How I wrote it

My short story ‘Medusa Takes a Bath, and Becomes a Monster’ was performed by Grace Cookey-Gam at a Liars’ League event in London in August 2022 – you can watch it here, or read it here. I began writing this story in response to a call for submissions for Medusa-inspired stories. I love the GreekContinue reading “How I wrote it”

A short story I recently read

‘Girls Have Sharp Teeth’ by Genevieve Mills Read it here in about 20 minutes. Thinking about narrative voice… It’s swiftly evident that our narrator is a teenage girl, and she has a great narrative voice. The vocabulary and semantic fields support the fact this is a teenage voice: the first line mentions a female collectiveContinue reading “A short story I recently read”

Two stories, one theme

This week, I read ‘My Sister, the Serial Killer’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite, and ‘The Girl with the Louding Voice’ by Abi Daré. Both are first novels by female Nigerian authors, and both highlight an issue that plagues modern Nigeria: the commodification of young women. Both authors tackle this issue in different ways, in different genresContinue reading “Two stories, one theme”

A short story I recently re-read

‘Girl’, by Jamaica Kincaid Available here. It’s very short – less than a 5-minute read. Analysis:  Thinking about elements of story…  The thing about short stories is that they’re able to defy expectations in a way that novels cannot (with a few exceptions), and the way this short story handles structure is a fantastic exampleContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”