Boudoir

News, Short Stories

Two New Shorts: ‘One Thing and Another’ and ‘Alicia, 14’

/

I’ve finished two new shorts: One Thing and Another and Alicia, 14. I have submitted them for publication.

One Thing and Another is a 2,600 word story about love and the lies we tell ourselves. It follows Daniella, a woman whose meaningless affair leads to her saving an old woman’s life, exploring the duality of public and private life in the digital age. It was fun to explore something in such a close perspective to such a flawed character, and to toy with the ways reality can drip through without her noticing.

This started as a more literary tale than I usually tell. Like with The Searcher, it’s an experiment with combining voice and intent. I can’t wait to share how it turned out.

Alicia, 14 is a very different story. Flash fiction – less than 500 words long. This is part of Leak, a collection of short stories I’m occasionally working towards. This story is about a man who has mourned for his murdered sister for fifty years, losing his entire life to it. When a data leak allows him to see the police files for the case, he gets to enact the closure he has needed. Leak is built around this theme. What happens when the internet is blown open? Boudoir is another from Leak.

The beauty of these pieces is that they have a life beyond the collection. That’s important, as it’ll make the whole stronger. The central idea of an unprecedented data leak is timely, sure. But it’s also something that sits nicely at the heart of these stories. Leak isn’t a sci-fi collection. It isn’t about tech. Leak is about people, and the highs and lows of our relationship with the internet.

One Thing and Another and Alicia,14, will hopefully be available to read in the near future.

News, Short Stories

Me and Mam at the End of the World

/

A new short story this week, and accidentally the longest short story I’ve written so far. Me and Mam at the End of the World is a dark comedy about family, love and the space between the important moments of life.

When the world ends, what happens if you’ve only got your mother for company? The story is wry, voice driven, funny and heart breaking. It’s a genre blending, surreal voice driven adventure through an apocalypse like no other.

It comes in at just under 4,000 words, and it’s already been submitted for publication elsewhere. Me and Mam at the End of the World will hopefully be available to read in the coming months.

Boudoir, the short from my last update, has been submitted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize. It’s a long process, with the final result being announced in January, but it’ll be a lot of fun to see how it does.

Positive feedback continues to come in for Nepo Baby, my novel. From the middle of August, I’ll be focussing on prepping that for submission. And after that, on actually handling submissions.

And finally, the next novel continues to come along slowly but surely. It’s not going at quite the speed Nepo Baby did – it’s a harder write, emotionally and technically. But the work is good and the pace is worth it. There’s a sense of location to it that’s very different to my previous work. I think people are going to enjoy it.

Writing stories like Me and Mam at the End of the World has been great. Getting in and out of a character or a set of characters is such a tight space is an enjoyable challenge.

Film, News, Short Stories

Childbirth (For Men) and a new short story

/

Childbirth (For Men) – my short script built about a man who is suddenly thrust into fatherhood – has been polished, given its own page and is ready to download. It’s a fun adventure, layering a man’s impending parenthood with the traditional structure of the hero’s journey. It’s a quality story, with some laughs and a lot of heart.

I’ve finished a new short, Boudoir, which I’ll be submitting for publication over the coming week. It’ll ultimately be part of my anthology, Leak.

The story follows a woman who books herself a boudoir photoshoot after being called sir on the bus. The 1700-word story deals with themes of body image, privacy and confidence.

Another story – Lie for Me – is about half way done. There may be an update on that soon.

Progress on the next novel is steady. The writing is good, the story is hitting the right emotional beats – it feels inevitable in all the right ways. I can’t wait to talk about it.

Finally, I’ll begin the submission process on Nepo Baby in the next month. I finished the polish draft on June 28th, and I’ve been dying to get back to it since.

As well as a Childbirth update, the website has seen some other minor polish. It’s all coming together – slowly, but surely.

Scroll to Top