I first had the idea to write a short story as a Christmas present after reading Neil Gaiman’s ‘Fragile Things’, a collection of his short stories, some of which he wrote as gifts for friends and family.

The thing is, when you decide to write something for someone else you get very self-conscious. Suddenly every word has to be perfect, you become your own worst enemy because you want this gift to be as good as it can be.

So with that in mind, I want you to write a ficly as a gift for someone else. It can be any style you like, any story you want and you can write it for anyone that you love; friends, family, a particular hero of yours, your pet, whatever. Just so long as you’re writing something that you think your loved one will cherish.

I’m aware that this might be a tough challenge (that Christmas story I mentioned at the start? I’ve been working on it for two years and it still isn’t done!) so you’ve got a month.

Go forth and have fun :)