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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...

"The brief here was to write something that holds back and has stuff going on beneath the surface" Scratch has taken that brief by the ears, and wowed us all with a quality piece that leaves us wanting more. Congratulations to him for Story of the Week - "Silver Rider" Poem of the week goes to Esmerelda-O who marks a welcome return with her piece of stunning melancholy, "People in Rooms" http://www.abctales.com/story/esmerelda-o/people-rooms...

It's May! The birds are singing! The blooms are blooming! The sun is shining! The Tories have just won the election! Never mind though! Because we are holding one of our legendary readings at the Wheatsheaf in Fitzrovia which is 100% guaranteed to make you feel better. I'll eat my hat if you don't! Do come along. It's on May 27th at 7pm. We usually finish around 9.30 pm. We already have some fantastic readers lined up, but if you'd like to read...

I have dusted off the chapters and with much apprehension have posted them to ABCtales. I want them to fly but I worry...are the characters well defined? Believable? Worthy of readers emotions? Is the storyline tight enough...enticing enough? Should I re-write and re-write until I'm convinced it is perfect...and will I ever be convinced? Me thinks not! So I have posted them and sat back. Do I wish for comments from readers? Am I happy to see...

I met Scott Halley on my way up Singers Road. I assumed he’d been to the polling station. But he told me he didn’t bother. I know a lot of people that don’t bother. I can’t say I blame them. We live in a more-it-tocracy. The more you have the more you expect and the more you get, whether it’s wealth, jobs, health, or education. For the poor politics is something done to you. When you expect nothing and get nothing there are no surprises. That’s...

Well the the trend that started at the beginning of the year continues apace. Every week without fail new and talented writers turn up, open accounts and start to post. We've already seen some stella performances; here's another... airyfairy signed up and posted a story in response to last week's inspiration point. That story was awarded pick of the day yesterday and today I have great pleasure in announcing that it has now won story of the week...

Laugh Out Loud when you feel like crashing down,because you have nothing left to lose.Take a bow, but don't you give up Now!!! Your future is still in tune. The past is behind you. The present belongs to you. So, do what you've got to do to get back up and make it through. Let life humour you, it is funny:)