Trawling through my chaotic file system, I came across this, which I wrote a while back - it has at least the merit of brevity ('Brevity is the soul of wit - if you can't be witty, at least be brief') : 'A character must do, not what I want him or need him to do … Continue reading The Writer’s Task
Category: WORKS & POMPS
prose, poetry, short stories & excerpts, published and unpublished
A note on ‘Table Talk’
As the heading says, this is an old story, and not just because I wrote it eleven years ago. (At the time I thought having a story narrated by a table was pretty original, but I suspect it has been done before.) Part of the inspiration for this, which is alluded to in the text, … Continue reading A note on ‘Table Talk’
Table Talk : an old story
The old man’s whistling faltered; the young one took it up, moving briskly about the kitchen. My world is weight and sound, things laid on me, voices around me, arms leant on me, legs stretched under. I know my place, so central that I am taken for granted, my absence unthinkable. Stories are told over … Continue reading Table Talk : an old story
Walrus Boy
O walrus boy, o walrus boy! Alack, and wae is me – If I hadna wed a walrus My strange son widna be. It fell about the Martinmas When mists lie on the land I stumbled on a walrus Was lyin on the strand It didna look tae left nor richt But fixed … Continue reading Walrus Boy
Walrus Boy and the Ballad Form
'Walrus Boy' was written during a writers' weekend at Cromarty, some years ago. One of the talks we had was on the Ballad form and its characteristics. Ballads are an ancient and popular form yet they have a freshness and directness about them that never seems to wane: they may appear naive and unsophisticated on … Continue reading Walrus Boy and the Ballad Form
COMPLEAT TROWZER 