Writer - or performer? Aaaargh!

An evening or so ago I sat amongst fellow writers at a monthly meeting. Some, like me, prefer the dark side. Others enjoy travel or script-writing. We have poets and non-fiction journalists, self-published authors and those who write purely for their own pleasure.

All is well. All is calm. Until I am 'encouraged' to read my work out loud. Suddenly (you can hear my panic; 'suddenly' is one of those words I've always been taught to avoid, like 'nice' and 'was') my heart palpitated. My normally-still hands began to shake. My mouth - OK, OK I'd had a glass of wine - laboured grey as cardboard; any juices lingering on my tongue were sucked dry. Even my vision became blurred.

What the f***?

Now, I have always had an inherent fear of speaking in public - oh yes. Doesn't matter how much I know my subject, or how comfortable I am with an audience... it means nothing.

I'm very aware that in conversation - with people I know and even those I don't I can ramble for England and probably sound lunatic. So for that I apologise - but - is it a surprise that this is why I write? This is my communication method of choice; this is where I can articulate rather than blab and burble. If I do espouse the thoughts that tease my head then people usually politely turn away  - and that's how I discover I am talking crap. Makes you kind of paranoid, but then... what the hell.

So. My question for you - writers or not - is how do you cope with speaking in public? I am not interested in method - I know all about pitch and pause - I want to know how you overcome self-confidence issues. How, when you read your fiction or verse out loud in the comfort of your own home, and it sounds so fab do you stop the subsequent monotone delivery that bears no resemblance to your private performance?

If you are a serious writer, at some stage you will be asked, or will need to promote your work by doing readings at book stores, libraries, public spaces and even theatres. Have a heart, think about it now...

Answers on a postcard, or below - please:

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Lily's Friday Prediction

It's late. Isn't it. But you don't mind - do you? I wish I could say I've been out climbing mountains or digging up buried treasure but you know that ain't the truth. So shall I just stop making excuses and get on with it? Of course.

Many thanks to Chris Allinotte for his great judging of last week's Prediction. Worthy winner and runner-up MuckieDuckie and Kim get our full congratulations for great flash fiction!

Words for 29 July 2011

If anyone is new to Lily's Friday Prediction, the rules are simple, and you can read them below this week's words:

• Gyrate
• Flame
• Border

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have all week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 4th August to enter.

Winner will be announced next Thursday or Friday. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

So, let's be 'avin ya, guys and gals. Come and light my fire...

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Prediction Winner

The results are in - and I shall hand straight over to Chris...

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OK Lily, here we go. Do I need to say I've now got a huge appreciation for your task each week?

Excellent entries all this week, and an excellent breadth of tone and genre.

• AJ Humpage's Hackett earns his name as he plays and flays in the name of art and Silence
• Aidan shares an existential, futuristic Apocalypse on a nanoscopic scale
• Antonia's MC gets biblical, then goes medieval on her captive in An Eye for an Eye
• William shows us a true dark Cul de Sac of life, in a harrowing, affecting tale of neglect
• Lily speaks from the broken heart of talent and artistry destroyed by illness in We Don't Accept Fan Fiction, and then gives a wicked second turn with the ghosts of Watching Out, Looking In
• Rosie makes her Prediction debut with a tale of a twisted life in its final moments with Feathers
• Kim gives us a horrifying end to a wasted life, witnessed only by the shady Dark John, in On the Cheap
• My own entry gave a peak at an abusive relationship with a potentially pyrotechnic redemption in Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
• MuckieDuckie Captures the spirit of sibling adventure in an untitled piece. Mom must be a writer at heart - she can't leave a good story hanging
• Phil displays a grotesque massacre of an entire village in the name of Honor, truly displaying the dark side of what is so often romanticized
• Veronica delivers terror on an all too human scale, and a Monster in the back seat as well.

Alright. This was a very, very tough decision. I don't know how Lily does this every week!

First Place goes to MuckieDuckie - I was completely charmed by this depiction of the family dynamic, and the power of make-believe. The tone and voice of the children was spot-on.

Runner up is Kim - your gritty portrayal of a life used up and discarded by the most unsympathetic of companions was chilling.

Whew! Thanks again Lily for the chance to judge these amazing stories. Everyone's take was so different, and well done. (Kind of looking forward to being a simple contributor again tomorrow!)

All the best.

Thanks again Lily!

Chris

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Congrats MuckieDuckie, and well Kim! Great judging from Chris too - thank you.

New challenge on its way tomorrow...

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Bits and Knobs

Just catching up with a few snatches of news...

Frozen Fear Deluxe Anthology

I'm very pleased to announced that Wraiths and Stays, which first appeared as a Guest Write when deliciously dark horror and paranormal mystery author Erin Cole interviewed me back in May 2011 has been accepted into the upcoming Frozen Fear Deluxe Anthology from Static Movement Press.

The antho. is being edited by Mark Crittenden, horror author and ed. of Red Skies Press which published Their Dark Masters, Tales of Extreme Vampire Horror in which my stories The Infanta Triptych and Walls of Flesh appeared. Thanks Mark!

Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers

I'm getting my hands well and truly filthy scrabbling through the vaults of TK'n'C and have posted two crime stories up on the site so far. Sonia Gets Hers - a pacey tale of revenge with a twist by Copper Smith, and A Short Break by TK'n'C regular Keith Gingell; if you thought the UK's Mad Dogs series was great - you'll love this.

There are loads more stories waiting in the wings so I'm hoping to post the next one in the coming days.

TK'n'C on Twitter

If you're a Twitter user, the TK'n'C editors have started a new hashtag, so whenever you tweet about the site, if you add #tknc somewhere in your tweet, then Twitter will gather our tweets all together. Just type #tknc into Twitter's search box to see what I mean or go to http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23tknc.

A Zombie Cock and Bull Story

My mate and fellow TK'n'C ed, the infamous crime writer Col Bury has been venturing outside of his usual genre lately. He's strayed deep into my personal comfort zone of horror with a very naughty - and rib-tickling tale of zombie love and... bits. Read Supper Time, on Christopher Grant's new site Eaten Alive. And hear more about what Col has to say on the matter on Col's blog.

Planting a Seed of Horror

I have just finished reading the Kindle version of Ania Ahlborn's SEED and can wholeheartedly recommend it. Accidents and shadows, backwoods and children whose grins reach from one side of their face to another - this terrifying story throws you in at the deep end and takes you on a trembling ride of fear. Don't take anything for granted. I loved it.

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Lily's Friday Prediction

Yesterday I began reading Baudelaire again. Today I can't get my mind away from his dark debauch, his delightful horror and enticing bacchanalia. I may have to lock myself away to drown in his words.

But before I do that, I'd like to congratulate Chris Allinotte for winning last week's Friday Prediction with Lessons. Such wicked playmates!

Chris will be your judge for this week's challenge - and he has very high standards so sharpen your pen - and give him hell.

Well done too to runner-up Anthony Cowin for the creepiest concept I've read in a while, Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry.

Words for 22 July 2011

• Slur
• Invisible
• Moat

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have all week until 9pm UK time on Wednesday 27th July to enter.

Winner will be announced next Wednesday or Thursday. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Chris? Over to you my friend...

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Prediction Winner

So who's it going to be?

I do have a winner, but believe me my final choice has shifted and changed, the entries twisting and confusing my ever-hungry brain. So here we go with a quick summary before I announce who will be next week's Prediction Challenge judge.

• Chris's new playmates are willing but volatile. They need teaching a Lesson(s).
• St Force's tourist does more than sightseeing as she studies someone about to take a dive off York Catherdral.
• AJ's Lucy loses and leaves the most precious of gifts Beneath the Oak.
• MuckieDuckie discovers another Jane Doe with Doctor Tiboy as her failing saviour in JD's Realm.
• Veronica's victim can think only of Nana as her own ear is chewed off in Zombie Sunday.
• My Resurrection sees a village destroyed by plague and religion revived by the manifested voice of Mother Earth.
• Antonia questions the validity of newspaper reporting as a typo turns out to be true in Local News...
• William delivers twice; Case Closed apparently sees the demise of Tench beneath the Devil's milk-bottle whilst M is for Inspiration is a poignant message from the heart.
• Aidan travels up and down heavenly escalators with Vaughn - who is not ready to go anywhere, despite the ratty angel's pleas in Stairway Guides.
• Reba takes us into the towering heights of deception before dropping Lorelei to the ground in Objective.
• Anthony paints the walls a sucking gloss that shimmers and moves, its shine a place of wandering thieves in Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry.
• Kim's executioner looks out for himself, regardless of the prize beneath his axe in 'Off!'
• Phil travels through coloured thoughts as his narrator 'ups and downs' in daily doses; Fluctuation.
• John reveals the truth of what man has done in the name of religion in our corrupted Gardens of Eden. 
• Joleen finds Inspiration as Ellen works her madness from the street onto the canvas, with a promise of more to come.
• ttofee tricks us into believing we are walking with a villain, only for The Watcher's vigilante morals to shine through.

The story that tickled my darkest corners, its writing a joy to read - and is therefore the winning entry is Lessons. Monsieur Allinotte, congratulations. You are the judge of next week's Prediction Challenge!

My runner-up, for its terrifying and daring Stephen King strangeness - Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry by Anthony Cowin. A film in the making. Well done.

Outstanding writing, everyone. Such a pleasure. Chris - I'll be in touch over the next few days.

In the meantime, there'll be a new challenge as usual in the morning. Au revoir. Bonne nuit. Dormez bien...

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Erin Cole asks a probing question about demons and muses

Erin Cole

Many writers feel they can't write without their muse. Others use their craft as a means to vanquish their psychological demons.

In Erin Cole's thought-provoking article Demon or Muse, she asks if the relationship between the two is not deeper than we might imagine.

Please do take a visit to read Demon or Muse, and comment if you will. It's a fascinating discussion - I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

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