Portraits and Cameos

A SHORT STORY IS A SLICE OF LIFE. IT DEFIES RULES – IT JUST IS HOW IT IS. THE FIRST SECTION, ‘THE LITTLE TEACHING STORIES’, COMPRISES SHORT STORIES THAT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN TO HELP STUDENTS WITH EXAMPLES OF WHAT CAN BE DONE IN A SHORT SPACE. THEY HAVE OFTEN BEEN WRITTEN DIRECTLY ONTO COMPUTER WHILE THE STUDENTS WATCHED AND EDITED LATER. SOMETIMES THE SKELETON OF THE STORY HAS COME FROM THE STUDENTS WHO USUALLY BEGAN BY TELLING THE AUTHOR THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO WRITE ABOUT. HE QUIZZED THEM AND RAPIDLY WROTE DOWN BITS OF THEIR PHRASING. USUALLY A CONCEPT WOULD EMERGE FROM A DETAIL. MR STONEHAM ONLY HAS TWO MAXIMS WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING: WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW AND CREATE A COMPLEX CHARACTER. THE SECOND SECTION OF THIS BOOK, ‘THE LITTLE FLIRTING STORIES’, IS WRITTEN IN BLOOD FROM INCIDENTS IN THE AUTHOR’S LIFE, AND THE LIVES OF THOSE HE HAS MET, COMPRESSED, COLLIDED, AMPLIFIED AND TRANSFORMED BY THE MAGIC OF FICTION. ESSENTIALLY, THEY SPELL OUT THE DIFFICULTY FOR HUSBANDS AND WIVES, LOVERS, TO COMMUNICATE.