The Fiction Writer's Notebook

Sadly I didn't win the Mslexia Facebook Flash quickie but on the upside, I can now share my entry with y'all. Rules: 250 words on theme of 'opportunity' Tell me what you think in the comments below :-) When the posh white envelope landed importantly on the doormat I thought my dreams had come true. After months and months of trying and failing to find a job, here was an offer of one delivered direct. I took the job eagerly, despite not knowing much about it. But the money was unbelievable, and I was tired of living on cold beans and dry toast. My hunger for real food and proper coffee smothered the logical part of my brain; the part with concerns I should have listened to. I've been here a week and besides the gnarly old man who greeted me - and unbeknownst to me at the time, lock me in - I had seen no one. But I'd heard someone. A few someones to be exact. I've searched many times but found no one. Nor any traces of other people and that's what s...

(From Writers Write) Write the opening paragraphs to a novel using these words: winter crux astronauts wallpaper marmalade ..... The dim winter sun tried its best to break through the grimy window. Justin sat on the frayed window seat eating marmalade on toast whilst gazing out of the window. The tree swing moved back and forth under the weight of an unseen child.  Finishing his toast, Justin glanced around the room. His room. The room he thought he would never come back to. Life has a funny way of doing the opposite, Justin had thought when he was told of his inheritance. The faded and yellowed wallpaper was peeling and the printed NASA astronauts on it were almost invisible. The bed was rusty and sheets as old as him were still on the bed, yellow and soiled like the rest of the room. The bare floorboards were rickety and untrustworthy - like the rest of this ramshackle house, Justin thought. He didn’t want to be here longer than he had to. He wanted...