@athelstone
Active 2 hours, 48 minutes ago-
Athelstone posted a new activity comment 4 hours, 51 minutes ago
@purplewitch absolutely. I don’t think it will be an issue because the writer in question is quite sharp. Anyway, if it gets to the point where a 3rd party is giving it a professional read, it isn’t going to last.
@richardb yep, that analogy is about right. In this instance I wouldn’t say the author has cloth ears (although the others might, I…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Where Does Your Writing Inspiration Come From? in the forum Blogs 13 hours, 17 minutes ago
@sandradavies, yes indeed – transfer of information. The number of times I’ve come across a note I’ve scrawled down when all that’s left is an incomprehensible collection of words and a vague memory of myself thinking that I must find a way of using this brilliant insight. the very embodiment of having all the nuance but none of the original…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 day, 13 hours ago
I think the importance for writers is that we need to demonstrate that we can follow the generally accepted grammatical conventions so that our work is publishable. There’s an awful lot of correct grammar that simply reflects how the posh mates of C19th lexicographers spoke and wrote and sets out that other ways are wrong.
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More often than not , i find if something you write or read stops you from moving forward then it probably could benefit from revision. depending on the surrounding context of the piece i would have probably written something like … As my eyes adjusted I negotiated the dark shadows with growing ease.
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Late to this, but maybe I’ll make up for that by the pungency of my comments. Even before your careful explanation six posts back, that phrase just sounded plain wrong to me, like a bum note in music. Just because you were in a minority of one doesn’t mean the others were right. To extend the musical analogy, it’s as if you’d been in a group of…[Read more]
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@purplewitch absolutely. I don’t think it will be an issue because the writer in question is quite sharp. Anyway, if it gets to the point where a 3rd party is giving it a professional read, it isn’t going to last.
@richardb yep, that analogy is about right. In this instance I wouldn’t say the author has cloth ears (although the others might, I…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 day, 15 hours ago
Which is to supply an object to the verb and make it grammatically correct.
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Thank you for sorting this out, Ath. It has made me think more carefully about verbs 🙂
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 2 days, 13 hours ago
Why I’m wasting my time puzzling and researching this, I don’t know. Actually I do. I’m about to start editing and at the same time I’m at a difficult point in the rewrite of a short story that’s insisting on growing towards novella length. In other words, prevarication.
Anyway, I think I have it:
1) Accustom is a transitive verb. It requires an…[Read more]-
No good asking me about grammar, so I can’t give a reason for it but while I had no hiccup over “My eyes accustomed to the darkness” I mentally inserted ‘themselves’ after accustomed.
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Which is to supply an object to the verb and make it grammatically correct.
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Thank you for sorting this out, Ath. It has made me think more carefully about verbs 🙂
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 days, 4 hours ago
I think that’s what bothered me the most. It’s far away from a commonplace way of speaking. I’ve had quite a few conversations over the last three score years and (well not quite) ten, and read a fair bit, and I’m pretty certain that this is the first time I’ve seen “accustomed” used in this way.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 days, 8 hours ago
It’s definitely not intended to be old-fashioned. A twisty modern tale.
The nearest support I have found to my position when searching the internet, is the statement that “accustomed to usually comes after linking verbs such as be, become, get, and grow”.
I suspect that part of the issue is that, as the OED suggests, there is an adjectival…[Read more]-
I wondered if the transitive quality of accustomed was playing a part but couldn’t get my head round whether it was or not. This is where my thin knowledge of grammar fails me. I’m also easily lost when having to consider how one word can fulfil different grammatical functions which might overlap.
With accustomed, maybe it comes down to how an…[Read more]-
In the end, voice is probably the most important thing. If the character or narrator would use a linking verb, there should be one included.
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I think that’s what bothered me the most. It’s far away from a commonplace way of speaking. I’ve had quite a few conversations over the last three score years and (well not quite) ten, and read a fair bit, and I’m pretty certain that this is the first time I’ve seen “accustomed” used in this way.
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Athelstone posted an update 3 days, 12 hours ago
Oddity Corner: accustom, verb, make someone or something accept (something) as normal. The other day, in my writing group, somebody came up with the phrase, “…as my eyes accustomed to the darkness.”
It immediately struck me as an odd phrase, but I was in a minority of one. I suppose my reaction is because I’m used to seeing accustomed as part…[Read more]
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I don’t think it has a problem though it perhaps sounds old fashioned, which could be the intention. In a contemporary story I’d be more likely to say, ‘As my eyes adapted to …’.
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But I think there could be a grammar question in there, Ath. This is where I show my uncertainties about active v passive but accustomed on its own is active. In a compound with an auxiliary verb it’s more passive I think. ‘My eyes became accustomed.’ The OED says, ‘In passive use sometimes approaching the stative adjective; cf. accustomed adj.’
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My eyes opened to darkness.
My eyes were opened to darkness.-
In which ‘opened to darkness’ is adjectival. Sometimes you want a straightforward active verb and sometimes you don’t.
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I’ll stay sitting on this fence 🙂
And I’ll chuck in a quote. ‘The ear is not accustomed to exercise constantly its functions of hearing, it is accustomed to stillness.’
J. Ruskin, Modern Painters vol. I. 60
Lucky Ruskin.
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It’s definitely not intended to be old-fashioned. A twisty modern tale.
The nearest support I have found to my position when searching the internet, is the statement that “accustomed to usually comes after linking verbs such as be, become, get, and grow”.
I suspect that part of the issue is that, as the OED suggests, there is an adjectival…[Read more]-
I wondered if the transitive quality of accustomed was playing a part but couldn’t get my head round whether it was or not. This is where my thin knowledge of grammar fails me. I’m also easily lost when having to consider how one word can fulfil different grammatical functions which might overlap.
With accustomed, maybe it comes down to how an…[Read more]-
In the end, voice is probably the most important thing. If the character or narrator would use a linking verb, there should be one included.
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I think that’s what bothered me the most. It’s far away from a commonplace way of speaking. I’ve had quite a few conversations over the last three score years and (well not quite) ten, and read a fair bit, and I’m pretty certain that this is the first time I’ve seen “accustomed” used in this way.
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Why I’m wasting my time puzzling and researching this, I don’t know. Actually I do. I’m about to start editing and at the same time I’m at a difficult point in the rewrite of a short story that’s insisting on growing towards novella length. In other words, prevarication.
Anyway, I think I have it:
1) Accustom is a transitive verb. It requires an…[Read more]-
No good asking me about grammar, so I can’t give a reason for it but while I had no hiccup over “My eyes accustomed to the darkness” I mentally inserted ‘themselves’ after accustomed.
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Which is to supply an object to the verb and make it grammatically correct.
-
Thank you for sorting this out, Ath. It has made me think more carefully about verbs 🙂
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-
-
I think the importance for writers is that we need to demonstrate that we can follow the generally accepted grammatical conventions so that our work is publishable. There’s an awful lot of correct grammar that simply reflects how the posh mates of C19th lexicographers spoke and wrote and sets out that other ways are wrong.
-
More often than not , i find if something you write or read stops you from moving forward then it probably could benefit from revision. depending on the surrounding context of the piece i would have probably written something like … As my eyes adjusted I negotiated the dark shadows with growing ease.
-
Late to this, but maybe I’ll make up for that by the pungency of my comments. Even before your careful explanation six posts back, that phrase just sounded plain wrong to me, like a bum note in music. Just because you were in a minority of one doesn’t mean the others were right. To extend the musical analogy, it’s as if you’d been in a group of…[Read more]
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@purplewitch absolutely. I don’t think it will be an issue because the writer in question is quite sharp. Anyway, if it gets to the point where a 3rd party is giving it a professional read, it isn’t going to last.
@richardb yep, that analogy is about right. In this instance I wouldn’t say the author has cloth ears (although the others might, I…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Where Does Your Writing Inspiration Come From? in the forum Blogs 5 days, 5 hours ago
I have tried for years to get into the habit of using notebooks. Success has been limited. Yes, I can write and I know how to write in a notebook. I also know how to carry things, especially in pockets. I certainly have thoughts that I think, ‘Ooh, that would be good in a story’. If only I could get, carrying the notebook and writing in the…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 week ago
Thanks for that. Yes, my view was that it should be fine, but it does seem that the publishing world imposes rules for children’s books these days. I don’t want to get into a debate on the merits of these, but it’s important to know them as an author, if only to stop wasting time writing stuff that will never be published. In this particular case…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 1 week, 4 days ago
OK. A question, dear denisons. Can an author writing for children in the under 10 range include murder in the story? I have a friend who’s a published author for older children and adults who has written a fine story (my guess is 7-12 yo with more sophisticated funny bits for any adults reading to their kids) but it includes a murder. Is this OK?…[Read more]
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Harry Potter has murder…
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Skulduggery Pleasant also has murder. In fact, if Amazon is anything to go by, there’s loads of murder out there.
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Thanks for that. Yes, my view was that it should be fine, but it does seem that the publishing world imposes rules for children’s books these days. I don’t want to get into a debate on the merits of these, but it’s important to know them as an author, if only to stop wasting time writing stuff that will never be published. In this particular case…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp April 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 weeks, 5 days ago
My route.
Life’s not so bad. Not anymore. Not now that I’ve got a job and a place to live. The job’s easy enough. I have a route and a barrow. I wheel the barrow to the start of the route and then I clear the rubbish along the whole of it. Some people here don’t manage it for long. They say it’s too tiring, or too boring, or we’re expected to…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 2 weeks, 6 days ago
Thanks Libby. I was quite pleased with the pitch. Not thinking about it too hard seemed to work 🙂
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Being a bit Zen seems to be the way to approach them. Relaxed but focused? Though I’ve yet to achieve this with a pitch.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 weeks, 3 days ago
It wasn’t orginally his story (a few years ago) but I was getting nowhere after 12,000 words, so I asked him if he’d mind it being about him. He generously stepped in as the MC and I began to enjoy it.
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Congrats, Ath. The pitch sounds good too.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Thank you 🙂
Working title is “Thirty days”. Teabreak goes to a new town and finds his memories and experiences are broken. Is it a past life? Is it his current life? Mystery, romance, murder, and disastrous incompetence await him.-
Teabreak? Not what I was expecting to hear. Even more fabulous! 🙂
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It wasn’t orginally his story (a few years ago) but I was getting nowhere after 12,000 words, so I asked him if he’d mind it being about him. He generously stepped in as the MC and I began to enjoy it.
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Congrats, Ath. The pitch sounds good too.
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Fabulous!
Which one?-
Thank you 🙂
Working title is “Thirty days”. Teabreak goes to a new town and finds his memories and experiences are broken. Is it a past life? Is it his current life? Mystery, romance, murder, and disastrous incompetence await him.-
Teabreak? Not what I was expecting to hear. Even more fabulous! 🙂
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It wasn’t orginally his story (a few years ago) but I was getting nowhere after 12,000 words, so I asked him if he’d mind it being about him. He generously stepped in as the MC and I began to enjoy it.
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Congrats, Ath. The pitch sounds good too.
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Thanks Libby. I was quite pleased with the pitch. Not thinking about it too hard seemed to work 🙂
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Being a bit Zen seems to be the way to approach them. Relaxed but focused? Though I’ve yet to achieve this with a pitch.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 weeks, 6 days ago
Great prompt, Terrie. Well done, Sea, absolutely well deserved. For my part it was fun to relax with a bit of 1960s -style pulp sci-fi 🙂
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 month, 1 week ago
I know nothing about Manchester in the mid 70s. I did do a few trips by coach from Newbury to Wigan in the early 70s (to the Casino) fuelled by optimism and fabulous blues music, Not so many that I was a regular. Happy to discuss.
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Thanks, Ath
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 1 week ago
The Leap
Before I knew what The Leap was, I thought it was magic. Like I thought magic was a real thing. Me and Cob and Dez and Piggy were all under ten years old. I mean, I didn’t know what a year was. That was an earth thing. Piggy was nine, and he said that a year was like four and a bit turns of the stars. Turns were an asteroid thing, a K…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 3 weeks ago
Well done, @purplewitch. That was an excellent return to the monthly competition 🙂
Liked that prompt @pinkbelt. Super bunch of entries this month.
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