I’ve been reading for a long long time. By the age of 14 I had read everyone of the 108 Biggles books, thanks to the local library, plus all the Famous Five and Secret Seven. Yes, I am that old.
Since then I have occasionally binge read scifi, fantasy and crime and dipped into current general fiction. But then I have a love for those who write outside the box like Murakami, Calvino, Kafka and Emily Bronte, for example.
I’m not suggesting you follow my tastes, I am encouraging you to read as much and as widely possible as time will allow. Although you will be reading for entertainment, the styles, use of dialogue and narrative voices as well as more genre specific characteristics will seep in and help you find your own form and style.
These shorts are not exemplars, they are to stimulate your imagination and your writing. Read on.
Bird sport
May 9, 2024 And welcome to the 45th Bird Olympics being held here in Hawk Bay where we are at the poolside for the water polo. Normally thought to be a shoe-in for the Gannets. This year the Starlings, seen here… Read More
Thud
October 12, 2020 It was fog. It was a very, very dense fog. London had not experienced such a pea-souper since the 1950s when coal fires spewed forth their hearths into the lower atmosphere for it only to sink to… Read More
Off to church
October 5, 2020 ‘I do I dooooo Iiiiiiii doo Mmmmmm I Arthur James Smethwick do take, hrmmmmm. I whatever do take Molly Rose Bimble. God I mustn’t laugh. Molly Rose Bimble as my lawful wedded wife.’ ‘Art, are you… Read More
The circle conundrum
September 28, 2020 ‘What are you doing?’ said Pooh. ‘I’m drawing a circle,’ said Eeyore. ‘I need to work out the diameter. What’s twice plus?’ ‘Plusplus,’ said Tigger and in a single boing found himself in a rose bush… Read More
Titanic – something from nothing
September 15, 2020 Would you mind?…. This is my raft Oh don’t try and play that everlasting romance trick on me, and it’s not Rose, it’s Miss DeWitt Bukater The water might be cold, that’s what you get when there… Read More
Retirement
August 31, 2020 Well, that’s that then. It’s all over. At last. Tomorrow life begins again. Every minute of every test match as it happens, uninterrupted. Day after day. Every ball, every wicket, every run. Lunch at… Read More