According to the great pool of knowledge that everybody has access to, we all have a novel within us that is just waiting to burst out and leave the world in awe of our writing ability. Well, I’m not sure about that. In November 2010, I entered the famous-ish National Novel Writing Month and spent the midnight hours writing approximately 2,000 words in each session and completed the task of creating the first 50,000 words – 57,275 to be exact, and yes, I did edit it deliberately to have a pleasingly palindromic word count. However, my manuscript (or computer file to be more accurate) has since languished in a sad and under-used folder that is transferred from computer to computer as my hardware has been upgraded over the years.
Most of the reason for this under-achievement is that life and work have a greater priority for me, but I also have an inner conflict about the best way to structure the narrative. It fits both a standard, linear storytelling, but would also be great as a Raj Quartet-style view of the events from the different characters’ perspectives. In this version, the reader would gain more insight into the unfolding events as they see things from each character’s perspective. Over the years I have experimented with both and have two versions. One day maybe…
Anyway, over an even longer period of time, I have written a few short stories and even picked up a couple of prizes in competitions. I’ve decided to share a few of them here. I won’t reveal which ones are competition winners; you can decide for yourself if you ever have time to read them all. The following list is a selection of my favourites. There are more, but those are what I consider “active” and could become part of a real collection of short stories, so for now they remain under wraps. Thanks for dropping by, and perhaps I’ll see you one day at a book signing. We can all live in hope!
Unfinished
A man goes for a walk down memory lane and finds much more than he expected.
A scent of new-mown grass
A tale of summer magic and that indefinable moment when you find that special person.
The last vampire killer
What happens if the last vampire gets old and starts to lose his powers? This is my take on that sad day. How can we live without vampire stories?
The floozie game
How does it feel when a childhood game keeps you wondering about your father for the rest of your life?
Satay club
This is an impression of how I felt when I first experienced the atmosphere that makes Singapore such a wonderful place to visit.
Rubber memories
Memory is a strange beast, brought to life by many small events. This particular member of the species was flushed from the undergrowth by a trivial action.