writing ideas

  • Monday Motivations

    To motivate you and to help kick-start your writing week, I’m going to give you a single line to open a story with. Hopefully, it’ll set your mind thinking about all sorts of possibilities and threads of a story. And I haven’t neglected the poets amongst you so there’s also an opening line for you…

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  • My Weekly Writing Challenge

    This week’s challenge is short and sweet. I’m looking for a ten-word story, using four of the following words: Serendipity Illicit Dollop Hullabaloo Shrubbery Squelch Priministerial Gargantuan I think they’ll be some interesting results! Last week, I gave you a single word for your challenge: Fear. Here are the results: Keith Channing sent in a…

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  • Monday Motivations

    Sometimes all you need is a word to get your creativity going and for threads of a story or poem to start to weave together. Here are some words to start you on your way: Surprise Affair Shatter Angels Terror Cafe Accident Alleyway Poison Rejection Last week, I gave you two short story openings to…

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  • Markets For Writers

    I owe the wonderful Sacha Black a big thank you for this week’s market: Mash Competitions. These flash fiction competitions are run every quarter. They’re looking for stories of up to 500 words and have this to say: ‘Our competition rules are simple. Every three months, three random objects are selected from a randomly gathered…

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  • Monday Motivations

    Writing ideas to kick-start your week This week, I’m giving you two short story openings to stimulate those creative juices. Use them as a writing excercise or turn them into a full story. If any of you would like to send them to me, I’d love to read them and will post them here next…

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  • Monday Motivations

    My Monday motivation for you is a reminder to enter my weekly writing challenge . For this, you two have choices: Option A: I’ll give you a story opening and the challenge is to continue the story from that point. Option B: For this choice, I have a story ending for you and your challenge…

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  • Monday Motivations

    This week, to get your writing week kick-started, I’m going to give you the beginning of a story. What happens next is up to you. Lizzie had known it was going to happen one day. But that didn’t make it any easier. She looked out the window and peered through the rain splattered glass. It…

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  • Top Tip Of The Week

    Dazzling Dialogue If you’re working on a short story this weekend and can’t find that compelling opening, why not begin your story with a passage of dialogue? It instantly involves the reader and draws him into the story e.g.: “I hate you. I hope you die!” Stacey pushed David away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…

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  • Monday Motivations

    This week’s stimulus to set you off on the writing trail is a visual one. I hope this eerie scene, with the strange-looking shadow in the distance, sets you thinking…

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  • Monday Motivations

    My motivation for you this Monday comes in the form of an image of an underwater world. Let your imagination carry you away…

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