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This week I have mostly been reading dystopian fiction; more specifically The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham and The Death of Grass by John Christopher. I read both novels about thirty years ago, when I was in my mid-teens, and seem to recall that I had borrowed The Death of Grass from the library purely because I liked the title. If my fifteen year old self was reviewing the books, this post would be very different, as my opinion has...

We were spoilt for choice this week with some wonderful poetry and prose. But the picks go to Chant for "Strangers" and MyPunkGang for "The Elephants Head,Camden". "Strangers" is contemplative of modern life yet with moody urban undertones. "The Elephants Head, Camden" looks at the sad decline in a relationship set against the backdrop of a house re-decoration! http://www.abctales.com/story/chant/strangers http://www.abctales.com/story/...

We were spoilt for choice this week with some wonderful poetry and prose. But the picks go to Chant for "Strangers" and MyPunkGang for "The Elephants Head,Camden". "Strangers" is contemplative of modern life yet with moody urban undertones. "The Elephants Head, Camden" looks at the sad decline in a relationship set against the backdrop of a house re-decoration! http://www.abctales.com/story/chant/strangers http://www.abctales.com/story/...

The computer hums. The blank page pristine in its emptiness – I take a breath and concentrate on the characters and story—suddenly that blankness is filled with words. Thoughts fly so fast I typo trying to get it all down. When I stop my eyes widen. What have I written? How could I have let the story bend this way? I should delete all the way back to blankness- but I hesitate over the key--- No, I can find the words. I will create this world. I’...

Join us on a quest to write a poem a month based on a range of exciting themes and styles. All you need to do to get started is read the brief below, let your imagination soar and get scribbling. Once you’ve finished writing and pruning your piece, you can share it on ABC Tales and see what superbly varied work emerges from the same brief. If you’d like to take it a step further, you can also seek critical feedback from your poetic peers because...

Our picks this month come from one of our brilliant, hardworking and all-round wonderful volunteer editors. Here's their decision: It has been a privilege to be able to choose two stand-out pieces in the month of May. There have been many very wonderful pieces; the two that have been selected have a touch of strangeness, a slight shift of perspective that reminds us of the oddness of living. A short story full of poetry and a poem full of story...

Two fabulous pieces today - our story of the week chosen for its most wonderfully disfunctional character, and our poem of the week, which also has disfunction at its heart, but in a very different way. Big congratulations to airyfairy for Daisy and the Chalet Woman, and to socialleaf for I'm Home. I hope you enjoy them both as much as I did. http://www.abctales.com/story/airyfairy/daisy-and-chalet-woman-part-one http://www.abctales.com/story/...

The story of the week is a tie between new member SilverFish and old-hand Stephen Thom. The two winning stories are very distinct from each other yet share similar themes of painful memories and thwarted relationships. SilverFish's A Basketful of Angels is positioned in the Deep South of America and recounts the awful events of a lynching through a child's eyes. Stephen's story Passing Through is about a relationship gone wrong and the narrative...

The created world is so real when you are in the zone. You actually know what your character will say and will absolutely not say. When the world you are choreographing with your words takes life and you know the depth of your characters psyches…elated is an understatement. When you daydream at red light stops and you take moments in your work day to scribble thoughts and plot lines and wish your ‘day job’ was your writing habit…that is when you...