WRITING a novel may still be the most popular pastime for budding writers all over the world.

But in recent years there has been an ever increasing trend, and demand, for the short story.

Leading the way locally is Colchester author Emma Kittle Pey, who is perhaps best known for being the person behind the town's popular WriteNight group, which runs at 15 Queen Street each month, but has also just had her second collection of short stories published.

Born in Wigan, Emma's family moved to Colchester when she was 14 and after studying at University of Bath and working in London for a while, she returned home to become a primary school teacher.

"I've always been interested in writing," she says, "right from an early age.

"It was while I was in London in my 20s I first desperately tried to write novels without much success I'm afraid but when I started doing short stories something just clicked.

"With longer pieces I just couldn't keep the story in my head but experimenting with quick emotional shifts and other points of view in short sharp bursts, I discovered doing something smaller worked really well for me."

The shift in her writing practice coincided with Emma's MA in Creative Writing at Essex University.

"I've always been a bit of a rebel," she smiles, "so when my tutors asked me to write something as part of a particular module, I would always do my own thing, around the constraint of what I was supposed to do, and write a short story."

From out of those studies came her first collection, the fantastically titled Fat Maggie and other stories, published by Patrician Press in 2013.

Her second, Gold Adornments, came out with the same publisher last month.

Made-up of 13 tightly crafted witty stories and vignettes, they variously deal with the niceties and falsities of life set against a suburban backdrop of shopping for bras or dealing with the washing machine repair man, all the time pin-pricking the reader's social conscience about the state of the nation and beyond.

"If there is a common theme," she explains, "I suppose it's an emotional shift in the characters I write about. A change in the way they see a situation or person. A switching of perspectives."

Next Thursday, April 27, from 6.30pm, Emma will be reading from her book at a special 'Meet The Authors' event at Colchester's Red Lion Books, which also includes acclaimed author and scriptwriter Stephen May.

Entry is free but spaces need to be booked via e-mail us@redlionbooks.co.uk

"I'm really looking forward to it," she says. "Of course it's always a little nerve-wracking but I think writing short stories does help with the reading process at these kind of events."