Twisted 50 has given many writers a lift to ‘published author’ status.
Being able to say that your story can be purchased on Amazon is a pretty proud boast for an amateur writer.
Of course, it’s often said that a professional writer is just an amateur that never gave up. Success in Volume 1 of Twisted 50, combined with the constant encouragement and motivation from Create50 founder Chris Jones, has driven many of us to pursue the buzz that comes from peer interaction in the writing process – and especially from the prospect of selection for the next volume!
The short story, for me, is a way of capturing the spontaneity of a ‘what if?’ thought that seizes you in an unguarded moment. My story in Twisted 50 Volume 1, ‘Bite’, blossomed out of speculation on what might have caused a very swollen bite blister on my wife’s leg – and what might be inside it…
I’ve just found out that I’ve also made the cut for Twisted 50 Volume 2 (yay!). ‘One Step, Two Step’ is a dark, short (barely longer than this post) piece originally written as a submission to a Flash Fiction contest. Early, innocent memories of childhood nursery rhymes now sit jarringly with a more modern perspective on the pervasiveness of ‘perversion in plain sight’. This is, arguably, the reason why we should keep telling each other dark stories – to remind ourselves that there are things we should rightly be frightened of.
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