Blog Entries from BruceA

  1. Nessie

    @Tenderiser challenged me to write a story based on the Loch Ness Monster, so here it goes.. Nessie (456 words) “You’re new,” the girl said, looking Maggie up and down. The words weren't just a statement, they were an accusation. The girl wore a sneer, like her dad wore his favorite jacket: it fitted perfectly, and she wasn’t going to take it off, just because Maggie didn’t like it. Maggie considered all the various responses on the sarcastic spectrum, before settling on a neutral, “Yes”....
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  2. Ten. 10. ten-ity ten ten. TEN.

    “Ten.” “Ten what?” “I don’t know, do I? Not yet. That’s the challenge. It is a prompt for the tenth anniversary of WritingForums.org. I’m trying to come up with a story involving ten something.” “Oh. A prompt. I pity the poor bastards who have to read those stories: boring! Why couldn’t they have had a theme instead?” “A theme?” “Yeah, like ‘celebration’ or somesuch. Prompts are soooo restrictive, and the stories are uninteresting to write and to read. Count me out.” “They are offering...
  3. Mark Haddon on Writing Short Stories (Radio 4 Saturday 7th May 2016)

    Mark Haddon (author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) is on Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 today. He talks about his new collection of short stories and how writing short stories gives you a certain freedom that writing novels do not. An example he gives is that he can set a short story on Mars, but wouldn't dream of writing a novel on Mars "because if it is rubbish you can throw away a short story" but find it more difficult to do so if it is a novel. He argues that Short...
  4. A Dialogue Only Story: One Beach of a Trip

    Reading this thread reminded me of this story I wrote last year. I asked someone to give me some prompts for a short story (two objects and a location) and they said "cheese grater", "a button" and "a beach". I decided to write a dialogue only piece (although in the story below there are two words that are not dialogue!) One beach of a trip (621 words) “So, you seriously expect me to believe that this overgrown cheese grater will actually work?” “It’s not a cheese grater: it’s a...
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  5. Graham Linehan on writing: You have to be able to be a bad writer before you can go on to make something really good

    Really enjoyed listening to Radio 4's Chain Reaction with Graham Linehan (The IT Crowd, Father Ted) interviewing Adam Buxton (if you google it you will find it on BBC Iplayer, soundcloud and youtube). One of my favourite quotes on the writing process is: "Writing the first draft is basically where you have to for an annoying week or two make contact with the incredibly mediocre person you actually are, you basically write something and it’s not as good as the worst thing on television, and...
  6. Sexual Harrassment on Public Transport

    Not being a woman, I have had little experience of sexual harrassment (once, when I was in my early twenties, and had long hair, a man put his hands on my waist and said 'excuse me love'. His face - and those of his friends - was a picture when I, male and bearded turned around and said 'that's alright, mate'). Unfortunately, experiences like the ones reported in this Guardian article are all too common:...
  7. Reading your own stories aloud...

    How many of you read your stories aloud when editing them - or at least before publishing them (in whatever form that takes)? It is something I have always thought is a good idea, but never did. Until recently, that is. It is interesting how many errors you pick up when reading your own work out loud, even if you have read your story over and over. I have begun to do this when I think the editing process is over (and always find something else to change). I have also begun to record my...
  8. Inspirational article: A woman confronts her rapist after 33 years

    The inspirational forum has restricted posting rights, so I thought I would use my blog to post links to articles that I find interesting. I have just read this article ([URL]http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/09/carmen-aguirre-why-faced-my-rapist[/URL]) and thought it was worth sharing. It had an emotional impact on me, it is well written and gives an insight into the mind of one woman who was raped as a young teenager and how she met her rapist in prison 33 years later, and her mission to...
  9. Sixth time lucky?

    EDIT: this was originally called 'BruceA: walking cliché", but the blog wouldn"t post yesterday, despite many attempts. Seems to be working today, though Hurrah! This was written yesterday afternoon... I am a cliché. There, I've said it. You can stop reading now. Why do I type this, you no doubt do not wonder? Well...(drum roll)... I am a procrastinator. It is one of the most unoriginal things that can be said about an unpublished wannabe writer: which I am. For around 36 years I have been...
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