This short tale arose from our Christmas challenge at Writers’ Circus:
Use no more than 500 words, use only 5 adjectives and only 2 adverbs.
For a writer of verbose prose, this was a challenge indeed.
When read by Margaret, my First Reader, my initial versions were scattered with adjectives to which I was completely word blind.
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This is a tale written for a Writers’ Circus challenge - “Who was she?”
My first attempt was full of holes, and my ‘she’ would have certainly been nabbed.
With this version, perhaps she still has a chance of evasion?
I did experiment with an expanded version but I like ‘the bits left out’ in this one.
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This is a short story written for an assignment for Creative Writing.
The brief was Sibling Rivalry, with a word limit of 1500.
This version is amended, based on comments from our tutor, David Pettigrew.
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This piece was written for a Writers’ Circus challenge, “Write about the ‘senses’.”
There was a second imperative.
Some of us in the Writers’ Circus are keen on short story competitions. I am not, but I was persuaded to stick to a discipline of 1,000 words and send this tale with my £5 entry fee.
Sadly it did not even make the long list. It is a bit off beat, I do admit.
This is more of a story for a winter’s morning. Given our summer in Scotland this year, it may suit over morning coffee.
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This is a longer short story which arose from a Writers’ Circus challenge.
The topic/title/theme was “High Water Mark”. On this occasion the topic was set by me.
This work has been edited by my friend Kareth Patterson from Writers’ Circus. She is a multi-talented person, very special. (She would immediately edit out the word “very”!!!)
On reading it she said it reminded her of the novelist Alistair MacLean- high praise indeed.
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This is a little tale generated to answer the question set at our Writers’ Circus group, “Why does this/it always happen to me?”
I hope it will feel almost real to denizens of Glasgow.
For others from further afield you may have to interpolate/guess to understand the dialogue.
“Clatty Pats” (Cleopatra’s) is a nightclub which features in Glasgow’s very busy night-life. A few years ago I read that on an average weekend there can be over 300,000 revelers in Glasgow city centre.
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This is a boy meets girl tale set in 1962/63 at the start of the Swinging Sixties.
The main action takes place in Benidorm, the new Costa Clyde of its day.
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This is a story written in response to a Writers’ Circus challenge: “She’s not like that.”
It is a rather dark story about a famous person who ends her days in a nursing home.
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This is another Maisie Kaywood romp.
It introduces David Abernethy (aka Biscuit aka The Ferret) and other members of Maisie’s XCD Team.
It is set in Scotland, near Aberdeen.
Give it a try for a few pages, you my get hooked!
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This is a compilation piece, written in part by my son Stuart when he was a schoolboy.
As a teenager Stuart interviewed my Dad as part of a school history project.
There is also a wonderful chap called Mike Kemble who is an amateur naval historian.
The additional material in this piece is from his website:
May I suggest that you also read “Sybil’s War” which is based on the ‘facts’ of what the submarine HMS Sybil did during WW2.
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