Down the rabbit hole

"As close to being inside a reader's head as possible"

On Friday 15th April I had the pleasure of being invited to the wonderful live event Are You Sitting Comfortably, hosted by White Rabbit, and heard my flash fiction read aloud.

Seven other writers had the same experience of being read, and falling down the rabbit hole into the funny, creepy and sometimes nightmarish world of other people's dreams.

You can read an extract here of the piece read, and I have no current plans to upload the full version as I have a project in mind!

I know White Rabbit will be publishing a new podcast soon to feature the other writers chosen. You can hear my work featured on this one at 31.00 minutes.

The next theme is Monsters, so I'm constantly on the look out for more inspiration.

What are your monsters?

Bunnies only

Live fiction performance

Exciting news - my fiction is being featured once again by the excellent and admirable White Rabbit.

You may have read an extract here, and the full story is being read aloud at Toynbee Studios, London, on Friday April 15th, from 7.30pm onwards.

All stories are told by the lovely Gareth and Bernadette, which is best as I am crap at reading out loud. I've never figured out why but I find it really difficult!

The evening also features lots of other independent authors who have written about Dreams. This is my third time with White Rabbit, who are a wonderfully inclusive and creative group. There's a bar at the venue and there are rumours of chips. Possibly.

Tickets are available here and I'd love you to come!

If you don't already, then follow me here on Twitter for more up to date information.

What's on my clipboard #4 - Flash fiction extract

The following is an extract from a flash fiction piece I have submitted to White Rabbit under the theme of Dreams. The full story is based on my fear and experiences of sleep paralysis.

The sounds start to get louder. Bones crack, joints creak, a papery, leathery noise of dry skin rubbing against itself. My bedroom is sinewy and dank, like a cave with the tide coming in. The waves crash closer towards me; small watery creatures rush away, spooked; gulls scream and wheel overhead. The sun plummets behind the very edge of the ocean, leaving me alone and cold. The tide is around my waist now, choking me, smothering me. On dry land, something climbs onto my bed.
My body is a hundred-weight, immovable and leaden. Concrete boots on an outlaw swimmer. The mattress squashes here and there as the creature makes itself comfortable. My heart hammers against my ribs in an awful tattoo. A shadow towers above me and it watches. And it waits.

 This piece was written by me, Ruth Sedar, and I claim all copyright and author's rights. Please contact me for further information.

New Year, new submissions

Hello to 2016 - you've snuck up from nowhere, haven't you?

The New Year has brought but one resolution for me - write more. I have neglected my fiction for a long time due to various time constraints and work commitments, but this is now the time to strike and tap away at the keyboard like a caffeinated, tap-dancing mouse.


NB: Blog post edited 21/1/16.

I'm working on a few pieces currently, a series of shorts for the lovely Mslexia - for all women who write. Choices at the moment include poetry, fiction, non-fiction and confessions. My other current work is a new piece on Dreams for the wonderful and much-lauded Are You Sitting Comfortably? by White Rabbit and a few other bits and bobs. I may even dig out my novel this year - not my first work in progress, which is now more of a harddrive entity than a novel - but my second and main WIP.

With my CV landing in the inboxes of various agencies as we speak, I have to find something engaging to do in the long, unemployed winter afternoons. So I dance. Like Mickey.

Published work, podcasts and white rabbits...

I have exciting news!
You can find a piece of my fiction read aloud and featured among other writers on a podcast here.

My piece features at around the 30 minute mark, and is read by the talented Gareth Brierley and Bernadette Russell who combined are White Rabbit, a cabaret-style performance group who read original work by authors who have submitted short fiction pieces on a theme - the theme this time was Heroes and Villains.

Please be aware my piece does contain explicit language.

For more information of submitting your own work, follow the rabbit down...

New submissions

My new work is another submission for Are You Sitting Comfortably? hosted by The White Rabbit. This time the theme is 'heroes and villains' and I'm taking a sideways look at what it means to be heroic in a world of superheroes. Are the heroes the ones with their pants over their tights? Or are they the normal people going to work and keeping the economy afloat? Are the villains always the ones laughing in an underground lair, or are they the people who look just like you and me?

I've also found a writing group near me and I am working on a piece on the theme of 'intrusion', which is proving difficult to avoid stereotypes and clumsy plot so  it needs a lot more thought.
I watch a lot of horror films (read: horror is the only genre I watch) so the theme is familiar to the point of being predictable - "What was that sound?" "Oh no, the serial killer is in the house!" The key is going to be avoiding cliché as much as possible.

Follow me on twitter for more ramblings and inspiration searching: @ruthsedar
Anything work or writing related is always tagged #amwriting but I am also prone to rudeness, swearing, tangents, observations and everything else. What I'm trying to say is I talk a lot.

Follow the White Rabbit

Exciting news - some of my work has been selected to be read aloud at this event coming up next week in London!
White Rabbit: Are You Sitting Comfortably? are hosting an Alice In Wonderland inspired evening featuring original prose and poetry from several different writers - and one of them is me.

The evening is celebrating 150 years since the publication of my favourite stories - I have a dog-eared and battered hardback of Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass that I received for my seventh birthday. Alice has been a constant source of inspiration for me and a companion through a childhood spent nose-deep in books.

I'm really thrilled and honoured to have had work chosen and I'm super excited to see what other wonders the evening will hold!

Follow me on twitter @ruthsedar as I'll be tweeting throughout the week and at the evening using the hashtag #whiterabbit.

Join me as we tumble down the rabbit hole...

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from funny places. The same places as everyone else, I suppose - I'm not suggesting my own inspiration is more important or interesting than anyone else's.

To look outside and see a rare hint of Spring in spite of it being early February made me want to sit and write. "Spending warm summer days in doors..." Morrissey knows all about this, too. I don't know anyone in Luxembourg, though.

Projects this week are focussed around submissions I am planning on making, one of them being a short 'Alice' inspired story for http://www.thewhiterabbit.org.uk/

The Alice stories are some of my favourite things. I have a hardback copy of Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass which I received for a birthday present when I was seven. You know those people who read the entire Lord Of The Rings every year? I'm like that, but with Alice.

I want to work mostly on the reality themes, rather than the unreality and the surreal themes. I'd like to see Alice as an adult working through her messed up, subterranean childhood as led by woodland creatures.