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 sixty-fourth, is of YA / fantasy / paranormal novelist and interviewee L Filloon. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights
.
L. Filloon was born in Leone, American Samoa. At a young age her family relocated to Hawaii and settled on Oahu. In 1977, her father once again relocated the family, this time to San Diego, eventually making National City, California their home. Although she started writing during her junior high school years, it wasn’t until late 2011 that she self-published her first book, The Binding; the first in The Velesi Trilogy. She followed with Book 2, The Drifting, and completing out the trilogy with The Whispering which will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle on July 27, 2013.
Now living in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her significant other for the past eighteen years, they live a quiet life away from the Strip with two felines named Ralph the Mouth and Princess Coby (who family and close friends are certain Cessa was based on). Ms. Filloon has a daughter also living in Sin City who recently got married. Despite her daughter and new husband’s plans to wait on staring a family, Ms. Filloon is excited about the prospect of having grandchildren – which she has already warned the young couple she will spoil until the cows come home. Currently, Ms. Filloon owns no cows and has no plans to own any in the near future.
*
And now from the author herself:
There have been times when I would start on a story, get really into it and then become distracted by my everyday life; I would put it away and forget about it. There have been many times I have sat in front of this very screen, staring at it for hours before a single sentence is created. It’s a tough gig, I tell you.
Several times I wanted to quit on The Binding (Book 1 of The Velesi Trilogy), but continue to find myself sticking with it. It was my first completed novel that I self-published in December 2011. I was so happy and ecstatic, that I couldn’t feel my feet for about an hour. Unfortunately, once the euphoria passed, I was thrown back to the old familiar world of self-doubt and worry. I was worried that no one would even care to read what took me months to put into words.
It was tough in the beginning because I was clueless of what I needed to do to market my first novel. I did learn a valuable lesson and if I ever give one advice to new authors, it is this: Get an editor. Seriously, it will save you such headaches, heartache and keep you from going ninja on every reviewer who gave you a not so nice review. By the way, good or bad, reviews are only an opinion – don’t let it keep you from writing. You can only improve and become a better writer, but ONLY if you stick with it and don’t let opinions not worthy of you to get under your skin. Toughen up…life is too short not to live it your way and be happy doing it.
But, yes, it was all trial and error with the first book, and yes, people did pick it up and read The Binding (after a good thrashing from my editor – love her). And I have just completed book 3 and looking forward to a few new projects.
And with that said, I am eager to start on my new book, The 7th Relic, after the release of Book 3 of The Velesi Trilogy: The Whispering. It’s an adventure that has been playing in my head for the past year. Here is the blurb for The 7th Relic:
The fires of Earth are dying. The ancient Keeper of the Flame is blind and weary. She waits for the Light to reignite the Flame of Life and heal her energy to remain as Keeper. But the Light was kidnapped at birth and marked by the ancient Skytes. Her memories of who she truly is are lost to her through their cruel methods.
Grace is seventeen and on the brink of graduating from high school, not that anyone would notice. Her mother, an abusive alcoholic, who, for reasons Grace could never understand and had given up trying, hates her. The kids from her school seem to ignore her, giving her a wide berth when she passes by. Her teachers are either bothered by her looks and withdrawn attitude, or love her for her artistic and brilliant artwork. But even the ones who are impressed keep their distance. All Grace dreams of is to win the San Diego Museum Art contest and receive a full scholarship for one of the most prestigious art programs in France. It is through this drive to win that brings her face to face with an ancient Skytes prince and the Protector standing between them, Andrew Teo.
Andrew must get Grace to the Keeper before time runs out. But in order for her to reignite the Flame, she needs seven relics that will create the means to do it. She and Andrew must depend on their small group of friends, allies and each other if they intend to keep Earth’s fires burning.
The 7th Relic – Coming Fall 2014
**
You can find more about Ms Filloon and her writing via…
and more about her latest book, The Whispering…
Tharin and Lily find themselves back in Pathen in search of Julia and the key to Eirrell, but old foes and new ones are in close pursuit. Adding to their plight, all doorways to Velesi have been closed.
Forced to discover a way back to their realm, the group finds help from new friends and those who once stood against them are now allies. To make matters worse, a betrayal causes the door to the UnderRealm to open, allowing demons and monsters once imprisoned to roam the realm freely.
Time is of the essence as there are only two Ancients left while Ka grows weaker, struggling to hold the realm together. It is up to Tharin and Lily to find the doorway to Eirrell, call the Unnamed Sidhe and save Velesi.
Journey back to Velesi and join Tharin, Lily, Tolan, Julia, Alorn, Mellis, Ziri and Cessa to save the realm and maybe have a wedding… or two, but then again, it is Velesi… so maybe not.
***
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
or
for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the two hundred and twenty-fourth 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 from the keyword of ‘city’. Here is my 933-worder.
A lot to learn
There was something about being a city vet that always appealed to Mark, something about the delight on the children’s faces when they saw a live animal, bigger than the stick insects, gerbils or cats they lived with.
Nothing, however, had prepared him for Brady ‘What’s that?’ Smith.
*
“No-one will take you seriously if you wear an Eyeore tie,” Emily, Mark’s girlfriend, had said that morning.
“I don’t want them to take me seriously, they’re children.”
“What about their teachers? Aren’t you supposed to be setting a good example?”
“AA Milne, Emily. There’s nothing more wholesome than Winnie the Pooh.”
“Eyeore.”
“Exactly.”
With that she’d kissed him goodbye and gone off to her first day with Clampett, Taylor and Browne.
Mark rinsed his cereal bowl, grabbed his black bag, dropped the flat’s Yale latch, then locked above and below it, something they’d never had to do at Broughton Heath.
As newlyweds they had little to steal but if the place didn’t look secure it was an open invitation – or so said Nick and Rachel who’d moved to London a couple of years before, and whose neighbours had both been burgled.
So after checks bordering on OCD, Mark took the no.27 bus making a mental note of the route so he could walk it home.
Entering the surgery immediately felt like home and Mark knew he’d made the right decision.
“Morning, Mark,” his new boss, Tom Sanderson, said before sipping a cup of steaming black coffee. “Want one?”
“Please.”
“If you’re quick, Josie will get it for you… kitchen on the left, from then on you make your own. We all do.”
“Sure. Thanks, Tom.”
“Good to have you on board. We’ve got Roehill Juniors today.”
“Looking forward to it.”
“Tell me that again later and I’ll buy you a pint.”
“Deal,” Mark said, and disappeared into the kitchen.
*
Mug in hand, Mark was given a guided tour of the complex then shown to his office and given his itinerary for the day, with 10am ’til noon blocked out for the school visit. This left four early slots for patients; Muffin, a sock-swallowing Beagle; Roger, a sneezing rabbit (who it turns out was allergic to carrots); Daisy the Jack Russell for her first inoculations; and Henry the fat hamster who turned out to Henrietta and fat for a very specific reason.
Mark was writing up Henrietta’s notes when he heard loud voices coming from the car park. Pulling up his blind, he saw a congregation of royal blue-uniformed children running in circles, waving their hands and a couple playing patty cake. There were two teachers with them, a tall blonde lady and a shorter black woman who stopped suddenly, making a couple of the children bump into her, then blew a whistle, the children immediately standing to attention. With a click of her fingers the children formed an orderly line and followed her and her colleague round the corner, towards the building’s front door. Knowing he had a minute or two at most, he finished his notes, screen-locked the computer, and headed out into reception to meet them.
The children were standing gazing up their teachers, the blonde woman talking to one of the receptionists, Sylvie, who was pointing in Mark’s direction.
“Thanks Sylvie,” Mark said, and with a swoop of his arms, said, “Do follow me, ladies and gentlemen,” and the teachers escorted the children, one adult at either end.
Mark walked past his office and the consulting rooms, and through a back door. Some of the children gasped and looked around at the array of animals; the pigs, cows and chickens being the nearest enclosures. Mark turned to the two teachers. “Good morning, I’m Mark Sullivan. I’ll be your guide for today. Any questions at all just let me know.”
“By raising your hand,” the blonde teacher said to the group, then turned to Mark. “Erin Talbot, Mrs, and this is Mrs Jackson.”
“Pleased to meet you Mrs Talbot, Mrs Jackson.”
Mrs Jackson smiled briefly then clicked her fingers at a young boy who had started to wander off. “Keep in the group, Brady.”
The boy duly returned but looked around him rather than at her.
Unsure as to what the children wanted to know, Mark showed them the first pen, of a variety of chickens, and explained the different species, ensuring he didn’t get too technical.
The pigs followed next and while some of the children stayed with Mark, the rest went on to the cows with their two teachers.
Brady stood closest to the pigs, in front of Mark, and started emulating their noises.
“Very good… Brady, is it?”
The boy nodded.
“You like pigs?” Mark asked.
The boy shrugged his shoulders.
“You don’t know?”
Brady shook his head.
“I like pigs,” Mark said.
The boy said nothing but looked up at Mark.
“Do you eat bacon?”
The boy nodded eagerly.
“Ham sandwiches.”
He nodded again.
“Then you like pigs,” Mark said, trying to be helpful.
The boy frowned.
“Bacon… ham… come from pigs and…” Mark stopped talking when the boy screwed up his face and started bawling. Mark went to crouch down to him, to console him, but Brady ran towards Mrs Talbot and buried his face in her skirt.
Mrs Jackson stormed over to Mark. “What have you done?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs Jackson but he didn’t seem to know what a pig was.”
“And you told him?”
“I am a vet.”
“And he’s just a boy.”
As Mark looked at Brady, he realised he had a lot to learn about children before he and Emily started a family.
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the six hundred and eighty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with short story writer and The Casket host Joanna Sterling. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Joanna. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Joanna: I was born in London and have lived here most of my life. I would consider myself a Londoner. I took up writing after early retirement. But I have always told stories and as a child had a fertile imagination.
Morgen: I went the other way; I early retired last March (a few months before my 45th birthday) to write full-time and can’t see me ever having a proper job, although I’ll be teaching creative writing for my local council’s adult learning from January so that still isn’t ‘work’ to me. 
You predominantly write short stories (my first love), did you pick them or did they pick you?
Joanna: I think they picked me. I’m comfortable writing short stories and I enjoy the discipline they impose. There is a craft involved in their construction no matter how concise the story.
Morgen: Absolutely. I started off writing short stories having ‘discovered’ creative writing on an evening course eight years ago and despite having written seven novels, they will always be my first love and would ‘win’ if I had to choose between the two formats. Is there a particular market you aim for when writing stories for publication?
Joanna: Generally I would say my stories are aimed at a female market, but not exclusively.
Morgen: Are there any publications you can recommend for short stories (submissions and reading)?
Joanna: I regularly read Mslexia and the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthologies. Also One Story which comes from America and arrives once a month. A single story in a slim booklet that can be slipped into a bag or pocket.
Morgen: I subscribe to all the writing magazines, including Mslexia, and recommend writers get at least one of them as it does bring the writing community into your home. I’m intrigued by ‘One Story’. I was going to add it to
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/submissions-flash-fiction-short-stories
but then found out it’s already there. Your The Casket site is listed under both categories too. Why do you think short stories are so hard done by (with most readers going for novels)?
Read the rest of this entry »
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Six of Linda Hays-Gibbs’ eBooks will be free on Kindle today, 15th June
(NB. Amazon usually works US time so you may have to check back if you’re in the UK / Europe).
Book one: Song of the Easter Bunny
A simple story for children about the Easter Bunny. It is very short but gives a message about what Easter is really about. This Easter bunny had no choice but to give voice to his joy on that wonderful day. His song can’t be stopped.
Book two: Married by Morning
A Regency romance with vampires and werewolves. The hero has a large family and obligations. His mother and sisters rule him. Suddenly his life isn’t so horrible anymore because a beautiful lady enters his home and his life.
He finds he can’t keep his hands off her and they need to marry with all haste. The problem is his family doesn’t want him happy. It’s funny and steamy with twists and turns but hopefully by morning things will be better.
Book three: Lord, I Need a Miracle!
Genre: Christian science-fiction / fantasy
This is a tale about needing miracles and family. It is about reaching for the help we need from God and his answer to prayer. It is a special story for Linda.
Book four: Two Christmas Miracles
Romantic tale about Christmas miracles for a family. A man and his son are grieving the loss of the wife and mother they adored and a small girl comes into their lives. The impact of helping others and giving from the heart helps them to have a happy Christmas.
Book five: A Regency Christmas My Love
A Regency Romance in England. It is about a young lady that finds herself in a terrible situation and needs a champion to help her. She is innocent and alone and it is Christmas. Can true love find a way in the most horrible of circumstances? Can a man fall in love after just one kiss? Will he find her?
Book six: I Know Heaven is For Real Too
A book written from Linda’s personal experience
*
Linda was born and bred in the south, USA. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. AL, home of the Crimson Tide. Linda is a big fan of football too. She has also traveled overseas.
Her great great great great grandfather was Daniel Boone. Linda knows this because she researched it herself. She was looking for her Cherokee and Chickasaw blood and found some Shawnee too. She said, Life is a treasure hunt and you always find gold when you dig.” Her favorite thing is writing. She loves poetry as well as fiction. Linda now has 12 books to her credit.
**
Six of Linda’s books are free today June 15, 2013 via the following links (for the UK, swap .com for .co.uk):
You can find out more about Linda via…
Thank you, Linda.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the ninety-first piece in this series. This week’s is a 399-worder by Kristina England. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with three other stories) on Sunday 11th August.
The Scarf
Wilson found it tied to a pole on his morning run. It was kelly green and soft to the touch.
He didn’t know much about fashion, but something told him the scarf was not an item a woman just threw away.
He stood at the street corner and untied it slowly. An unexpected wind caught hold of the scarf. It waved up and down, then straightened, pulling him forward.
Wilson followed its command, walking down Lansing, turning left at Kantell, then veering right at a small bend in the road that reminded him of the back curve of a woman’s knee.
The wind came to a stop at a bookstore.
The scarf dropped.
He looked at the stairs leading down to the entrance, then let his body descend with each step.
A bell rang as he opened the door. A young woman smiled from behind the counter.
“I see Elsie found you,” she said, her eyes skirting along the book shelves.
“Elsie?”
“Yeah. Elsie. She pulls people in with her charm. She takes on different shapes depending on the person. My worst experience was the lingerie stint. That totally changed how I looked at Pastor Phil…”
Wilson blinked.
The girl smiled again. ”Okay, Elsie, what do you have for this fella?”
“I don’t…”
“Understand? You don’t have to. You just have to take Elsie’s advice.”
“O… kay,” Wilson said, looking at the door. It seemed farther away than he remembered, but he made for the exit anyway.
A wind picked up in the store.
Wilson jumped back as a book fell at his feet.
He stared at the cover, then turned to the girl.
“How much?”
“Two dollars.”
He handed her twenty and walked out the door.
The girl got up and walked around the counter.
“They always forget to take the book,” she said, bending over.
She picked up the book, closed it, and looked at the title.
“Get over her,” she mumbled and shook her head. ”Why is it that you always have to tell them the obvious?”
The wind picked up again and another book dropped.
She picked it up and nodded.
“Of course… What a simple concept… Why didn’t I… Oh fiddlesticks… Point taken.”
The young woman quietly got onto a foot stool and returned the books to their proper homes.
Then she returned to her seat and waited for the bell to ring again.
*
I asked Kristina what prompted this piece and she said…
I was inspired to write “The Scarf” after reading “The Book”, a short story by Sylvia Van Peebles published at The Story Shack. I liked the idea of objects enticing people away from the “everyday” life but I wanted the object to move the person forward.
Thank you, Kristina.
Kristina England resides in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her writing is published or forthcoming at Decades Review, Extract(s), Gargoyle, Hobo Pancakes, The Story Shack, and other magazines. For more on her writing, visit
http://kristinaengland.blogspot.com
.
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
or
for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the two hundred and twenty-third 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 where something isn’t funny. Below is my 127-worder.
*
No joke
John pleads with you not to go but you pick up your bag and go into the hall.
Before you reach the front door, he darts in your way.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean…”
Your eyes bore into his. He’s seen that look before, too many times. He knows what he has to do, that one apology won’t be enough.
“I’m sorry,” he repeats, and offers a hand to take your bag. “Really I am.”
He studies you as if trying to see your brain evaluating the situation. One of many, repeated almost every time you’d come to visit; a throwaway remark, regretted as soon as it had left his mouth.
“I’m sorry,” he says for the final time. “I promise, no more mother-in-law jokes.”
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
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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: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
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 115: Friday 14th 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: business, really, hide, part, five
- Random: leaving for the last time
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: routine
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 119: Friday 14th 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: soon, cup, obtain, street, national
- Random: a first time
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: king
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
or
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 sixty-third, is of children’s and self-help author Stefan Bolz. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights
.
Stefan wanted to write since he was the tender age of seventeen, but his wild youth and turbulent teens pulled him away from writing even though the wish to write never completely left him.
Almost three decades later, his secret passion has finally caught up with him when he accidentally wrote a novel.
“Accidentally?” you might ask, and rightfully so. Yes. Accidentally.
*
And now from the author himself:
It all started out in a sandbox. This may or may not be a good place to start a novel but in my case it really worked out. You should try it sometime. I have been going to my therapist Julie for a few years now. She has been very helpful through some rough patches here and there. Part of her work includes a sandbox in the corner of her practice. Here’s how this works: Behind the sandbox there is a wall filled with shelves on which you can find pretty much anything, from small figurines to action figures to items like little palm trees, dragons, motor cycles, cowboys, dogs, helicopters, stones, rocks, pieces of wood, train cars, etc. I’d usually pick out some of the items at random, the task being not to think too much about which ones to take and then place them into the sand box. So, I took some of the objects from the shelf and placed them in the sand box. Here and there I pushed the sand to one side, again without thinking much about it. Once I was done, we looked at it together and as we always do, Julie asked me what I saw. It usually makes sense while I look at the landscape as to which of the figurines I am, what’s going on in the box and therefore in my life at that moment, etc.
Not this time. I had no clue what I was looking at. There was a rooster, red and orange colored; there was a wolf, a horse, a Pegasus, a frog, a dragon and, stuck into the sand on the left side of the box, three feathers. That was all. I told Julie that I had no idea what it meant, what it was or what to make of it. All I said was that it sure looks like it would make a nice little fable: The rooster sets out on a journey. On his way, he picks up friends like the wolf and the horse. Then they encounter a Pegasus and a dragon. There is a frog in there somewhere. And in the end they find the three feathers. Nothing to write home about. Or so I thought.
I left Julie, not disappointed but feeling kind of neutral with the sense that nothing had really happened in there. Sometimes a session stays with me for days. Again, not this one. I forgot all about it for a while. Then one morning I thought I’d better write it down before I forget. That was more out of habit as I usually write down what happens during the sessions. So I began with, “Once upon a time there was a rooster who lived on a farm on the Eastern shore…” I stopped at the end of chapter one, I think. I couldn’t believe the force with which the story made itself known to me. I truly felt like a scribe more than an author. Close to none of it came from my conscious mind. It was as if I discovered for myself, and for the first time, what had happened.
Like an archaeologist finding an ancient city under the dessert sand. The Three Feathers was there. Complete and pretty much ready to come through. My duty was only in faithfully writing it all down. There was only a minuscule and insignificant amount of thinking about plot, characters and the story itself on my part. Besides The Three Feathers, there is one other book out already – a spiritual companion to The Three Feathers, called The Dawning of the True Self. Three more books are in the works: A prequel named The Second Searcher, a sequel, The Fourth Sage and the continuation of that one, The Forgotten Future. I have had a couple of author days and one coming up at a local school with 308 kids. Never underestimate the power of playing in the sand.
**
You can find more about Stefan and his 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
or
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, Stefan Bolz, 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 guest blog post, on the topic of fact accuracy, is brought to you by romance novelist Jackie Weger.
Word Art: Those Pesky Throwaway Lines
One of my most embarrassing moments as a writer happened when I was standing before two hundred or so writers, editors and publishers critiquing manuscripts as a subtext in a talk on Write What You Know. There I was standing on the podium, ego rattling away on the topic when a little old lady in the second row hollered out: You didn’t!
She stood and told the entire audience that I had a character in a book set in Louisiana perking coffee. Not in Houma, Louisiana folks. Cajuns drip their chicory-laden coffee. Not only that—they don’t use Half ‘n Half. Coffee is lightened with evaporated Carnation or Pet milk—right out of the can. Coffee is sweetened to the consistency of pudding with good old pure white cane sugar—not brown, not Splenda, not Sweet ‘n Low. No ma’am.
The awful thing was that I did know folks in Louisiana dripped their coffee. But when writing the scene, I typed in a throwaway line—the heroine ‘perked’ coffee. What was I thinking? Quick—somebody get a shovel and bury me alive–right here, right now.
What happened when that darling old lady reader got to the word ‘perk’ in my book? She stopped reading. I lost my credibility. She was so annoyed there was no way she was going to enter into a fantasy of romantic fiction. It was just one awful four-letter word and it ruined the book for her—and probably every other Louisiana native. My fault.
I’m not the only author who made an error that ruined a book for a reader. I have a favorite thriller writer. I downloaded his new book the minute it hit Amazon. After chasing the bad guy through a number of countries, the hero catches and disposes of the villain in Panama, killing him and dumping the body over the balustrade of a fancy hotel onto the deck of a ship exiting the Panama Canal. Oops. There isn’t a hotel in Panama that overlooks any one of the three locks. Every lock is fenced and there’s about a half-acre of ground between the mechanical mules that guide the ships and that fence. I was really happy that this error occurred in the denouement of the book because it didn’t ruin the book for me. Perhaps I’m the only reader that noticed the error. And therein lies the rub—it only takes one person to know what you don’t know, didn’t learn, or let slide—to undo all the pride and creativity we put in our books.
I began my writing career back in the dark ages. We didn’t have internet, Google Earth, search engines, Walmart, or reality shows. Back in the day, if you didn’t know, you had to get out in the world and find it. When I was writing No Perfect Secret I needed to place two scenes in a restaurant. I spent a week in Washington, D.C. Had my little checklist—Library of Congress. Tick. State Department. Tick. Nice condo for the hero. Tick.
I had dinner in a fabulous French restaurant, but no way was hero Frank Caburn, man to the bone and reared on a Midwestern farm–going to eat escargot or those tiny portions the upmarket French are famous for. Men bred in Middle America eat beef, bread and potatoes. I had to put him in a restaurant with real beef on the menu.
In an intrigue I bought last month the author introduces her characters by telling the reader the characters stole the Mona Lisa in the past and now the thieves are looking for something else to steal. Talk about a throwaway line. What was it for? To give the thieves credibility? Hello. The Mona Lisa is a very small portrait behind specialty glass, rife with sensors, and barriers to keep a viewer five feet away. Guards move the viewers along. The author did not give the reader any plausible scenario how that piece of art could have been stolen. As a reader I am very forgiving of the improbable. The writer must convince the reader she knows about museums and security systems, about old masters, how they are stored and how they are displayed; and especially how to market stolen art work, the value of it and the people who would buy it. Stolen art never stays with the thief. Old masters are not something auctioned on e-Bay. It was one throwaway sentence. Did the author mean to insult a reader’s intelligence? Nope. She wanted to suggest her ‘thieves’ were skilled at their craft.
Recently I read a book in which a man broke a leg and was left propped against a tree while the hero ‘ran a hundred miles’ through a jungle to get help. It was a throwaway line to hint at the hero’s sensitivity and loyalty. I’ve lived in jungles and I can tell you one does not run a hundred miles through a jungle. Moreover, if you leave someone propped against a tree over night or several overnights—something is gonna eat him.
What we do as writers is take ordinary people and places and raise them to the level of word art. Word art is how you weave story action making a fictional character or a place believable for a reader. When you place a story in someone else’s backyard, you need to know the fence lines, the culture of the community, its likes and dislikes and what binds it together.
I still cringe when I recall that little grey-haired lady calling me on how I had a character brew a pot coffee. It was a throwaway line, not word art. It did not have to be in the scene. Recalling my mortification has kept me humble and not quite so careless.
In our new electronic world if we write a throwaway sentence that bumps a reader out of the story or annoys because we got it wrong—it could be on the Web within hours—with an audience of thousands—not a mere two hundred. Embarrassing? Yes. Worse—a review could short sales. Do you have any throwaway lines in your manuscript?
*
Thank you, Jackie.
Writing for Harlequin Books Jackie Weger published sixteen romance novels. Weger wrote the first African-American romance published by Harlequin, A Strong and Tender Thread, soon to be rereleased in digital format by Liquid Silver Books. Weger lived in St. Augustine, Florida for twelve years renovating a hundred-year-old house in historic Lincolnville, a community established by freed slaves in 1866. In 1995 she put her career on hold to care for elderly and handicapped members of her family. In 1999 she moved to Central America with her companion dog, a Shar-pei named Simon. She and Simon lived in a small Dry Pacific Rainforest village in a thatched-roof bohio while making intrepid excursions into the Darien, the San Blas Islands, and outer islands in the Pacific. Weger also volunteered at a Sister’s of Mercy mission where she taught women in poverty. Returning stateside in 2002, Weger enrolled in university, earning an AA, a BA in History, and in December 2006 graduated summa cum laude from the University of Houston-Victoria. In 2006 Weger attended a semester at Queens College, University of London, spending free time traipsing around the U.K. and Paris. “You don’t need a hotel room in Paris—just live at the Louvre.” Weger returns to Panama often, dividing her time between now established homes on Isla Taboga and the pueblo el Cacao. She has recently revived her writing career producing novels for Liquid Silver Books. Her first e-book, No Perfect Secret was released July 2012. Beyond Fate was released December 2012. In the spirit of Retro romances, Liquid Silver Books under their Liquid Gold imprint contracted with Weger to bring to the e-book market five of Weger’s back list. In addition Weger is self-publishing several others. Eye of the Beholder will go live on Amazon on June 06, 2013. Weger is two-hundred pages into a new novel with a target completion date in early 2014.
Weger lives in Hockley, Texas, a small community Northwest of Houston with a man, a dog and seven feral cats.
You can find out more about Jackie and her writing via…
And more about Jackie’s books…
Eye of the Beholder
Twenty-four year old Phoebe Hawley is on a quest to find a place for her homeless family. Phoebe is Alabama tough, country smart and sapling thin. On the road with two siblings, twelve year-old Maydean and five year-old Willie-Boy, Phoebe is out of money, out of gas and out of patience. Now the only things she owns in abundance are Hawley backbone and Hawley pride–neither of which she can trade for food or gas.
A collision with Gage Morgan puts Phoebe’s mission in even worse jeopardy–until Phoebe discovers Gage Morgan owns the perfect place for the Hawley clan.
But Gage Morgan has a bruised ego, a tight fist on his wallet and an iron fist on his heart. Once Phoebe discovers Gage is too wily to succumb to her schemes to pilfer his wallet and claim his home, she has to try something different to win his heart.
But will Hawley backbone and Hawley pride step aside to let her do it?
*
No Perfect Secret
What does a woman of integrity do when her husband doesn’t come home, her dream job is put on hold, and her mother-in-law becomes unhinged?
Buy a dog? Bury her misery in chocolate? Or consider an affair? Anna Nesmith feels like some mad god is urging her to go to bed with Frank Caburn, enjoy it, and then get on with her life. But that isn’t what the mad god has in mind…
***
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
or
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, Jackie Weger, 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 twenty-second 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 and I’ve posted my home from this month’s Northampton Literature Group homework; to pick two (out of 253!) characters from Geoff Ryman’s book ‘253’ (
http://www.ryman-novel.com
) – I picked no.4 Donald Varda, an American werewolf, and no.5 Brian Latham whose interests are cookery and hoovers. Below is my 710-worder.
*
An American Werewolf in London
“Brian.”
“Sorry?”
“The name’s Brian… Latham.”
“Oh, hi. Donald Varda.”
“Canadian?”
“American. Do I sound Canadian?”
“To be honest, I don’t know the difference. It’s like Australia and New Zealand but if you call Kiwis Ozzies they don’t like it. The same for-”
“Kiwis? Ozzies?”
“New Zealanders. Australians.”
“OK. And what do you call us?”
“Yanks.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. So what are ‘Poms’?”
“That’s what Australians call us. Can’t remember why now.”
“I didn’t think people talked to each other on trains but I guess you Brits are more open than we give you credit for. We don’t in the States.”
“It’s a shame, isn’t it? Even just a few stops, it’s worth saying something.”
“Sure.”
“I see a lot of the same people in here every morning, every evening, and they never talk. Who knows what they might have in common. So, are you in London on business or pleasure, Donald?”
“A bit of both.”
“That’s nice. What do you do?”
“I’m a werewolf.”
“Pardon me?”
“A werewolf.”
“I thought that’s what you said. You, er… make a living out of being a, er… werewolf?”
“Not as much as you’d think.”
“It’s not something I’ve ever thought about. You’re the first one I’ve met… This is for a play or something, right?”
“Of course. Oh my God, you didn’t think I actually am a werewolf!”
“You do look the part, I have to say. I’ve never seen eyes quite like yours and you’ve even got eyebrows that meet in the middle.”
“They’re real.”
“Wow. So you were born for that part then really, weren’t you.”
“You could say that.”
“Tottenham Court Road. This is my stop.”
“Mine too. You in the theatre, Brian?”
“No. I’m an accountant. My office is at the top of Grape Street, just off Shaftesbury Avenue. Do you know it?”
“No, sorry.”
“It’s a fairly small road. You probably wouldn’t have noticed it, unless you’re Cuban.”
“Why Cuban?”
“Their Embassy’s there, at the other end of the road. We do accounts for a couple of the theatres but no, just a desk job, nothing half as exciting as being on stage, performing in front of all those people. I used to meet people. I sold hoovers. You know, vacuum cleaners.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Just part-time, while I was studying. Before that I was a Catering Assistant but I love numbers so ended up doing what I do now. It’s funny what fate has in store, isn’t it?”
“It is, indeed.”
“The ticket goes face up, with the strip… that’s it.”
“Thanks.”
“So how long are you here for?”
“I don’t really know. I’m just going to see what happens. If everyone’s as friendly as you, I think I’ll stay a while.”
“That’s nice. I’ve lived in London all my life, wouldn’t want to leave. There’s a guy at work who’s from America. California, I think. Can’t understand why he’d swap the sun for rainy old London. Actually it’s not as wet as everybody thinks.”
“It’s been nice so far.”
“You’ve picked the best time; July, August. Busy time for your show as well, I guess, lots of tourists wanting to see the sights. Everyone goes to the theatre when they’re in London.”
“I’m hoping so.”
“OK, this is me, top of Grape Street. Just down there. Red door on the right. See it? Oh. Sure I’ll show you. If you keep going to the end and turn right, Shaftesbury Avenue is the next right. I don’t remember seeing your play being advertised anywhere. Working where I do, I can’t usually escape the posters.”
“We’re doing rehearsals at the moment. Won’t be out for a while.”
“Here we are then. Well, Donald, it’s been great chatting with you. I hope your play, and stay, go well. I might see if I can pop along. You know, once it airs, so to speak.”
“I’m not sure there are any tickets left.”
“Really? I thought you said. Never mind. Maybe next time. I’ll look out for you.”
“I’m not hard to miss.”
“No, and… oh look, you’ve even got the teeth.”
“I have.”
“They are rather magnificent. Erm… What are you… Donald? What? No!”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
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 114: Thursday 13th 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: usual, bunch, place, still, top
- Random: rain
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Thursday Title: The day before
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 118: Thursday 13th 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: favour, pop, search, dark, review
- Random: opening an important envelope
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Mixed bag: secretary (character 1), receptionist (ch.2), packet of love hearts (object), building site (location), jealous (trait), noisy neighbour (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
or
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 sixty-second, is of Tony Schmacher. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/author-spotlights
.
Tony Schumacher is a writer, author, broadcaster, and stand-up comedian. His regular column for the Liverpool and Manchester Confidential magazines “Rear View Mirror” has recently been compiled into a book (link below).
Tony has written for The Guardian newspaper and recently worked on their Reading the Riots project to investigate the causes of the 2011 disturbances in the UK. As a former Police officer, Tony can often be found wandering the lanes near his home, with his dog Boo, pretending to give out parking tickets and direct traffic. And at other times, he spends his time as a regular guest on Liverpool’s City Talk FM radio station, and has also presented several pieces on the BBC TV’s Politics Show.
*
And now from the author himself:
About six years ago my life was going swimmingly. I had the lot. I had the wife, the son, the house, the career, the car and even the trendy dog.
Today? Well I haven’t got the house, the car, the job, the son, or the career, even my poor old dog died last year, I’m slowly turning into a real life country and western song.
Let me explain; I was a Policeman. I wasn’t an ordinary policeman, I was the type who did a bit of stand up comedy on the side. My life was filled basically with moments of fear, fighting, arguing and adrenaline, and that was just the comedy.
In the police I was a response officer, I basically used to drive around Liverpool with blue lights flashing answering 999 calls. I’ve kicked in more doors than Jack Regan and turned over more bodies than Quincy. It was messy, bloody, dangerous and at times, desperate. And I loved it.
I loved my colleagues, I loved the charging around shouting, I loved the challenge and I loved the thrills. I loved my life.
I honestly used to pull up at my house of a night, in my quiet cul-de-sac, and sit for moment and think about how lucky I was. I know that sounds crazy when you say it out loud, but I did. I was that happy.
Or at least I thought I was.
Six years later, sitting here writing this, it seems like someone else’s life I’m writing about, I’m not sure of I’d recognise the bloke who used sit smugly in his car looking at his house with his gorgeous wife waving through the window. To be honest, if I met him, I’d probably think he was a bit of a kn*b.
That bloke’s life finally fell apart when he found out his son wasn’t his. In fairness, although he’d not noticed it, his life had been in trouble for a while but, like a carrier bag that splits at the bottom and drops your spuds on the floor all at once, I/he just hadn’t noticed it going.
I’ll not bore you with the details, that’s another story for another day but, six months after my carrier bag split, I found myself without a job (never write a resignation letter when you are crying) and sitting in a rented house I couldn’t afford with a designer dog that was, quite frankly, disappointed in me.
I had to do something, so when a mate suggested getting a cab drivers licence to “tide you over till you get your head straight” I decided to do that, if only to get out of the house that had become a prison, and to start talking to people again.
It was the best thing I’ve ever done. Because amongst the drunks, the drug addicts, the lager, the lovers, the lost and the lonely… I found myself.
It happened at about four am, sitting in a park, eating a lonely service station sandwich and staring at a cat getting beat up by a bird, that I decided to write.
And that cat, and that bird, led to my book Rear View Mirror being released about two weeks ago for the Amazon Kindle and if I ever meet them again I’ll shake them by the paw/claw.
I’d never written anything before, so I was surprised at how good I felt when I wrote that first story. I didn’t just feel happy, I felt different, like something had happened in my head and my heart, like a place had been found and that I’d come home. I remember reading it a few times and smiling to myself. I even printed it off and stuck it by my bed to read when I woke up, just in case in the morning, after the shine had worn off, I found it was rubbish. I’ve still got that original story upstairs, and I still don’t think it’s rubbish. I created a blog, and posted the story up there, and told what remained of my friends on Facebook. Some of them read it, a few of them commented, and I felt good for the first time in years, so I wrote another one, and another one, and another one.
And I felt better; little by little, I felt better.
A few months later a lady got in the cab and we chatted and she told me she edited a local magazine. I told her I wrote a blog about the cab and she promised to read it. I didn’t believe her. A few weeks later I got an email, and she said some nice things and offered me a column in the magazine and said she would pay me for the stories.
I still didn’t believe her, but it turned out she was telling the truth. I’d become a writer, and I was happier than I’d been in years, and it wasn’t money, it wasn’t a house and it wasn’t a car that was making me happy… it was my heart.
Which was finally fixed.
**
What a great story. Thank you, Tony.
You can find more about Tony and his 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
or
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, Tony Schumacher, 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 book review is brought to you by novelist and short story author Jenny Worstall.
The Back Road by Rachel Abbott
Synopsis:
A girl lies close to death in a dark, deserted lane.
A driver drags her body to the side of the road.
A shadowy figure hides in the trees, watching and waiting.
The small community of Little Melham is in shock.
For Ellie Saunders, last night’s hit and run on the back road could destroy everything she has. She was out that night, but if she reveals where she was and why, her family will be torn apart. She is living on a knife-edge, knowing that her every move is being observed.
Ellie’s new neighbour, former Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas has moved to the village for some well-deserved peace and quiet, but as he is drawn into the web of deceit his every instinct tells him that what happened that night was more than a tragic accident.
As past and present collide, best-kept secrets are revealed and lives are devastated. Only one person knows the whole story. And that person will protect the truth no matter what the cost.
Available via Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and Rachel’s website is Rachel-Abbott.com.
Review
Rachel Abbott’s new thriller, ‘The Back Road’, is set in the village of Little Melham, a village that is home to a surprising number of unpleasant secrets and damaged characters.
The author cleverly presents intriguing details and scenes from the past, teasing us with snippets of information that sometimes send us off in the wrong direction.
The intricate dance is played out against a setting of beautiful countryside and seemingly idyllic lifestyles (fabulous food!), a contrast that serves to highlight the terrifying twists and turns of past events that have such a devastating impact on the present day lives of the villagers.
Tom Douglas, everyone’s favourite policeman from ‘Only the Innocent’, helps to investigate the sordid and shocking events, while a gentle love story begins to unfold and give hope for the future.
‘The Back Road’ is pure magic from beginning to end – a spellbinding and thoroughly recommended read.
Rating: 5 out of 5
*
Thank you, Jenny.
Jenny is a musician, teacher and writer, and lives in South London with her husband and two teenage children.
As a child she moved between Portsmouth, Dartmouth, Bath, Naples and Shaftesbury. She went to London as a student to study music and has lived there ever since, teaching in an East End comprehensive, a grammar school and a convent school. Choral singing has always been a passion and it was during a rehearsal with the BBC Symphony Chorus that she looked across the choir and saw the man she was to marry. After starting a family, she gave up full time class teaching, increased her piano teaching and at last found time to write.
She has written many short stories (including one that made it to The People’s Friend!). Make a Joyful Noise is her first novel.
You can find out more about Jenny and her writing via:
***
If you would like to send me a book review, see Book Reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed here.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app via Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com **
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 The Serial Dater’s Shopping List) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the two hundred and twenty-first 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 in 60 words. Here is my… 60-worder.
Just getting started
60-word monologue! Seriously? I’d only just get started in that amount.
Couldn’t pick a subject that I could waffle on. ‘Talk for England’ as the saying goes.
I’m English. Middle England, like the Hobbit… or was that Middle Earth?
Presumably if I was another nationality, I’d talk for that country instead.
As for foreigners living here, don’t get me started.
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See
or
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, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, novels, plays, prose, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, thriller, tv, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing workshop
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 113: Wednesday 12th 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: frown, quarter, sign, must, lunch
- Random: quitting smoking
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: Letters to be read…
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 117: Wednesday 12th 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: goodnight, say, many, took, price
- Random: confused by technology
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: As their trolleys clashed…
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
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Synopsis: When it’s Maureen’s turn to chair the local book group meeting, choosing a new outfit turns out to be the least of her worries. A secret confided in Maureen by a fellow reader impacts on her life greatly over the following year. Then comes a revelation which could change the way Maureen lives her life altogether.
Jenny is a musician, teacher and writer, and lives in South London with her husband and two teenage children.
