Raven's View Stacks

All the stuff, in various sections. My musings on sparkly things that have caught my interest. At times with a serious spin. I'm also a fiction author, see mikeyoung.ca. I also have some podcast readings here, using my stories and some classics.

Various news articles and tidbits I've found in the past few days that caught my eye. Includes my Sunday Sparklies post. Plus an occasional longer form essay.

Podcasts of me reading from my stories or some of the classics, such as A Christmas Carol, Jeeves and Wooster, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, A Room with a View, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Wind in the Willows. All copyright-free here in Canada.

Info and links for my published novels. Talk about the several I have in draft mode, as well as other writerly talk.

My additions in here will be mostly daily, mostly for me. I need a place to jot down events and articles and thoughts that pop up in a day. I post some of this to my Facebook too, where I do get comments from friends occasionally, but who sees it is very dependent on the algorithm. Stoopid Facebook.

Flash Fiction is short, so it's faster to write it, to finish it, and then try more things. I'll post weekly prompts, varied enough to challenge a bit, 1000 words max, 'deadline' of a few days. I'll include my story; you can link to yours in the comments. Constructive feedback is welcome, as we writers need practice and feedback. A wide variety of challenges can push boundaries, deadlines can focus on writing rather than editing, and 1000 words means some plot and character development, but is short enough to get done easily. Try these - they may even lead you to a novel. Note - author(s) retain all rights. Writing tips - Start by imagining some 'what ifs', and writing down a draft of different possibilities. Editing comes later. What happens to your character, and why do we care? What goes well, what goes wrong? Do clichés get broken? Is there a twist at the end?