Non Fiction: Burnt out Doctor?

Occasionally I write non-fiction, often of a medical variety or about a health service topic. I had a short piece published recently in Pulse Magazine, a weekly publication for doctors. The topic was Burnout. The question I had to answer, in 200 words, was this:

One of my salaried GPs seems to be suffering from burnout. How should I approach the issue, what advice should I give and what are my duties as his/her employer?

The Cement Delivery

When I visit the Six Minute Story site, I always choose a random prompt. This is like a dice game. I have no idea what Lady Luck will throw my way.

Once the prompt appears, I have six minutes exactly of frantic typing until I am locked out of the text box and can write no more.

Erotic Fiction (for aliens)

I have had two little pieces published on the Eggplant Literary Productions site in the section they call Miscellanea: The Transdimensional Library.

A transdimensional library? This idea seems totally bonkers to me too, but let me try to explain.

Imagine a library with its shelves filled with books – books that have never existed and have yet to be written. If it helps, think of Terry Pratchett’s library in the Unseen University, or Dr Who’s library that is destined to be built in the 50th Century. Well, on the Miscellanea site you will find excerpts from books that would be and should be held in such a fantastical library.

The excerpts you can read

The Swing – again.

I am proud to report that my 6 Minute Story, The Swing, was selected as one of the 6 Minute Story site’s featured stories.

The Swing

I really love the 6 Minute Story site.

Every time I visit, I wonder why I don’t do this more often. In fact, I was disappointed to see I’ve only written six stories on the 6 Minute Story site! I should be able to manage a story a day.

Today I chose, as I usually do, the random prompt.

As soon as the prompt is revealed, you have six minutes to enter your story in the text box. There is a timer that counts you down. After six minutes, the box freezes and you can type no more.

The random prompt today was ‘Swing’. I started with a mental image of a little girl on a swing and the story just flowed from there. Of course it would benefit from further editing, but I was quite pleased with my 6 minute story.

You can read it here: The Swing

Choosing – a 6 minute story

I had forgotten how wonderful it is to write, free and unfettered, against the clock. No time for editing. No time for self-doubt. And when it is done, it is done.

I heartily recommend the Six Minute Story site. Here you can:

• limber up with a six minute burst of free writing,
• try your hand at flash fiction,
• develop your create-an-instant-story skills,
• work from a selected prompt or from a random prompt,
• read what others have written and comment if you want to.

You may choose a prompt and consider your story options in advance. But once you start typing, the clock starts ticking and you must continue until the time runs out. After 6 minutes, you are forced to stop. There is no second chance to add, edit or to tweak.

When its done, you can save your story and choose a Creative Commons License. Or – if you really want to – you can trash your story.

I prefer to pick a random prompt and I like to start writing without giving myself any time to think. I just see what happens and the only internal ‘editing’ I do is to try to bring the story to some sort of conclusion within the six minutes. Luckily I am a very fast typist.

Here is a link to my latest Six Minute Story: Choosing.

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Winning a short story competition

Time to Boast?

I realise I haven’t really crowed about my recent success. Perhaps it is because I am English and we don’t like to brag about our achievements.

So sorry, but yes, I won the Crime Story Competition in Writing Magazine and my short story was published in the January 2012 edition of the magazine.

So, this is:

I am an Olympic Storyteller!

Oh my goodness, gracious me. I swear I had forgotten all about it. Then I came home from holiday and found this email waiting for me.

Dear Ruth
Congratulations! Your application to become a BT Storyteller for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been successful.

You have been chosen to

Characters – making them round.

How do you create ‘real’ characters? Characters that are round, not flat? Personalities that are interesting? People your readers care about?

For a recent Open University assignment, we were asked to write a scene using a stereotypical character, but showing the contradictions in the character in order to make him or her ’round’. I had in mind a suited business person, very successful, whose family life was a little less organised. I wrote the scene in the third person and past tense (the classic ‘literary’ story telling style).

I was disappointed. The writing seemed somewhat flat and the character remained distant. So, at the suggestion of the assignment, I retold the same scene using the present tense and from a first person perspective.

Here is my first attempt, written in the third person.

No Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Walking along the South Bank with my daughters, I mused on how much history and how many iconic landmarks were contained within a few short yards. When I decided to write a flash fiction piece, this little story (and the linkages) just seemed to pop into my head.

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They agreed to meet at London Bridge and make another attempt to cross the gulf that separated them.

Walking along the South Bank, they made slow progress. The same arguments were replayed; until, outside The Globe, she responded dramatically – as she always did – leading to a public exhibition of tears and tantrums on the steps of The Tate.

He accused her of being theatrical and she shed more tears as they walked past The National and accused him of orchestrating their disharmony – in full view of the queue outside the Royal Festival Hall.

Eventually she managed to govern her emotions, but not until they reached the facade of the old County Hall. By then it was too late. Things had moved on, he said. He decreed they would never see eye-to-eye if they kept circling round in the same old way. As his opposition hardened, she came to the realisation there were some bridges that could not be mended.

At Westminster Bridge they agreed to stop battling against the tide. The time for negotiation had passed.

By unanimous decision, on reaching Parliament Square, they elected to go their separate ways.

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Here is the walk:

View Larger Map

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