I am looking for help from writers in putting together a collection of short stories as a
charity fundraiser for the charity ‘War Child.’ I have collected eight stories
which are in various stages of draft (5 of mine and 3 written by a friend). A
version of one of them is up on this blog here
So far all
the stories have a 1st World War or 2nd World War theme, (but there’s no reason
it couldn’t extend beyond that to other conflicts – that was just our cultural
perspective). They are all about people reflecting on war or affected by it (I
am not interested in anything glorifying war or violence though). I would love
to collect stories from different cultural perspectives.
The rules
are: they must start with “Joe stepped off the train and held the package close
to his side” (or “Jo stepped off the train and held the package close to her
side,” or using a similar name – I don’t want to close off other cultures by
restricting it to European-centric names). I’d like to keep them quite short –
up to about 2000 words long, but it is quality that counts, so I won't rule anything out on length - a story is as long as it needs to be.
Because it’s
for charity I can’t pay you for them, but I’d do my best to give you a plug. I can’t
promise your work will get in, but if I can see it working, even if it's not quite what I was after, I will look to work with you in editing. But, that said, I don't want to teach granny to suck eggs, and I accept I am no expert.
Look forward
to your ideas. The easiest way to get in touch would be via Twitter:
@stevek1889.
Thanks.
