Shorts

News, Short Stories

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

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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, Novels, Short Stories

A Clip of the Wrist – A New Short Story (And A Nepo Baby Update)

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I’ve finished a new short story, currently titled A Clip of the Wrist. It’s about an older woman, a busybody who clashes with the modern world when she places a letter on a poorly parked car. It’s a funny, touching short about the conflict between modern technology and the old fashioned way of seeing things.

I have a couple of venues in mind, both of which are currently closed, and so I’ll be submitting in the next couple of weeks. A Clip of the Wrist will be readable, hopefully, by the end of the year.

While we’re on the subject of submissions. I’ve completed the last couple of edits I had for Nepo Baby. A few days ago I posted about the process so far, and I’m happy to say it was short and sweet. The last challenge is to read it all through in a single setting. If it survived that, it’ll be ready to go out to agents.

It’s a book I’m extremely proud of. I’ve been very happy with how it’s stood up to the six-week break I gave it. Most of the bigger edits have been things I knew I wanted to do months ago.

The hard part, now, is figuring out how to place it with the right people. Like with submitting shorts, this is my least favourite part of the process, so wish me luck!

News, Short Stories

The Searcher and What We Want

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Two new flash shorts for this week: The Searcher and What We Want. They’re quite different stories and both have already been submitted for publication.

I first mentioned What We Want in a blog post a couple of weeks ago. Then it was under the title Lie For Me. That’s changed because, as so often happens, the character veered off in a direction I wasn’t expecting. It hasn’t changed substantially, but enough that the title no longer made sense.

It’s a mother talking to her daughter about something that happened at school. On the surface she’s trying to be supportive, but she let’s her own shortcomings get in the way. It deals with themes of love, family and cycles of abuse. It is 690 words long.

The other short is called The Searcher, and it’s about a man who vows never to spend a birthday alone after his fiftieth turns out to be a bust. This was an experimental piece for me, writing in a very literary, pared back version of my style.

One of my favourite books is The Life of a Stupid Man by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. It’s incredible how much he does with so little. The Searcher is in that vein, 800 words split across eight different sections. The shortest – and one of the most important – is just 55 words long.

I’ll do a proper breakdown of this one once it’s published, and it’s something I’ll continue experimenting with. That includes in shorts for Leak.

Both The Searcher and What We Want are in the pipeline, so hopefully I’ll be able to share them very soon.

News, Short Stories

RE: Our Last Year Published at Flash Fiction North

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RE: Our Last Year has been published at Flash Fiction North. You can head over to their Recently Published page to read it.

RE: Our Last Year is a is a satirical piece in the form of an email, sent by the head of a company that’s about to make some big changes.

It takes a look at work culture and late-stage capitalism by ramping up the “cost-cutting measures” and corporate double speak to 11. It’s familiar – a little too familiar.

Anybody who has ever had a boss has seen an email like this. There’s the faux cheeriness, the “camaraderie” that only goes one way. There’s the business plans that seem so destructive you wonder how you’ll ever come back.

You don’t come back. Then another email arrives.

It’s fantastic to see RE: Our Last Year published, and it’s sitting along some really cool stories in the August batch. Take a look, and read some of the others on your way.

For information about some of my other shorts, click across to the Prose page.

News, Short Stories

Not the One

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A new short – Not the One – has been finished and submitted for publication elsewhere.

Not the One is about a terrible date. He’s talking endlessly about real ale, football and household appliances. Just when you think you’re over it, he reminds you why you’re there. But then something happens that changes everything.

Not the One is a 1780 word comic literary short about love, dating and difficult decisions. It’s what happens when the Rom Com goes wrong.

There’s not a lot else in the way of updates except to say I’ve not worked on the novel as much as I should have done this week. Still making progress, but these shorts are addictive. I’m aiming to write one a week – this week I’ve written three. Me and Mam at the End of the World, RE: Our Last Year and now this one. And in fact, Boudoir was last Saturday, so count that too if you want.

The hope is that by writing enough shorts, there will come a time when there’s a constant roll of rejections and acceptances. That way, in theory, there’s never a gap where stories aren’t moving. One of my problems in the past has been emphasizing individual stories, and burning out on the wait. This is a way to get over this and, if the last week is anything to go by, so far so good. I’ve looked at the Prose page more than once and been surprised by something there!

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