Notes from the coast

A place that changes twice a day

At low tide, the village has an extra mile of beach. Paths appear between the rocks. Boats lean into the mud. The house at the end of the sea wall looks as though you could walk straight up to its back door.

Six hours later, the same house is an island.

That changing landscape became the heart of The House at Low Tide. I wanted the setting to keep a secret of its own, something the characters could only discover by returning at the right moment.

Details I kept

• The click of a loose gate in the wind.
• A line of wet footprints that stops at a locked door.
• A kettle beginning to boil in a house everyone says is empty.

Those small details did more for the story than any grand description. They gave the mystery somewhere to live.

This is a fictional note from our demo author’s writing desk.