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