“Do you think the ghost will ever come?” 

Matilda is sitting up in bed staring glumly at Flospy and Mopsy, her bunny slippers and Brave Bear, a very dilapidated teddy bear. They are calmly waiting for the ghost to arrive. Well, Matilda and Brave Bear are waiting calmly but Flopsy and Mopsy are far from calm. They squeak at each flap of the curtains and creak of the old wooden manor house. Their long ears are pulled over their eyes. 

“He might be having a night off,” offers Brave Bear, “Or still having his supper.” Brave Bear often thinks about food. 

This is a new beginning to a story I wrote a while ago.

I thought it might be too scary for children so I consulted my best critical audience – a group of 6, 7 and 8 year olds. They thought a ghost story, including a lot of ghostly bones scattered around was no problem. I’ll check the finished story with them when it’s done.

Addicted now.

The trouble with finishing something you really enjoyed i.e. writing a totally imaginative story where reality and credibility don’t matter is, for me, a bit addictive now.

I am beginning to identify my approach to story writing.

I try to weave some highly entertaining, (to me anyway) incidents that I have dreamed up around  interesting characters to create a series of events that are valid and credible within the framework of the story.

As always the wonderful pictures in my head may not translate onto paper. So then the story gets changed!