Category: literature
Extract from The Sweet Smell of Lilies
The following is an extract from a short story called The Sweet Smell of Lilies. Phoebe is fanciful teenage with a very over-active imagination. She sees murder and intrigue wherever she goes, even in the most innocent situations. But nothing is as strange as the eventual outcome of the story. The story is written from the POV of Phoebe herself, using her voice. But … Read More Extract from The Sweet Smell of Lilies
Extract from A Ghost Story
This is a short passage from my work in progress. It’s a ghost story which is split into the present and extracts from a part written novel. The writer died at the same time as the main protagonist, Emily, was born. This is taken from the novel which Emily is reading from an old manuscript given to her earlier. The child also called Emily … Read More Extract from A Ghost Story
The Indulgence
This is for the next Storycraft flash fiction challenge. Tell a story in 300-500 words of dialogue. Tags and action description are okay, but no exposition! The Indulgence ‘How long have you been dead?’ asked the angel, not even looking up once at the pretty young woman sitting across the desk in front of him. ‘About 30 years,’ she replied. ‘I am not sure. … Read More The Indulgence
+ folklore, literature, poetry, sonnet, writing
Outlandish Tales of Folklore
Apologies for having posted the first three before, albeit ages ago, but I wanted to keep them altogether somewhere. A sonnet is a 14 line lyrical poem traditionally written about beauty, unrequited love, romance, faith, death etc. Contemporary sonnets use modern language but the subject matter is often the same or similar. These attempt to break the mould, hopefully. As they are a sequence, … Read More Outlandish Tales of Folklore
Finally a decision
I’ve been sitting on my story Miss Havisham’s Ghost for over two (or even three) months, unable to go anywhere with it, so I decided the best thing to do was to give up. Not give up on writing the story but on trying to combine the two stories into one. I have done this – bring in something autobiographical – before in a … Read More Finally a decision
Short novel or long short story – that is the question
About a year ago I wrote the first chapter of a novel for an assignment. It was called Miss Havisham’s Ghost and was loosely based on my own childhood but was intended to be a work of fiction. To be honest it didn’t get that good a mark so I shelved it. Then a couple of months ago (or more) I started writing a ghost story. The … Read More Short novel or long short story – that is the question
Stage of Fools and other stories
‘Stage of Fools’ is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear. However, I used it as the title of a short story in which a theatre director decides to stage a production of The Medea, a Greek tragedy by Euripedes. Peter, the director, is a pretentious fool with ideas well above his station and talent. In the meanime his marriage to his French wife, Justine, … Read More Stage of Fools and other stories
The sweet smell of lilies reminds me…
Ok that sounds like an observation. It’s actually another excerpt from An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories. This one is called The Sweet Smell of Lilies. So here goes… Lilies remind me of funerals. Not a very original observation, I hear you thinking. Why not roses or gardenias or boring old Sweet Williams or those plants that everyone loves the smell … Read More The sweet smell of lilies reminds me…
You live and learn
What a total ….. up my first effort at self-publishing turned out to be. Probem is that I am used to proof reading on paper so it is only when I received my ‘test’ hard copy this morning that I spotted all the mistakes! Firstly – no table of contents. Secondly – no page numbering (don’t know why but I thought this would just … Read More You live and learn
I’m so excited!
Yes I am still going on about my new book which I just self-published on Lulu.com. I can’t wait to get my copies and see what it looks like. I’m so excited! Have a look at An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories Here is yet another extract. This is from a story called The Indulgence: ‘How long have you been dead?’ … Read More I’m so excited!
An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other stories again
Yesterday I self published this as an A4 paperback. That of course is not the right size for a book, more like a magazine! So today I republished in A5 size but it works out far more expensive per copy as it’s 92 pages. Have a look at An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories Here is another extract. This time it’s … Read More An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other stories again
An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories
Well, I finally have my degree after seven years so I thought I would stop being a student and actually publish something. I did this on Lulu.com (self publishing I know but you have to start somewhere and I wanted to see my stories in proper print). I therefore uploaded six short stories under the title An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short … Read More An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories
Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit 