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My Writing Process for The Good Teen

By CreativityNo Comments
the-good-teen-plot-line

The Good Teen Plot Line

 I recently self-published The Good Teen, a modern-day telling of The Good Samaritan parable, with a hint of magic. I want to tell you a bit about my writing process for this short story.

The idea came from my childhood. Being brought up as a Christian we were told the The Good Samaritan parable. It’s a story that has stayed with me and one that I wanted to retell with my own twist. So I wrote/drew out the plot on flipchart (Left: My flipchart for The Good Teen, click on image for full size).

I like to develop my ideas, plots, sub-plots, settings, characters, pacing and description on flipchart as it’s faster than typing and allows me more creative freedom. The creative freedom to draw pictures, arrows and anything else I want to.

I originally decided to publish The Good Teen as a christmas story for my readers. Hoping to start an annual tradition. But then I saw a call for submission on the BBC Writers Room website for the BBC Radio4 Opening Lines programme and decided to write, edit and submit The Good Teen.

I had already written a To Do List for The Good Teen (below) and changed the timescales to meet the submission deadline.

the-good-teen-to-do-list

The Good Teen To Do List

The editing process, as always, was maddening. I had to cut to the word count limit, which meant some scenes were either cut, not written or combined.

Unfortunately, The Good Teen was not long listed by the BBC. So I decided to self-publish it online. You can download The Good Teen on it’s page. It’s a free download, with a Twitter Tweet or Facebook Like in exchange for the download link.

Write soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Sunday 8 June 2014

The Latest Me Gossip

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Creativity, Happiness & Joy, Health, Life, Love & Relationships, Shopping, TechnologyNo Comments

Now, as you know, I’m not one to gossip but (looks over both shoulders)…let me tell you the latest me gossip.

I had a flare-up of abdominal pain in mid-April for about three weeks. Not fun. This accompanied by two other infections and a abscess in my wisdom tooth, made me feel exhausted, grumpy and down in the dumps. I saw my GP who sent me for blood tests and referred me onto a Gastroenterologist. I saw my Dentist who prescribed some antibiotics for the abscess. Then I saw a Gastroenterologist who wants a CT scan with dyes done. This has been booked for the day before my birthday. 🙁

During this period of ill health, I realised that when I feel bad, I spend money to make myself feel better. I overspent online buying things I didn’t really need. Then when I was feeling well enough, I went to the Trafford Centre and bought these:


new-superdry-wallet

My New Superdry Wallet

I did feel guilty for buying these, as I didn’t really need them. But we’re allowed to spend a little money on ourselves from time to time, right?

But that’s not the biggest piece of gossip. That would be that: I’m in a relationship. Boyfriend-A, as I shall name him here, came along completely unexpected. He’s great. Everything I want in a partner. I’m sure you’ll learn more about him as time goes on. But for now, that’s all I want to share.

I just discovered the new SimCity game (which is actually not that new. It came out in November 2013 and I didn’t know about it till now). Boyfriend-A bought me a copy and we play together. It’s completely addictive and fantastic, apart from this disaster that happened today:

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Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster
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Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster

Oh and anyone who loves anything Sim-related will be pleased to know that The Sims 4 is coming out later this year. Here’s a video:

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Despite being busy I’ve managed to write, edit and submit a dystopian short story. I hope to be able to give you an update on this later on in the year. I’m reading two fantastic books: Above by Isla Morley and Thief’s Magic by Trudi Canavan. Above is a phoneminal and Theif’s Magic is a must-read for any fantasy fiction fan. Reviews on these titles will be coming soon.

I also have so many wonderful things to look forward to, including:

  • Going for a weekend away in A Lovely Welsh Cottage with Simon in May and then with Jayne in September.
  • Seeing McBusted live which will be one of my best birthday present ever. Thank you to a kind man for this.
  • Attending Lancashire Science Festival with Steve & Jayne. I’ve booked tickets in the moring for Dr Sarita Robinson’s talk ‘How to Power Up your Brain’ and in the afternoon Dr Ian Turner’s talk ‘The Science of Doctor Who.’
  • More good times with Boyfriend-A.
  • And celebrating the birthday’s of some of my friends and family.

Despite my health problems, I feel quite alive and happy to be living :). I can’t wait to have all of these good times and to write about them here.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 4 May 2014

Flash Fiction First Draft: The Boy in the Wood

By CreativityNo Comments

wood-entrance

The Boy in The Wood – Flash Fiction First Draft

At College we were asked to choose a pair of footwear and a hat. Then we were asked to write them into a piece of flash fiction (no more than 200 words). Here is my flash fiction first draft, entitled The Boy in the Wood, hope you enjoy:

The Boy in the Wood

Music pumped into my ears from my headphones as I ran along the dirt track, taking my usual route on that early spring morning. My Nike trainers hit the ground as I looked ahead, following the outline of the wood on my left-hand side. I had nearly completed my three-mile target, when up ahead, I noticed a small, brightly coloured hat that had two large embroidered rabbits on it. As I got closer, I saw droplets of red scattered on the leafs and bark of a nearby tree. I stopped as I reached the hat. My heart beat faster. I picked up the hat and removed one of my headphones. To my left, I heard a movement. I stepped into the trees and saw the back of the child’s head. He could only have been seven or eight years old.
“Are you OK?” I asked.
He turned. He was smiling. His eyes were pools of black, matching the colour of his hair. Then I saw the doe, laid on the ground. My eyes widened, looking like those of the doe. In the boy’s hand, a stick covered in deep congealed red, its tip touching the doe.

Write soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Saturday 26 April 2014

Import: My Awesome Year in Words

By Creativity, Journalism, ThinkingNo Comments

Hi all,

This year has been an awesome year for my reading & reviewing and for my creative writing. Let me take you through the highlights of this year:

In January Headline Publishers emailed me to say they wanted me to do more book reviews for them. I wrote, edited and submitted Stuck Between A Rock… to The Write Review Short Story Prize. Although it wasn’t shortlisted; the experience and learning gained from completing, editing and submitting the short story was invaluable.

In March I saw a call for submissions for short stories for a gay anthropology. I wrote, edited and submitted A Few Amazing Moments. The editors declined the submission stating that it has promise, but needs more work. Again, more invaluable experience and learning was gained.

In April I started writing for The Gay UK and shared this news with you. I decided to be brave and share my short stories online. I was inspired by this TED Talk: Elizabeth Gilbert – Your elusive creative genius.

In May I enjoyed reading & reviewing In His Secret Life by Mel Bossa. I was inspired by Advice About Writing From Anne Rice: ‘Kick Out The Pages!’ I wrote the politically sensitive NEWS: A Letter to Manchester Pride – Why are you giving less money to Gay Charities? article.

By June I was feeling more confident about my writing, thinking to myself: I’m doing it! I’m actually writing! This was helped by being commissioned for my first paid piece of writing by Hire Bloggers.

In July I reviewed I Want Your Love (DVD) and hosted two giveaways on blog, both of these activities was as a result of my continued writing. I renewed hosting on my personal blog and launched a professional writers website, both paid for by my writing.

By September I had submitted, had accepted and published twenty six articles or book reviews on The Gay UK.

In December, I begun work on my next short story and have enquired about a creative writing course at Runshaw College.

It’s been a truly awesome year of creative writing; with a good mix of successes and failures. In 2014, I hope to do more paid journalism and develop, write and submit more short stories into competitions.

Write soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Saturday 28 December 2013
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