the creative minimalist

darren r hill : writer, minstrel and journal keeper

By Leave a Comment

The postmark Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

Friday Fiction Writing Prompt - I recognised the sender’s postmark. But why contact me now, and in this old, traditional way?

I recognised the sender’s postmark. But why contact me now, and in this old, traditional way?

This Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is all about the reveal. The narrator has received a letter. The postmark means they know or have a pretty good idea, who it is from. There is history between the sender and the narrator, but the reader doesn’t know what that is. The writing prompt challenge is to reveal that history little by little.

It could be anything, from a dark, frightening event to something more mysterious through to happier times that were somehow lost. The choice, as always is yours. The challenge, how you reveal that information, is also yours. Does it pour out immediately, or little by little as you read what has been written?

No rules on word count, style or medium, just write.

SaveSave

By Leave a Comment

Friday Fiction Writing Prompt The missing purse

Friday Fiction Writing Prompt - I reached into my bag for my purse/wallet but it wasn’t there! How would I pay?

‘I reached into my bag for my purse/wallet but it wasn’t there! How would I pay?’

In this week’s Friday Fiction Writing Prompt we look at getting out of a sticky situation. You are somewhere, let’s say a restaurant, which means you have already partaken of the service, and you need to pay. However, the means of payment, your purse or wallet is missing. What are you going to do? You need to think quickly and come up with a solution. In addition, what has happened to the missing item? Is it a simple case of forgetting to pick it up, or is there something a little more riveting going on?

Quite often we can write ourselves into a cul-de-sac, a dead end. Our main character, or another vital person, has been written into a situation they need to get out of. It wasn’t intended, but the muse led us here. We could just erase or delete those 100, 200, 500… more words? Or we can craft and write our way out. That’s what this prompt is there for.

No rules on word count or style or how you achieve it, apart from you need to write and get out of the situation you find yourself in.

SaveSave

By Leave a Comment

A free short story and a sale offer

I write
I have written
I have been published
I was a publisher
I helped other people write

Now, I want to help you write

Click the image above and you can find out about writing your very own story. And, for a limited time, the course is just £10, that’s a 60% discount on the price.

Also, click on the link below and you’ll be able to download one of my short stories. It’s a free PDF, costs you nothing and you don’t even have to give me your email or share on twitter (though if you want to, I won’t complain).

So, a free short story and a limited time sale offer from me to you.

Download your free short story

By Leave a Comment

The Vernal Equinox – into the light or dark

lighted candlesToday marks the Vernal Equinox. Due to various astronomical and atmospheric variables, the amount of light we have is equal to the amount of dark. This is popularised by saying that day and night are of equal lengths, but that’s not quite right. To be specific we should say light and dark.

The fiction writer in me loves that idea.”

Depending on what hemisphere we are in, we’ll move into a time when one or the other is greater. This continues until we reach the next solstice when ‘light’ will begin to move in the other direction.

  • Do you prefer the light or the dark?
  • Are you afraid of one or the other?

By sheer coincidence, today’s writing prompt on A Ticket To Write is all about the dark. If you want to explore some fears, then go and take a look. For vampires, being stuck in the dark is no bad thing. But as the light is greater for the next six months in the northern hemisphere they may find it easier to migrate to southerly shores! Although vampires are purely fictional… aren’t they?

Light and dark are also metaphors for good and evil. Though for those who prefer the dark and who are, on the whole, perfectly decent people, this might be a little unfair. But this is where fiction can have such fun playing with the shades in between. And, we should remember, even the bible refers to Lucifer as an angel of light.

At the vernal equinox, at this moment of equality, all is in balance. The path will soon diverge. One way leads to the light, the other to the dark. In about six months we will find ourselves in pretty much the same place. A place of balance and equality as we reach another equinox.

But at that time, what tales will we bring with us as we have ventured into the light and dark of the previous months?

By Leave a Comment

Revealed as the darkness falls

lightThe light faded.

As it did, more became visible.

Colour seeped from the scene but clarity improved.

One moment there was nothing and then… then she was in outline. The details filled as the darkness grew. Although her appearance was clear, his words continued to fail.

The light left revealed how much he still couldn’t do or say.

Stay in touch