story

My writing process is chaos. I usually start with an overarching theme. Then I establish several story threads, but I don't outline. I just start writing and keep notes for what may come. It's an organic process that's usually pretty flexible. Lisa Lutz

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel. Michael Morpurgo

For those who need that deadline push to finish and write The End https://www.writing.ie/writing-comps/the-moth-short-story-prize-2025/ https://www.writing.ie/writing-comps/anthology-personal-memoir-competition/ https://www.writing.ie/writing-comps/rte-short-story-competition-2025/...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/a-machine-shaped-hand-read-a-story-from-openais-new-creative-writing-model

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/09/spotify-algorithm-artists-music-musicians-money-songs-playlists In the hands of some of its most gifted practitioners, songwriting is a kind of emotional alchemy. For the past week, I have been returning to a perfect example: Every Time the...

https://www.patreon.com/posts/flash-theme-for-123307920?utm_campaign=patron_engagement&utm_source=post_link&post_id=123307920&utm_id=d5a0bbee-1a7f-49f4-8b0a-a96345cb3e95&utm_medium=email

This is a contest with Gotham Writers - a writing school in NYC who also does online classes. I've taken 6 online classes with them, and they've all been great. Not a bad prize really... 10 words for a free class. Here's the contest from their site: It may be apocryphal, but the story goes...

What do you guys think of Writer's of the Future? Did anyone submit here and get anywhere? I'm thinking of writing a short story for the next cycle....

So as most of you know Sanderson is probably one of the most prolific fantasy writers these day. I don't know how he does it. Back in the days I binged his course recorded in BU in 2012. And now he is back with the 2025 instalment, repeating some things but always a good refresher. So far 3...

New blog post by mickleinapickle One Perfect Sentence Posted on behalf of Peter Cox… The prompt this month was to complete “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” in a novel way. In this, you manifestly succeeded In fact, this was arguably the best OPS contest we’ve run so...

New blog post by Claire G More Haste, Less Speed? What Do We Mean by ‘Pace’ And Why Is It Important? We often hear that books are fast-paced, slow burn or ‘saggy in the middle’. In a nutshell, pace is the speed at which a story unfolds (note that this is not the same as the speed at which a...

New blog post by Pamela Jo – discussions in this thread, please --- “The werewolf’s bride is late.” The words echoing in my head were spoken by a black horse. With a toss of its mane, the horse became a giant bird with wings like grey shrouds. The thing’s eyes remained yellow. As drunkard’s...

Here in the Northern hemisphere the feeble light is ever darkening and, quicker than you can say Jack Frost, it will be St Lucie’s Day; the moment in the calendar when the world's whole sap is sunk. I love that poem, I always return to it at this time of year. There is something atavistic about...

I'm reading the book featured in this article (Duffy & Son). Highly recommend it. A wry, funny, and poignant study of getting older. So I did a little research into the author. I think his personal writing story might be of interest to many of us...

https://www.jezebel.com/annual-scary-story-contest

I just loved that title. Interesting interview and evidence there are places to sell stories even today. Authors of Issue 146: Alex Sobel New 47 minutes ago Alex Sobel, author of "The Eight Things You'll Never Be Now That You're Slowly Turning Into a Giant Spider Creature", joined us for an...

I have just learned there are places that will pay you actual money for stories. Something Claire G knows already. This is apparently a good site to find those places...

Well, it's been a heck of a year :rolleyes: sparing everyone the details, our immediate family (me, my wife and both our fathers) were struck with various cancers so... #fuckcancer Now that's over with, I've come back out of hiatus and I'm back to writing again. I published my fourth book just...