It has been ages since I wrote a short story.
I’ve been keeping busy lately with writing my first novel, a domestic noir thriller with plenty of twists and turns. I’m really enjoying the process of character development, plotting and finding new descriptive ways to bring a scene to life. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’ve even entered the novel into a competition for unpublished female writers in the UK.
Then I found a short story competition online and was motivated to enter that too! I wanted to take a break from my book for a few days so I could return to it fresh. The challenge was simple:
Construct a story of between 600 to 2 words about someone who unexpectedly comes into $20,. The windfall can be anything, an inheritance, lotto win or other random circumstance but at some stage in the story you have to include a small black notebook. This contest is sponsored by Moleskine so you can understand why they want to include a little black book, and the prize money for the winner of this competition is $20,. Sounds great! So I set to work.
After brainstorming 20 ideas, I decided to focus first on the one that spoke to me the most. I created a character called ‘Molesy’, an underground street artist whose political graffiti stirs up the community and the media, but no-one knows who he is. The idea of an anonymous artist whose work has led to copycats and whose original designs are worth £thousands was inspired by the world’s most famous graffiti artist Banksy who remains anonymous to this day. I love his designs that make us stop and think, and I particularly loved how the ultimate prankster ensured that when the gavel came down at auction, his £2.4 Million work was shredded before everyone’s eyes to the shock of the crowd!
My artist, Molesy doesn’t create a shock in this way, but he does hold a gallery owner to ransom to get his big break! You can read the story on Vocal Creators here.
I hope you enjoy the tale and I’ll update this blog if my story is ranked!
Adios!
#LittleBlackBook · Banksy · Molesy · Vocal Creators Writing
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