Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 8

A New Hope by Tracy Davidson, Hysteria 2021 category winner

Tracy Davidson is the winner of the Poetry category in the 2021 Hysteria Writing Competition. You can find her poem, along with the other finalists from each category in the Hysteria 8 anthology.

Listen to the recording

Read by Laura McHarrie during the Hysteria 8 launch party.

https://lindaph.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Tracy-Davidson.mp3Read the poem

Six months after the ceasefire a different man comes home.
He won’t talk of war, but haunted eyes speak volumes.
On warmer days he spends...

A night out in Antrim

I love the strange and weird. And the photo’s that aren’t quite what we expect always seem to make a good writing prompt, allowing my imagination to run a little wild and free. So this week, I’m challenging you to come up with the opening to a story or poem that takes this photo as its inspiration.

You can see my effort on here:

There I was busy doing nothing with nobody when a tree cracked as mother strode across the landscape, she was not happy. Nope, it wasn’t me this time! Turns out Oonagh h...

In conversation with El Rhodes, Hysteria 2022 writer in residence

El Rhodes was a finalist in Hysteria 2020, a reader for Hysteria 2021 and is very gamely still speaking to me and will be this year’s Hysteria writer in residence. El is an archaeologist who writes short fiction and creative non-fiction. In 2021 she won The Phare ‘Write Words’ Short Story prize, The Intrepid Times ‘Reunions’ travel writing award, and the Nan Shepherd prize. Recent work can be read in Janus Literary, Fictive Dream, Twin Pies Literary, and The Cabinet of Heed.

Listen to the interv...

A brand new writing place

Do you have a favourite writing place? If you don’t have one, where do you like to write? What makes it special? Why there?

I’m in the process of redesigning our spare bedroom so it’s a better place to work and write. At the moment, it’s a blank canvas with some loose bits of furniture and a large two-person workspace at one end. It feels lost and lonely; and as I spend a considerable amount of time here because I also work from home, it’s become increasingly important it is somewhere I want to ...

When ‘digital’ came to town

I still remember the Christmas my sister was given one of the very first computer games as a gift from our parents. Plugged into our television it allowed us to play a virtual game of tennis, batting what I now know to be a collection of pixels against the sides of the screen, so it bounced randomly around.

I must have been about 11 at the time and I still recall the recognition that something fundamental had changed about the world I lived in, although it was to be several decades later that I ...

What if earth is a pyramid by Abdulrahman M Abu-Yaman, Hysteria 2021 category winner

Abdulrahman Mohammed Abu-Yaman is the winner of the flash fiction category in the 2021 Hysteria Writing Competition. You can find his writing, along with the other finalists from each category in the Hysteria 8 anthology.

Listen to the recording

Read by Steve Graham during the Hysteria 8 launch party.

https://lindaph.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Abdulrahman-Mohammed-Abu-Yaman.mp3Read his entry

Civilization begins in Egypt—our dear mother. Cairo, her cherub son, lounges atop the pyramid—on...

Fortune telling kit

You may have read some six-word short stories, often in the form of an advert. One of the most famous by Hemingway is “For sale. baby shoes, never worn”. Can you come up with a six-word advert that hints at an unknown story?

You can see my effort here:

Book now. Fortunes told. Future sold.

Now it’s your turn. Why not use the comment area below my post on my website to share your thoughts.

 

The post Fortune telling kit appeared first on Linda Parkinson-Hardman.

Painter and canvas

I love the idea of generating writing ideas from a set of pre-prepared words. In this one, simply choose one word from each column and create an introductory sentence for a short story, flash fiction or a novel using each of the words.

My effort is below.

“I watched the painter as she worked the rain-soaked canvas, yellow running into red into green using her finger as yardstick measuring the proportions of our local station.”

Now your turn. Why not use the comment area below to share your thoug...

The day of glorious silliness by Jill Waters, Hysteria 2021 category winner

Jill Waters is the winner of the Short Story category in the 2021 Hysteria Writing Competition. You can find her story, along with the other finalists from each category in the Hysteria 8 anthology.

Listen to the recording

Read by Caroline Brewer during the Hysteria 8 launch party.

https://lindaph.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/jill-waters-the-day-of-glorious-silliness.mp3Read the story

Georgie lay in bed, psyching herself up to open her eyes. January 6th. Twelfth Night. Christmas 2020 had c...

Following Fido

Wherever Fido went my little sister went too. Faithfully holding on as he bumped and rolled his way around the garden, the house, the pavement.

Not once did he look back to check she was ok. And she never questioned his direction, simply following along like a puppy on a lead.

The day she followed him off the pavement and onto the road was the day my mother decided Fido had to go.

Year’s later here he is, forlornly sitting in the junk shop window waiting for his playmate to come back and rescue ...