Bella

  • Ath that creepy as hell, man 😭😭

  • Hallowed Evening

    The Bakers have lived over there for nearly fifty years now. I recognise the car in the drive. They bought it just before I arrived here. Then there’s Helen Smith’s house. I know she’s still there because I saw her heading out an hour ago. She’s changed a lot over the years, but I’d recognise her anywhere. Not sure who the neigh…[Read more]

  • Headline (397 words excluding heading)

    I’ve spent the last 17 months recovering from a particularly horrific Halloween party and I’m reluctant to accept this invitation to another one.
    Still, if you have to face your fears, where better to do it than with a group of thrill seekers who think nothing of taking ‘daring’ to its limit?
    Yes, I know it…[Read more]

  • All done! Lost the ending I wanted to word count woes lols, but this was very fun none the less 👻🐱‍👤

    Lost

    Tall pines creak in the eeriness of night, blown by a sudden, fierce gale. It tears through the forest like a spectral fox hounded by wild and ghostly dogs, and the darkness feels alive with power and invocation. Two, small boys stop running…[Read more]

  • oooOoOoooooh!! I love it. This is going to be funfunfun 🎃👻🦇

  • Go for it!! I don’t need to tell you whose piece tied with hers in muh heart 😍😍 haha #mybiasisshowing

  • JaneShuff posted an update 5 years ago

    Hallo everybody. Sorry to have been so absent lately. I’ve disappeared into the black hole that is marketing for On The Edge – along with writing book 2 in the series (currently missed two publisher deadlines for this). Hopefully things will calm down a bit after 26th October. I’m looking forward to the annual challenge!

    • Never apologise for the success of a book launch (coming shortly??). Good luck with the next deadline.

      • 26th October. Feeling pretty stressed about it although determined to enjoy the day itself!

    • Kate replied 5 years ago

      Sounds exciting, Jane, if rather challenging.

      • I am definitely not a natural marketer although I’ve discovered I enjoy writing articles – yet to find out if readers enjoy reading them!

  • Fabulous stories and especially well done, @Sandra. Thanks for a great comp @knickylaurelle

  • Okay guys, I’ve completed my reading and I really must say these are all so good and left my expectations very well-met.

    @squidge – I enjoyed this far-away, fantastical dream sequence, with its lightly pressing sense of isolation, elusive understanding, and finally, lucidity.

    @athelstone – Gorgeously streaming subconsciousness with this one,…[Read more]

  • Hello and thank you to all who took the time to participate. I have just finished up work for the week and really look forward to reading the last few entries over the weekend before I select this September’s winner. Please bear with me as I get it done. Results will be posted by Monday latest ✨

  • Another pieced-together piece, and only 245 words, but best I can manage.

    Bourbon dreaming

    A bottle of Makers Mark from my husband for Christmas and a wine-free tea (Köstritzer Schwarzbier instead) so I took a glass of bourbon to bed with me, along with John Rebus.

    And I dreamt, more vividly and memorably than usual, with more logic than usual…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 5 years ago

    EEK!
    Just 3 days left for the Weekly Comp. As little as 300 words to make your dreams come true!

  • Knicks posted an update 5 years ago

    Gentle one-week reminder for the Monthly Competition. This month’s prompt is dreams (or nightmare). Your piece can be inspired by a recent dream, or a recurring one. If you don’t dream, you can still write anything you like, so long as the story is dreamlike, and the writing dreamy. 300-500 words.

  • Knicks posted an update 5 years ago

    Half way through the month! Just your gentle midway reminder to dream a little dream for me and enter this month’s short story competition ✨ Entries so far definitely do the theme justice, full of streams-of-consciousness and the beautifully bizarre nocturnal meanderings of the minds of those who penned them. Your entry can be based on a…[Read more]

    • Knicky, I have tried/am trying but have nothing yet .. and may not do so. Sorry.

      • It’s okay. No pressures at all. Hoping to get at least 5 entries by the end of the month. Still time yet ✨

  • Jay

    Jay says he loves me. He says ‘I love you, man’. He tells me he’s killed his mother, or maybe I just think that he did. He says he crushed her like Plasticine, but I can remember that it was really me who crushed my mother. She was made of red plastic and her feet were set on a little tab so she could be stood up. I crushed her with my thumb…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 5 years ago

    Denizens, we have a fistful of entrants to the annual short story challenge. This year will be a cracker. This year will be special. Seriously. Some of the past entries to the challenge have changed the way I think about writing. That may not mean much, but some of them have had a similar effect on literary agents and competition judges. Relax…[Read more]

    • My nerves shaking to find out what all the choices mean. So excited! Monday might be Christmas 😄✨

      • Indeed. And under five and a half hours to go.

        • It’s time! It’s time! You better has not have fallen asleep, Ath lols

          • Soz. Spent a few hours in search of a lost cat and it slipped my mind 🙁

            • You are instantly forgiven. Did you find your kitty? Is s/he okay? 😟

            • She was actually in the house, but hiding really tucked up under a cupboard. Quite upset when we found her. Our guess is that she was scared by something. OK today. She went from a completely indoors cat to outdoors about 3 months ago and she now thinks outdoors is THE-BEST-THING-EVER. She was a bit of an escape artist as an indoors cat, so…[Read more]

            • 😄😄 glad she’s okay.

  • Knicks posted an update 5 years ago

    My endless summer vacation comes to an end on Monday. I’ve been doing my best to be as active as possible here over the last several weeks, but we all know where my promises to keep that up go once a new school year commences, haha. Gonna still try tho 🙈😊

  • In the place and time I found myself, I had done something wrong.

    My punishment? A chain of large metal links, secured around my throat, pressing against my flesh, reminding me of its presence every time I swallowed or turned my head.

    A man, with whom I had a connection – were we related? Was he the reason for my wrongdoing? – received the sam…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 5 years, 1 month ago

    Hi everybody. Just a week left before the writing challenge “Coming Home” closes to new members. If you’re interested in taking part, head to the group, join, and follow the instructions regarding choices.

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