# “It’s the small, small, small talk that makes it all happen...” # - Per Gessle (Roxette)

I find it really difficult to write "precis" most of the time. In my writing I edit a lot and enjoy working through many drafts of stories and chapters - I guess it comes from the journalistic background I've had in writing articles and editing later to fit to space on a magazine or newspaper page... But even when writing features I still found it difficult to keep to the word limit.

Practise on this aspect of writing is good, particularly for me, and right now I'm thinking of entering a "short short story" competition that's being run locally to myself. It calls for a story with only 60 words which still has a beginning, middle and an end.

Yesterday I was walking to work and heard a snatch of a conversation (a great way to get inspiration or starting points for stories!) from a couple at a bus stop, and as I continued walking to my metro for work, I composed this 60-word story which I'm printing here for your enjoyment:





Time Waits - a short story by CGAllan
"It will either be extremely early or extremely late". Adam frowned at his watch and the timetable again, Evelyn patted her tummy. Two miles away, the driver gave his old bus a kick. "I felt that!" said Adam, his hand on Jill's stomach. She smiled. "I just hope we don't wait ages and then three come along all at once."

So there it is. I didn't want to tell you before you read the story that the woman at the bus stop was pregnant cos you hopefully get that from the reading of it (or maybe not). The snatch of conversation I heard was "It will either be extremely early or extremely late" and once I'd heard it, I just couldn't get it out of my head. You hear odd lines of speech like that everywhere - passing people in the street, walking through the market, switching channels on TV, one side of a mobile phone conversation - there's endless inspiration to be taken from other people's words if you keep an ear open...

Anyway, a few years ago, I entered a 50-word short story competition and since I'm writing this post about "short short stories" I thought I'd reprint it here for you to read too...

About The Size Of It - a short story by CGAllan
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's decided!" Announced the moustached man in the skyscraper. In the big top the dwarf attempted to read while a midge distracted him. Then Colossus presented the bank's letter. Denzil closed his book, squashing the midge who had settled on a full stop after the word "Lilliput".

At the time I wrote that story, I was thinking about how the big people in this world, the people with power, seem to dominate and have complete disregard for the little people. It's still a subject that's on my mind today - like, why do all the wrong people seem to be in charge everwhere? It's an odd phenomenon, really...