#74. Creature Feature: Learning How to Approach Monster Stories

Whether you like horror or not, fantasy is all about confrontation with the strange and the impossible.

Join award-winning fantasy and dreampunk author, Anna Tizard, in an exploration of creature themes, with tips, tricks and tools you can use to develop your writing in new, exciting ways. Naturally, there’s plenty of experimentation with ideas, as Anna uses the surrealist word game of Exquisite Corpse to generate short story ideas while applying new-found learning around the topic of writing monsters.

A fascinating exploration of writing craft. Ignite yourimagination with these short story ideas for the ultimate writing prompt challenge. Your weekend is not weird enough (or creative enough) without Brainstoryum!

Subscribe for free to Anna Tizard’s private email list andreceive an e-book to begin your journey into The Book of Exquisite Corpse (includesexclusive material not published anywhere else). Go to www.annatizard.com.

Hello imaginative people! I’m Anna Tizard and this is episode 74 of Brainstoryum.

Now, in my last collection of short stories, the theme of Portals and Immortals (which became the title), seemed to emerge of its own accord, intuitively, as I began to recognise these ideas cropping up in my otherwise very different stories. And so it was almost in retrospect – or certainly after I’d got most of the first drafts written – that I made that firm decision to go with that theme. And really it influenced my final decisions on which stories to include in that collection, and not much else.

But this time, I want to do more. Now that I’m trying to build towards a new collection (it’s high time I put another one together), I feel like I want to be more proactive.

I have observed a theme emerging. But I feel like I have lots to learn, and I’d like to use this show to share some of my learning process along the way; and that’s good, because part of the pleasure and the excitement of being an author is to learn; you’re always learning. And as this is a story brainstorming show, and my listeners send me words which then turn into writing prompts… Why not share more of my thoughts and my learning through my process of writing and experimenting with stories?

The theme that I’m already slightly obsessed with, and if you glance back at some of the latest story brainstorms, you’ll notice it’s there: isweird creatures.Sometimes monsters but not always. Creatures can include ghosts, dragons, creatures from fairytales, mythology, we’ve had a few kelpies on the show; and characters who aren’t completely human.

I’m not a horror writer; sometimes I dip into horror themes or get a bit scary; but if you’ve listened to the last show, the Trope Special, you’ll already understand that authors potentially borrow story elements from all different genres. I don’t like gore. If I’m reading a book with a bit of gore in it I might grit my teeth and get through it IF I’m particularly enjoying that book for its story and characters. So ifyouare not a horror reader (or a horror writer), or even if you don’t feel that drawn to the idea of monsters, I firmly believe there will be plenty going on in this show to entice and stir your imagination.