Category: Creative writing

Blog posts about creative writing.

Try It! (Reading poetry out loud)

Train crash waiting to happenAt the moment I feel like I am standing on the tracks and waiting for a train crash to happen.

I don’t consider myself to be a poet. But I did write some poems last term as part of my BA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University. And, in a moment of madness, I volunteered to read one of my poems at an evening poetry session.

Why? Well, the theme of the session is ‘Journeys’ and I had a poem that was about a journey. And I have set myself the challenge of always trying to respond to a new writing challenge. And, to be honest, I thought there would be numerous volunteers and I could happily stand down. But, no, I was the only one from my poetry group who responded with “Yes, I can read one of my poems out”.

Then it turns out we need to bring two poems to read. Not just one.

So, on Saturday, I will be reading a couple of my not-very-good poems out loud in front of a (hopefully) small audience at Cambridge House in Camberwell. If you are passing by and fancy a free glass of wine and nibbles, do drop in. The other poets are much better than me and you will enjoy it. We kick off at 6pm.

(Further information can be found on the Birkbeck Web site.)

Choosing – a 6 minute story

happy faceI had forgotten how wonderful it is to write, free and unfettered, against the clock. No time for editing. No time for self-doubt. And when it is done, it is done.

I heartily recommend the Six Minute Story site. Here you can:

  • limber up with a six minute burst of free writing,
  • try your hand at flash fiction,
  • develop your create-an-instant-story skills,
  • work from a selected prompt or from a random prompt,
  • read what others have written and comment if you want to.

You may choose a prompt and consider your story options in advance. But once you start typing, the clock starts ticking and you must continue until the time runs out. After 6 minutes, you are forced to stop. There is no second chance to add, edit or to tweak.

When its done, you can save your story and choose a Creative Commons License. Or – if you really want to – you can trash your story.

I prefer to pick a random prompt and I like to start writing without giving myself any time to think. I just see what happens and the only internal ‘editing’ I do is to try to bring the story to some sort of conclusion within the six minutes. Luckily I am a very fast typist.

Here is a link to my latest Six Minute Story: Choosing.

Winning a short story competition

Time to boast? So sorry, but yes, I won the Crime Story Competition in Writing Magazine and my short story was published in the January 2012 edition of the magazine.

The Shed, Ruth Livingstone wins Crime Fiction prize in Writing Magazine 2012

Crime fiction?

I won the Crime Story Competition in Writing Magazine and my short story was published in the January 2012 edition of the magazine.

Continue reading “Winning a short story competition”

NaNoWriMo – over but not done.

My NaNoWriMo book, provisionally entitled The Bounty Hunter, had an extensive pre-writing phase. With over 50,000 words, I am only half way through the story. I guess that at least gives me plenty of scope for removing great tracts of gibberish in the re-writing phase

nanowrimo 2011 winner badgeYes, I made the final word count submission and I am a NaNoWriMo winner.

This is the second year I have taken part and the second year I have completed the 50,000 word count. The half-finished novel from 2010 lies, neglected, in the depths of my PC. I always meant to finish it, but never quite plucked up the enthusiasm to do so. And, since the novel just kind of grew from a character description, I suspect it would take a great deal of work and many months of complete re-writing to get a decent novel out of its rambling paragraphs.

This year, I started with a definite plan and a complete story in my head. It is a science fiction story that I have been mulling over for a couple of years and the main characters and plot line were fully in my mind before I started typing this November.

I just finished reading Amanda Boulter’s book; Writing Fiction: Creative and Critical Approaches. In this, she describes the three phases of writing – pre-writing, followed by writing, followed by re-writing.

My current NaNoWriMo book, provisionally entitled The Bounty Hunter, had an extensive pre-writing phase. Having written over 50,000 words, I am only half way through the story, as outlined in my head. I guess that at least gives me plenty of scope for removing great tracts of gibberish in the re-writing phase.

The worst thing I could do at this stage is quietly forget about it. Having invested two years of pre-writing and nearly a month of writing, I must take it further and finish the writing phase. The good news is that I have indeed worked on the document since NaNoWriMo ended – and, so far, I have resisted the terrible urge to start at the beginning and edit the whole thing. I need to finish the damn story first, then I can work on making it better and see if I have come out with a worthwhile novel at the end.