Writing Prompts

"How do you think up stories?"
"What inspires you to write?"

I have to say it’s holidays! Both this year and last I came home with a photograph that made me want to tell a story. Last year’s was the grotesque on the archway at Dunster Priory which led to The Novice’s Demon.

​This year it’s a ruined chapel in the grounds of a Teesdale stately home.
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With this one, I wondered why it had fallen into disuse. Many large estates had their own private chapel so the Lord and his family didn’t have to mix with the great unwashed. Without it, they’d have to travel and to worship with their social inferiors. Why did it become so ruined that a tree managed to grow up through it? The walls are standing, but what happened to the roof? And above all, why is there a small carving on the wall depicting three cherubs?

I’ve asked myself a few questions about this over the last day or two, and I’ve come up with an answer. It’s not the true answer, but it’s my answer, and I’ve begun to write it. This is the exciting part of the process. Creation.

Thanks for reading.

Kath