Watch the 140 Character Short Story: END
Get to know writer Serena Cairns:
1) What is your very short story about?
The story, in verse, is about loss and despair.
2) What motivated you to write this story and submit it to the festival?
I already had the first two lines (my shortest poem!), so decided to try for two more to fit the 140 character requirement. I don’t usually have time to try these things, but something prompted me to enter, and I’m glad I did.
3) What movie have you seen the most in your life?
A difficult question, as I adore films. I’ll go for ‘West Side Story’, as it seems to have followed me through my life and I still enjoy it.
4) How many scripts and stories have you written?
I’ve only dabbled with scripts in the past, but have had a number of short stories published. One story won me a postal course on short story-writing with The London School of Journalism, and one was broadcast twice on BBC Radio. My first novel, FATHER OF LIES, a supernatural thriller, is now available and getting good reviews (check my web site: http://www.serenacairns.co.uk). What I really want, of course, is to get it in front of Hollywood producers..
5) What artists would you love to work with?
If we’re talking actors here, then Benedict Cumberbatch must be top of the list, simply because he seems to be the best out there, whatever role he portrays. I envisaged James Purefoy for one of my characters in FATHER OF LIES, so it follows I’d like to work with him. There are so many talented people out there, it seems unfair to name just these two.
6) What is your passion in life?
My passion(s) are story-telling and my rescued animals, the latter often preventing me indulging in the former. Whether it’s novels, theatre, films or TV, I believe creating something believable is a magical art, and so I try to perform literary alchemy.
7) Any tips for other writers who want to write a 140 character short
story?
My tips would be observe & listen. A story, whether it consists of only 140 characters or multiple large volumes, is usually triggered by something very small. For instance, were I to enter this again, I might recall a sentence that I overheard over 45 years ago. A child playing next door cried out, “Rainwitch, Rainwitch, fetch me the magic gooseberry”. I’ve always remembered this, so, taking it as an example, I could come up with:
“Rainwitch, Rainwitch, fetch me the magic gooseberry.” The gooseberry hid in a cluster of berries so the witch could not find it. She cried. That was 140 characters, including spaces, all from something I overheard all those years ago.
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