Yes, into the depths of the first purpose-built seaside town in the world (probably), I took a bag of books, files, newspaper cuttings and ideas to hone story what-ifs to the already gifted writers of Llandudno.
The topic was What if, and I started with a couple of anecdotes relating to my 4-yr-old grandson, Oliver. One is where he insists I shut a gate on top of the skateboard ramp where he made me stand while he was on another one. What gate? Ah, the one in his head. So I ‘closed’ the gate – to keep out the monsters. Such inventive creativity exists easily in many pre-schoolers. It’s essential in my opinion for schooling to develop and use such creativity rather than stamp it out with too much formal learning.
I followed by saying if they tell me their best what-if I’ll show them mine.
One member said what if people experienced other people’s thoughts by error and chance. Another realised mundane what ifs such as what if you missed the bus, could lead to interesting scenes – indeed films such as Sliding Doors.
My big idea is the what if amnesia was infectious? I was riding hard up Horseshoe Pass when that idea inveigled its way into my head forcing me to ride faster to the Ponderosa Café and after begging a paper and pencil, write it down. Hence ARIA: Left Luggage was born.
What-ifs are the classic backbone of science fiction writers but other genres benefit from them too. It fascinates me that a few people can immediately roll off a never-ending list of what-ifs while others struggle to come up with one. Hence me giving them plenty of ideas and sources for more.
What if the world suddenly stopped spinning? I pointed at a wall. You’d travel at 600 mph into that wall along with the chairs and tables! Of course it doesn’t feel as if we are normally travelling at 600 mph towards the East in Britain because we were born at 600 mph! Unless on the equator in which case it is 1000 mph or zero (virtually) at the poles.
I read them my recently-published and editor’s pick, Her Battle of Trafalgar. Here it is free to view from Jeani Rector’s The Horror Zine with Catherine Edmunds photograph of Nelson’s Column (not a euphemism, and yet…) This is a what if a young woman awoke on top of Nelson’s Column.
Ironically, my son’s Father’s Day gift to me is the opera La Sonnambula (The sleepwalker) by Bellini.
To the dozen Llandudno writers I handed out newspaper cuttings of classified adverts from local newspapers and Private Eye. Often a fascinating source of ideas (what ifs and others) I found one with an armoured Kevlar blanket for sale, a 60 feet Ash tree, and people offering their services or plainly asking for donations. I should try it. Some of the ideas came from Dave Haslett’s The Fastest Way to Get Ideas – 4,400 Essential What Ifs for Writers
During the workshop, Brian Lux, their chair, kindly heaped praise on my books. He said Escaping Reality was the funniest novel he’d ever read and ARIA: Left Luggage was, in his opinion, the best book I’ve written. Thanks, Brian.
The circle produce a magazine called The Moving Finger, edited by Rev Pam Crane. Loved the cover art with the mum and daughter sheltering from the rain on Llandudno Pier. Also love the title which comes from Omar Khayyam’s The Rubaiyat (Fitzgerald translation). My dad made me learn it off by heart, not that I needed much persuasion:
The moving finger writes,
And having writ, moves on.
Nor all they piety nor wit,
Can lure it back,
To cancel half a word.

So watch what you are doing especially to people, you can’t undo it – usually!

Thanks to Literature Wales for giving a grant to Llandudno Writers Circle to go towards paying the likes of me to talk with them, and an appreciative, generous bunch they are too.
Book news
ARIA: Returning Left Luggage is available in print and several ebook formats including Kindle and NOOK and can be found at many online retailers. Visit the ARIA: Returning Left Luggage page at LL-Publications: http://www.ll-publications.com/returnluggage.html
LL-Publications (www.ll-publications.com) is an independent publisher based in Scotland “taking readers down a different path” specializing in genre and literary titles in both print and ebook formats since 2008.
For wholesale inquiries, contact: editor(at)ll-publications.com
UK Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/ARIA-Returning-Luggage-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00D7TW2D4/
US Kindle http://www.amazon.com/ARIA-Returning-Luggage-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00D7TW2D4/

5 * reviews for the ebook HOW TO WIN SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS. Co-authored by two experienced judges in a dialogue form and has great reviews (not written by us or our friends!) at
http://www.ideas4writers.co.uk/books/storycomps.php
4) For something completely different try HOT AIR, an award-winning thriller based in England and the Mediterranean. A feisty woman witnesses a heinous crime from a hot air balloon. She’s abducted and kept in a watchtower on Mallorca until she escapes. A page turner on your Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Air-ebook/dp/B0084OZL9E/
5) SF mystery EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEE is exciting interest. Several unique concepts written in an accessible style with a feisty woman main character and with a beginning and end on Glastonbury Tor – festival and all. Paperback and now Kindle at

Exit, Pursued by a Bee

6) NEW for May 2013 Escaping Reality, a humorous thriller of the fugitive kind, is out on Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CWOU3YK and in the UK.
“Nelder achieves love in a rocking chair and sex on bubble-wrap in this hilarious caper.”

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Next blog will be about the infectious amnesia survival kit. Be ready for when ARIA becomes real.