motivation
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This week’s installment in my weekly series, on how to hook your reader’s interest in the first few words of your story, moves from last week’s humour to atmosphere. By building up a strong sense of atmosphere at the beginning of your story, you ensure your reader feels part of the story straight away. Here…
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Last week, I showed you how a short story, which opens using the shock factor, can capture your readers’ interest. This week, I take a look at how a humorous one can achieve the same result. We all like to read something, which makes us laugh and something amusing often comes as a welcome break…
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Jason was very lucky and just snuck in there with his challenge! Thank you to those who took it up and wrote stories and poems relating to the J, K and L of my weekly series i.e. stories and poems on the themes of Job, Kill and Love. Some managed to write about all three! You…
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Just Do It! This week’s tip is written with a mixture of sadness but also with a sense of motivation. The sadness part relates to me having to have my beloved 18 year-old cat put to sleep this morning. It doesn’t seem five minutes ago that she arrived here, a cute bundle of ginger fluff.…
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My themed weekly writing challenge stumped a few last week (the themes were Grotto, Hospital or Isolation) but for others, it clearly inspired. You can read their wonderful pieces below. Now onto this week and yes, it’s J, K and L and the themes for these letters are: Job, Kill and Love. For some inspiration on what you…
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A number of you contacted me to say how much you enjoyed my ‘ABC Of Short Story Ideas’ and found it useful in helping you to come up with story ideas of your own. With that in mind, I thought I’d stick with fiction and start a new weekly series, ‘Fabulous First Few Words‘. As…
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Last week, you had the option of writing a story or poem about ‘darkness’, an ’emergency’ or ‘freedom’. Well, the ‘darkness’ theme certainly got you thinking. Some fantastic stories are published below. So, this week, we move on to ‘G, H and I‘. My themes for your stories and poems are ‘Grotto‘, ‘Hospital‘ and ‘Isolation‘. To…
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Mmmm, I knew it was coming – the Y and Z but it wasn’t easy to come up with short story themes; well, half decent ones anyway. I’m not sure you would appreciate ‘ yoyo’ or ‘zumba’ but you never know! Y is for Yearn: What is your character yearning for? Is it a person?…
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Take A Break Do you often feel frustrated when your short story doesn’t flow? Or perhaps you’re working on an article and the ideas and words won’t come. Maybe it’s a bigger project you’re working on, like a novel, but it’s just not coming together. Then is the time to take a break. Go for…
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Last week’s challenge linked to my ‘ABC of short story ideas’ series which appears on a Monday. You had a choice of writing about an ‘ambulance’, ‘burglary’, ‘castle’ or all three! Castle proved to be the favourite choice by far. Your wonderful stories can be read below. Last week it was the ‘ABC’ so this…
