Right, so I've got til August 7th to submit a story of 5k to our Laureate; Duffy (who turned down my best poems this year, despite the other judges liking them. So I'm out to prove myself!).

I struggle with short stories, I really want to write a childrens' one. I've got a daft story for I'd say 8 year olds called Mod Mouse but this is mainly good because of illustrations, and this won't help me in this case! It'd be great to write something universally appealing like The Little Prince, but I find adult fiction easier.

Anyways....
I already have some ideas that I've been toying with for a year now but only insofar as characters, I really like the first page; there just aren't any subsequent ones! Maybe I'm stuck in a rut so any new ideas to spur me on?
Should I take the plunge and do the kids one like I've always wanted?
Maybe I could do both? (but right now it's not likely)

PS. one of my poems was compared to Jeff Noon so have also been considering this style but I think way too ambitious, no?