HeyJaredPrattlefog & Gravelrap
A monthly article series about the elements of short fiction: ideas for rocket-boosting your writing craft, reading recommendations, and other writing-related ramblings.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 19, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
Timey-wimey, title-y-whiter-ly, editty-weddity, flowey-wowey (opens the original)
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Yes, that is the title I’m going with for this newsletter 🙃September is here with (at least in this part of the world) its gusting winds and dampening rains, which after the summer we’ve just had is a welcome relief, but also makes me yearn for nice things in the months ahead.If like me, you want something nice to look forward to in October or November, here are a few courses and workshops I’m running to hopefully bring a few spots of creativity and warmth.Please note that these are the last I’l
The Research Rabbit Hole (opens the original)
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Yesterday I got so frustrated with myself. I set aside two hours for writing (a rare treat) and after those two hours were up, I hadn’t added to my wordcount in any way. I said harumph. I went to pour myself a glass of water. I went for a walk.But then, as I was walking, I thought about everything I’d learned in those two hours, and I realised they had been productive after all; they just weren’t productive in the way I’d expected when I sat down to write.You see, what I was writing was a scene
The Editor as Lighthouse (opens the original)
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I have a slightly strange obsession.I love finding out about weird and wonderful “celebration” days. For example, today is “Hold Hands Day”, “Betty Boop Day”, “Rice Pudding Day” and “International Co-working Day”. Yesterday was “Global Sleep Under the Stars Night”, “International Cat Day”, “National Happiness Happens Day” and “Sneak Some Courgette / Zucchini onto your Neighbour’s Porch Day” while Friday was, among other things, “Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day” and “International Lightho
Pick me! Pick me!!! (opens the original)
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This is what we want our stories to say to an editor / publisher / agent / competition judge, acting like a child in the front row of the classroom who’s desperately got their hand up to volunteer to clean the whiteboard. Or perhaps our stories are more of a tease, they’re seductively drinking a cocktail in a smoky bar. Or perhaps they’re a chill sort of story, they say “you dude, pick me.” Or perhaps they’re too-cool-for-school stories that are all “whatever, pick me if you want to, or don’t; s
Our special words for things (opens the original)
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Last month I posted an article about my favourite words and it triggered a comment from about the words we have as writers to describe our writing processes, not the “official” words for things, but the “bespoke” words we come up with ourselves, the ways we think about idea formation or narrative shape or guiding our reader through our story-telling worlds.Having followed this up by asking a question on social media, I was intrigued by the answers that came back. Bespoke images.
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