Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 20 Aug

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Tribeca
2. What can you read into a text message?
3. Take a break: Make your morning coffee or afternoon tea special
4. They claimed nuclear power explained the force of these ‘medicines’
5. A photo of a city from above, as a map
6. Why did France and Germany leave the decision on flights to their airlines?
7. Because I am in the public eye, I get scrutinised. I can damn well make sure I use that to do good for other people
8. Loire
9. Police rescue 14-year-old bride from wedding
10. Quote of the day: There are still a lot of moving parts I have no doubt it will run right to the wire with a photo of a man above it
11. GREAT!
12. SCIENCE: The luxury condiment that’s on the rocks
13. Pinter is the modern era’s Chekhov or Shakespeare. I find his plays very musical

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 13 Aug

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Night-time bliss
2. A short-term product should not create long-term debt
3. Flour power – how ‘Bake Off’ made audience figures rise
4. What will jungle fever do to this lot?
5. Bodies of eight babies found
6. A picture of a cute little dog looking straight into the camera
7. Aldeborough
8. Health – ‘Take vitamin D boosts’ to make up for lack of sun
9. WOW
10. IQ
11. torino
12. All wrapped up
13. ‘Are we live? I’d better not say anything wrong’
14. Missing London

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 6 Aug

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Byron
2. Logos: wearing your brand on your sleeve and trading on your trademarks
3. Pandas are Propaganda above an image of a panda with his hands above his head
4. OMG, bea’s taking off – but I hope to bim it’s more of a US thing
5. The 10 Best… Cheeseboards
6. A small group of engineers may have had the idea. But did they authorise its implementation?
7. Cleaning staff – catering staff – site/premises managers – cooks – and more…
8. Complaints about ticket sale site reach concert pitch
9. Hardwick
10. Bringing up children is not about the cost
11. Bolton’s plight a warning to clubs ‘living the dream’
12. Children need stricter upbringings
13. To pre or not to pre? That is no longer the question for global designers
14. Work it out
15. Nobody will be leaving who we don’t want to leave. We’ll add signings, but I need to stick with the core group
16. This is not an aberration of the American ideal, but it’s reality
17. Storms and heavy rain heading south
18. Be clear, be affordable: who home cover has to change

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 30 Jul

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Requires improvement
2. A taste of adventure
3. Water bill was bound to run into trouble
4. Ruskin
5. Yemen: One dead as cyclone hits
6. Let’s jam: 1) Slightly under-ripe fruit makes better jam, because it has a higher acidity; 2) Sterilise even brand new jars by washing, then heating in a 100°C oven for 15 minutes; 3) Pectin makes your jam set. Mix low-pectin fruit, such as strawberries, with pectin-rich fruit, such as plums, or use jam sugar; 4) Undercook rather than overcook – runny jam can be heated up again; 5) Once opened, store your jam in the fridge and use within four weeks.
7. The world goes Pop
8. The Iowa Caucus above an image of a sign in the field, with the name Ted Cruz on it
9. Sophia
10. Sharp posts third loss in four years
11. One single supplier is throwing out 3,000 tonnes of perfectly edible carrots each year
12. Well preserved: What better way to use up autumn’s abundance of fruit and veg than to make jams and chutneys
13. An image of the Twitter bird

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 23 Jul

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. The Queen’s birthday
2. Stop biting off more than it can chew
3. BLIMEY!
4. A photo of an elephant near bushes, with the text: Which tree-dwelling carnivore is pining for the valleuys?
5. FOOD: Gold-sprinkled haggis is ‘world’s most expensive’
6. Fourth ‘mystery’ prisoner was not flown out to US
7. Teaching Assistants – PA/Secretaries –  Examinations – Officers – Librarians – Office Managers
8. The welfare of the recipient matters, not the soul of the donor
9. Shear delight
10. It’s easier to be the president of the United States as a black person than be the head of a studio [or} network
11. Now we can look into what happens to a woman after divorce and deceit
12. Where do internet addicts go for help? Reboot camp
13. At 5’7″ Rylance is not the first you’d think of to play a giant

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 16 Jul

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Small act of kindness prairie voles ‘show empathy’ when friends suffer
2. This is a critical year for the corporation with tough decisions
3. Quote of the day: Most people assume the fights are going to be the left versus the right, but it is always the reasonable versus the jerks – JIMMY WALES
4. Photo of a couple in wedding outfit, walking past tents on a square, with am umbrella above their head. Text: Al album to remember – A soon-to-be married couple get ready to pose yesterday, among protesters celebrating the one-year anniversary of the start of pro-democracy rallies calling in Hong Kong
5. Trains leave football fans facing lots of extra time
6. Syrians challenge legal claim to holy books taken from Damascus. By Daniel Estrin
7. Take heed
8. HUMAN RIGHTS: Atheists ‘are victims of hate campaigns’
9. I’m not sure what Mum thought of the ‘Millennium Falcon’ I’ve stuck to the dashboard
10. Airfares rise and fall with supply and demand

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 9 Jul

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Westminster is world’s gayest parliament
2. All in the balance
3. The bigger day of the year in football now isn’t the Cup Final, it’s transfer deadline day
4. ENERGY – Renewables industry is ‘about to drop off a cliff’
5. THE 10 BEST… Winter coats
6. Quote of the day – ;It’s a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young’ KONRAD LORENZ
7. Show us your sequins
8. Extreme lengths
9. A photo of young Japanese women all dressed up in what looks like gala outfits, sitting in and boarding a train, with the text: A stop on life’s journey – Young Japanese women board a train after attending a ‘Coming of Age Day’ ceremony in Tokyo yesterday. The day celebrates young people who have become 20 years old – the minimum legal age in the country for voting, drinking and smoking. KIYOSHI OTAIEPA

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 2 Jul

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have to text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Your opinion matters to us
2. If my other half was off to dance 13 hours a day, I’d send his stuff in bin bags to Premier Inn
3. Feeling Tired?
4. A picture of a woman wearing a striped blouse and short, light skirt, holding her hands out as she’s posing, with the text: Women began to raise their hemlines before couture determined it was chic
5. Quote of the day: ‘The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane’ NIKOLA TESLA (1934)
6. Talk about ‘aspiration’ meaningless
7. He knows he’s on the sidelines. he writes as an observer who cannot help being concerned
8. The death of criticism, and other light-hearted notes from Milan’s shows
9. Crime, revenge porn and domestic pain…
10. ‘It is with sadness that I report it is journey’s end – so close to my goal’
11. NHS staff will flee the country
12. Chancellor acts gingerly

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 25 Jun

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Your winter wardrobe is all wrapped up
2. They fought a dictator, but now they’re at war with each other
3. Casualties of the Somme
4. Environment: York’s flooding failures were predicted a decade ago
5. Why aren’t you wearing two poppies?
6. An image of a man in a harness, with one arm ending with an impressive and dangerous drill, a cup on his belt, and spikes coming out of his head, with a nose ring, and medals on his chest, looking like a threatening warrior
7. On British roads, this model could give you a bumpy ride
8. Product placements: Royal Horticultural Society. The RHS collaborated with the ‘grand garden-themed’ film A Little Chaos to promote this year’s National Gardening Week
9. With this ring, I am hoping to renew our vowels

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 18 Jun

Hello. Here are your prompts for this week. As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent will be posting my Word Count Wednesdays posts so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These random sheet posts include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have the text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

1. Lives on the line – on track to stop railway suicides
2. Show of force
3. A picture of a potato head doll, with open eyes and grinning
4. Quote of the day: ‘Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old’  – FRANZ KAFKA
5. Wilson Sporting Goods – A Wilson volleyball gained cult status after becoming Tom Hanks’s companion in Castaway (right) – with a film shot of Tom Hanks on the island in Castaway
6. Speeding up the search to save children’s lives
7. Newsreaders should wear one for this year and one for next
8. Health-related wearables tend to promise peace of mind but provide the exact opposite
9. Being told to shut up five times a day was a character-forming part of childhood
10. A hazy slice of Hollywood noir
11. Tuesday style