Archive for January, 2016

Short story starters

No Comments »19th January, 2016; Category: Fiction, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Short Story Starters, Writing prompts

Over the last few years I have written many posts similar to this one. Many of them have proved to be very popular with my readers and consistently draw many readers. I have also had good feedback from readers who have used them.

The idea behind these lists is to start your thinking off on a certain track – and then to let your imagination run wild. Use any of these ideas as you like, adapt the ideas to suit your thinking and away you go.

Each one could be used as an opening line, or a finishing line, or a sentence somewhere in your story.

Story starters

  1. ‘How on earth could you think that about me?’ shouted Nancy.
  2. Olivia hesitated as she came into the room. Her handbag was not where she had left it.
  3. ‘Now where have I put my glasses?’ muttered Peter.
  4. It was strange how Queenie always found a way out of her frequent moments of embarrassment. Like yesterday.
  5. As Robert closed his front door, he drew his coat tighter against the bitter wind. ‘What a night.’
  6. Sam raced to the letter box, flung it open and grabbed the only letter. “Yes! This must be it!’
  7. ‘How can you be so sure it was me?’ demanded Tina. ‘I wasn’t anywhere near you when it happened.’
  8. ‘If that is how you feel,’ said Ursula, ‘this is the final straw.’
  9. Vince was completely flummoxed. How was he going to get out of this toxic relationship?
  10. ‘That will do!’ yelled William. ‘That is the perfect spot for my pride and joy.’

You can access many more short story starters here.

Conditions of use:

  • Feel free to use any of the story starters listed above. Change anything to suit your needs.
  • Give it your best shot.
  • Edit your work carefully before sending it off to a publisher or posting it on your blog.
  • Let me know in the comments section how it went.
  • If you publish your story on your web site or on your blog let me know so I can make a link to it for others to read.

Happy New Year and some plans for 2016

No Comments »15th January, 2016; Category: Events, Goal setting, The Writer's Life

Yes, yes – I know.

Wishing my readers a happy new year over two weeks into the year is a little belated. Never mind.

In reality, I have been a little distracted lately. And not just with the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Over the last three weeks we have had a constant stream of visitors. These include our daughter home for a few weeks after teaching all year in Clare in the mid-north of South Australia. Then we have also had our son and his family over from Sydney, including our two grand children, ages 7 and 4. They are lively children and a challenge to keep occupied. Our swimming pool has had a good workout and in that context  it is good that the weather has been very warm.

Included in our busy schedule in recent weeks have been two family gatherings. The first was on the farm where I grew up which is now operated by my nephew and his three sons. It was a time of reminiscing and catching up; those present included my niece over from Perth in Western Australia and my son and family from Sydney. More recently we had a few days staying with my sister-in-law and family in Peterborough in the mid-north of the state. Once again, it was planned as a family gathering. Despite the oppressive heat – around 44C (111F) – we had a great time with plenty of great food.

Now it is time for life to get back to a little bit of normality – I hope.

2015 in review

At this time of year it is normal to review the year just gone, and to look at the year ahead. So what were the highlights for me of the year 2015?

  • Reading: I managed to read a significant number of books, including some quite long works. These included Richard Flanagan’s brilliant The narrow road to the deep north, Malala Yousafzai’s inspiring I am Malala (read my review here), and the confronting Rosanne Hawke novel The truth about peacock blue.
  • More reading: with the acquisition of my first eReader I ventured into a whole new reading experience. Books read on my Kobo device was a pleasant experience, and included The kite runner (a wonderful book) and The girl with the dragon tattoo (a gruesome and quite disappointing book – read my review here).
  • Writing: the last year has not been a great one for me regarding getting my writing published. I had just a handful of articles published and no success in competitions.
  • Blogging: With over 430 blog posts over five sites I consider the year to be reasonably successful. (You can access these posts here on this site, as well as Trevor’s Birding, Trevor’s Travels and our church site here.)
  • Health: Multiple health issues over the course of the year have been a major limiting factor. Thankfully, I am seeing some light at the end of the gloom in this area.
  • Biggest disappointment for 2015: not getting any of my books published, including some as eBooks.

Plans for 2016:

I haven’t actually had the time so far to list some goals for this year, but they are sure to include the following:

  • Reading: continue on my programme of reading significant works of literature. currently I am reading The people of the book by Geraldine Brooks. I recently read two other books written by her: The secret chord and Caleb’s crossing.
  • Blogging: at least 500 blog posts over the various sites for which I write.
  • Poems and stories: I plan to submit many poems and stories to competitions journals, and magazines.
  • Novels: I am still debating about whether to send my novels to print publishers, or to self-publish them as eBooks. I am leaning towards the latter.
  • Non-fiction: I have many ideas for non-fiction books to be published as eBooks. Stay tuned.
  • Health: I am working on improving my general health, fitness and well-being this year – with some help from my doctor and physiotherapist. I’ve already started losing weight.

Happy reading.

Good writing.

Trevor