Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Tuesday, 12 May 2015, 16:12
We are all hung up on something – the terrible ex, the neighbours from hell, mothers, spiders, fitting rooms, flying or being alone. Anything you like. Some of the best stories come from the deepest and darkest obsessions (just ask Alfred Hitchcock). So dig deep and find your own personal heart of darkness.
I've come to it a very roundabout way. Via a FutureLearn initiative to get people writing 140 word fiction on Twitter. I think I've posted a dozen @mymindbursts.
What do I get hung up about?
People parking up on the kerb in residential streets
Dogs, and cats, allowed to run about as they please yapping and shitting as they like.
Rubbish left to burn and smoulder for days
Loud radios played in gardens as soon as the sun comes out.
Exceedingly loud petrol-engine driven strimmers used in gardens on a Sunday morning.
Anyone who recites the party line instead of saying something truthful or original.
Overtaking on the inside lane.
Hogging the central lane.
Cyclists riding abreast on narrow roads.
Motorbikes revved and diddled with as their relaxing weekend activity.
Wheelie bins left out for days
Littering at beauty spots - some people regularly pull over a layby and toss their MacDonalds out of the window on leaving
I have this story called 'When the green man saw red.'
Like Michael Douglas in "Fallen' he goes mental trying to set the world straight and probably gets done over as a result. Sounds like me? I attract vandals and abuse. Was I born an arse who made one through parenting and boarding school. One wonders.
Harness your obsessions.
We are all hung up on something – the terrible ex, the neighbours from hell, mothers, spiders, fitting rooms, flying or being alone. Anything you like. Some of the best stories come from the deepest and darkest obsessions (just ask Alfred Hitchcock). So dig deep and find your own personal heart of darkness.
I like this tip on writing from the Open University.
I've come to it a very roundabout way. Via a FutureLearn initiative to get people writing 140 word fiction on Twitter. I think I've posted a dozen @mymindbursts.
What do I get hung up about?
I have this story called 'When the green man saw red.'
Like Michael Douglas in "Fallen' he goes mental trying to set the world straight and probably gets done over as a result. Sounds like me? I attract vandals and abuse. Was I born an arse who made one through parenting and boarding school. One wonders.