Chocolat author Joanne Harris will be in York on Saturday to give wannabe writers tips on how to complete her new short story Dryad as part of the Beeb's latest writing competition. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

YOU might think that the story of a lonely woman's love affair with a beech tree is not the most obvious topic to nurture someone's love of writing. You might think that. Best-selling Huddersfield author Joanne Harris is not about to apologise for her choice of subject matter, however.

Dryad, the short-story she has part-written as her contribution to the Beeb's latest attempt to get the nation writing, is what she describes as "an interspecies love story about a woman who has fallen in love with a tree".

Along with the seven other authors who have contributed story-beginnings for the BBC's End Of Story competition, Joanne has written the first 2,500 words of Dryad - and is asking ordinary members of the public to complete the story in another 1,200 words or less.

Entries will be judged by a panel and whittled down to three for each of the eight authors - and then in a series to be screened on BBC3 this autumn, the authors will choose their favourite endings.

The aim of the competition is to overcome one the major hurdles that stops people writing a story.

With the story having been started by an established author, character, plot and setting are already determined. All the would-be writers have to do is use their imagination to bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.

Claudia Winkleman, who presented a programme on BBC2 and BBC3 earlier this week to launch the End Of Story competition, said: "According to the old saying, there is a book inside everyone. But generally that is just where it stays, trapped by the difficulty of even getting started. There is no such excuse with End Of Story."

It's a nice idea and to help those who are thinking of taking part, the BBC is setting up a series of End Of Story workshops around the country - including one with Joanne Harris herself, plus Leeds-based novelist Alan Bisset, at the National Railway Museum in York from 10am-midday on Saturday.

So if you are interested in taking part, but think you need some advice first, that is the place to be. But why oh why did Joanne choose to write about a woman's love affair with a tree?

"I tend to write about the sensuality of unexpected things," she says.

"Things that are not necessarily erotic but which can be just as sensual as erotic sensuality. So, I've written a lot about food and sense and tastes, things that you don't necessarily think of as being particularly erotic but which actually are."

And the tree? "This is a very sexy tree! And she's a woman who's profoundly dissatisfied with her life and her husband and her feelings are very intense.

"I was brought up reading a great deal of folklore and legends and myths. And because this is, I think, the root of modern literature, I've always been very interested in it and I've incorporated a lot of that in the stories that I write.

"And living in the middle of, basically, woodland I do write a lot about nature and a lot about the contrast between town and country, and how environment effects people, and how stressed people get very often when they are living in a city with too many people around them, and how living close to nature changes the way you behave."

So how does she see the story panning out herself? That's not really for her to say, she insists.

"There are all kinds of ways of finishing this and I'd just like them to use their imagination. I've used quite an old-fashioned narrative here which is one story within another story and I would like both of them to conclude in a satisfactory way for a reader. And I would like whoever it is who finishes this to continue the themes and the general feel of the story."

The other seven authors who have contributed their own story-beginning are Ian Rankin, Sue Townsend, Fay Weldon, Marian Keyes, Shaun Hutson and Ed Mcbain.

"With the names we've lined up there is something for everyone from romance to detective fiction and even the supernatural," says Claudia Winkleman.

"We are not asking people to write War And Peace, just 1,200 words to complete the 2,500 already written by each of the authors. It is a chance to get writing and become co-author with a really big name and at the same time get your work showcased on television.

"But more than that it is a chance to get involved and just have fun and enjoy writing."

The competition closes at the end of May. For more details about how to enter, or to read the eight 'half' stories (which will be available to read on-line from May 2) log on to the End Of Story website at www.bbc.co.uk/endofstory/ You can also call 0901 2932211 to register and order a copy of the stories.

Saturday's 10am-12noon workshop in the Walker Suite at the NRM is free, but entry is restricted to the first 70 people to arrive. The workshop doors open at 9.45am.

Updated: 10:11 Thursday, April 22, 2004