Night moves

by Amar Patel in


Fiction writing is intimidating. Perhaps I have spent too long pouring over reality and obsessing about truth to let imagination be my guide. But as a copywriter and scriptwriter it is important to have fun with language. We should take any opportunity to experiment and provoke new thoughts and feelings in our readers. And why feel anxious? Break it down and a story is words, sentences and paragraphs. Those are the tools of our trade.

So it was a pleasure to contribute to Ellen Crane’s marvellous Seed project on Instagram. It’s a simple concept: she assigns one image to three writers at a time and asks them to tell a story in 100 words or less. Each caption is a unique interpretation – suggestive yet revealing. If done well, it should trigger a what-happens-next wonder. I hope mine does that for you.

Want to have a go? Then email Ellen.



Amar Patel

Jonathan Harris wants to know, do we feel anything?

by Amar Patel in ,


One of my great laments about the world is the need for connection. It goes like this: "We are closer together than before, yet further away than we've ever been." In other words, the technology we are tethered to allows us to regularly reach out to our nearest and dearest … but we rarely do. Why? Is it the pace of modern life? Have we taken each other for granted? Or is it simply about survival, a ruthless focus, an exclusion of everything but the here, now and new? Picture that random Facebook comment you get from the friend you've been trying to ring for weeks. An 'interaction', in social marketers' parlance, is the weakest of connections.

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Amar Patel