The York Tales could be your chance to shine as a writer, says STEPHEN LEWIS - even if you have never before set pen to paper.

IT WAS chatting to a local ratcatcher that gave Magdalena Chavez the idea to publish a book of stories about York, loosely based on the Canterbury Tales. Ordinary people, she says, have the most amazing stories to tell: whether they are policemen, binmen doing the rounds in the early morning or people chatting across the bar of her York restaurant, El Piano.

But the ratcatcher's tale really captured her imagination.

"He told this story about a trawler off Hull," she says, gurgling with delight. "The boat had called in pest control, and they went on board. The place was running with rats.

"It was one of those trawlers that processes the fish at sea, a kind of factory trawler. And the men were all going chop! chop! chop! chop! rat!; chop! chop! chop! chop! rat!" She mimes chopping fish and then flicking a rat out of the way. "It was the way he told it," she says, laughing. "It was amazing."

She had just set up her own York-based publishing house ENDpapers at the time, on little more than hope and a shoestring. With the ratcatcher's tale as an inspiration, it seemed like a great idea to invite the ordinary people of York to write down their own stories for a book to be called York Tales.

The idea was for a kind of modern, York-based version of Chaucer - a collection of stories that are "descriptive, lively, bawdy and irreverent" and that reflect ordinary people's lives and the stories they tell each other down the pub or around the water cooler at work.

All this was long before the BBC came up with the idea of doing its own modern version of The Canterbury Tales. Magdalena decided the BBC getting in first was no reason to stop the York Tales, especially as the idea was different.

The BBC version was essentially a modernisation of Chaucer's best-loved tales. People writing for York Tales can, if they wish, update Chaucer's stories, yet Magdalena hopes some will write their own stories. She is looking for rowdy, funny, earthy stories that taken together will provide a snapshot of what life in York at the beginning of the 21st century is like when you strip away the decorous surface.

ENDpapers York Tales project is now starting to take off. A website has been set up giving people advice on how to get started, posters have been printed and distributed at cafes, bookshops and restaurants around the city, and a series of workshops organised. The next will be at El Piano on Sunday.

The key is to get as many people involved as possible. Magdalena wants the stories to be written by ordinary people - people who wouldn't normally dream of putting pen to paper, but might have say a knack for keeping their friends down the pub amused with accounts of the goings-on at work or at home.

Policemen, she points out, have great tales to tell and often make good raconteurs, but so do all kinds of other people, from housewives and street cleaners to secretaries and soldiers.

No one should be put off because they think they can't write. Magdalena says she has heard wonderful stories from people who, when challenged to put pen to paper, claimed they could not write.

The best advice she ever had was when she first started to write. After struggling with the opening paragraphs, was told to let it pour out on paper.

"They said: 'What is it you're trying to say?'" she recalls. "And I said 'I'm basically trying to say this...'" and they said 'Well, write that down!'" And so she did.

With one novel behind her and a second, In The Smoke Of The Sagebrush, out next month, this method has clearly worked for Magdalena. And it could work for you, too.

To find out more about the York Tales, log onto www.endpapers.co.uk. Stories should be about 3,000 words in length, and be accompanied by comments from ten people who have read them. Application forms and readers' comment forms can be downloaded from the website. The deadline for submissions is July 31. About 30 stories will be published.

Tips from Magdalena and her ENDpapers colleague Claire Robinson

- Getting started

If you have a story to tell, pretend you are telling it to a friend in the pub, and write it down the way you would tell it, keeping in all the verbal phrases such as "do you remember?", "that's right" and "then". If it helps, tell your story to someone, record it, and transcribe it.

- Shaping the story

The aim is to write about 3,000 words. Don't worry about that at first - just let it pour out. Once you have the story down, go through it, asking yourself questions such as 'Is this character essential? What does this add to the story?'. For ideas on how to structure your story, log onto the ENDpapers website - www.endpapers.co.uk - click on wannabes and download the reader report files. These suggest elements of a good story (or non-fiction piece of writing) a critical reader should look out for. They include setting the scene, having the characters face critical choices, turning points and a climax.

- Developing character

Characters can bring a story alive; just think Dickens or Chaucer himself. If you are thinking of writing a story for York Tales, remember it is just that: a story. Even if it is based on a real incident, you can let your imagination go and be inventive. Don't be afraid of making your characters larger than life, or more colourful and funny than they really were. You can create your own characters - or else think of interesting people you know, change their names, build them up a bit, and stick them into the story.

- Seek help

ENDpapers is running a series of free writing workshops, the next of which is on Sunday. You don't need to have a complete story, or even a story idea, to attend.

Before submitting a story for consideration, you have to get ten people to read it and fill in a form to say what they think. Use this process to get feedback and improve your story.

Finally, when you do submit a story, don't worry if it is not perfect. That's what editors are for. Accepted stories will go through the full process of editing, in common with any other piece of writing that is to be published.

Updated: 09:10 Wednesday, February 18, 2004