Not one, but two, new stories added to the writing repository today. Not because I have been unusually productive, but more because I have been slacking with the updates due to all the travelling that seems to have dominated my summer so far. On the plus side I haven't been slacking on the actual writing. The continued presence of our little cadre of enthusiastic writers has meant that I have managed to keep going, and be disciplined about writing regularly, for work, for the books, and for these short stories. Nothing helps improve your writing more, than, well, writing.
It's also an opportunity to share some of the cool inspirations that come from working as part of a small writing club. Each month one of us picks a theme, an idea, or a concept, in order to inspire that month's efforts. They don't have to be taken literally, or adhered to religiously (thankfully our little coven has no zealots aboard!), and is more meant as inspiration. Personally, just as I always have done with my photography, I find that it has charged and motivated where previously the motivations might have faded when left to my own devices.
It has proved surprisingly effective for me.
So both of these tales sprung from two very different prompts. The first, An Ordinary Life, is a story about a traveler with some unusual employment history. The inspiration provided for this one was to craft a story based on a conversation that you overheard in the street. The truth, as always, is stranger than fiction. Bonus marks if you can guess what line from the story was the inspiration!
You can read it in full here: An Ordinary Life
Next up comes, Family Fortunes, a tale of a rather strange sibling rivalry in a Chinese family living in London. This one had quite a cool inspiration behind it, as the provider of that month's prompt supplied everyone in the group with a fortune cookie as their inspiration for the story. Fortune cookies just opened up a world of possibilities!
You can read it in full here: Family Fortunes
As always feedback is more than welcome! Thank you for taking the time out to read a little, and share in these tales.
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