Tuesday 21 January 2014

January's writers group

Over Christmas with a little time to myself I finally managed to finish a story.
The start was easy, as they so often are, but then I got a bit stuck.  My character takes his dog for a walk in the park and they find a footprint in the snow.  But who's footprint?
I put it to one side and did something else.  
Just before Christmas I re-read The Shining by Stephen King.  I particularly love the hedge animals and I suddenly realised that my footprint didn't have to be from a 'living' creature.  Suddenly everything became clear.
I read it out to the writers group today to be greeted by silence.  They didn't seem sure but all agreed that it was sinister, which is kinda what I was aiming for.
I must try and keep the momentum up and write something else for the next meeting.

This months homework:
Try writing two short stories which interlink; this could be with characters who appear in both, or an event which is experienced in each, for instance.  The link can be quite brief – just something to make your reader excited that they have spotted a link.

Many writers do this, my example was David Mitchell in Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten.

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