Story in a Teacup

Looking through Twitter one day I came across a short story competition that the Henley Literary Festival were running in conjunction with Dragonfly Tea. 

I have never written a short story before, but I love to write and having studied Children’s Literature as part of my English degree at university, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to have a go at writing a children’s story.

The rules stipulated a 3000 word story, with a title taken from one of Dragonfly’s tea names: Swirling Mist, Green Gaucho, Emerald Mountain or Moonlight Jasmine. Aside from that the only limitation was our imaginations.

I chose ‘Green Gaucho’ as my title and used ‘story in a teacup’ as my inspiration.

My story follows Sophia, a 12 year old girl, whose world revolves around technology and is rarely seen without a tablet or smartphone in her hand. That is, until she embarks on an adventure that shows her how much more to life there is than social media.

Unfortunately I wasn’t shortlisted but, with over 1000 entries, I can’t say it was a surprise. Nevertheless I really enjoyed writing it and have started two more already!

You can read the full story here – Green Gaucho