Friday 29 July 2011

In the doldrums already

Well, A174 has finally finished, last assignment submitted and nearly two months before the results will be announced. Also two months before I start the next course A215 Creative Writing. Am I suffering from withdrawal symptoms or have I always had that twitch in my eye?
     OK, I start a two week vacation next Thursday. Two weeks on a narrow boat on the Birmingham-Worcester canal and the rivers Severn and Avon should be nice and relaxing. It could also give me lots of material if I take my notebook with me. And I can work on chapter 2 of my novel in the evenings so all may not lost.
     Just finished chapter 1 of novel today, after a leave of absence of two weeks to work on course assignment. I say finished but it probably needs a little more tweeking, but that can happen after the  next chapter has been fleshed out. I might even put it up on this blog in the next day or two. It might benefit from some honest criticism. Wonder what happens about copyright when work is published on the blog?
     I was going to post some of my work from the course (two short items were put up yesterday) but was advised not to post the last assignment until it has been returned, and some of the other stuff, which I was so proud of a couple of weeks ago, just does not seem to be of merchantable quality.
     Well, enough for now and back to chapter 2. These novels don't write themselves you know.
 
     
    

Thursday 28 July 2011

The Perfect House


I’ve searched for years for the perfect house. Now, perhaps, I’ve found it. It wasn’t until I had bought it and moved in, that I heard from the local grocer that Margaret Jones died in the house, and that it had been on the market for some time. When I investigated further I found that the old lady had been murdered in the most violent of fashions. Eventually the gossip ceased but then strange things began happening about the house. Strange noises could be heard during the hours of darkness and objects seemed to be moved overnight. I was beginning to wonder if I had made the right choice. 

The Tattoo Artist

They said Adam Pograzski was mad but what did they know?. They also said Van Gogh was crazy but now his works sell for millions. When it comes to art, you can do whatever you please as long as it is unique. Look at Tracey Emins’s ‘unmade bed’ which wowed the arts world, not to mention her bank balance. If Adam tried to do that he would be laughed out of the art college.
 
But his current work was going to make the critics sit up and take notice.  He had already worked out the design and his blank canvas lay before him. The naked girl was stretched out on the narrow bed that he had made especially for this purpose. Her arms and feet were tightly bound to its four corner posts and a gag securely fastened over her mouth. He hated hearing them screaming when he was working. He put on his earphones, turned on his ipod and found his favourite track. It was Chopin’s Ballade No.1 in G, which he found very calming. 
 

There was a look of animal terror in the girls hazel eyes as they looked at him, not knowing what to expect. Then they widened as she took in the needle gun of the tattoo equipment. She desperately looked for an escape but he had seen all this before. He knew there was no escape, and in time the girl would know it too. But it was only when her eyes fell on an earlier canvas did they scream a long silent scream.

End of A179

Just submitted my short story to A179, the Open University's short course on writing fiction. This has been my first time I have taken such a course and was very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I never thought that I was creative in any way but was pleasantly surprised with some of the work that I produced for the course. In fact if someone had said that I would enjoy writing anything then I would have been very surprised indeed.
 
The course was 12 weeks of fairly intensive exercises which were very enjoyable, with lots of helpful feedback from other students and the tutor. I may start putting my attempts at writing on this blog in case there is anyone who would like to see them; assuming that anyone is reading this blog.

I enjoyed the course so much I decided to sign up for the 10 month course, A215 Creative Writing, so who knows where that may lead. In any case, this is the start of my first ever blog which I hope to be able to continue of a daily basis (holidays excepting) until this writing fever leaves me, and that may not be for some time.
Peter