My good friend Judi Walsh is now a published author! You may remember she guest posted for me during the A to Z Challenge with her lovely story Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year. She prefers writing short stories, loving the economy of words, so to know she submitted one to the Salt Publishing New Writers competition – well we had high hopes.
Judi’s story was shortlisted and she made the Runner-up list – which gave her an entry into Salt’s Anthology of New Writing 2013. You can buy it at Amazon and at the Salt website.
I browsed around Salt, as one does if one is a writer and on a publisher’s website. In particular I checked out their submission policy. They don’t accept previously self-published work, nor sequels to published work. They don’t accept much that I’m interested in writing. Except – one thing caught my eye. This is a Norfolk company. They are looking for good Norfolk Gothic. Gothic-genre novels set in Norfolk places and spaces.
So I started thinking. Gothic genre. Like Wilkie Collins. What’s the modern equivalent? I mused upon it, studied Wikipedia. Thought about it. In parallel I thought about Norfolk places. What could be a good setting that I knew well? I thought about two or three large old mansions not far from my village… I thought about dark and spooky nights. I woke up next morning with a sort of poem in my head. A poem?? The next day I managed to recapture most of it. I don’t know whether my mind is going down the right path or not, but this looks like something I could play with, flesh out a lot. What do you think?
The House on the Hill
Don’t go up to the house on the hill.
I dare you to go, it’ll give you a thrill.
Don’t go up to the house on the hill,
Strange noises are heard there, it once was a mill.
Don’t go up to the house on the hill –
It’s a frightening place, it’ll give you a chill.
Don’t go up to the house on the hill;
The people are crazy, they’re mentally ill.
Don’t go up to the house on the hill –
I’ve heard there are vampires who’ll drink their fill.
Don’t go up to the house on the hill,
The wolves will be waiting, they’re primed for a kill.
Don’t go up to the house on the hill;
They’re waiting
They’re waiting
Waiting
Still.
(c) J M Pett 2013
