*This episode is available as a mini ebook! Go to www.annatizard.com/brainstoryum for details*

Your weekend is not weird enough without Brainstoryum! Join award-winning fantasy and dreampunk author, Anna Tizard, in a journey into short story writing using the surrealist word game of Exquisite Corpse. Listeners’ words are drawn from the legendary Socks of Destiny and mixed into writing prompts which lead to the most unexpected story ideas – and a fascinating exploration of writing craft.
In this slightly longer show, Anna delves into storytelling techniques to hook your reader from the very first line, plus how to get un-stuck when you’re writing a new story. Ignite your imagination with these stories and ideas for
the ultimate writing prompt challenge.

INTRO: Hello imaginative people! I’m Anna Tizard and this is episode 70 of Brainstoryum. It’s actually the winter solstice today, as this releases, which means that no matter how cold and icy and horrible it might get in the coming weeks and
months, from now on we are moving towards the light. Inching towards the light. Keep that knowledge with you – no matter how grey and miserable it gets, you know we’re heading in the right direction. (Those not living in the northern hemisphere will be like, “What the problem?” Well, we’re all jealous of you, that’s the problem!)  

Now today’s show is indeed the Christmas special! And I’ve been wondering how I can make this Christmassy without being cheesy or chintzy. Spooky toyshops? Rebel elves? Or can I just throw in a sprinkling of snow? Hopefully we won’t get any “picturesque executioners”, that unbelievable word combination that came up in the last show – although I found a way, a non-horror way, to develop that one. (Thank goodness.)

But, as ever, how can I plan? How can I anticipate? The game of Exquisite Corpse is my doorway into the unknown and the strange magic of the imagination, making connections, hunting stories in the most unlikely places. Stepping out on this path, all I can do is hold up my mental torch and see where it takes me by being attentive to the whispers of my subconscious mind; although, I could be holding a Christmassy lantern instead of a torch, that casts a holly and berry pattern on the ground… Of course, the shadows may always lengthen and twist into something else. (This is probably as far as this metaphor will stretch, so I’ll stop there!) But will there be Christmas cheer, or Christmas chills, in the stories that emerge today?

Who knows? Because the building blocks of these stories will come from your words, your suggestions, and the whims and wild winds of randomness that blow from the Socks of Destiny...