Ten Minute Tales

By Victoria Point Writers

We are the Ten Minuters and this is our anthology of short pieces, with each one written under the pump in just ten minutes. How does it work? The idea is that someone nominates a theme and each of us writes a stream of consciousness on that theme in ten minutes only and then circulates the result to the rest of the group. We don't edit the original version beyond a minor tidy-up of what emerged from the initial inspiration. None of us reads another's work until we've completed our own. There is no deadline and not everyone participates each time - other lives, unexpected demands. There have been lots of 'wow' moments: Where did those ideas come from? Why can't I be as quick writing scenes in my novel or short story? We are so different. We are so the same. We spark off each other. We all belong to the Victoria Point Writers Group. We love writing, friendship and fun. We are the Ten Minuters and these are our tales.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victoria Point Writers
• Release date: Sep 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9780646581811

Book preview

Ten-minute Tales

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Table of Contents

Introduction – Ripples in a pond

Theme – A long walk

Theme – Spring

Theme – Autumn

Theme – Furniture

Theme – Travel

Theme – Winter

Theme – Going it alone

Theme – Magic

Theme – Water

Theme – Blogging

Theme – Summer

Conclusion and Acknowledgements

About the authors

INTRODUCTION

Ripples in a pond?

We are the ten-minuters. It started with one.

While she was on a writing workshop, the fun and rewards of spontaneous, time-limited writing touched a chord for Nene.

Not one to keep good things to herself, she cast the tiny stone of an idea into the infinity pond that rippled to a UK contact. Nene and Graham were exhilarated by the quick exchange and critiquing of a few exercises. Nene cast again and caught a new devotee, Laurie. Another ripple, another enthusiast, Sara. Next ripple in the pond brought in two, Carole and Robert, then finally the seventh, Marci. Will there be more?

Was it a pond, or the sea, or the branching of a tree? Our cover catches the sea and the tree. We love it – picturesque Victoria Point in south-east Queensland, our meeting base, although we stretch a long way further.

How does it work? The idea is that someone nominates a theme and when we can find ten minutes, each of us writes and circulates the result as an email attachment. We don’t edit the original version beyond a minor tidy-up of what emerged from the original inspiration. None of us reads another’s work until we’ve completed our own. There is no deadline and not everyone participates each time – other lives, unexpected demands.

There’ve been lots of WOWs: Where did those ideas come from? Why can’t I be as quick writing scenes in my novel or short story? We are so different. We are so the same. We spark off each other. Somehow I’m clearer when there’s a bit of pressure. There’s something there I can expand on for flash fiction, for a short story. Maybe that’s the germ of another novel?

So, what now? We really like the diversity of the stories and styles. As several of us are keen to explore e-publishing of our novels, we thought what better way than to use our ten-minute tales to learn the ropes, and maybe provide some entertainment for individual writers, or a spur for Writer’s Groups elsewhere as well. Of course the idea is not new, but our efforts are unique to us. For each theme the stories are presented in random order, by pulling a name blind-fold out of a bowl.

We had fun and we’ll continue to have fun while also getting down to the serious stuff of short stories, novels, memoirs. And who knows what else?

As you can see, we’ve achieved our e-anthology aim. And now you know our names, maybe you’ll look out for our novels and short stories when they reach the airwaves or the print shelves.

Please enjoy, and tell us what you think. You can do this via our various twitter, Facebook or blog accounts.

Happy reading and writing.

From : Nene, Graham, Laurie, Sara, Robert, Carole, Marci

THE STORIES

THEME: A LONG WALK

Starting story by Nene, Graham’s came later

A Long Walk

By Nene Davies

It’s funny, when you haven’t slept properly for days, you almost get used to the feeling of exhaustion. You think it’s normal. I stood up gingerly, in case my legs had stopped working while I was thinking of other things – but they responded and held me up. I opened the door quietly and went out to the corridor. How strange, it was daylight and the big windows flanking the hallway seemed full of white glare. I looked at the ground – tiles, green and white that I hadn’t noticed before. I wondered how long it had taken someone