Through the Streets and Along the Lanes

I'm currently writing a story for the Fiction Writers' Group's "Anything Goes" anthology, called "Through the Streets and Along the Lanes".

It's an expansion of the untitled story that won the Grey Matter Press competition this month, although set in the UK and Australia. A nicely dark chiller.

Grey Matter Press - Success!

I'm very happy to share that the below flash tale "He Walks in My Black" won the Grey Matter Press Flash Fiction Contest for November. Great start to the weekend!

He Walks In My Black

He Walks In My Black

“When I close my eyes he walks,” said the old woman. She said she was eighty but her eyes looked many times that age. “When I open them, he stops. He’s walked my whole life, starting in the desert when I was just a girl.”
I was passing through the tiny village on my way to the Alps, and had got chatting to this frail, fatigued lady in the sunny square. I wondered what she meant, but with my drink finished and cycle tyre changed, I needed to leave.
“They’ll not see me again,” she looked beyond the village sign to the forest. “He’s in the trees now.” She stood and hobbled that way, southwards down the lane.
It took a while to pack up, but by early evening I glided south towards Monpartre.
At the head of the valley I stopped to check the map and noticed an enormous figure striding across the field way below. He wore what appeared to be wide hat and, as impossible as it might seem, was easily the height of nearby mature trees. I saw a cottage beyond. Smoke rose in the chimney, but there were no lamps lit.
Shuddering, I cycled on.

- submitted to the Grey Matter Press Masters of Flash competition for November (200 words exactly needed)

Writer's Anarchy Flash Anthology - Published!

I'm delighted to say that Writer's Anarchy have accepted my short story The Icon of the Fool to be included in their "Send in the Clowns" anthology to be published later this year.

Really fine news as it will be out in both e-book and paperback format.

The Librarian's Stamp

I've just popped a ghost story over to The Scottish Book Trust's 50 Word Fiction competition

- - -

The Librarian's Stamp

Six new children, sitting glumly in detention. The only sound was the librarian's stamp behind.

"I'm surprised we're in the library,” said Connor.

"How come?" whispered another.

“The previous librarian drowned saving a boy in the pond, been shut since.”

The five children smelled weeds. The stamp continued its thump.

American Success!

An excellent week concludes as my sci-fi flash fiction story RENDER//UNRENDER grabs first place amongst a field of 42 writers in the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge, scoring the maximum 15 points.

I was pretty pleased with it when it went out, but to have it top a host of very talented international writers is fantastic news - I was looking for top ten this time around. 

I move on to round two, and am writing an as-yet untitled historical fiction piece based at St Pancras railway station this weekend. So far it features a theft and a fair bit of opium use.

Deadline is tomorrow at midnight!

The Icon of the Fool

It's flash fiction again this week as "The Icon of the Fool" is completed and submitted for the Fiction Writers Group Flash It! anthology, this year on the subject of clowns.

My submission doesn't strictly contain a clown, more like the essence of a pagan fool, but hopefully this doesn't preclude it from getting published.

It's the story of an unnamed man and his wife Marie, and we join them at the possible break-up point in their marriage. They take a trip back to the woods of their youth, and stumble upon a wooden figure of a jester...

Photo from the excellent Patrick at the Deviant Moon website. Do check out his tarot packs, prints and drawings.

Blog Hop!

I've been invited by the jolly friendly and formidably talented Jenna Willett over at Jens Pen Den to participate in her Blog Hop. Four questions....go!

What am I working on?
In between competition writing, through which I met Jen, I've been working on two main projects. The first is a short fiction anthology called "The Cartographer's Approach", which I aim to publish by the spring of next year. It's an assortment of short dark tales designed to house big questions in little formats and prompt a final check of the house before the reader retires to bed...

My other main effort is a feature length screenplay, which I aim to pitch as soon as its been through a rigorous development process. It's in the folk horror genre, is intended to be thoughtfully exciting rather than art-house and will contain some big ideas on how reality works. Not ambitious at all. To support this I'm off to the London Screenwriters Festival in October for some fact-finding, research and networking.

How does my work differ from others in the genre?
I think mainly due to the old-fashioned construction of the tales. I typically aim for slow burn suspense through innocuous detailing, which adds up cumulatively to a deep-seated sense of dread. I like the reader to be expected something different to the end product. I also enjoy adding comedy, having written and shot a number of comedy films for local festivals. One sketch show a while back resulted in an invitation by the BBC to re-film sketches at their television centre in London.

Getting comedy and darkness to knit together is a real challenge, but they are closer bedfellows in mechanism than some might think. Both rely on chaos, timing and surprise.

Why do I write what I do?
Tough one. I think anyone involved in creative work will tell you they are exorcising some part of themselves when they engage in it. "Lose yourself to find yourself" I saw as a motto yesterday. Some truth in that perhaps. I've always enjoyed format and craft when I've been reading a work or watching a film, so to practice and close the gap between quality of consumption as a fan and quality of production as a writer is a major challenge.

How does my writing process work?
I carry a black bag with me everywhere. It contains a voice recorder, a notebook, a Kindle with reference material and my own drafts on it, a few coloured pens and sometimes a mini-laptop or Alpha if I think I'm going somewhere to get some writing in. I'll get ideas and inspiration mainly when out and about (when I should be thinking about something else), and its important to capture it properly for later use.

I'll sit down for sessions at my iMac using Scrivener and rattle through first drafts quite quickly, using Scrivener's excellent chapter splitting tools. This breaks the draft down into easily titled chunks, sometimes with no more than 50-100 words in each. I can then step away and see the larger structure through the headings.

Once finished I'll leave it for a week or more and do something else, before redrafting, which I'm a big fan of. I'll usually redraft using a paper copy, some pens and a coffee - usually out at a cafe. Then I'll write it back up before leaving it for another later redraft and fact/typo check. I'll then give it out to a small band of beta readers (mostly friends and family) who I know can be ruthlessly and constructively honest. Then its formatted up and packaged as a done deal before then next one is started.

I like to write in both prose and script formats. Prose is a greater challenge in some ways as every word needs to be crafted to conjure the appropriate imagery in the reader's mind. Scriptwriting is quite different in that dialogue is king and everything else is efficient instruction or description - but the brevity the format needs is also a pleasing challenge. I try to read as much of both as I can, and don't see how a writer can neglect to read and stay properly honed. This week I've been reading "The Thing" by Bill Lancaster, one of my favourite "monster in the house" screenplays.

+++

For the "Blog Hop" concept to work I've got to nominate someone to write about themself and share the love. So here's a friend local to me.

Tim Clague - A recognised authority on UK Scriptwriting via his Ukay Scriptwriters podcast along with long-time cohort and TV writer Danny Stack, BAFTA-nominated Tim is based in Bournemouth and currently working on making his first feature film, Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg?.
This is a crowd funded effort and aims to bring the children's feature film back to Britain as a popular format, away from the congested markets of super heroes and CGI animation. He's a busy chap, shooting the film now, but hopefully when the dust settles will pop up a bit of info on himself on his entertaining Projector Films blog.

posted from Bloggeroid

A Fiend in the Furrows

I'm delighted this coming week to be heading to Belfast to attend the Fiend in the Furrows three day conference arranged by Queen's University.

The event will be exploring ‘folk horror’ in British and Irish literature, film, television, and music, and will include academic papers, film screenings, musical performances, and readings.

This unsettling branch of fiction has long been dear to me, with Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood and of course M.R. James being huge influences on my writing.

I'll be looking forward to meeting some like-minded enthusiasts, and seeing what I can take away from the event.

RENDER // UNRENDER

So, RENDER//UNRENDER got finished, and I rather enjoyed it. It's a dystopian 990 word flash story about a future where we are all living with illusion, probably complicitly.

I found writing about the themes quite natural, so will be revisiting dystopia again very soon.

Will pop a link up when I get the all clear from the competition organisers. Oh, and it involves a cinnamon roll.

Flash Fiction USA

Another competition in New York, and this time it's flash fiction - this weekend I'm working on a 1,000 word sci-fi story called RENDER//UNRENDER.

It involves a young man on a tour bus and how the scales slip from his eyes due to some faulty software. Will be popping it up on here when I get the nod from the organisers.

The Steelbridge Oversight

It's NYC Midnight round two screenplay submission time, and I've conjured up a nasty little 8-pager called The Steelbridge Oversight. The elements required for the entry were:

Genre: Drama
Character: A Philanthropist
Situation: Going back to school

It's about a wealthy businessman on the eve of his benefactor's address to his old school, and his troubled son. We shall see how well it does next month.

NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge Success!

Great news as my eleven page screenplay "Six Nights at the Apple Blossom Lounge" comes top in its heat of 32 writers in the first round of the 2014 NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge.

The entrants have been cut now from 800 to 125, and a new eight page screenplay will be written this weekend over three days, again containing a random genre/subject/character combination.

If you'd like to read the screenplay, which was written in eight days, it can be found here.

Flash Fiction Slam

I had a lot of fun at the Flash Fiction Slam yesterday at Bournemouth University's Festival of Learning, a week long opening of the institute's doors to the wider public.

The event was a Flash Fiction Slam, where contestants were invited to read a story out of no more than 350 words in under 3 minutes on the subject of "a crash".

I wrote the below an hour or so before the event, assisted by a cup of tea.

***

Holly's Crash

The day of Holly’s crash she drove to her sister’s wedding reception in her new car. 

The low-key do was outside at Stainsley village hall where the couple lived. All the family were present and the colourful bash was in full swing after an hour. She sat down and chatted to Uncle Roger, who was with his dog who he bore a curious resemblance to – Uncle Roger wasn’t an ugly man, he just had a peculiarly handsome and expressive Aberdeen Terrier. 

Before long Holly’s mum, resplendent under a lemon hat, wheeled over with her suited father and a couple of aunts. They embraced. “Did you bring the cutlery and extra napkins?” asked her mother, straight to the point as usual.

“Ah” said Holly “cutlery yes, napkins I forgot”

Her mother tutted brusquely. “Letting us down again, Hols. Ah well never mind we’ll make do”

Her father looked over at her new Honda. “Very nice. Looks pretty nippy, watch how you go.” Holly told him not to worry and the evening played out merrily, a whirling clattering jamboree of local society and music.

At the end Holly kissed her parents goodnight, hugged her wholly plastered sister who was careening around the guests like a euphoric pinball and settled into the car. She drove out through the suburbs, joined the ringroad to the motorway and sped along under the beating orange rhythm of the streetlamps stood like sentinels guiding her back to town.

She came off the motorway, glided through the after-hours taxi traffic to the local estate and wound her way to the small car park at her flat.

She took the stairs to her front door, made some hot chocolate and sat down. It was there, in the soft glow of her kitchen, that Holly had her crash.

“Letting us down again Hols” – her mother’s casual words had been playing on a cassette loop since she’d spoken them. In the whirl of the party they’d been background static, but now they drove forward and collided with the familiar conversations Holly had with herself most days. She fell apart whilst sitting upright for the hundredth time that year, a familiar dark road stretching before her.

Before long, she ventured to bed, leaving the recovery trucks of sleep to attend or not as they saw fit.

Blending Landscapes

After a refreshing week's holiday, I'm back to finishing up on "The Silo".

The main thread of this story is to marry a traditional rural Japanese ghost tale into an East Anglian landscape, to me the environments share a similar uncanny character. The tale should be done this week and hidden away for revision as I get started on the feature screenplay "Hesitation".

NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge

It's back to NYC Midnight, where I've just entered a ten page script for their Screenwriting Challenge.

It's called "Six Nights at the Apple Blossom Lounge", and follows an inventive young fashion student who gets a job at a mainly oil-riggers nightclub in Aberdeen, only to find out he's the least toughest in the place. It features a post office, a kebab, broken pint glasses and Michael Bolton.

The Silo

New story nearly completed, titled "The Silo".

Some creepy goings on at an East Anglian farm when a student returns for some holiday work. Quiet fields at dusk, hedgerows, a disappeared relative's history and the minutiae of grain storage all involved.

Back to School!

So, with NYC Midnight (which I've been banging on about at length) round two in the bag, and a gruelling experience at that, it's time to turn towards kicking off the screenplay work for the year.

I have a sci-fi premise that I want to develop out into a full feature script, the working title is "Hesitation". It's about the everyday pitfalls of living in a quantum state, with a bit of murder thrown in.

Having been mainly involved in either short film scripts or more recently prose, I need to put some work in on how to develop out a feature script.

So, to that end I've enrolled in the Creating High Concept Screenplay Ideas online workshop run by Screenwriters University. It seems like a decent outfit and the four week schedule covers the topics I want to go over on developing an idea through to a full script, so I'm looking forward to attending that in April.

NYC Midnight Round 2

A tough three days ends with a story called "Inevitable", a drama about an entertainment journalist and his broken promises.

It was a tricky brief and I've discovered I work best given at least five days! Done and dusted now though - will take a break Monday and carry on this week with the short story anthology.

NYCM Round Two Shenanigans

My NYC Midnight round two story is having an incredibly tricky birth. I've switch from third person to first person and it seems to have clicked something into place. Maybe I'm just a first person kinda writer.

Provisionally titled "Make Me Lovely Again", it's to do with the tragedy of pop music failure.

At least it is at the moment.

That Thing

Something I've noticed about my own writing process is I need to wait for That Thing to come along before I can get through something and know it'll be good.

It's hard to define That Thing. It's not character, situation or events, but a tangible mental clicking of all three, like a plug fitting into a socket. It's also a connection of the heart to the piece, because as with most writers I'm capable of churning out on autopilot, sometimes unawares.

Absence of That Thing doesn't stop me from starting or continuing a piece of writing, but I'm less confident without it. Once I feel it arrive, I suddenly write at twice the rate and can barrel through to the first draft finish fairly quickly. If That Thing hasn't arrived by the end of the first draft, a complete rewrite is likely until it gets conjured up. It sounds like mojo or muse, but it's not.

The best way to define it is a bird's eye snapshot of how the major events will go, but also in relation to the authenticity of the character motives. I suppose it's the writing equivalent of seeing a vision of the cake in progress for the first time, or just the trusty ingredients.

Odd, but when I feel That Thing touch down, I know it's going to get done and be satisfying, at least to me.

NYC Midnight - on two round two...

Exciting news as Malaysian prison horror "They Came With the Rains" puts me through to the second round of the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge.

Thanks to all who gave the story some feedback, which will now be tightened up and submitted to the excellent Black Static magazine.

The round two components have been allocated and I get:

Genre: Drama
Situation: An Obsession
Character: A Journalist

Deadline is this Monday - let's go!

The story is provisionally titled "Make Me Lovely Again"

Pixels

This week's task is to complete the story "Pixels".

It's about a company man who goes looking for a file he needs at work. As he searches it becomes apparent that the building has other plans for him..

They Came With the Rains

My NYC Midnight short story entry is completed, "They Came With the Rains". A charming tale of bad events at a Malaysian island prison.

It's been sent off, and feedback and results expected in March, fingers crossed. An interesting test of writing to pre-decided criteria, and fun!

SE Asian Horror!

The NYCMidnight.com Short Story Challenge brief is in and it is:

Genre = Horror
Situation = Genetically Modified Organism
Character = A Prisoner

A story called "The Best of Three Options" is underway, set in a Malaysian prison. The premise is suitably grim.....

Very relieved to have dodged 'rom-com' as a genre, could so nearly have bought it.

Bright Lights, Big City

My writing schedule is now set up as 90 minutes a weekday night, starting at roughly 8.30 or 9.00. Plenty of time to do plenty of things, it's surprising how much ground can be covered with a spot of discipline.

One of the objectives this year, along with coming up with a short fiction collection and getting published in a genre periodical, is to wrangle a screenplay into some manageable form by the autumn. Timed nicely with this is the London Screenwriters' Festival, on during the weekend of 24-26th October at Regent's University in London.

LSF is a big old scary event with pitching opportunities, seminars and general hobnobbing so does look like something handy to attend.

New York Short Fiction Frenzy

I've entered the rather nutty American "nycmidnight.com Short Story Challenge".

It's a competition of three rounds of increasingly intense writing, where the writer is given a week, then three days, then just one day to write in a randomly assigned genre and using components handed out by the organisers. Maximum adrenaline writing!

The first subject/genre is given out this coming Friday and then I'll need to have a 2,500 word story done by the following Saturday.

Let's do this!

Dark Stories for Light Months

The Cartographer's Approach and other tales will be published next spring, initially in eBook format.

This is a collection of dark short stories I've been writing over the winter months - sinister tales with a supernatural dusting.

Titles:

The Screes - A life snuffed out by murder leaves a confused phantom on the slopes. Foul events and guilt in The Lake District.
Pixels - An insurance clerk looks for an old file. The bowels of his corporate building look for him.
The Streets, The Lanes - Each time young Emily closes her eyes, the Oil Man starts walking towards her town. When she opens them, he stops.
Hesitation - Jack finds he can see into his own actions in the near future. Then he sees himself kill a stranger for no reason.
Tuesday, 3pm - Anna sees her therapist every Tuesday for her depression. Under hypnosis she reveals past events best left unvisited.
The Cartographer's Approach - Billy is happy to play on the beach near his still parents, but no one is meant to be alive as He Who Maps draws close.
Staving - After a divorce, Dan resettles and absorbs himself in the traditions of the country way of life he's always wanted. Some traditions don't welcome prying modern eyes, no matter how affectionate.
Gorse - Thirteen year old Connor loves playing on his local heath, and finds there are spirits in the dusty bushes.

Carnival Reopening

After a Bitumen Carnival blogging hiatus, during which time www.TheBeerBunker.co.uk grew rather nicely - we're back to events at the fairground.

I have some exciting new fiction projects on the go this year, details to follow once I take some of the dust sheets off these old penny machines, and track down the bearded lady, last seen heading to the prom in search of chips.

PD