This volume contains the prize-winning short stories written for the Waterloo Festival Writing Competitions of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
- Can you say why each story deserved to be a winner?
- Do you have a favourite story in the collection and why?
- How does each story tackle the theme?
- Do you get a good sense of time and / or place from the stories? How does the writer achieve this?
- Is there evidence of the writer using their senses to write? What do we see that appeals to our sight hearing, feeling, taste or smell?
- Are the characters likeable and / or believable? Are they rounded? Do you have any favourites in this collection? Why do you like these particular ones?
- Which texts have the best stories? What causes the pace and tension?
- Are there any contemporary issues raised? Are there any messages for the 21st century?
- Would you describe any of the stories as “literary”? Why, and what do you understand this expression to mean?
- What makes the stories authentic – if indeed they are?