'War of Man' A Poem by Stewart Storrar - Lore Publication

War of Man

A Poem by Stewart Storrar

With the clash of a sabre against steel,

And the might of one will against another,

On countless forgotten battlefields,

The winds of change dictate,

That final breath, on that final day,

The reaper of men basks in glory,

As you play the devil's hand in a cosmic story,

Of bound fate and decided destiny.

Or,

With the flash of a gun muzzle,

And the fight of one life against another,

On nameless roads of townships,

The winds of change dictate,

The final decision, in that fleeting moment,

The reaper of men creeps with shame,

As you abuse the devil's hand in a cosmic story,

Of false fate and broken destiny.

Or,

With the lash of your own mind,

And the battle of thought against reason,

On endless epochs of life,

The winds of change dictate,

That final thought, in a transient state,

The reaper of men stalks in grief,

As you fake the devil's hand in a cosmic story,

Of chosen fate and forged destiny.

I ask, on that fateful day,

When the dust settles,

And the wind halts,

And the reaper waits,

Who have you become?

And who will you continue to be?

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This poem was written by Stewart Storrar, a Scottish writer and lover of poetry. This work of poetry was inspired by the idea that war never changes, but people do. Be it wars of an ancient past, modern wars, or ever person's own personal war. Just like other poems about life, this poem is about all variations of different wars people in our society face.

Lore Publication loves poetry and short poems about life. Be it short poems, a collection of poetry, or even select micro poetry submissions. We would love to hear from you when our submissions open again, so if you have a poem be sure to get it ready if you are thinking about submitting to us.

Until next time, stay safe out there.

12 Creative Writing Prompts to Imagine Story Ideas - Lore Publication

Hello and welcome back to Lore Publication! If this is your first time finding us, we are an online publication that publishes all sorts of goodies - from free short stories and free flash fiction to writing tips and tricks for beginners. For fiction, we mainly publish horror, science fiction, fantasy, thriller and mystery themed stories. We also love to publish poetry from poets all around the globe and have built up a fair collection of content to enjoy! We also like publishing articles that can help writers improve their craft such as articles of different writing techniques and in today's case, creative writing prompts to give you story ideas and new writing topics.

Below we have a list of 12 creative writing prompts for the writing community to get stuck into during lockdown. It is time to get some writing topics and story ideas! Similar to our reading list for lockdown we published a few weeks ago, this prompt list is more aimed to keep writers busy during these hard times. Perhaps you may even find your next book idea or a few short story prompts lurking in one of these entries; which may even help you develop your current story ideas. Or maybe you just want to break through your writer's block for today with some new writing topics. In any case, here they are 💜

Writing Prompt #12: 

For today's first prompt in our list creative writing prompts, we will be giving you a word prompt to get those writing topics flowing. Think about the word and roll it around inside your head for a minute or two and take note of subjects, areas, experiences or people that come to mind.

Arctic.

Now, with a few notes on what this word brings to mind, pick one of them and let your imagination take you on an adventure. Write whatever comes to mind no matter how strange or dumb it may seem. After you have completed this task, read over what you have read and more subjects, areas, experiences or people should begin popping into your head. It is a good way to get the ball rolling which is why it is the first writing prompt on our list.

Writing Prompt #11:

For our next writing prompt, I want you to read the sentence below and finish it with the first thing that comes into your mind - even if it is related to the previous writing prompt. This is a good way to foster some story ideas!

I woke up in the early morning and...

Now that you have your starting sentence, read it back to yourself and begin to ask questions like a detective. Why? Did you wake up due to something? Did you wake up on time? Late? The second half of your sentence will be speculative based on your own experiences so begin questioning that with Who? What? Where? Why? and How? With this, you should be on your way to constructing a paragraph about something or someone.

Writing Prompt #10:

For this writing prompt I want you to imagine that you are a caterpillar. Do you know what type of caterpillar you are? If not, do a quick search. If caterpillars are not your thing, then imagine you are a bird. What kind of bird are you? After deciding what you are, try to imagine what the average day in the life for this creature would be. Write it from a first person perspective. What kind of challenges do you think you would face? How do you get food? Do you have off spring? Where do you live?

Writing from the perspective of an animal or creature can get you into a frame of mind that you would not have considered before. This can help you forge a unique perspective of the world and see it from an imaginary angle that you can explore.

Writing Prompt #9:

For the next prompt, imagine you wake up in the trunk of a car. It is dark. You have a phone, but no signal. The car sounds like it is off. What do you do next? Do you know why you are in the trunk? What does it smell like? What does it feel like? Delve into your surroundings. What do you find? Is it a big trunk or a small one? Are you tied up? Keep on asking questions and watch a small story build around those questions.

Writing Prompt #8:

For this writing prompt, I want you to read the word below and begin writing down whatever pops into your head. It can be an item, a word, a series of words, a phrase, a sentence; anything. Keep this stream of consciousness going to build a cohesive story of any length; from micro fiction to maybe even a multiple page short story.

Rust.

Writing Prompt #7:

For this writing prompt, we will use an image to prompt us for story ideas. Look at the image and study it for as long as you like. Don't actively think about any particular topic but rather let your mind drift to whatever the image brings to you and use that as one of your main writing topics (as it is common for multiple different topics to pop into your head doing this). If you are unhappy about the topic that pops into your head, force yourself to write anyway. Forcing your writing in this way can force you to write about things or aspects you may not even consider naturally.

Writing Prompt #8:

For this writing prompt, I want you to think about five different things that this word below symbolises for you in your life. It can be symbolic for anything in your own life or just what symbolism the word generates for you personally. Use these five different things and weave them into a story!

Deep Purple Light.

Writing Prompt #5:

For this next prompt I want you to pull up your phone or music player. Shuffle it to random and skip through all your songs five times. Now listen to that song entirely and begin noting down words you like, or concepts that spring to mind while listening. After finishing the song you should have anywhere between three or four words to a dozen. Write these words out in a list from the most important to you (most relevant to your life) to the least relevant in your life. Now, from the bottom two words, use them to craft your next story. Push yourself into the realm of the unknown and write about something different.

Writing Prompt #4:

For prompt number four, I would like you to go to YouTube and search 'Malachy Live, Buchanan Street 2019' - then click the first video. Listen to the street artist's music and like prompt number five, begin writing down words you like or concepts that come to mind. Repeat the same process of elimination in prompt five to get some words that you may not use as often or think about as often - be sure to use these as the emphasis of your next story.

Writing Prompt #3:

For this writing prompt we are going to a phrase prompt. Read the phrase below, explore it, and write about how it connects to your life. If it doesn't resonate with you that is okay! Instead think about a fictional character that you love and think about how the phrase connects to their life to write about that instead.

Who are you, after the dust settles, after the dusk fades, after the tides of war settle? 

Writing Prompt #2:

For our second last writing prompt we want to give you another word prompt, but with a twist. Read the word below and list what connotations you associate with this word specifically. Now pick one of those connotations and write about how that effects your life or the life of your loved ones.

Auburn.

Writing Prompt #1:

Finally for our last prompt we want you to read this poem and imagine a character you have written feeling these emotions. How do they react? How do they handle it? How do they feel about these emotions? If you don't want to use one of your own poems, then be sure to use a favourite character of yours! The poem was written by Stewart Storrar.

It is the tree rustling in the shrill wind,
The amber leaf that falls from the tree,
The loose rock from the rigid cliff face,
The rogue cloud in a clear sky.

It is the smouldering ash,
To the raging flames.

The mighty sword,
To the broken shield.

What I am is your perfect chaos.

The chaos you refuse to face.

The Snowman - A Free Flash Fiction (Thriller, Horror) (Micro Fiction) - Lore Publication

The Snowman

by Stewart Storrar

Welcome to Lore Publication, a place that brings you insightful fiction for your insightful mind. We are proud to bring you a wide selection of all kinds of stories from a range of genres including: horror, fantasy, science fiction, thriller/mystery and hybrid genres of these categories. While we love these genres the main theme to link them all is that we love stories with morals - as what is a story without any kind of moral?

Anyhoo, after a long break, we are finally back to bring you a new story (which blurs the line to what a micro fiction is). While our publications have been very light in the later half of this year we are working hard to bring you more creative projects in the near future! With this in mind we introduce 'The Snowman' by Stewart Storrar for your enjoyment. It was written during a spur of inspiration by Stewart and we hope you like it. Enjoy!

Image credit: Tom Hilton via Flickr

The wind chilled me to the bone and the sky was a haunting shade of charcoal. So when my eyes met it, and the surge of pity fluttered through my heart, it warmed my very soul with a viscus empathy. The aura of the place and sight was a strange euphoria I had never known in a sea of depression I’d uniquely owned.

It was easy to attribute this pity and empathy to the sight of the snowman. 

My world came crashing down around me, my choking thoughts, my crushing emotions, and the intended action that took me to that frozen lake on that fateful day. It all collapsed into an abyss during that moment of forgotten memories. The simplicity of its fleeting existence captured my reality in a sacred bond between who I seemed and who I was. 

Its solemn look. 

Its limited existence.

Its slither of time.

Finding the snowman gave me something I never thought I could find; something I had lost for what felt like aeons. I looked to the snowman and thought one simple thought that shattered what I had become.

Why are you sad?

In its childish simplicity the question warped my life, now teetering in the balance, into perspective. In that sense I see now what nobody could show me and what the world had been hiding from me. 

I saw it in the snowman, and then I saw it in myself. That was the day the call to the void stopped and the call of life resonated with everything I had been, towards everything I was going to be.

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This flash fiction was written by Scottish writer Stewart Storrar, you can find his Twitter profile here. Be sure to follow his work. Currently he is working on his debut novel Strand and his debut graphic novel that is yet to be announced.  He is an avid writer that has written multiple flash fiction, micro fiction, and stories with morals at their core. He loves storytelling of all shapes and forms.