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.
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:
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:
Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster
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:
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 phonemical and Thief’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
The Z-VIRUS Series
Z-VIRUS Powers
The Z-VIRUS mutates people’s DNA. The majority of infected people become zombies, but a minority seem immune but the virus causes them to develop powers.
At first these powers like invisibility, telepathy and telekinesis aided survival. But as the Z-VIRUS continues to mutate, the powers become more and more destructive.
Forced with no other choice, one group goes in search of a cure. But will they survive the roaming zombie hordes long enough to make an epic journey across the country to find the cure?
Join Alexis, Vis, Chan, Luke, Natalie, Grace, Chloe, Kyle, David and Goliath on this journey in Z-VIRUS Powers, the first instalment of this three part story.
Reading Time: 2minutesThe 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.
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.
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.
