Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

Title: Seating Arrangements
Author: Maggie Shipstead
Publication: Blue Door (24 May 2012)
Summary: The Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the New England island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to an impeccably appropriate young man. The weekend is full of lobster and champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust seep through the cracks in the revelry.

Winn Van Meter, father-of-the-bride, has spent his life following the rules of the east coast upper crust, but now, just shy of his sixtieth birthday, he must finally confront his failings, his desires, and his own humanity.

What I Think

Maggie Shipstead's Seating Arrangements takes place over three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, in the lead-up to and the day of Daphne and Greyson's wedding. Despite Winn, Daphne's father, being the main character, the story is told from multiple points of view. This gives the reader an insight into how everyone - not just the main character - feels and interprets the various events which happen over these three days. 

Shipstead's writing and imagery is beautiful. "The farm might have been the end of the earth. A thin seam of ocean sealed its fields to the sky, all of it coppered by the sun." And not only is she able to capture these scenes perfectly, but she interjects these long, languid sentences with short snappy dialogue which makes for varied and interesting reading. 

Various characters offer us an insight into relationships, both romantic and otherwise. "Female friendship was one-tenth prevention and nine-tenths cleanup." "Because it turns out to be a choice, commitment - not some done deal."

Overall this is not a fast-paced thrill of a book, but it's not supposed to be. It's a gentle unraveling of a family, their friends and (soon to be) in-laws and the secrets that they all hold. I really enjoyed it. 

About the Author

Maggie Shipstead is the author of two novels: Astonish Me and Seating Arrangements, which won the Dylan Thomas Prize and the L.A. Times Book Prize for First Fiction. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. Her writing has appeared in many publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, The New Republic, Tin House, and The Best American Short Stories. “La Moretta,” a story published in VQR, was a National Magazine Award finalist. She lives in Los Angeles.

Friday Flash Fiction - A New Home

A New Home

I don’t like it here. 

Mummy says this is our new home and we’re staying, but I don’t like it. It smells funny, not like our old house. I used to have my own room and now I have to share with my brother, Dan. We have new beds called bunker beds. I don’t like bunker beds because when Dan moves I can hear the bed creaking and I’m scared he’s going to come crashing down on top of me. I asked Mummy if I could sleep on top, but she said it was too high and I might fall out. Dan’s only one year older than me, it’s not fair he gets to sleep on the top. 

I find Bertie buried under my Angry Birds duvet and squeeze him a little to let him know I’m awake. He’s awake now too. I whisper to him that I don’t like it here and he agrees. He always agrees with me. He has fuzzy green hair and big black eyes. 

I’m thirsty, so I take Bertie in one hand and inch slowly down the dark corridor. I can see light from under the living room door, so I know Mummy is watching TV. I hear the strange voices getting louder and louder. 

…A new campaign has been launched today by animal rights activists who have been protesting against this barbaric practice for many years. Some viewers may find the following images disturbing. 

Just as I push the door to the new living room open, I see on the TV a whale being sliced open and all the blood and guts spill out of it. I drop Bertie and scream. 

‘Matthew,’ Mummy says, jumping off the sofa and putting her arms around me. ‘What are you doing out of bed?’ 

‘I couldn’t sleep. I really don’t like the new bunker beds.’ 

‘They’re called bunk beds. A bunker is…something else. I’m afraid you’re just going to have to get used to it.’ 

I look at the TV again. Mummy walks over and turns it off. 

‘And I’m thirsty.’ 

‘I’ll go heat you some milk.’ 

‘With chocolate in it?’

‘No, Matty, it’s too late for hot chocolate.’ 

‘But Daddy-’

Mummy does a sigh. ‘Daddy’s not here, is he?’

‘Is it because he’s living with Auntie Sharon?’

‘That woman is not your auntie. She’s, well, let’s not go into that now.’ 

I know I’m going to cry and don’t want to. Instead I look for Bertie, but can’t find him and that makes me want to cry even more. ‘I can’t find Bertie.’ 

‘Your tennis ball?’

‘Bertie’s not a tennis ball. He’s Bertie.’ 

Look, there he is.’ Mummy points to a wall in the living room where Bertie is lying facing the wall. 

‘Bertie!’ I race over and pick him up. 

Mummy takes my hand. ‘C’mon, let’s go get you some hot milk.’ 

‘Okay,’ I say, and slowly follow her into the kitchen. 

©2014 Laura Besley

Flash Fiction Diary  

It's taken me a little while to get going this January, but hopefully this will be the start of regular blogging again. This piece was written for a competition and had to include the words: bunker, animal rights and tennis ball. Unfortunately it didn't get very far in the competition. 

My first collection of flash fiction, taken from the previously published 'Flash Fortnightly' collaboration with Artipeeps, will be available soon. Here's a sneaky peak at the front cover...

NaNoWriMo_2013 #6 I'm a Winner

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

I decided to write short stories as I didn't feel like I had an idea big enough for an entire novel. You can take a look at my previous posts here to find out how I got on week by week, but in a nutshell I had a good first week, bad second week (mainly to being ill for five days), week three picked up a lot and week four was a bumper week. I actually finished on Wednesday 27th with three days to spare. 

People have asked me what happens now. Hopefully more than what I've done with my 2011 NaNoWriMo, which is nothing. I know, I know. I really should revisit it, or rewrite it, or something. This year, I'm going to leave the stories until the Christmas holidays, or January, and then I'm going to start editing them. They'll need a good amount of editing, I'm sure, as they're all first draft material. Once they've been edited and critiqued, well then we'll see. 

I hope everyone else who started this process finished, or is happy with what they have achieved. I truly believe that writing 20,000 good words, is better than 50,000 not-so-good words, so well done to those who have also achieved their own writing goals. 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #5 The Final Stretch

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

Week 3 ended much better than it started. I had a good week last week and had three bumper writing days on Monday, Tuesday and Friday when I wrote more than 3,000 words on each of those days. At the moment my total word count is 35,870. This week, if I'm going to stand a chance of finishing, I need to write 3,500-4,000 words on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Fingers crossed...

Good luck to everyone else taking part. 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #4 Lagging Behind

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

Week 3 started on Friday and since Thursday I haven't written a word because I've been sick. By Friday 15th - the halfway mark - I should have got to 25,000 and by today I should be at about 28,000. Currently I'm at 21,351. So I'm behind. Seriously behind. However, the way I see it is: I'll either catch up, or I won't. Either way, nothing too serious is going to happen. I'm just going to keep writing. 

Good luck to everyone else who is taking part! 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #3 Plodding On

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

Week 2 started on Friday and I'm on target to complete the 50,000 words. I'm typing this up on Saturday as I know on Sunday I won't get any writing done. I have a full teaching day and then book club in the evening. At the end of play on Saturday I had 15,253 words. I'm really happy with that (although I was secretly hoping for around 18,000) and hopefully my productivity will continue throughout week 2 and into week 3. I'll keep you posted.  

Good luck to everyone else doing Nanowrimo! 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #2 The First Week

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing. 

The first few days of Nanowrimo_2013 have got off to a cracking start! I was very lucky that the start of this project coincided with having a long weekend off work (Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Tuesday), so I was able to write Friday morning (before I went to work), Saturday and Sunday. By the time I uploaded my total word count on Sunday I was at 6,052 words. I'm hoping that this long weekend off will give me a bit of a kick start and I'll be able to keep up the momentum. 

Good luck to everyone else doing Nanowrimo! 

SHORT STORY: From FIRST Draft to FINAL Product by Michael Milton

About the Book

Title: SHORT STORY: From FIRST Draft to FINAL Product
Author: Michael Milton
Publication: Amazon Kindle
Summary: Using the story that gained him an offer of a place on a Master's in Creative Writing, Michael Milton's SHORT STORY: From FIRST Draft to FINAL Product will take you through the process he used from his first draft through to the finished piece of work. 

See the major revisions, feedback given to him by professional novelists as well as years of tips from his writers toolbox condensed into this useful little guide. 

From general writing tips to the details of line-by-line comments, SHORT STORY is the perfect kickstarter to getting your next piece of writing into shape. 

What I Think

What Michael Milton has done in this writers' guide is, as far as I'm aware, unique, and quite brave. He has put in the first draft of his story, The Boathouse, then shown readers line by line feedback and comments (from other writers), then used these to write a second and ultimately a final draft of the same story. It was very interesting to see how this story evolved from being good to excellent. It reiterates the point that leaving your story to settle for a while and getting constructive feedback from others is essential. 

Not only has he shown us this process, but this guide also has lots of hints and tips about writing and honing the craft. Part III of the book is titled: Simple Writing Tips I Wish I'd Been Told When I was Starting Out and it covers elements of 'character building', 'productivity', 'planning your story' and 'editing'. 

Milton also looks at theories of writing, such as Campbell's Monomyth, or The Hero's Journey, and applies this to his story to create a clear understanding of how it can be applied in practice. Also covered is Syd Field's 3 Arc Structure, Gregory David Roberts' Architecture of Shantaram and David Mitchell's herringbone diagram. At the end of each theory is a 'Use If', i.e. the herringbone diagram "USE IF: You want a detailed plan in one place, on one sheet of paper, that can be stuck on the wall above your computer."

Finally there is a long list of resources for writers to use. Overall I think this is an excellent guide for writers and it reminds you of simple good practices as well as introducing you to some excellent new ideas. A recommended read. 

About the Author

Michael Milton is an author and blogger currently completing a Master's in Creative Writing at the University of Kent.

His ebook, SHORT STORY: From FIRST Draft to FINAL Product, became an overnight bestseller for its category on amazon.com, going on to the bestseller lists in France, Spain, India, the UK and hitting No.1 in the USA.

He blogs about his MA degree and writing here: MichaelMilton.co.uk


And about life here: YinYangLife.org

NaNoWriMo_2013 #1 The Warm-Up

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing. 

In 2011 managed to write just over 50,000 words in the given time frame and was very pleased with that. What have I done with it since? Very little. About a year later I showed the first chapter to my critique group and they said very nice things about it, but I'm still not happy with the structure of it. I won't bore you with the details, but it needs A LOT of work, so it's going on the back burner for now. The story is still playing around in my head and hopefully one day I'll sit down and rewrite it properly. 

Last year I was busy with flash fiction, so didn't do NaNoWriMo, but this year I've decided to give it a go again. However, I'm not trying to write a novel. I'm aiming to write 50,000 words of short stories. If each short story is 5,000 words, that's only ten short stories. My short stories aren't usually that long, so I guess I'll have to write a few more! I've been busy in October thinking of potential stories and characters and hopefully in November I'll be set to write, write, write! 

I'll keep you posted...

My fourth blog award: The Sunshine Award

Firstly, thanks so much to Estrella Azul for nominating me for The Sunshine Award. Secondly, a massive thanks to everyone who keeps supporting my writing. I'm so grateful to everyone who reads, comments, shares, likes, tweets, etc. And now, a little sunshine to make my world a brighter place! 

Here are the rules:

1. Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog.
2. Link to the person who nominated you.
3. Answer 10 questions about yourself.
4. Nominate 10 bloggers.
5. Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

And now for the 10 questions:

Favorite color – purple.
Favorite animal – giraffe.
Favorite number – can't say I have one. 
Favorite non-alcoholic drink – coffee or tea or coffee or tea (can't decide!).
Favorite alcoholic drink – mojito or rosé wine.
Facebook or Twitter? – facebook.
Passions – reading, writing, photography, watching films.
Prefer getting or giving presents? – giving, although receiving is fab too! ;) 
Favorite City – Berlin, Germany/Shanghai, China/Buenos Aires, Argentina/London, England.
Favorite TV Shows – Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Grey's Anatomy, Miranda. 

Nominated blogs: 

• Helen Howell at Helen Scribbles
• Lindsay at The Little Reader Library
• Marc Nash at Sulci Collective
• Clint Morey at The Big Sky Country
• John Wiswell at The Bathroom Monologues
• Andrea Heltsley at Andrea Heltsley Books
• Chris Morton at Flash Fiction and Other Stories
• All of the Arty Peeps at Artipeeps
• Beverly at The Beveled Edge
• Beth Mckinnon-Szabo at The gallimaufry approach to life

Friday Flash Fiction -week 46

A Great Story

The only smell in the tiny dark room was her own seven-day body odour. It was disgusting, like a pile of dirty towels stashed in the back of a gym. The thin door swung open and Paula caught a hint of something flowery. From her position in the far corner of the dank room she looked up, but the woman quickly put down a tray and scuttled back out, locking the door behind her.  On the worn carpet was a tray of food, the first food she’d seen in days: a homemade ham and pickle sandwich on brown bread and a box of Ribena. She bit into it and started to cry. Initially determined to savour it, chewing each mouthful slowly and carefully, her resolve swiftly melted and she scoffed it, shoving in each mouthful like an animal. Like the animal they’d turned her into. 

Paula had graduated in 2004 from her university of choice. She’d done an undergraduate degree in English Literature and then an M.A. in Journalism. Her career had started slowly: working for local papers and getting bite-sized chunks into the national newspapers on the pages no-one read. And then her friend’s cousin was killed in Bristol’s first honour killing and Paula had found her first great story. Her friend had warned her to keep out of it, but she hadn’t listened. She was hungry only for the story. 

Heavy footsteps stopped outside the door. 
‘Finished?’ he asked.
She nodded. 
‘Get up.’ 
She croaked. ‘Why?’
‘We’re going for a little ride.’ 
‘Where to?’
‘Never you mind.’   

Laura Besley

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Flash Fiction diary

May is National Short Story Month. I've joined A.M. Harte's Senseless Challenge: 

We have five senses.
May has five Fridays.
Each Friday is dedicated to one of the senses.

The schedule is:

May 03: Sight
May 10: Sound
May 17: Smell
May 24: Taste
May 31: Touch

There are no rules. You can take part for one week or all five. You can write about not having that week’s sense or only having it. So...here goes! 

Flash Fortnightly #13 is Pot of Gold. A rather dark tale with colours to cheer it up (a little). Click here for the link. 





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Flash Fiction is short enough to read whilst you're waiting for the kettle to boil. It's fairly quick to write too, but with it being so short, every word has to count. 

On 4th May 2012 I decided to embark on a project: to write a piece of Flash Fiction every day. I'm hoping this will keep the creative juices flowing and ultimately help me hone my craft. Every Friday I'll be posting 'the best of the week' onto my blog for you to read. If you have anything to say (good or 'constructive'!), I'm open to comments.  

Thanks, as always, for reading.

The End of Flash 365

On May 4th 2012 I embarked on an adventure. A flash fiction adventure: to write one piece of flash fiction a day. For those of you who don't know what flash fiction is, it's fiction that is short, usually between 100 and 1,000 words. Anything shorter is micro fiction and anything longer is a short story.

I stumbled across this idea through Calum Kerr's blog. He wrote and published a piece of flash fiction daily. He is also the Director of National Flash Fiction Day, something which he launched with great success last year. This year's National Flash Fiction Day is to be held on 22nd June.    

Back to my adventure. I quickly cut down to one piece a day Monday to Friday (as I have very busy and long teaching days on Saturday and Sunday) and I skipped a few days too whilst on holiday. However, on other days I wrote two, three or four pieces. In total I wrote 260 pieces. Each week I picked one to publish on my blog and so Friday Flash Fiction was launched. During the year I published 44 pieces on my blog. I would like to thank everyone for all the comments - I don't think I would've been quite so happy to continue without that level of support. 

Because this form is so short, it's easy to experiment and I've tried various different things: 1st, 2nd, 3rd person perspective; male and female voices; different genres; the list is (almost) endless. Writing so often has taught me a lot about my writing, and I feel that I'm starting to develop a style. 

So, what does this mean for the future of my writing? I'm certainly not going to stop writing flash fiction. I have found a great group of supportive flash fiction writers on Friday Flash. I'm still writing Flash Fortnightly for Artipeeps (and have no intention of stopping that!) and May is taken care of with A.M. Harte's #flashsense challenge: to write about difference senses. And after that? I'm hoping to start writing some longer pieces again and maybe finish that book I started 18 months ago! 

Friday Flash Fiction - week 43

Cheap Plonk

Cassandra knew immediately that something was wrong. When she slid the key into the brass lock, the front door swung open and banged into the hall radiator with a loud clunk. She always double-locked the heavy oak door, and double-checked it too. With her brass key still suspended in mid-air, she stood gazing at the mess in the hallway for five whole seconds before she let out an involuntary moan. 

‘Crap.’ She pulled her mobile phone out of her oversized handbag and with slightly trembling hands dialled her husband’s number. 
‘Peter?’ The familiar word caught in her throat. 
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘What is it? I’m pretty busy here.’ 
She bent down to pick up a plant pot. ‘We’ve been burgled.’ 
‘Oh God! Really?’
‘Yes, really. I’m standing here in an almighty tip.’ 
‘You’re sure they’re no longer there?’
She tiptoed further into the house. ‘Pretty sure.’ 
‘Maybe you shouldn’t go in on your own.’ 
‘Hello?’ Cassandra called out. ‘Anyone there?’ 
‘Cassie!’ Peter hissed. ‘Are you mad?’ 
‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘There’s no-one here.’ 
‘What’s missing? TV? Stereo?’
‘Yes, yes,’ she sighed. ‘All that’s gone. Laptop too.’ She walked out of the lounge into the kitchen and burst out laughing.  
‘What? What is it?’
‘You know that wine Audrey bought me from France?’
‘That nasty stuff that cost us a fortune?’ 
‘Yes. Well, they opened a few of bottles, obviously planning to drink a bottle or two each.’ 
‘And?’
‘Well,’ she said between giggles, ‘that wine is so crap even the burglars didn’t want it!’ 

Laura Besley

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Flash Fiction diary

This story of burglary is sadly based on a true story. There obviously is a funny side to it and the woman did get all her things back in the end and the burglars went to prison too. 

Flash Fortnightly #11 is based on a true, yet tragic, story. Click here for My Wedding Day. 

Of Gods and Mobsters is the latest anthology from the Hong Kong Writers Circle, edited by SCC Overton. 
Classical gods and heroes. Men and women of myth, legend and folklore. Characters from the greatest 19th and 20th century novels. All of them relocated, reimagined and retold in this collection of short stories and poetry. 
I have a story in here and wrote a modern day version of Aladdin. 

imprint 12 (the annual anthology of Women in Publishing Society) was launched on Friday 15th March and as mentioned before, I was asked to read my piece of flash fiction, Fractious Heat. I was incredibly nervous, but as I had practised a few times with my lovely husband, I think it went well. I got a good reaction from the crowd, which was a real boost! 
As always, it's an absolute thrill to see my work in print. As well as the piece of flash fiction, I also submitted a piece of non-fiction, Aspects of Home.  





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Flash Fiction is short enough to read whilst you're waiting for the kettle to boil. It's fairly quick to write too, but with it being so short, every word has to count. 

On 4th May 2012 I decided to embark on a project: to write a piece of Flash Fiction every day. I'm hoping this will keep the creative juices flowing and ultimately help me hone my craft. Every Friday I'll be posting 'the best of the week' onto my blog for you to read. If you have anything to say (good or 'constructive'!), I'm open to comments.  

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Need Your Votes!

I've entered a writing competition and I need your votes! Click here for the full article. If you like it, please facebook share, tweet or leave a comment. Many, many thanks. 

A sample below... 

Hong Kong: 10 Things Not to Do!

Don’t spit

Believed to ward off evil spirits, it’s still acceptable to spit in many places in China. If you’re travelling to China, never (and I mean never) put anything on the floor that isn’t a thick-soled shoe. However, in Hong Kong it was already becoming less tolerated, but after SARS (2003) spitting was strictly prohibited. Now you can be fined up to HK$5,000. 

200 Stories...and counting

As many of you know last year, on 4th May 2012, I embarked on an adventure. A fiction adventure: to write one piece of flash fiction per day. For those of you who are visiting my site for the first time, flash fiction is really short, usually ranging from 100-1000 words. 

May - It started out really well and I wrote a piece a day. Some were okay, others not, but I was writing and that was the main thing. I put the 'best of the week' up onto my blog and people started leaving some really encouraging comments. 
June - I started to struggle a little, so decided to cut it down to five a week (Monday to Friday). 
July - I took most of July off as I was back in England visiting friends and family. 
August - It was summer school at work and for those of you who are teachers, you know what this means! We took a four-day trip to Bali and I wrote every day whilst I was there and found myself fascinated by the country and its people. 
September - I discovered FridayFlash.org - a great website for Flash fictioneers. Through this website I've met lots of wonderful and supportive fellow flash fiction writers. 

October - I was extremely excited to be contacted on twitter by Artipeeps - a UK based website for all things arty - and asked if I'd be interested in writing flash fiction for them. 

November - Flash Fortnightly on the Artipeeps website was launched.  
December - With the end of term looming and many parent presentations to do, as well as being tired from a long semester of teaching, I found writing quite a slog. 
January - Started off slowly, but once I got going I found that I was able to write quite a lot. 
February - I was lucky enough to be able to take a holiday in Cambodia in February and that influenced a lot of my writing in February. 
March - I've just written story number 200! 

I'm absolutely in love with flash fiction and I've even started writing micro fiction (up to 100 words). I never thought I'd take to short pieces, but I guess you don't know these things until you try them. While there are no hard and fast rules about writing, I think we all agree that writing often is good. Writing every day is the best and even if you don't have much time, 30 minutes a day is better than no minutes a day. I think, I hope, that writing so regularly has helped me develop as a writer.