Writing prompt – robot

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Judy

Lamp at Arnos Vale cr Judy Darley

This small lantern was sitting abandoned on a wall in a local cemetery. Something about its squat, green slightly rusted trunk appealed to me.

Then I realised I was seeing this inanimate object as a character. A little robot, to be exact. With four arms, and possibly two feet tucked away underneath, a somewhat beetle-y, forest robot.

And there, a story began to sprout, running away in my imagination. Could he be a man-made robot gone feral? Perhaps he spends his day foraging and gathering vital resources (but what might those be?), or perhaps he’s solar powered! What risks could he face? I suspect priorities include trying to keep out of the rain to avoid further rust, and avoiding the squirrels, roe deer, dogs and cats that could potentially cause him mischief.

What object, seen askance, might prompt a fantastical work of fiction in your mind?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Book review – Going Short by Nancy Stohlman

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Judy

This book is the perfect cheerleader to see you on your first steps of the flash fiction journey. If you’ve been playing in the flash arena for a while, Going Short may well be the coach to take your flash skills to the next level.

With a subtitle of “An Invitation To Flash Fiction”, Nancy Stohlman’s guide is a warm welcome, with chapters arrayed in bite-sized segments where every word earns its place. She leads by example, explaining the definition of flash fiction as you might to a non-writer friend in a pub (or, more likely these days, over Zoom), laying out word count (under 1,000) and purpose “to tell a story even if much of that story is implied.”

Immediately, I’m bubbling with questions. How do we know how much to tell and how much to imply? How can we trust the reader to be on our wave length and understand the unwritten?

In Part One: Writing Flash Fiction, I reach a paragraph titled ‘The Blank Page’ and am immediately gripped. Stohlman’s concise sentences brook no arguments as they command you’ to let go: of clever tricks, of descriptions, of our need to explain – all things I struggle with in my own writing. “Let silences be potent,” she urges, “don’t rush to fill them.”

It’s advice that sounds almost languid until you reach the next page, titled ‘Urgency.’

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Sky Light Rain – Lamp Black

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Judy

Ever wondered how a short story sparks into life? This series of posts offers insights into the inspiration behind the flash fiction and short stories that make up my Valley Press collection Sky Light Rain.

The seventeenth story is ‘Lamp Black.’ This unsettling tale took root when I was waiting at Bath Spa Train Station. On the platform opposite I saw two children playing. One was giving the other a piggyback and they were wobbling close to the edge, just a stumble away from toppling onto the tracks. My pulse was beginning to race when the train roared up and they ran on board, thoughtless of the danger they’d been in moments before.

I got to wondering where their parents were and why no one had been keeping them safe. A story began to unfold in my mind of a woman sending her two daughters out searching for the dad they’ll never find, just to get a but of time to herself. But then one day they come home and tell her they’ve found him…

The tale’s beginning faithfully reports what I saw and felt:

Two children on the other side of the station are playing close to the platform edge. One is giving the other a piggyback ride, stepping along the yellow warning line like it’s a tightrope. None of the adults within reach intervenes.

I think about shouting out, but don’t want to startle her. As I watch, she wobbles and staggers towards the train tracks. My hands clench and unclench at my waist.

Sky Light Rain is published by Valley Press and is available to purchase here.

Discover the inspiration behind my other Sky Light Rain stories by clicking on the story titles below.

If you’d like to request a review copy of Sky Light Rain or interview me about my writing, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Writing prompt – shame

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Judy

While visiting Porto in late February/early March, I was struck by the grandeur of many of the buildings set against the hardship of the people sleeping on their steps.

It’s a story you’ll see enacted in cities across the world, unless officials have moved them out of sight. During the UK lockdown, homeless people were moved into hotels temporarily, but what happens now? I’ve noticed that on the rare occasions I now meander into the city centre, more individuals are begging again, asking for any germ-laden coins I can offer.

It feels like we’ve already entered a dystopian future. Can you explore this idea with a touch of exaggeration (sadly, a touch is all that’s needed), where a ravaged society is in desperate need of a solution before the health of those on its lowest rungs are poised to infect those at the top?

Can you invent a solution leading to a happy ending to give your readers hope?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Sky Light Rain – Flamingos and Ham

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Judy

Ever wondered how a short story sparks into life? We’re now well over a third of the way through my series of posts offering insights into my writing process and sharing the inspiration behind the flash fiction and short stories that make up my Valley Press collection Sky Light Rain.

The sixteenth story is ‘Flamingos and Ham.’ This dystopian flash fiction tale could be a metaphor for 2020, but seeded in my mind when I interviewed the instigators of the Pussyhats that appeared in photos of the 2017 Women’s Marches – Krista Suh, Jayna Zweiman and Kat Coyle – for a crochet magazine. Do you recall the sea of hot pink cat-eared hats in those visuals? That was thanks to these three women.

I was inspired by how they’d taken a colour associated with women and weakness, and reclaimed it as something powerfully striking and unifying.

Imagine if the colour pink was outlawed. What infringements might come next?The story looks at how our freedoms can be eroded almost without us noticing. It was originally published in Ellipsis Zine Two.

The tale begins:

I was twelve when the ruling came in, banning certain words, colours, and clothing. It seemed farcical at first. My mum and dad laughed in disbelief as they watched the news.

“How can they outlaw pink?” Dad hooted. “What about flamingos and… and, ham?!”

Mum grimaced, clutching her crochet hook. “Why forbid hats, and yarn? What are they afraid of?”

Sky Light Rain is published by Valley Press and is available to purchase here.

Discover the inspiration behind my other Sky Light Rain stories by clicking on the story titles below.

If you’d like to request a review copy of Sky Light Rain or interview me about my writing, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Writing prompt – message

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Judy

I spotted this giraffe campaigning in my neighbourhood, reminding us that black lives matter just as much as everyone else. It’s, sadly, an important message in these difficult times, and feels particularly fitting coming from such a dappled creature.

Imagine if all creatures were able to have their say regarding prejudice (racism, sexism and homophobia, among others), human rights infringements, animal cruelty, the climate crisis and more. What might a blue whale want to tell us about the state of our oceans, or an orang-utan about the impact of deforestation?

Could you embark on your own searing version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm to make a clear point about the troubles we’ll face if we don’t sort ourselves out?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

This Too – a short story and a prize!

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Judy

I was delighted when my short story This Too was selected for publication by The Great Margin, a project set up by Paper Nations. The selection included a chance to have my story edited by the splendid Michael Loveday, who pointed out a mixed metaphor, which led to me amending a single sentence. Other than that, the story went live exactly as it had been submitted.

The story began to bubble up in summer 2019, when our garden was parched and everything felt poised by the heat for something big to happen. In my story, the ‘something’ becomes a wait for a phone call following medical tests.

Roll forward to summer 2020, and we were all on tenterhooks thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. I found myself thinking about everyone who’d had to put immune suppressing treatment on hold, and about the strain that was causing them and their loved ones. The story gained a new dimension.

I brought in the ladybird plague of 1976 because it’s something so strange and dramatic, and yet as someone who wasn’t yet born it seems to be like the stuff of folklore. I wanted to imagine that one day the Covid-19 pandemic will seem that remote and strange thanks to the passage of time. This too will pass.

This week, I have cause to celebrate the story once more as the amazing folks at Paper Nations got in touch to let me know This Too has been chosen as story of the month. I won a book voucher for the marvellous Mr B’s Emporium. Even better, they published a piece explaining all the reason’s they love my story. Aww. *blushes*.

Sky Light Rain – Breaking Up With You Burns Like Fire

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Judy

Ever wondered how a short story takes its first breath and finds life? We’re now well over a third of the way through my series of posts offering insights into my writing process and sharing the inspiration behind the flash fiction and short stories that make up my Valley Press collection Sky Light Rain.

The fifteenth story is ‘Breaking Up With You Burns Like Fire.’ This longer than average title leads you into a drabble – a 100-word micro fiction – about a couple carrying out a ritual to mark the end of their relationship. It was originally published by the aptly named The Drabble.

If you have any 100-word tales knocking around, I highly recommend you send it their way. One of my writing passions is compressing whole lives, relationships and break-ups into less than half a page.

My drabble popped into my head when my man and I (still vey much together) decided to hide a pair of small stone gargoyles in a local woodland. One disappeared pretty promptly, but the other lurked in a mass of ivy for months.

The tale begins:

They dressed in the dark, fumbling over bootlaces and coal-black buttons. Lucinda picked up the ceramic gargoyle Crispin had given her early in their romance. He chose the straw doll Lucinda wove for their first anniversary.

Sky Light Rain is published by Valley Press and is available to purchase here.

Discover the inspiration behind my other Sky Light Rain stories by clicking on the story titles below.

If you’d like to request a review copy of Sky Light Rain or interview me about my writing, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Writing prompt – change

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Judy

The lovely folks at Oh Magazine have invited me to create the following writing prompt, using their autumnal issue 56 cover by Jago Silver as a starting point.

As the seasons change, dream up a character who is dreaming of a new adventure. But first they must bid farewell to the past. For every leaf that falls from this tree, imagine the message they would write to someone they used to know – an apology, a promise or a declaration.

How have each of these people influenced the individual your character is now? What will sending those messages free them up to become?

You can subscribe to Oh magazine here.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Book review – Families and Other Natural Disasters by Anita Goveas

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Judy

At first glance, the five sections of Anita Goveas’ collection appear elemental. A closer look rewards with the dawning understanding that the categories are types of natural disaster, with the final two a little more tongue in cheek. Fire, Water, Wind, Love and Families each warn of the emotions contained within, or, more, likely, poised to spill over.

The opening sentence of a collection is crucial in setting the tone for what’s to come. Goveas does this fearlessly, dropping into our laps the unflinching line: “There’s an ancient prophesy that you’ll die by volcano.” What Really Gets You Is the Rising Heat is a story that speaks of the expectations we fight against to forge our own path, even if that does turn out to be directly to the same volcano’s mouth our parents marked for us.

The titles form a poetry of their own, with the second tale warning us from the off that A Pilgrimage Can Be One Way, before enfolding us in ‘packing’ and ‘to do’ lists that contain humour, love and heartache within deftly rendered brevity. It’s the kind of hermit crab flash that hints at tireless hours of crafting.

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SkyLightRain

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Author Archives: Judy

Writing prompt – robot

Book review – Going Short by Nancy Stohlman

Sky Light Rain – Lamp Black

Writing prompt – shame

Sky Light Rain – Flamingos and Ham

Writing prompt – message

This Too – a short story and a prize!

Sky Light Rain – Breaking Up With You Burns Like Fire

Writing prompt – change

Book review – Families and Other Natural Disasters by Anita Goveas