A Piece of My Writing

This is a piece of writing I did in my writing class writingclasses.co.uk that is very different in style to my magazine stories. It is a description of a foster child's bedroom and was runner up in a flash fiction competition. The illustration is by my niece, Hannah.

Eyes Wide Open

 

 

 

However much they are tugged, the curtains, with their sailing boats making endless voyages across the billowing seas of cloth, spring apart where the tracks do not quite meet in the middle. A street light casts its crazy neon spell across the duvet. Only hands pressed hard against eye balls can shut out the light.

Pick, pick. A finger finds its way through the much washed fabric of the cover to delve deeply into the yielding guts of the duvet. After two days, its boy smell is encouraging. It offers soft comfort that Blankie can no longer give. Cramped between the wall and bed, Blankie has been discarded - a laundry fresh betrayal.

Damp pyjamas, still warm, hide beneath the privacy of the turned mattress. Alongside lies a holdall, its zippered grin revealing two small pairs of socks and pants, a grey sweater and a much washed t-shirt, ‘Welcome to the Jurassic coast’ still visible above the spiral of an ammonite. Inside its soft folds lurk treasures of other places – other lives: a plastic stegosaurus, a photograph - its myriad of creases aging the smiling face of young woman; a ring, its solitaire eye unblinking in the dark.

Books, carefully chosen, wait to be opened on the shelf. A shelf too high for a small boy to reach except on tiptoe- made in another time for another boy. ‘Welcome!’ says the card balanced on top of ‘Harry Potter’ – but no one is listening.

Shadows shift – phantoms of a childish memory. In this room, the fetid air is not fuggy with sweet smoke and the menace of stale whispered conversation. There is only clean emptiness and always the silence. In a corner, the solitary bed with its cocoon of duvet at last offers sleep.

Eyes wide open. As morning sun creeps tentatively around the edges of the curtain and diffuses through that stubborn chink, boats bob. Muffled morning sounds creep under the door – a voice singing discordantly to Madonna, a dog’s impatient bark. A dog!

The carpet is soft under a small boy’s feet, worn lino a fading memory. Hands reach for ‘Harry Potter’. The card floats down……. ‘Welcome!'

It is picked up and wrapped in the soft folds of the ammonite.

Two Authors Writing as One

 

Nothing to do with my post. This is one of the beautiful bouquets that arrive every month - last year's Christmas present from my mother.

 

I am fascinated by the idea of two people writing a book together as one author, as in the novel ‘The Hypnotist’ by Lars Keppler (which my husband is reading) – in which a Stockholm family is brutally murdered. The investigators of the case decide to hypnotise the family's teenage son, who is critically ill, in the hopes of leading him to provide clues as to the identity of the murderer.

I recently found out that Lars Keppler is a pseudonym for the husband-and-wife writing team of Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril.

It's fascinating to hear how they work. Apparently, they sit side by side at a desk with two computers. Each writes a scene and then after about twenty minutes they email each other their writing which they then add to and edit. This happens over and over again until they forget who’s written what.

A fascinating interview with them can be watched on the  Richard and Judy Reading Groups for Everyone site.

 

I asked my husband if he could imagine writing a book with me this way and his reply was:

'No, because you would edit and cut everything I wrote, whereas I wouldn't dare change anything you'd written.'

 

How well he knows me!

 

 

Sold Three Stories

Very excited to find out today that Norah at Fiction Feast wants to buy three of my stories - this is turning out to be a very good month!

Beautiful Kalami

View of Kalami taken from road to Kouloura

 

'The White House' Laurence Durrell's home - now a taverna

Was it only last week I was eating this?

Corfu Town 'Old Fort'-  thought this lighthouse would make a great story setting

Just Back from Holiday

Returned from a wonderful holiday in Corfu last night to find a large hole in our front garden and a note through the front door telling us that the gas had been disconnected due to a leak. After washing in a basin of water and washing my hair with a jug I am not feeling quite so chilled!

The good news is, I returned to an email from The People's Friend to say that I've had a story accepted. This was my big aim as they are very specific in what they are looking for and it is hard to get the tone just right (see post 'Resubmissions').

So, all in all, a good return to England (despite the lack of hot water).

I can't write! It is too lovely outside. I hope it will be easier in the winter...otherwise I will be doomed to failure.

Help for New Writers

Wouldn't it be great if all you had to do was sit down and write your short stories? I have realised that, for most of us, to write for a particular market there is more to it than this - you have to learn the ropes.

This post is to help other new writers who are considering trying to break into the Women's Magazine market by hopefully answering some of the questions that I felt I needed to ask before I could start.



Linda's great book of ideas

Over the last few months, since writing more seriously, I have been very lucky to have been in contact with Linda Lewis akacatherinehoward.blogspot.co.uk. Linda has written hundreds of short stories for Women's Magazines and as such, has been the perfect person to answer my, possibly very naive, questions. Linda also writes a very interesting column in Writer's Forum magazine called Short Story Success, which has a wealth of information for new writers for this market. Some of my questions and answers were included in a recent issue.
 
Thank you, Linda for your patience over the last few months and your useful advice.
 

 

These are Linda's answers to 

The Questions All New Writers Should Ask

 

Question:  How many stories should I send at one time?

 

Answer:    A maximum of two

 

 

Question:  I have had a letter back with a comment rather than the standard rejection letter - is this a good sign?

 

Answer:    Any comments received from an editor is a sign of encouragement. They're swamped with stories and if they take the time to comment on yours it means you're 'almost there'.

 

 

Question:   I have 12 stories 'out there' is this enough?

 

Answer:     12 stories are commendable - but the trick is to have even more.

 

 

Question:  Do magazines let you know by post or email if they want to buy your story?

 

Answer:    The People's Friend lets you know by post, Fiction Feast and The Weekly News by email and Yours sometimes by phone.

 

Question:  If you have a story accepted, do you mention it in your next covering letter?

 

Answer:    Not unless you want to say that having an acceptance has spurred you on to write more - keep covering letters as short as possible.

 

Question:   Should you round up the word count or give the exact number of words?

 

Answer:     Give as exact a word count as you can. My margin for a 1000 word story would be 960 -1030.

 

Question:   I sent a story 13 weeks ago and haven't heard anything. What is the average timescale for a reply? The guidelines say 10 - 12 weeks - should contact the magazine or leave it a while?

 

Answer:    The long turn around might mean that your story has gone to a second or third reading (for a sale there might 3 readings then the editor will read it). If you haven't heard in 20 weeks, you can write a short letter including the date submitted and the title. Don't worry too much about the old stories - write some more!

 

 When I told Linda about my first sale to Fiction Feast, her response was 'Well done! Now go and write another dozen!'

 

 

The Writer's Treasury of Ideas by Linda Lewis is £12 plus p&p. If you buy direct from her website you will receive a free mini guide to short story competitions.