Want to produce really flash stories? Sharpen your writing skills with flash fiction. Small is beautiful Apart from winning competitions, there are beneficial spin-offs from writing flash fiction: finding one word to replace four stretches your vocabulary; keeping it tight
How to Write Without Adverbs
This morning’s email from a friend, written in panic, and ending with “Help!” was sparked by advice from the judge of a story competition he wanted to enter. The advice was this: ‘Do not use adverbs.’ “But the second word
Writing Distinctive Voices
In a recent post on inspiration, I mentioned my natural tendency to ‘see’ time, space and events as visual scenes and patterns. Here, I confess to hearing voices. No, not literally – they’re not about to take me away –
My Favourite Writing Competitions
Competitions are a way to develop your skills as well as a source of inspiration. Plenty to Choose From There are masses of writing competitions; from the questionable ‘ads’ asking for entry fees but not mentioning judges or prizes, to
What is the future of the short story?
It was a rare treat to rootle around a good second-hand book shop last week and I came away with armfuls of treasure – and in dire need of more shelf-space. One gem was H. E. Bates’, The Modern Short