Writing Prompt: Your Town

We quite often don't appreciate what we have right on our doorstep. I've walked around town with my head down or with my mind wandering and seeing nothing around me. I know there are some shops on the High street I've never walked into and I'm sure there are some gems I'm missing. Have you...

The Playing Field – A Short Story

The field stretched out four acres behind the schoolhouse. Two long rows of evergreens spanned from one end of the field to the other, creating a sense of protective separation from the school grounds and the outside world. It had been snowing incessantly for three days so that the grounds were white. The tree branches,...

Writing Prompt: Whoof, Meow

There have been films and stories where the protagonists are animals. Think, "Animal Farm", "Watership Down", "Babe", "Charlotte's Web". For this prompt, try writing a story from the point of view of an animal or animals. Create a world for them to inhabit and throw in some conflict based on the setting and circumstances. Are...

Writing Prompt: Flat Battery

This one is about speed and urgency. Try this. Imagine it is your last remaining minutes on earth, your laptop battery is about to die and you have 10 minutes with which to say your final words. What would you want people to find? What do you want to leave behind? We talk and talk...

Writing Prompt: The Snapshot

There are stories all around us. Everyone we see has a history, every scene our eyes capture has a story behind it. I once took a camera to the beach in Malibu and took random photos of people walking on the pier, sitting on the sand, leaning on the rails of the boardwalk and eating...

Writing Prompt: The Book List

As you may have noticed through some of the other pages on the site, I've started a new book list for 2009. As I go through them, I'm writing down what I finish and adding a review. So far, I've read "Candide" by Voltaire (for the 20th time), "Fire in the Blood" by Irene Nemirovsky...

Writing Prompt: Alphabet Soup

As a writer, I'm also a reader. I read everything and anything that catches my attention. Novels, newspaper, how-to books, magazines, cereal boxes, blogs, forum posts, song lyrics...anything. One of the most important things in writing is expanding your vocabulary, so I study the words and expressions of others searching for inspiration. Funny, the book...

Quote for the day

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts. - Robert Fulghum

Writing Prompt: Creating the perfect fit

My tastes in books tends to be a bit eclectic. I have Japanese thrillers, historical fiction, contemporary British, history, philosophy, fantasy, horror and science fiction (to name a few).  There is no predicting what will capture my attention on a given day when I wander into Waterstone's on Princes Street. When I go in, I...

Writing Prompt: Sweet, Sour or Savoury?

Quite often, in writing, description focuses on appearances, sounds, sensations or smells. What about taste? I've never really thought about it, but I think that deep down I'm a savoury kind of girl. I love spices, strong chilies, rich butter and I'm a total steak monster and shepherds pie is just the thing to make...