Vive le difference

I have always thought - and I know I will be shot down for this in some quarters - that writers view the world differently.

Talking to writers certainly bears that out, though, the way a word, a phrase, an image, an idea can create a train of thought that evolves into a story.

I was talking to a writer the other day and he told how a line he used in a conversation triggered something deep within and produced a story that did very well in one of our competitions.

Never is that process more pronounced, in my view, than when writers take something ordinary, routine, part of our daily lives, and present it in a way that is somehow different. He certainly did to great effect and so have others.

Why am I thinking this? Well, two recent stories did just that, took routine images and presented them in ways that are, in one case, poignant, in another chilling. In both cases, I read the stories and thought ‘now there’s a writer on the top of their game.’ And it really is a joy to behold when it works.
John Dean