Authors Electric

It's been a busy few weeks with the emphasis being on anthologies and short stories.  Belonging to the Coventry Writers Group and running my own creative writing class, Focus on Fiction , which meets every Monday evening, both groups have put together anthologies of short stories and both have been launched this week. I'm excited about both, but I have to admit that I'm really excited about the Focus on Fiction anthology, Winter Tales as the majority of my eight students have never seen their work in print. And their enthusiasm in getting this book together has been fantastic. I got to know this group of novice writers at the beginning of the year when I started running a new creative writing course. The course was supposed to last just six weeks, but something clicked and my band of eight didn't want the course to end, and so it's continued throughout the year.  A couple of months ago I set them an exercise to write a wintery/Christmas short...

I've been lucky, I seldom suffer from the dreaded 'writers block.' But when I do there are techniques I employ to help get the ideas flowing again. One technique I use is the 'what if ...' game. Basically I choose a story, often a classic fairy tale and ask 'what if ...' To demonstrate what I mean here a three examples: Cinderella: At the end of this story the prince finds Cinderella, she slips on the glass shoe, it fits, they marry and live happy ever after. But what if Cinderella sprains her ankle as she runs away from the palace? Her ankle swells, so when the prince asks her to try on the shoe it doesn't fit. What if it fits one of the sisters? This sister knows where Cinderella has hidden the other shoe and uses it to prove she is the one he is looking for. Who does he marry? Snow White: At the end of this story the prince kisses Snow White, she wakes up, they marry and live happy every after. But what if once she is ma...

Last month I blogged about how I'd started to take photographs to support my blog posts - Picture It . I received a few positive comments (thanks folks) however the one left by  Bill Kirton  really struck a cord: " A great idea, Lynne, and I bet, as readers of the blog looked at each, ideas for stories started nudging into their minds. That's certainly what happened as I read it. Wouldn't it be interesting to post just one of them and have people submit 500-word flash fiction stories inspired by it.  Great displacement activity." So whilst I've been out and about with the dog (we do a lot of  walking)  I've been  taking  photographs of the 'odd' things people have left behind . I guess you know what's coming next. Yep I'm throwing down the  gauntlet . Here are three images I'm hoping will inspire your muse. I'm not expecting you to craft a 500-word flash fiction story (but don't let me stop you if you get that urge) but...

I've just been tagged in a Blog Hop meme by Susie Kelly via Victoria Corby called The Next Big Thing - French Twist. A Q&A about current work in progress. It looks great  and I want to participate, I will participate. But it's a long time since I wrote about writing. Problem is, it's a long time since I wrote at all despite all recent good intentions. I have 3 WIPs to complete, selecting one to revisit will, I'm sure, help in the mission to get back to writing. It brings it all back, in a good way, as to what it's all about. My happiest writing times were the pre-publishing hoo ha years of creative writing classes, mostly short stories, a bit of poetry. No pressure beyond getting the words right enough to read out loud, listening to others and entering a few competitions. Like many of those who were to become my friends on the courses, I dreamt of one day being able to write what I wanted to write, publish how I wanted to publish - .....oh hang on? So what...