Tag Archives: short stories

SUNDAY SCENE: JANE BHEEMAH ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM HER PRIZE WINNING SHORT STORY

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‘Under the Spreading Oak’ is a story that’s been in my head for a while, just waiting to be told. Then earlier this year Blue Poppy Publishing ran a short story competition – calling for Devon writers and a Devon based theme – and I found a fit. Quite simply, it was a joy to write. Set in Powderham Castle’s beautiful deer park, it’s told from the perspective of an ancient oak. A descriptive piece, it depicts life in the deer park, the change of seasons and some of the people who have taken shelter under its spreading boughs.

The story is – well, a story, though the place is real enough. I was lucky enough to grow up in the estuary village of Starcross, not far from Powderham. In my mind’s eye, while penning the story, I was revisiting childhood walks through the deer park with my beloved Nan. Stories do that to you sometimes, don’t they, trigger nostalgic memories. This one certainly did for me!

I’ve walked through the deer park as a teenager, too, when – like other local youngsters – I had school summer holiday jobs at the Castle tea rooms. The path was more of a track then, still a public right of way, but not opened up for ramblers as it is now. There must have been rainy days, of course, but all I remember is sunlight dancing through a canopy of leaves and a chorus of birdsong. The old gatekeeper’s cottage is gone; in its place is a café and farm shop.

The best ideas come when I’m out and about. Nature never fails to inspire, and I’ve always been enchanted by ancient trees and the stories they could tell, if only they could speak – imagine the history witnessed under their silent watch! And, mighty and majestic, there is something special about the undisputed king of the forest.

Here’s an extract from the opening paragraph of ‘Under the Spreading Oak.’

“The last vestiges of night cloak the woods in shadow. No sound, save for the tramp of boots as the gamekeeper makes his pre-dawn round, checking on the pheasants in their pens. Its hunt disturbed, a fox slinks by, picking up a new scent as the rabbit it almost had slinks into a burrow.”

The icing on the cake: not only did my story ‘Under the Spreading Oak’ do well in the competition I’m delighted to say that it was included in an anthology and published by N. Devon based Blue Poppy Publishing this summer.  It’s a little gem of a book, titled: ‘The Cream of Devon, An Anthology of Short Stories From the County that Rhymes with Heaven.’

Now I will let my story speak again:

“A May morning like any other. My branches reach up to the cerulean sky. There’s a shimmer of mist over the Exe now. Here in the Powderham deer park, set in deepest Devon, the seasons come and go like an eternal wheel. I’m one of the forest giants, standing sentinel and watching the days unfurl. I’ve lost count of the springs I’ve seen as the cold earth warms and a carpet of bluebells spreads out on the woodland floor. All life is played out here.”

I also write novels as Kathryn Haydon, the pen name chosen as a nod to my mum.  She would have been thrilled to know about my Powderham themed story!

Below is a link to my Facebook Author Page, for those who would like to take a peep. You’ll find me there as Kathryn Haydon.

https://www.facebook.com/flickypenpot

Warm wishes and happy reading.

Worth

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Frost fiction, short stories, poems, non fiction, fiction.

The woman flicked the notes carefully through her fingers, tapping the stack of cash against her desk and peering up over her horn-rimmed glasses.

“Not police?”

The man shook his head.  There was a note of threat to the question and he turned away, fixing his gaze through the doorway, his heart racing.

Silken bronze skin swept beneath long curls of onyx hair.  Asian eyes were lidded and docile.  The woman he desired tugged her skirt over a blackened bruise.

“You like?” the Madame slipped the money into a draw, her finger stroking a pistol.

“Yes.  Very much,…”

Note from the Author:  “This story is based on an event I witnessed personally many years ago, while in Soho for an audition. I didn’t catch much of the conversation – just a man and a woman trying to tempt him into a doorway. The words “Not Police” are forever etched in my mind. It made me so sad.”

Another in our series of 100-word short stories by Tim Austin. Whatever genre you love, there’s a story you’ll enjoy over at onewordonestory.org.

Come back on Tuesday for another. See you then!

Torn

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Frost fiction, short stories, poems, non fiction, fiction.

Eddie’s mouth was hanging open.  He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened.

Around him people were staring, forks held comically close to mouths, awkward coughs and murmurs circling the room like sharks.  Behind him a door slammed closed.

“Can I get you a towel, sir?”

The Maître D remained professionally aloof but Eddie could see sympathy in his eyes.

“I,…. think I’ll have the bill, please.”

Eddie picked up the two halves of paper, her telephone number shredded.  They’d been talking about their blind date.  She’d asked what he enjoyed.

Somehow “Chilling to Netflix” was the wrong answer.

 

Another in our new series of 100-word short stories by Tim Austin at onewordonestory.org. Whatever genre you love, there’s a story you’ll enjoy.

Come back on Friday for another. See you then!

Faith

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Frost fiction, short stories, poems, non fiction, fiction.

Jeanie held her arms out to each side.  The balls of her feet balanced against the edge of the stage: her heels hung in the air.

“That’s it, Jeanie: now fall back and the other girls will catch you,” the teacher cooed.

“Well of course they will,” Jeanie thought.

She knew them.  Jeanie knew they’d do exactly as they were told.  Jeanie had dunked the geeky one’s head in the toilet just last week.  The spotty one still had a bust lip.

She closed her eyes and fell backwards.

There was a giggle.

Promo Image by Charlie Foster via Unsplash.

The first in a new series of 100-word short stories by Tim Austin at onewordonestory.org. Whatever genre you love, there’s a story you’ll enjoy.

Come back on Friday for another. See you then.

Share Your Uplifting Stories With Frost Magazine

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Frost fiction, short stories, poems, non fiction, fiction.
We are living through difficult times. The news is full of heartbreak and we are all struggling in our own way. Frost Magazine are all about being positive and sharing community spirit. We want to publish any uplifting stories that you have, whether they are fact or fiction. They can be poems, short stories or real-life pieces. We want to spread joy and happiness.

Send stories and poems from children or adults to frostmagazine@gmail.com. Maximum word count for short stories is 1750 words, 40 lines for poems and 1750 for general non-fiction.

Stay safe and lots of love.

 

SISTER SCRIBES: SUSANNA BAVIN ON THE APPEAL OF THE SHORT STORY

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Hands up everyone who remembers the First, Second, Third etc Pan Book of Horror Stories, Edited by Herbert Van Thal. I loved those scary stories when I was in my early teens. Looking back, some of them weren’t entirely suitable for a young reader, though that didn’t stop me lapping them up. My favourite was a ghost story by E F Benson (who wrote the Mapp and Lucia books), called The Confession of Charles Linkworth. I had a phase of reading it every Sunday afternoon before tea and, even though I ended up practically knowing it by heart, it frightened me silly every time. The hero of my newest book, The Surplus Girls, is named Gabriel Linkworth, as a nod to that story.

That was the second E F Benson short story I had come across. The first was The Room in the Tower, which featured in a book called Ghosts! An Anthology, which I received as a Christmas present. Unfortunately, the story was rather wasted on me because I didn’t altogether understand it. It is, in fact, a vampire story and I sort of knew that when I read it, but I was a very literal-minded child and this was in a book of ghost stories and therefore Julia Stone had to be a ghost… didn’t she?

I have always been a reader of short stories. In particular I love the collections that were put together in 1930s, with titles such as The Mammoth Book of Thrillers, Ghosts and Mysteries and A Century of Humour, which was one of a series of A Century of… books. What better way to be introduced to writers such as Wilkie Collins, Guy de Maupassant, O Henry and W W Jacobs? My first taste of G K Chesterton was the wonderfully funny The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown, which I re-read regularly. The Mammoth Book mentioned above even contained a ‘sealed section’ at the end, with stories to make you ‘glance over your shoulder and perhaps even start when there is a creak on the stair.’

A writer whom I came to love was A J Alan, whose wit and humour could find mystery in the most ordinary situations. It was often the style in these 1930s anthologies to top each story with a few sentences of author biography, beside which was a pencil sketch of the man (it was almost always a man) himself; but there was only ever a fancy question mark in the place where A J Alan’s portrait should be. He was famous for reading his stories on the wireless and his identity was a closely guarded secret, as befitted the mysterious nature of his tales.

And I adored Anthony Hope’s The Dolly Dialogues. I bought myself a first edition after enjoying the two chapters that featured in A Century of Humour. They are clever and teasingly romantic observations of life and love.

The most recent collection of short stories I’ve read is Jan Baynham’s Smashing the Mask and Other Stories. Although there isn’t an official theme to the book, a thread of the supernatural runs through several of the tales and in each one Jan creates a different sort of atmosphere, from the deep sorrow of a ghostly mother to the chilly horror of a long-ago murdered girl to the traditional creepiness of helping a stranger. She also uses painful directness to tackle the all too recognisable dilemmas of hoping against hope to meet a long-lost child and struggling to be brave in a situation of coercive control. Jan has produced an intriguing collection filled with insight, a variety of moods from the uplifting to the poignant, and more than one clever twist in the tale.

 

 

 

Girl, Balancing & Other Stories by Helen Dunmore – Her Final Collection

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I loved this stunning collection of short stories from Helen Dunmore. There was a tinge of sadness that this will be her final collection, but we are lucky to have had such a literary talent. Girl, Balancing is also well edited, with the novel being broken down into three section: The Nina Stories, The Present and The Past. A wonderful way to get lost for a few hours. Dunmore excels in historical knowledge and razor sharp observation. The stories are true slices of life.

This very special collection of short stories was gathered by Helen Dunmore’s family in the months following Helen’s death in 2017. Helen’s writing was everywhere, on the computer, on letters to her children, in notebooks, on her ipad, even on her phone. Girl, Balancing is a collection of the very best of those short stories, some fully developed and others partial fragments of what occasionally became novels throughout her career. It is a wonderful insight into the writer’s craft – how one hones plots and develops characters, how Helen’s insight into people and the world surrounding us have always informed her writing. It has been 20 years since Helen published a short story collection and as Helen’s son, Patrick describes in his Introduction, contained within these pages is ‘the pleasure of discovering something new’, even for those familiar with Helen’s novels.

Girl, Balancing
& Other Stories

HELEN DUNMORE

£8.99 Windmill Paperback 7 March 2019

HER FINAL COLLECTION

In this remarkable final volume of short stories, Helen Dunmore explores the fragile ties between passion, familial love, parenthood, friendship and grief often from people who are at turning points in their lives.

With her extraordinary imagination, her gift for making history human, and her talent for acute observation and lyrical storytelling, Dunmore offers a deep insight into the human condition with a collection that will delight and move all her readers.

Helen Dunmore was an award-winning novelist, children’s author and poet who will be remembered for the depth and breadth of her fiction. Rich and intricate, yet narrated with a deceptive simplicity that made all of her work accessible and heartfelt, her writing stood out for the fluidity and lyricism of her prose, and her extraordinary ability to capture the presence of the past.

Her first novel, Zennor in Darkness, explored the events which led D. H. Lawrence to be expelled from Cornwall on suspicion of spying, and won the McKitterick Prize. Her third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996, and she went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller with The Siege, which was described by Antony Beevor as a ‘world-class novel’ and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and the Orange Prize. Published in 2010, her eleventh novel, The Betrayal, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and The Lie in 2014 was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the 2015 RSL Ondaatje Prize.

Her final novel, Birdcage Walk, deals with legacy and recognition – what writers, especially women writers, can expect to leave behind them – and was described by the Observer as ‘the finest novel Helen Dunmore has written’.

Helen was known to be an inspirational and generous author, championing emerging voices and other established authors. She also gave a large amount of her time to supporting literature, independent bookshops all over the UK, and arts organisations across the world. She died in June 2017.

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FIRST, LAST, EVERYTHING – MAGAZINE FICTION WRITER WENDY CLARKE

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My very first piece of writing advice wasn’t from a writer or about writing but it was advice that would one day help me in my writing career. I was twenty-two and had just taken up my first teaching position at a junior school with open-plan classrooms divided only by bookcases. Being very new to teaching, and still finding my feet (or my voice, if you like), I was always looking for ways to make my teaching more effective. In the classroom area next to mine was a more experienced teacher who, because of the way the classrooms were laid out, could easily be heard. I was impressed with her control of the class and the attention the children gave her. Realising it was something in her voice (her tone, her inflection, her choice of words) I decided that if I copied her style of teaching, I too would achieve success. How naïve! Of course, it was a disaster – a bit like being on stage and being cast in the wrong role.

Back in the staffroom at break time, the teacher I’d been trying to copy could tell something was wrong. When I told her what had happened, she was very kind, sitting me down and making me a coffee before telling me that no two teachers taught in the same way and the children wouldn’t expect them to. In time I would find my own voice. One that I felt comfortable with. One that would be true to me. When I started writing for magazines, I remembered this advice. I didn’t try to copy the style of any other authors, I just wrote stories I loved – in my own way. My first sale came quickly and I have that teacher to thank!

The most recent piece of writing advice I received was from the writing community on social media. It was during a period when I had become disillusioned with the long and tortuous road you needed to travel in order to get your novel published. With magazine writing, you write a story, sub it, forget about it and start on another. There is no middle man (the agent) and, because I have several stories being considered at one time, it feels as though things are always happening. With a novel, you submit to agents and then wait, sometimes many months, for the inevitable rejection. Even if an agent requests the full manuscript (which happened to me six times) it can be months before hearing anything… if at all. In fact, I am still waiting. The readers of my Facebook post heard my sorry tale. Their advice was to submit directly to the publishers who accept manuscripts without the need of an agent. I did and it’s the best advice I could have been given.

Finally, the piece of advice I’d like to pass on is easy. Be kind to yourself. Set reasonable goals (if that’s the type of writer you are) and don’t beat yourself up if you don’t manage to achieve them. Also have breaks from your writing. If I go on holiday, I leave my writing equipment behind. The rest recharges my battery and helps me put my writing into perspective. This doesn’t mean that my brain isn’t still working behind the scenes though. Often, when I switch off from writing, an idea for a story, or the answer to a difficult plot problem, will float into my head as if from nowhere. Writing isn’t something to be forced but to be enjoyed and, if it isn’t, maybe it’s time to ask ourselves why we’re doing it.

 

Wendy Clarke has had over two hundred short stories, and two serials, published in national women’s magazines such as The People’s Friend, Take a Break Fiction Feast and Woman’s Weekly. She lives with her husband in Sussex and has just finished writing her debut novel.

 

https://wendyswritingnow.blogspot.com/