18k words in...

September 15, 2017


Merman Inspiration

All, and I mean all, of the original ideas behind my fiction writing occur to me whilst I am out walking in the wilds. My muse is obviously the outdoors type. This past weekend, whilst taking a walk along a lonely stretch of coastline, I happened upon this particular scene:

The scene that set up an entire short story
The picture shows a large log/tree stump that had been washed ashore on a particularly high tide. Now, my eyesight is not at all good these days, but the lack of clarity in my sight does, I believe, make food for creative thought. For example, it can take a little while for me to work out exactly what it is that sometimes catches my eye on my countryside walks. My mind then engages in a little creative whimsy as it tries to focus on the object it tries to delineate. In this particular instance, I wondered if this object washed up on the high tide line might have been a seal. Then I realised it was too big to be a seal- it being of almost of sea-lion dimensions. But, of course, exotic animals like sea lions never get washed up on the U.K. coastline, do they?. Hmm. I then wondered what other wonderful creature it would be fascinating to discover washed up here. The thing looked large, with a tail and a torso, maybe? As I neared the object, it turned out, as it so often does, to be something far more mundane than my imagination had fired me up for - a great whacking log. But my creative juices had been stirred and I had myself a rather late night when I got back home as I jotted out the rough outline of  a story of an old fisherman who stumbles upon the washed up body of an aged merman!

I am rather proud of the fishy little tale I conceived after this foreshore walk. I have always wanted to write a tale of Selkies and Mermen/Mermaids and often enjoy a bit of reading on their folklore. The story is now fully fleshed out and will be next writing project when I complete work on Edn™...

14,000 Words In, Despite This Furry Girl

Friday, September 01, 2017

I am now 14,000 words into my new novel, despite this furry girl:


Faery Door

Our new faery door