Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Writing Christmas short stories saves sending Xmas cards says Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 31, 2008
in Writing and writing Christmas stories
. 0 Comments
Christmas good cheer :-)

Christmas good cheer :-)

For years, I have been writing a Christmas story for all my friends instead of sending out Christmas cards. I know it sounds penny pinching but I think it’s fun and my friends haven’t stopped visiting me yet.

With the way the credit crunch is going, if you are a writer, creating an online Christmas short story or flash fiction for your friends instead of sending cards might be something you could consider to save money that is increasingly hard to earn.

I’m still working on this year’s Xmas story but if you visit Ultimate Christmas Kiss Confession - an Xmas party flash fiction very short story - you can read last year’s Christmas story and there are also details there of Christmas stories for previous years.

Do you write Christmas flash fictions or short stories? I’d love to know. Please tell all below :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Writing one sentence fiction or one line stories is more about writers thinking than writing … Ideal for dreamers and procrastinators says Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 30, 2008
in Writing, writing one line fiction and writing one sentence fiction
. 0 Comments
Behind bars! Well it was the best I could come up with for an article about sentences :-)

Behind bars! Well it was the best I could come up with for an article about sentences :-)

One sentence fiction, sometimes called one line stories, is even more demanding than the postcard fiction that I wrote about yesterday.

Because each word is so important, when writing one sentence stories, I tend to find myself sitting around twiddling my thumbs trying to find inspiration which may never come.

With longer fiction writing forms, as the words go down on the page, they tend to gather a momentum of their own and sometimes the story almost seems to write itself.

Of course, it would be cheating to make the sentence really long, especially when it is unnecessary and genuinely good one sentence stories can be written that make people pause for thought. In this respect, I often think one sentence stories are a lot like Haiku.

Why not check out ‘Three of the best of my one line stories‘ and perhaps contribute some of your own :-)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Writing postcard fiction is completely about the twist in the tale says Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 29, 2008
in Writing and writing postcard fiction
. 2 Comments

When I discovered that I really enjoyed writing flash fiction stories of about 750 words it wasn’t long before I was tempted to try my hand at postcard fiction which I take to be very short stories of about 250 words which could be put on the back of a post card.

I soon discovered that post card fiction is a genre with its own opportunities and unique problems. Whereas in flash fiction much is brought into the story from the reader’s own experiences, in the case of postcard fiction almost all the story has to be imported.

The skill of a writer of postcard fiction is to take a commonplace situation of which everybody is familiar and give it a twist - which is about all you can do in 250 words. In post card fictions, the story is the twist in the tale and I love twists in the tale!

So I have now written a number of post card fictions and I’ve really enjoyed writing them! The latest of which is entitled Reality TV Intergalactic Wife Swap.

Check it out and your comments are welcome :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Horror writing at its best is about commonplace events with hidden menace by Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 28, 2008
in Writing and writing horror
. 0 Comments
Victorian classroom

Victorian classroom

I’ve always felt that writing horror stories shouldn’t just be about piling gory detail on top of gory detail. Such writing just seems to me to be very distasteful.

Instead, a horror story should be about commonplace events and places that suddenly take on a much more menacing aspect.

The skill of the horror writer should be to lull the reader into a sense of security whilst, of course, keeping the readers interest. The horror then comes out of the shock and surprise when the circumstances change and life and limb are threatened.

In My Perfect Lover - a romantic postcard fiction short love story - all seems to be happiness and loving contentment until the horror in the last line.

Comments welcome.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Writing about feelings, especially constancy in love, often brings a lump to my thoat says Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 27, 2008
in Writing and relationship writing
. 0 Comments

Writing about feelings and relationships is inevitable if you are writing fiction. Feelings are central to our lives and we are all interested in how we and the people around us feel on a moment by moment basis - even those sometimes classified as heartless, unfeeling b******* can get gooey eyed at Christmas :-)

Indeed, at the heart of almost every fictional story is love and romance. Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they fall in love, then out of love and then back together again.

Alongside the love theme, there are feelings of jealousy, anger, resentment and envy all desperate to have their individual stories included.

Of course relationships and feelings don’t have to be from a human point of view and in Turtle Dove Winter Love - a very short flash microfiction story about bird migration - I explore the feelings of a turtle dove. Call me soppy if you like but re-reading this flash fiction story always brings a lump to my throat. The bird feels loss but doesn’t understand why. Perhaps we are all like that however clever and sophisticated we seem.

Comments, as always, appreciated.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Do aliens particularly care about us? Science fiction (sci-fi) writing from an extraterrestrial point of view by Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 24, 2008
in Writing, writing flash fiction, writing sci-fi and writing science fiction
. 0 Comments
Gone fishing - an alien science fiction horror story

Gone fishing - an alien science fiction horror story

Writing science fiction (sci-fi) is great because there is so much scope for the imagination given that there are probably so many worlds out there with alien species of many different types.

However, here is the rub. It is easy for the reader to feel detached from the story unless it has a relevancy to our own species.

Who cares if a pair of intelligent slugs on Omegon 2856.9 get eaten by a giant caterpillar? Probably not many people on Earth who often don’t even seem to care about the thousands dying in Africa.

It was with this thought firmly in mind that I wrote ‘Gone Fishing‘ which is a flash science fiction short horror story. We may not particularly care about aliens but we probably care that they don’t particularly care about us :-)

I wonder if they have science fiction writers on other worlds? What do you  think?

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Writing humour is the ultimate form of escapism

Published
by
hopcott
on October 23, 2008
in Writing, humorous writing and writing online
. 0 Comments

Writing humour is the most fun ever but it is really difficult and requires a very special frame of mind.

Try writing humour when you’ve just had a fight with the wife or when you’ve just been made redundant or been rejected by that online magazine for the billionth time. It’s not easy.

On the other hand, I like writing humour because it gets me out of my own skin so much and leads me to some very strange places. It is the ultimate form of escapist writing. The more ridiculous the circumstances and storyline the better, although it is always necessary for the humorous storyline to be just believable.

In Blogging Stroganoff, my main character is Hoppy - obviously no connection with myself - and he has his ridiculous obsessions which crop up each day. He thinks he’s the world’s greatest cook but can’t even make toast without setting the kitchen on fire. He hates his publisher who is having an affair with his wife. He will work very hard to ensure he is able to be lazy and never ever meet a publishing date.

I really enjoyed writing Blogging Stroganoff and the other episodes on that humorous blog but it took a lot of effort. I may return and add some more but, for now, it will have to amuse passing readers as it can.

The other interesting fact is that I never got many readers for that story which demonstrates just how competitive the humour genre is online.

So, writing humour is fun. It gets you out of yourself but it’s also very difficult to write and the online market is very competitive. But, when your sides are splitting as you re-edit your best piece, perhaps it’s all worth while after all.

Do you write humour? What do you think?

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Defeat writer’s block by writing a travelogue about places you’ve visited

Published
by
hopcott
on October 22, 2008
in travel writing, travelogues and writer's block
. 0 Comments
Falmouth, Cornwall

Falmouth, Cornwall

The best part of writing about different places is that there are so many of them and they are all different. Added to this, we are all experts on somewhere because that is where we live.

For a good example of writing about places see Christine’s hotelier’s blog at the Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast in Southbourne, Dorset.

When writing about places, little needs to be constructed or imagined. I find building imaginary stories a very intense, although rewarding, form of writing. Writing about places I’ve been to or places I know is much easier and, for myself as a full time writer, it fills the column inches.

If you are a writer with writer’s block, why not try a bit of travel writing. You could visit somewhere new, be a tourist for a day and then write about it. You will have a pleasant day out and might find you enjoy the experience so much you become a committed travelogue writer.

What’s more, there is also a ready market for travel writing because people are always interested in visiting new places. It’s nice  to discover them yourself but it’s also nice to read and research places which could be interesting to visit.

What do you think? Travel writing is a great way to fight writer’s block? I’d love to hear what you think.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Writing online novels that build tension to screaming point by Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 21, 2008
in Writing, writing novels and writing online
. 0 Comments

I love writing novels because it allows me to build up the storyline tension over a long period of time until it absolutely screams out to be released. Does that make me a really bad person?

In Sarah’s Price, we see Sarah, the main character, standing on the top of a hill in the countryside with a man to whom she is not attracted but with whom she is reluctantly going to be spending an illicit weekend away from her husband.

As each page goes by, the moment comes nearer when she will or will not have to complete her part of the bargain.

Sarah’s Price, my free online novel, is set in the middle of the 1990s recession in the UK and so is very topical in these credit crunch times.

How is the recession for you?

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author

Writing microfiction is like lying and hoping to be found out - although not to soon - for Rob Hopcott

Published
by
hopcott
on October 20, 2008
in Writing, microfiction and writing microfiction
. 0 Comments
Romantic weekend getaway.

Romantic weekend getaway.

In my last two posts I’ve discussed flash fiction and sudden fiction and how much they permit me to vent random thoughts and quirky ideas that pop into my head during the day. My discussion on sudden fiction showed how, even in such a short writing space, twists in the tale can be discovered in the storyline as it proceeds to conclusion.

Lying and deception are very much part of these two forms of microfiction where it is alright to be found out - but not too soon. The deception, that often relies on the readers personal experiences and assumptions, intrigues them with the first few words then carries their interest enticingly through to the end.

By importing the reader’s intimate personal experiences to the story, depth and richness can be added to the tale and this is a constant writing challenge in the development of the ongoing deception.

The microfiction then becomes a puzzle where even the most astute reader fails to figure out where the story is leading, or even the circumstances of the story, until the very last line.

In ‘Romantic weekend getaway with Fred‘, which is a short flash fiction story about a weekend hotel break romance, we know Angela had a great weekend but wonder why she is so astonished and is absolutely determined to prevent her husband finding out.

Our minds are focused on both what and why. We are intrigued. We are drawn into the puzzle and according to those who have commented on the story, the final line still comes as something of a surprise.

So that is why I say that writing microfiction is like lying whilst knowing that you are bound to be found out - but hopefully not too soon!

Your comments are welcome :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - fiction writer