Advent Story 2024 - The Sleeper

Last December I wrote an advent story day by day on social media, and I felt inspired to do it again this year on Bluesky (with round ups every few days on Instagram and Facebook). Now it's done I'm collating it all here, and it begins...

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Let me sing you a song of a sleeper. She lies on a bed of woven boughs, cushioned with mosses. Her pillow is mounded leaves, she has no coverlet. When the sun shines, she is warm. When it rains, the water runs over her skin in rivers. When the snow falls, she is blanketed in white.

She sleeps deeply, does not toss and turn, not when the wind breathes on her neck nor when the mist fingers her air. She does not stir when a blackbird alights on her wrist, looking for worms. A regiment of ants march a road across her belly and still she sleeps. But she dreams.

What Roleplaying Games Taught Me About Writing

Lessons From Roleplaying: Collaborative, Playful Storytelling

[A previous version of this craft article was originally posted in the Retreat West Community, during my time as Community Writer-in-Residence.]

Even if you know nothing about roleplaying games, you've probably heard of Dungeons & Dragons, but what you may not know is that there's more to roleplaying than just D&D.

I've been a roleplayer for more than 20 years. I started on tabletop games, where a group of friends play out a story and (usually) roll multi-sided dice to determine the outcome of actions, and later moved to live action roleplay (LARP) events, in which you get dressed up as your character and act out the scenarios.

LARP events range in size and duration from a few hours for small groups, up to weekend or week-long 'fest-style' gatherings for hundreds or even thousands of people. Both tabletop and LARP games come in many genres; fantasy, science fiction, horror, historical, and more.

Over the years, I've learnt a lot about what makes a good story in roleplaying, and I think much of this can be applied to writing too. I've written this article with writers who may not have any experience of roleplaying in mind, but I hope roleplayers with an interest in writing may also find it useful!

Telling Old Stories in New Ways

Writing Retellings of Fairy Tales and Myths

[A previous version of this craft article was originally posted in the Retreat West Community, during my time as Community Writer-in-Residence.]

Retellings of old or traditional stories are extremely popular; you can find them in the form of novels, TV shows, movies, and also in the world of short/flash fiction. In a Reader’s Digest article titled 'Why do we love retellings of old stories?' (sadly no longer available online), journalist Kate Townshend speculated as to why:

There’s an argument that says the best stories, the ones that take root in our imaginations, lend themselves to retellings as we turn them over in our minds, digging deeper and deeper in order to reach the underlying “truth” of a tale. Perhaps this is why fairytales have long been a genre particularly ripe for retellings.

But what makes a good retelling, and how can you approach writing one? For me there are two key elements; having a good knowledge and understanding of the story you want to retell, and finding an approach that means your version of that story says something new.

Advent Story 2023 - Bianca's Tale

In December I decided to write a story day-by-day on social media (posted on Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook each day), for advent. Having completed the tale on Christmas Eve, I'm collating the whole thing here - and it starts like this...

It was winter, and the naked trees reached for the cold sky with twisted fingers. Bianca had wrapped up warm but the chill crept in around the edges of her clothes and worried at her skin. She knew it would get worse before it got better, for the night was only just beginning.