Where do you get your inspiration from?
I recently published a short story called Papercuts and Curses on Medium. For that story I used an image from the Harriet Bennett photo album (though many people have since told me that the man in the picture looks just like me).
The owner of these evocative Victorian images, Robert Sharp, is now encouraging other writers to create short stories using one of the pictures as inspiration. I think this is a really fantastic idea. Take a look at the gallery: every face really does look like it has a fascinating story lurking behind it. So why not have a go yourself – pick any of the pictures and see if you can build a tale around it. Who is this person, and what are the secrets behind their gaze?
You can find out more details about the photos over at Robert Sharp’s website, or you can get straight to the strange, wonderful photo album here!
Murmurs in the dark
A new short story of mine, Whales, appears in the latest issue of Literary Orphans. When I was 16, I felt like I knew almost everything. I had the world figured out. It probably goes without saying that I was wrong. These days I’m more likely to be amazed by how much I don’t know. […]