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Just wanted to extend my appreciation to Ath and Jules for starting & maintaining/updating/supporting this place. I’m afraid I have very much drifted off, largely just because of the other demands on my writing time. It’s nice to know this place is here & I look forward to the annual challenges, but I honestly don’t spend enough time here to be…[Read more]

Very true. There are precious few lighter moments. Mind you, he’s not quite the worst author I know for that. Not exactly fantasy (although he did write a collaborative series with Terry Pratchett), Stephen Baxter has the habit of making you identify with and root for particular characters, and then watch as their responses to ever tougher…[Read more]

@woolleybeans wrote: “For me, that aspect [the defining factor of PD] was/is the level to which the POV character’s thoughts, feelings etc influence/become part of the writing style itself.

As for how that correlates to film/TV…

The saturation of colours? Whether the shot angles up through something? The somewhat cliché blurry/wobbly scen…[Read more]

You’re probably right re urban fantasy, I have a rather vague grasp on the various subgenres, and that’s when authors oblige and ensure that their work falls squarely within one category. I have no idea where to put China Mieville’s Bas-Lag novels, and I suspect he likes it that way. They have the epic sweep and complex magical systems of high…[Read more]

I find it interesting how different people absorb PD in different ways.

I feel two aspects, at least, were being discussed on the Self-Edit course.

The actual physical distance of the description, which would correlate more to the wide or medium or close shot, seemed to be part of it. It certainly turned up in examples. It did not, however, seem…[Read more]

I feel hypocritical even writing a response, because I have drifted off so much and for so long, and managed to fail to submit an entry for three years of the challenge, but I would also be sad to see the Den go.

For me, it’s partly habit. If I don’t have a reason to log on, it is all too easy to just…stop doing it. And once a tab is shut, my…[Read more]

We had one of those alight on the edge of our utility room door a little while ago. Huge, and very striking. Almost big enough to have the same sort of presence as a bird rather than an insect. Can’t find pics of it now, but we fairly often see them out and about, along with different types of dragonfly and damsonfly.

I was going to edit this to add some links but apparently I’m too late. Anyway, in case there are any non-SE grads out there, some details on psychic distance here

That sounds fantastic (in both senses of the word). My tbr pile is probably already longer than I will get through in my lifetime but I will add it anyway.

Fantasy definitely did seem to go through an obligatory magic ring/sword phase, not to mention the ominpresent dark lord – the overlong series’ of Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind and, to a lesser…[Read more]

Thanks Ath, and everyone who’s kept this place going. I admit I haven’t done as much as I would have liked to help the process, and like everyone else who has commented I would miss the Den if it were not here. I’ve been in a bit of a low spot for (fiction) writing for a while but I have recently been meaning to wander back in the hope of a chat…[Read more]

Thank you guys for entering! And for writing such fun pieces – they all have something special to them, I think.
@athelstone I love the details and voice of yours, the small touches that make each character so recognisable.
@sandradavies well, naked men wrestling, what more can anyone ask for really?? Love the balance of violence and tenderness…[Read more]

Aw thank you @knickylaurelle!! Glad it struck a chord 🙂 And I loved everyone else’s entries so yay everyone!

Okay, I need to think about next month – will get pondering and post something later/tmrw.

Right – it’s ramshackle and unplanned, but at least I’ve done one!!!

To breathe.

That’s it. That’s what you need to do to win against this particular enemy. He’s always been there, this one. He’s one of my earliest and definitely my most constant childhood memory. Hunched forward in the dark, fear and aloneness so present in the room th…[Read more]

Sorry. Book stuff is hectic just now. I do love these comps & have had several publications out of them so they are really worth doing. But …. *wails* I have no time!!