Telling Tales by Pauline Masurel
Performing live isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but if you write fiction for publication then sooner or later you are likely to be invited to give a reading and you want to make sure that you can do your stories justice.
Biographical Notes, by Pauline Masurel
Pauline Masurel says…Own up! How many of you turn first to the biographical notes when handed a new anthology? It’s a terrible confession to make but sometimes I find I’m more curious about who I’m reading than what I’m reading.
Reviewing Short Stories, by Pauline Masurel
I don’t regard myself as an academic, a journalist or a non-fiction writer. So reviews may seem a curious form for me to write. But I would argue that there is also something creative about concocting a coherent book review. It’s a statement that is, necessarily, partial and entirely personal and is also an exercise in constructing a ‘voice’ and a point of view for getting across your message.
There Once Lived a Woman…
PAULINE MASUREL discusses how Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s collection of Scary Fairy Tales swerves ‘between the realist-expected and the magical-surreal – often involving equally powerful forces such as disease, alcohol, vandalism, war and mental illness.’
National Flash-Fiction Day: 16th May 2012
Wednesday 16th May is National Flash-Fiction Day in the United Kingdom. PAULINE MASUREL gets us ready for the big (little) day.
Get Carter – at the Bath Literature Festival
For several years in the 1970s, Angela Carter lived in Bath, and at this year’s Bath Literature Festival, a number of events celebrated her work. PAULINE MASUREL went along to find out more.
We Recommend – Kurt Vonnegut
PAULINE MASUREL recommends the second posthumously published collection of early Kurt Vonnegut stories and finds that his prescient voice still has a great deal to tell us about the world we live in, today.
A Day Out at Bristol Literature Festival
‘I’ve got a confession to make. It’s quite a while since I’ve been a regular attendee of literary festivals.’ PAULINE MASUREL tells us why she stopped going to literary festivals, and how a new festival in Bristol convinced her to go again.
Connective Writing
PAULINE MASUREL shares her thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks of writing workshops and invites readers to share their own experiences.
All Lies
PAULINE MASUREL asks: ‘Should we write what we know or write what we don’t?’