Stories from Jean Grimsey and Michelle Heatley and, as promised, here are the tips I heard during the presentation of the BBC Short Story prize:
"I set up a situation, then things go terribly wrong – as they always do in my books."
"Scientists and artists seem to make incongruous bedfellows, but they are closer than you think, both are engaged in seeing the world as honestly and clearly as possible."
"I like to grab the reader quickly, give them a lot of information quickly and also to use the voice of the character to give out a lot of information about that character’s background and mood and tone of the whole piece. I also like to be able to control the pace at which the reader takes the story in – all in one sitting."
And from the winner:
"I try and hit all the five senses every two pages – it’s just a rule that’s ingrained – to make it visceral and authentic."
And comments from the chair of judges on waht she looksfor in a short story:
“stories that drop you straight into the middle of the situation and have forward momentum. They need to be page turners, you must want to know what is going to happen.
"Also, since this was a radio competition the story had to read well on air, it had to progress logically, because a listener can’t refer back."
All useful stuff
Keep the stories coming in - a great response so far but always room for more.
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