June 2024
Ten stories picked by Sarah McPherson
This month’s Mondettes are from Sarah McPherson.
Sarah McPherson (she/her) loves folk tales and myths and finding the weird in the everyday. Her flash fiction has been widely published, nominated for Best Small Fictions, longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50, and selected for Best Microfiction 2021. Currently she is working on her first novel inspired by the folklore of trees. She lives in Sheffield, is a serial crafter, and spends her weekends doing live action roleplay in the woods.
Find her on Twitter/X as @summer_moth, on Bluesky as @summermoth.bsky.social, or at https://theleadedwindow.blogspot.com/
Sarah is delivering an online workshop for Crow Collective on Saturday 29 June, 4-6pm BST. 'Where Are You Going? How Journeys Create Story' - explore using movement through the landscape to create your stories, and how characters’ connection with landscape and place can develop their identities!
Book here: https://crowcollectiveworkshops.com/2019/05/25/setting-2/
If you aren’t familiar with her work, here’s one of her pieces to start things off:
Illumination (Sarah McPherson | Janus Literary)
Why I like it (MK): the way the story leans into its own oddness to shine a light (both literally and metaphorically) on the human condition; the way the small splashes of dialogue add textural contrast; the wonderful sense of movement from beginning to end.
Imagine Yourself Happy (Premee Mohamed | Small Wonders)
Why I like it: This is a quietly devastating portrayal of the moment between cause and tragic effect. The worldbuilding is skilfully handled so you understand what is happening without being overwhelmed by the science fiction elements in such a short piece, and I always appreciate stories where the aliens are truly alien, and not just slightly weird humanoids.
PROMPT: Write about the aftermath of an inciting incident that takes place entirely off-screen, and think about what you should include or leave out so the reader has just enough information to understand the story you want to tell.
Layered House (Lucy Zhang | -ette Review)
Why I like it: I love the use of an extended image here - the paper houses - to represent the experience of living under the weight of societal expectations, and the acceptance of a known threat over an unknown danger. The protagonist’s rejection of those norms is very satisfying.
A Story Where Nothing Happens (Cathy Ulrich | Trampset)
Why I like it: The title of this piece deftly sets us up for a story that never mentions the thing that actually has happened, in a way that presents this unmentioned event as too painful to contemplate. It feels like a wish made in the depths of loss, full of longing and regret but with an undercurrent of anger.
Threnody in Dark Wood (Avra Margariti | The Deadlands)
Why I like it: This has elements of horror to it, but while it’s dark, it’s not lacking in hope. The language is beautiful, the descriptions are rich with sensory detail, and the core premise is one that I find captivating. It builds to an ending that could be horrific but, in context, is not.
In Every Girl There Is a Forest (Jonathan Cardew | 100 Word Story)
Why I like it: Everything about this tiny piece is wonderful; the repetition, the imagery, the lyricism, the rhythm of it, the way the ending loops back round to the beginning. The short sentences tumble over each other and carry you along. It’s magical, and has stayed with me ever since the first time I read it.
PROMPT: Write a story where each sentence is linked to the one before it, through a repeated image, word, or phrase.
Second Skin (Sarah Fawn Montgomery | Lost Balloon)
Why I like it: This is a great animal transformation story, powerful and visceral and ultimately triumphant. It has clear werewolf elements, but also reminded me of selkie stories, where the trapped selkie needs to recover her skin to be free. It feels very grounded, and at the same time fantastical.
Time and Tide (Gaynor Jones | MoonPark Review)
Why I like it: This story grabbed me from the first sentence. The premise is a brilliant mix of the odd overlaid with normality, which I always love, and - as someone who was a teenager in the 90s - the description of the characters’ brief rekindled friendship is packed with nostalgia. The ending has a lovely poignancy.
Overstory (Lindz McLeod | HAD)
Why I like it: This piece has a triptych structure exploring temptation and rebellion at three different stages of a woman’s life. The language and imagery used is beautifully folkloric, and makes me want to run off to the woods myself (not that it takes much for me to feel that!)
PROMPT: Try using a three-part structure to explore a story idea from different angles or perspectives.
Rex Nemorensis (King of the Woods) (Peter Burns | FlashBack Fiction)
Why I like it: I like the voice here, immediately throwing the reader back into the mythic past. It effectively conveys a sense of ancient ritual and tradition, as well as the human experience of the boy observing the events. The overall effect is a striking image that stays with you.
Unfettered and Alive (Kathy Fish | Waxwing)
Why I like it: A story that tumbles over itself as it builds, and uses repetition and short, disjointed sentences/paragraphs to convey the character's voice and emotional state. It's a lesson in how to write an unreliable narrator, drip feeding the reader information about what actually happened. Plus it features a Joni Mitchell song, and I LOVE Joni Mitchell.
What did you think of these choices? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments - have you found a new favourite piece? Did you try out one of the prompts?
Next month’s selection will be chosen by Kik Lodge and will be appearing (fingers crossed) on the 23rd July.
5th-18th August
How do we bring our characters to life? How do we get them to interact in their own unique fashion with the world around them? This flash fiction course explores body language, the senses, dialogue, internal thought and perspective.
Price: pay-what-you-can (£95 recommended)
"Matt’s Write Beyond the Lightbulb courses are exceptional and his new Colourful Characters course is just as refreshing and invigorating. Beautifully researched and readily accessible, this course not only offers the writer new angles and approaches for writing vibrant characters, but will send you away yearning to get on with it."
Ruth Brandt, Author of "No One Has Any Intention Of Building A Wall"
Other opportunities to work with Matt
Write Beyond the Lightbulb
Go With The Flow (9th-22nd September 2024): BOOK NOW
Glorious Words (7th-20th October 2024): BOOK NOW
Lyrical Writing (4th-17th November 2024): FIND OUT MORE (GET YOUR NAME ON THE PRIORITY LIST!)
Editing
NOVEL / NOVELLA EDITING: First steps review, structural review, line edit, proof edit, submission review
EDITING FOR COLLECTIONS: structural overview report, line edit, proof edit
SHORT FICTION EDITING: Structural review, line edit, detailed edit, proof edit
This is a terrific list and I'm so honored my story is included, Matt and Sarah! Love the prompts as well!