Blogs

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 18 Feb 2022

We're in the middle of Storm Eunice here, with a red weather warning, and I'm sitting under a glass roof as I write this - possibly over-optimistic, but ok so far! I hope everyone else manages to stay safe, keeps their power on, and doesn't lose too many roof tiles. Anyway, reading through all the wonderful pieces you've posted has been a wonderful distraction - thank you so much for keeping ABCTales such a vibrant, supportive place My choices...

50 Years (My Brain Hurts A Lot)

Posted by Lille Dante on Mon, 14 Feb 2022

Was it the 4 minute warning?

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 11 Feb 2022

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 11 Feb 2022 Two very haunting and unsettling pieces for you this week, which also have the advantage of being beautifully written. Poem of the Week is onemorething's 'The Tale of the Six Swans'. It captures the dark magic and timelessnes of the original story, giving it a new focus for our own times. It really is like reading a fairytale anew: The Tale of the Six Swans | ABCtales Story of the Week goes to Simon Barget...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 11 Feb 2022

Two very haunting and unsettling pieces for you this week, which also have the advantage of being beautifully written. Poem of the Week is onemorething's 'The Tale of the Six Swans'. It captures the dark magic and timelessnes of the original story, giving it a new focus for our own times. It really is like reading a fairytale anew: The Tale of the Six Swans | ABCtales Story of the Week goes to Simon Barget's 'Fame'. This has a dark magic of its...

Storyville, Misha and the Wolves, BBC 4, BBC iPlayer, Writer and Director Sam Hobkinson.

Posted by celticman on Tue, 08 Feb 2022

Storyville, Misha and the Wolves, BBC 4, BBC iPlayer, Writer and Director Sam Hobkinson. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00142bh/storyville-misha-and-the-wolves Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel takes lessons from screenwriters.. The Hero’s journey. The ‘shard of glass’. ‘A psychological wound that has been festering beneath the surface of your hero for a long time.’ The moron’s moron, for example, a narcissistic psychopath with...

The Story of Fleetwood Mac - review of BBC music documentary

Posted by Ray Schaufeld on Mon, 07 Feb 2022

Kate Bush wrote the song Wuthering Heights - Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham lived it and continue to do so. They are now both alive and over 70.

Story and Poem of The Month

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 06 Feb 2022

Our picks for the month of January, very kindly chosen by airyfairy: I’m writing this just after the latest ABC Tales Reading Event, which only proved, once again, how much talent there is on this site. Not only the writing – the readings were pretty amazing too! So of course it’s been really hard to make this month’s choices. I’ve enjoyed so many wonderful stories and poems, and in the end it came down to the ones that gripped me right from the...

Lenny McLean (1998) The Guv’nor.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 05 Feb 2022

On the cover is a picture of Lenny McLean, with a banner, The No.1 Bestseller and a quote (from Lenny) ‘I look what I am, a hard bastard’. The book has been ghost-written by Peter Gerrard who has worked with Reggie Kray and Ronnie Knight. The back cover shows a picture of a glowering Lenny with a sweep-over bald patch, wearing a white t-short, hands clenched as fists. The background shot is the sign for The Blind Beggar pub where Ronnie Kray...

Online Reading Event - Friday 4th February (7-9pm GMT)

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Wed, 02 Feb 2022

Just a reminder that on Friday (7-9pm GMT) we are having another online reading event with a fab lineup! Readers include: Drew Gummerson, Sean McNulty, Ewan Lawrie, Jane (airyfairy), Paul (marandina), Jack O'Donnell (celticman), Little Red Hat, Rachel Deering (onemorething), Ross Lowe, Michael Lawrence (donignacio), JoAnne (Penny for a thought), and Mark Burrow. Do come along and listen, we'd love to see you there. Click here to register (...

Happiness is a warm Keyboard=I live to and love to write

Posted by Penny4athought on Mon, 31 Jan 2022

Stepping away from writing for a day can sometimes extend into an unintended emptiness of words. For someone who has always had stories and thoughts swirling in her head, filling up any given downtime, it was happiness disrupting when my warm keyboard grew cold. After weeks of trying to write, I thought, “Okay that’s it, I‘ve run out of imagination, used it all up…I am no longer a storyteller.” That thought was disheartening because it felt...

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