Happy Aspidetr Easter Time to y'all!

This year I gave a little Easter surprise to the forum friends: a short story of mine, which is inspired to a real situation I lived a few years ago during a trip to Rome. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to translate it in English, but I hope I can do it in the near future! In the meantime, I'd like to share with you some advices you can use if you like writing as much as I do!

• First of all, don't rely exclusively on fantasy. Life is the best (and more straightaway!) source of inspiration you can have: listen carefully, observe everything, focus on people with strange accents or gestures; they surely have a secret history, of which you can just see the tip of the iceberg: try to imagine what the rest of it may be and... write it down!


• If you struggle to express what you have in your mind, if you think your words are too blank and empty, the solution is: reading. I know, I know that a good writer has to be a good reader first; and I also know that you already are one. But books act like a training, and a training is not always pleasant; so try reading something you WOULDN'T actually read by your choice. If you like fantasy, read essays; if you love romance, read thriller and so on. You don't have to like it in first instance. Just read and try to remember the different nuances, the idiomatic sentences you don't usually find in the books you love: you never know when some of them may be useful in your writings!


• The thing a writer dread the most are empty spaces. Lines, pages, or even titles: there are things that just won't come out of your mind, leaving you stressed and frustrated. Don't worry. Start with writing the things you "feel" the most, even if they're not in a chronological order; if you have a chapter, a paragraph, or even just a sentence complete in your mind, write it down and work on it until it's perfect. Lewis Carrol once said: "take care of the pennies, and the pounds will come by themselves": he was just right. You may also find that something you thought perfect in fact it is not: in this case, take a note and just move on. When you have all the pieces, putting them together will be fun.


• Some think that, just because they've written something good, they just can stop learning and trying to be better. Well, DON'T EVER think something like that. Writing requires honesty and humility: the more you are humble, the more you're willing to improve; the more you improve, the further you get. Put your soul in everything you write, even if it's just an SMS. Express your feelings in their inner essence. Don't disguise behind a mask. Be yourself and write what you like. What you ARE. Then you'll be a good writer. As a matter of facts, I'm still trying to be one of them :)

I whish you all the best of luck and a WONDERFUL HAPPY EASTER with our friends of ASPIDETR!

Story: Lara Croft has decided to spend some time by the seaside. Some of the locals there have a lot of yarn to tell about hidden treasure that is supposedly right at the coast where Lara resides. Indeed, Anglo-Saxon remnants are scattered throughout the area, so Lara is excited to do some exploring - until she suddenly realises that she must have dropped the keys to the house in the toilet! Help Lara search the house for spare keys and explore the caves and tombs around the area.