annethology
  • Home
    • About Annethology
    • About me >
      • A little more about me
    • About my books
    • Author talks
    • Contact me
    • Forthcoming events
    • World Mental Health Day
    • Privacy
    • Sign up for my newsletter
  • Debut novel and encore
    • Sugar and Snails >
      • Acknowledgements
      • Blog tour, Q&A's and feature articles >
        • Birthday blog tour
        • S&S on tour 2022
      • Early endorsements
      • Events >
        • Launch photos
        • Launch party videos
      • in pictures
      • Media
      • If you've read the book
      • Polari
      • Reading group questions
      • Reviews
      • In the media
    • Underneath >
      • Endorsements and reviews
      • Launch party and events
      • Pictures
      • Questions for book groups
      • The stories underneath the novel
  • Matilda Windsor series
    • The accidental series
    • Matilda Windsor >
      • What readers say
      • For book groups
      • Interviews, articles and features
      • Matty on the move
      • Who were you in 1990?
      • Asylum lit
      • Matilda Windsor media
    • Stolen Summers >
      • Stolen Summers reviews
    • Lyrics for the Loved Ones
  • Short stories
    • Somebody’s Daughter
    • Becoming Someone (anthology) >
      • Becoming Someone (video readings)
      • Becoming Someone reviews
      • Becoming Someone online book chat
    • Print and downloads
    • Read it online
    • Quick reads
  • Free ebook
  • Annecdotal
    • Annecdotal blog
    • Annecdotal Press
    • Articles >
      • Print journalism
      • Where psychology meets fiction
    • Fictional therapists
    • Reading and reviews >
      • Reviews A to H
      • Reviews I to M
      • Reviews N to Z
      • Nonfiction
      • Themed quotes
      • Reading around the world
  • Shop
    • Inspired Quill (my publisher)
    • Bookshop.org (affiliate link)
    • Amazon UK
    • Amazon US
    • books2read

Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Does your inspiration come mostly from inside or outside?

4/10/2018

7 Comments

 
Picture
October brings the Flash Fiction Rodeo to the Ranch, with the weekly challenges suspended and the ring cleared for competitive wrangling words. Now, I’ve entered writing competitions in the past – and even won one or two – and, after initial scepticism, I’ve grown addicted to submitting my 99 words. But last year, unable to bring the two together, I could only watch from the sidelines. This year, I’m joining in.

Why was I so reluctant to compete at the Ranch? Could it relate to my preferred balance between inside and outside in inspiration, and how its fluctuations impact on my commitment to the stories that ensue? As someone with more ideas than time to make something of them, I’d never been hooked on writing prompts until I joined Charli’s crew. On workshops and courses, my mind freezes when invited to pick up my pen; my arm too, but there’s a practical reason for that.
 
Finding my response to the flash fiction challenge is like looking for a certain type of book on shelves that are continually rearranged. I expect there’s something there, but don’t know how to find it, or whether it’ll be worth it when I do.
 
My standard initial reaction to the prompt being revealed is No, I’ve got nothing to say about that! So it’s been fun to discover that, on the contrary, I can find something. The standard of my contributions varies from week to week; but that’s okay, it’s only 99-word game.
 
Yet there’s part of me that thinks even the most satisfying stories I produce this way aren’t real stories. Real stories emerge from my mind in a totally different way.
 
The fiction I’m more accustomed to writing also arises through a meeting of inside and outside, but in a more haphazard way. I don’t actively search for stories to answer a particular question or fit a particular theme. Instead they arise organically, as a consequence of being in the world. A remark overheard, a news item, the contents of a stranger’s supermarket trolley; some small surprise or gap between what occurs and what’s expected: anything can spark a story if it connects, however obliquely, with some memory or unconscious preoccupation of my own.
 
While such stories still require a good deal of mind-work, they feel like something that’s been waiting to happen, waiting for some chance observation to lift the lid and let the contents spill out. I feel much more committed to the stories that emerge from within, these are the stories I’m bursting to tell.
 
And these are the stories I submit to competitions, or to the more prestigious magazines. But are they better than those stories generated externally in response to writing prompts? The reader’s experience isn’t the same as the writer’s: if I’m strongly attached to a story it doesn’t necessarily follow that you’ll like it too.
 
In fact, we might hypothesise that the externally inspired stories would be stronger, being less muddled with bits of me. Although I do have to search inside myself to find a prompted story, is it better anchored to what people might want to read?
 
I’d better stop introspecting on my process of introspection or I’ll have driven myself crazy before I’ve faced the first Rodeo challenge. But I’m curious about how other writers’ experience of inspiration: does yours come mostly from outside or within?

If a conversation about inspiration doesn’t inspire you, perhaps you’ll be inspired to talk to Geoff. He wants 99-word stories told entirely in dialogue (or dialog) – but be sure to go to the post before you start composing. (A click on the image will take you there.) There’s a rather intriguing photo prompt.

Picture
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
7 Comments
Geoff link
5/10/2018 12:09:28 am

Now that’s a fascinating train of thought. Externally prompted stories, are often odd constructs, like scripted conversations or pre written speeches. A few satisfy but a lot lack something. What you describe as internally driven stories have more mileage. A very few have converted from one to another. My plans for nano this year are a case in point. I wrote a short piece based on a picture prompt 2 Christmases ago. Last Christmas I re wrote it and this year new possibilities with it kept beating a path to my brain. Now I have a novel waiting to be written. That’s a first. By contrast I wrote a short piece again from a similar prompt. Many people said you must take it further. I wrote 2 follow up pieces with the same characters and had the same if not stronger reactions. I took time looking at how I might extend the idea, give it the structure for a novel. I managed to pen 5000 words but it’s really not going anywhere. It’s not demanding to be written. At least not yet. As I say fascinating.

Reply
Annecdotist
6/10/2018 06:04:32 pm

Thanks, Geoff. I have the impression that you write a lot more prompted stories than I do, so I’m surprised to discover we are fairly similar. It’s making me think that some stories primarily serve a social function of joining in together for the fun of comparing similarities and differences, whereas I’m much more – perhaps too much – focused on trying to create something which will have a life after the blog post that first spawned it.
And interesting, as you say, that even if others might praise the particular story if it doesn’t resonate strongly enough for its author it won’t go anywhere. But good luck with NANO. I’ll be interested to see where that leads.

Reply
Charli Mills
5/10/2018 06:40:50 am

I've been fascinated over the years to watch how stories unfold every week. I like how you find stories: "Instead they arise organically, as a consequence of being in the world." My biggest inspiration comes from history. I'm less interested in the goods in someone's shopping cart as I am by who someone was buried so long ago in an an abandoned cemetery. Ultimately I think we can;t fully escape our bits getting mixed in the word stew of stories inspired in or out. So glad you are diving this year, Anne!

Reply
Annecdotist
6/10/2018 05:56:11 pm

I think you know I share your love of cemeteries, Charli, although for me it’s a very vague sense of atmosphere rather than trying to work out the stories behind the names. But it’s a setting that proves redemptive for the character in one of the stories of my forthcoming collection.
Your comment, especially coming after Geoff’s, is making me think that there are social stories and individual stories – maybe they serve different purposes.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
8/10/2018 08:09:26 am

I really enjoy these introspective posts, Anne. I've always been more interested in what makes us tick that in boxes we've ticked, if that makes sense - the thoughts rather than actions. Mostly I feel the same way as you when I read Charli's prompts - impossible, I think. I mull it over, mostly, over the weekend, thinking of different angles and interpretations. Sometimes something works its way out of that. Other times "inspiration" (if I dare use that word) strikes in the shower on the final morning. I guess I generally give myself more of a challenge by trying to work something educational into it. I'm thinking I might have to reduce that aspect and go back to my first love - dysfunctional existential characters - to give myself a little more freedom.
I'm pleased you're joining in the contests this year. The competition is going to be tough I think, but I'll still have a go too. I wish you success.

Reply
Annecdotist
8/10/2018 06:38:24 pm

Thanks, Norah, I do like your line ‘interested in what makes us tick rather than in boxes we've ticked’, and thanks for sharing your own inspiration process. I love the way you create your posts around your 99-word story but it does make more work, and with the educational angle to boot. Makes your stories both inspired and inspiring – wishing you look in the contests too.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
13/10/2018 12:42:51 pm

Thanks, Anne. :)




Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Free ebook: click the image to claim yours.
    Picture
    Available now
    Picture
    The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home
    Picture
    Find a review
    Picture
    Fictional therapists
    Picture
    Picture
    About Anne Goodwin
    Picture
    My published books
    entertaining fiction about identity, mental health and social justice
    Picture
    My third novel, published May 2021
    Picture
    My debut novel shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize
    Picture
    Picture
    My second novel published May 2017.
    Picture
    Short stories on the theme of identity published 2018
    Anne Goodwin's books on Goodreads
    Sugar and Snails Sugar and Snails
    reviews: 32
    ratings: 52 (avg rating 4.21)

    Underneath Underneath
    reviews: 24
    ratings: 60 (avg rating 3.17)

    Becoming Someone Becoming Someone
    reviews: 8
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.56)

    GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4 GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4
    reviews: 4
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.44)

    The Best of Fiction on the Web The Best of Fiction on the Web
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 3 (avg rating 4.67)

    2022 Reading Challenge

    2022 Reading Challenge
    Anne has read 2 books toward their goal of 100 books.
    hide
    2 of 100 (2%)
    view books
    Picture
    Annecdotal is where real life brushes up against the fictional.  
    Picture
    Annecdotist is the blogging persona of Anne Goodwin: 
    reader, writer,

    slug-slayer, tramper of moors, 
    recovering psychologist, 
    struggling soprano, 
    author of three fiction books.

    LATEST POSTS HERE
    I don't post to a schedule, but average  around ten reviews a month (see here for an alphabetical list), 
    some linked to a weekly flash fiction, plus posts on my WIPs and published books.  

    Your comments are welcome any time any where.

    Get new posts direct to your inbox ...

    Enter your email address:

    or click here …

    RSS Feed


    Picture

    Tweets by @Annecdotist
    Picture
    New short story, “My Dirty Weekend”
    Picture
    Let’s keep in touch – subscribe to my newsletter
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Popular posts

    • Compassion: something we all need
    • Do spoilers spoil?
    • How to create a convincing fictional therapist
    • Instructions for a novel
    • Looking at difference, embracing diversity
    • Never let me go: the dilemma of lending books
    • On loving, hating and writers’ block
      On Pop, Pirates and Plagiarism
    • READIN' for HER reviews
    • Relishing the cuts
    • The fast first draft
    • The tragedy of obedience
    • Writers and therapy: a love-hate relationship?

    Categories/Tags

    All
    Animals
    Annecdotist Hosts
    Annecdotist On Tour
    Articles
    Attachment Theory
    Author Interviews
    Becoming Someone
    Being A Writer
    Blogging
    Bodies
    Body
    Bookbirthday
    Books For Writers
    Bookshops
    CB Book Group
    Character
    Childhood
    Christmas
    Classics
    Climate Crisis
    Coming Of Age
    Counsellors Cafe
    Creative Writing Industry
    Creativity
    Cumbria
    Debut Novels
    Disability
    Editing
    Emotion
    Ethics
    Ethis
    Family
    Feedback And Critiques
    Fictional Psychologists & Therapists
    Food
    Friendship
    Futuristic
    Gender
    Genre
    Getting Published
    Giveaways
    Good Enough
    Grammar
    Gratitude
    Group/organisational Dynamics
    Hero’s Journey
    History
    Humour
    Identity
    Illness
    Independent Presses
    Institutions
    International Commemorative Day
    Jane Eyre
    Kidney Disease
    Language
    LGBTQ
    Libraries
    Live Events
    Lyrics For The Loved Ones
    Marketing
    Matilda Windsor
    Memoir
    Memory
    Mental Health
    Microfiction
    Motivation
    Music
    MW Prequel
    Names
    Narrative Voice
    Nature / Gardening
    Networking
    Newcastle
    Nonfiction
    Nottingham
    Novels
    Pandemic
    Peak District
    Perfect Match
    Poetry
    Point Of View
    Politics
    Politics Current Affairs
    Presentation
    Privacy
    Prizes
    Psychoanalytic Theory
    Psychology
    Psycholoists Write
    Psychotherapy
    Race
    Racism
    Rants
    Reading
    Real Vs Imaginary
    Religion
    Repetitive Strain Injury
    Research
    Reviewing
    Romance
    Satire
    Second Novels
    Settings
    Sex
    Shakespeare
    Short Stories General
    Short Stories My Published
    Short Stories Others'
    Siblings
    Snowflake
    Somebody's Daughter
    Stolen Summers
    Storytelling
    Structure
    Sugar And Snails
    Technology
    The
    The Guestlist
    Therapy
    TikTok
    TNTB
    Toiletday
    Tourism
    Toxic Positivity
    Transfiction
    Translation
    Trauma
    Unconscious
    Unconscious, The
    Underneath
    Voice Recognition Software
    War
    WaSBihC
    Weather
    Work
    Writing Process
    Writing Technique

    Archives

    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Picture
    BLOGGING COMMUNITIES
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from havens.michael34, romana klee, mrsdkrebs, Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It., adam & lucy, dluders, Joybot, Hammer51012, jorgempf, Sherif Salama, eyspahn, raniel diaz, E. E. Piphanies, scaredofbabies, Nomadic Lass, paulternate, Tony Fischer Photography, archer10 (Dennis), slightly everything, impbox, jonwick04, country_boy_shane, dok1, Out.of.Focus, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Elvert Barnes, guillenperez, Richard Perry, jamesnaruke, Juan Carlos Arniz Sanz, El Tuerto, kona99, maveric2003, !anaughty!, Patrick Denker, David Davies, hamilcar_south, idleformat, Dave Goodman, Sharon Mollerus, photosteve101, La Citta Vita, A Girl With Tea, striatic, carlosfpardo, Damork, Elvert Barnes, UNE Photos, jurvetson, quinn.anya, BChristensen93, Joelk75, ashesmonroe, albertogp123, >littleyiye<, mudgalbharat, Swami Stream, Dicemanic, lovelihood, anyjazz65, Tjeerd, albastrica mititica, jimmiehomeschoolmom