If you enjoy writing short fiction and writing to a time limit i.e. true FLASH FICTION then check out the weekly competition run by Write-Invite. A genuinely friendly competition where once you've registered you have the opportunity of entering the weekly Saturday evening challenge (£4 entry fee for £50 prize money for winner). At 5.30pm the three topics are revealed, pick one and write a story before 6pm - your story has to be written online and submitted before the cut-off after 30 mins. This is fun and a real test of creativity and writing skills, but be warned it's also addictive and stressful. My indoor writer needs a steady supply of Jelly Babies to get through the ordeal and usually a copious amount of alcohol is consumed post 6pm (I think she'd be more successful in the competition if she imbibed the alcohol before it started).
If you fancy a go then check out the link to the Write-Invite website on this blog.
Happy writing!
Monday, 21 February 2011
Friday, 18 February 2011
Twenty Thousand Words
Today the indoor writer hit twenty thousand words on her children's novel. Yeah, okay not bad but I'm celebrating when she gets to fifty thousand - that would be worth a slice of chocolate cake ... with fudge icing ... and hot chocolate sauce .. yum
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
In praise of fairytales
We've just finished reading two very different books, but both could be described as fairytales.
Firstly, Angela Carter's collection in The Bloody Chamber - a series of gothic and folk tales, several quite adult and all delicious. Her prose is exquisite she delights in eloquent descriptive scenes, which are not really the vogue today, and her stories contain minimal dialogue (apparently Angela despaired of writing good dialogue and instead chose to live without it). These are best picked one by one, as a continuous reading can become too heavy on the eyes. Our favourite story was The Werewolf, which has an unusual twist as to the identity of Red Riding Hood's wolf.
Secondly, read Rowan Coleman's The Happy Homes For Broken Hearts - a more modern fairytale with a happy ending (for once). Really enjoyed this - quite a surprise as was expecting a frivolous chick-lit romp. It's certainly a romp but with lots of heart too. Got into the main character and at the end was quite sad to have leave the cast of likeable lodgers. A good holiday read.
Firstly, Angela Carter's collection in The Bloody Chamber - a series of gothic and folk tales, several quite adult and all delicious. Her prose is exquisite she delights in eloquent descriptive scenes, which are not really the vogue today, and her stories contain minimal dialogue (apparently Angela despaired of writing good dialogue and instead chose to live without it). These are best picked one by one, as a continuous reading can become too heavy on the eyes. Our favourite story was The Werewolf, which has an unusual twist as to the identity of Red Riding Hood's wolf.
Secondly, read Rowan Coleman's The Happy Homes For Broken Hearts - a more modern fairytale with a happy ending (for once). Really enjoyed this - quite a surprise as was expecting a frivolous chick-lit romp. It's certainly a romp but with lots of heart too. Got into the main character and at the end was quite sad to have leave the cast of likeable lodgers. A good holiday read.
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