Spellnotes

‘Summer Solstice, 4:53am’ by Danielle Gilmour ‘I move so slowly through the acresthat my legs are dewy.The waters of the estuary are coming –or going – I’m unsure which butwhichever they are they don’t need to ask’ Danielle Gilmour’s poem ‘Summer Solstice, 4:53am’ is about giving birth. This subject matter is explored with a beautiful… Continue reading Spring 2023 – Poetry

From time to time, a man would walk down O’Connell Street with a troupe of dancing bears. Now, this was not, in itself, unusual. A great deal is packed into those two opening sentences of Quigley Cryan Brockbank’s The Dancing Bears of O’Connell Street, and they do what every good short story opening should do.… Continue reading Spring 2023 – Fiction

First prompt: think about your favourite food, or a unique food you like, and incorporate it in a piece of fiction or creative non fiction. If writing fiction, you could play with POV and try to write the story from the point of view of the food itself, or even from each of the ingredients.… Continue reading Food-themed Prompts for Spring

A fantastic way to be more adventurous in your writing is to try your hand at radical literary and artistic movements by following their principles and engaging in decades of creative conversation. Surrealism is a movement which has remained fresh and ever-evolving, and has always been politically and culturally subversive. A great example of its… Continue reading Tackling Surrealism

In this week’s blog post, I’ll be exploring ways in which the natural world might be able to inspire you in your art. Many of you might already paint, draw or create other forms of art using the natural world and all within it as inspiration, but hopefully you might find some tips below that… Continue reading Art Tips – Creating from Nature

‘The set is meant to look like a PATH IN THE WOODS, very gothic and dismal.’ And with that, I was hooked. ‘Donkey Skin: A Monologue’ by Carly Chandler was a fantastical monologue from the point of view of ‘Donkey Skin’, a young woman running away from home in the dead of night. She stops… Continue reading Winter 2023 – Drama

‘She’s Got Mirth but I Got Bravado’ – Alejandro Gonzalez Alejandro Gonzalez’ digital illustration ‘She’s Got Mirth but I Got Bravado‘ is a wonderful piece of artwork that I won’t easily tire of appreciating. Alejandro’s inspiration for the piece was a fusion of several feelings and ideas he experienced that translated to art whilst sitting… Continue reading Winter 2023 – Art

Alone with a Book is an excellent piece of creative nonfiction which we are very proud to have published in the Winter 2023 Issue of Spellbinder. Overall, Alone with a Book is really lovely, well-written and funny, but it doesn’t stop there. In this piece, the author Stephanie Shi beautifully examined the loneliness and connection… Continue reading Winter 2023 – Non-fiction

Like Sardines by Douglas Jern The passenger layer now reached the tops of the seat backs, and newcomers had to climb up it to get inside, and climb it they did. Nothing seemed to faze them. Before long even the luggage racks were full of people, who lay there looking bored as the train rolled… Continue reading Winter 2023 – Fiction

‘A Dragon Curled Around My Heart’ by Quinn Murphy ‘In my chest, a dragon curls, Around my beating heart. To guard it from the many Who would see it pulled apart.’ Quinn Murphy’s poem ‘A Dragon Curled Around My Heart’ was the opening piece for Spellbinder’s Winter 2023 Issue. It employs the ballad form well… Continue reading Winter 2023 – Poetry

Spellbinder submissions for the Spring 2023 Issue (publ. April 2023) are open until February 14th. We have shared some prompts on our social media channels during the past week to boost your creativity and imagination while submissions are open. The prompts we posted during this submission window are under the theme of “Re-writing Classics”, which… Continue reading Winter Prompts for Re-writing Classics

In April 2021, I provided a useful list of world-famous galleries for visual artists searching for some inspiration, but it occurs to me that many of these fantastic museums are painting and sculpture focused and therefore, the photographers amongst you may be wishing for something a little bit more photography specific. For this reason, I… Continue reading A Guide to Photography Galleries

In previous blog posts I have spent quite a lot of time looking at ways in which you can start writing. Today I thought I would do something a little different, and look at the art of what you do once you have finished writing: editing. In my own writing, I am often guilty of… Continue reading Writing Tips – Editing

French Knickers by Patricia M Osborne Patricia M Osborne’s piece featured in our latest issue, French Knickers, proves to be a wonderful and engaging character monologue. The stage description of the character’s entrance sets the entire mood: she walks in carrying a bottle and a glass of red wine. She flops into the armchair, kicks… Continue reading Autumn 2022 – Drama

Walking Backwards by Dino Costi In Walking Backwards, the reader is literally walked back in time by Costi. The story’s retrograde setting is one in which women are valued most as wives and child-bearers. Marriage is constantly on the minds of Sabrina, Abigail, and Caroline, not as a possibility but as a fate. But as… Continue reading Autumn 2022 – Fiction

Spellbinder submissions for the Winter 2023 Issue (publ. Jan 2023) are open until November 14th. We have shared some prompts on our social media channels during the past week to boost your creativity and imagination while submissions are open. The prompts we posted during this submission window are under the theme of “Re-writing fairy/folk tales”,… Continue reading Autumn Prompts for Re-writing Fairy/Folk Tales

IVF – Eugene O’Hare praying to the God she never thought …vicious with want. … baby.don’t float away. your word…speechless When I first read this poem, it made me slightly uncomfortable. Grading poems or deciding which one should be published is a complex process. As an editor, you have a responsibility to ensure that there… Continue reading Autumn 2022 – Poetry

Sometimes, it feels as though writing short stories or flash fiction can be harder than writing a full-length novel. You may be limited to a relatively short word or page count. You might not have any idea how to come up with a storyline that will fit into the length required for a short story.… Continue reading Writing Resources – Short Stories

The brevity of Jocelyne Lamarche’s Ghost belies its complexity. Coming in at just 210 words, the story manages to pack in vivid imagery, establish a strong sense of character and weave its way through feelings of sadness, longing and hope. It is a story to be read again and again, one of those which yields… Continue reading Summer 2022 – Fiction

This season’s writing tips post is going to focus on the relationship between physical setting and characters. I have come up with what should be a fun and challenging writing exercise which will allow you to consider the importance of these two important elements of fiction writing. Setting – by which I mean the physical… Continue reading Writing Tips – Setting and Character