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Sandra posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
Lesley Glaister speaks about her writing process – both fascinating and encouraging in its familiarity: https://www.facebook.com/events/607610230131239/621568822068713/?notif_t=admin_plan_mall_activity¬if_id=1597861845278044
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Raine replied to the topic Positive thoughts in the forum
CoronaMo 5 years, 11 months ago@dougk sorry for being so useless at checking in here. Hi & well done on the short story acceptance. Is it available online?
I repeat the ‘this too shall pass’ thing to myself fairly regularly! It’s the perfect balance of hope and recognition. -
Raine posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
After five looooooong months, I had five whole hours without the mini yesterday when she had her soft transition day back in school (full, ‘normal’ start on Monday). I sat at my desk (which she’d been using) AND WROTE WORDS. Not many, but some. (And then watched Umbrella Academy to recover). It was all rather lovely. 🙂
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Oh, joy, Raine. I’ve said before I don’t know how anyone can write (or otherwise create) with offspring demanding attention. Long may the writing of words continue.
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Raine replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Totally agree re Boyne, @jillybean. He’s lazy and complacent, and doesn’t care who he hurts as a result.
Having recently discovered the horrors of researching hist fic, I must admit to struggling with knowing where the line is between really getting stuck on details that don’t matter, and making sure the whole worldbuilding feels authentic.…[Read more]
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
July’s comp is now July-and-August’s comp! If you fancy having a go, check it out here: https://www.denofwriters.com/forums/topic/monthly-comp-july-2020/
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Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Ah, yes. I take your point Athers. My ignorance obscured it earlier.
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Athelstone replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
There are degrees to this and a dependency on the type of book being written. I am not searching for an artificial precision in moral culpability. I am not saying that there are some absolute rules at play. I am saying that if you bend the truth to suit your story, while at the same time maintaining that what you write is authentic, then there are…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Athers, I’ve not read Boyne, so took the passage you quote as from a fantasy novel which, in my understanding, means anything goes in the way of made-up words and facts.
On the subject of ‘proper’ research; at Newcastle Noir a couple of years ago, one crime writer told of being asked how many specialists he had on call to help him with research,…[Read more]-
There’s an article in today’s Telegraph referring to this, and mentioning it seems to apply less to film-makers, e.g. Braveheart where kilts were worn 500 years before in use “because they looked better”. Artistic licence, innit?
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Athelstone started the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
This is a lightweight blog.
I was just settling down after reading about the astonishing performance by George R R Martin at the Hugo awards, when my son approached brandishing his phone.
‘Look at that,’ he said.
I looked. My son has been a fan of the Zelda video games since he was little. I played a few along with him in the last few years,…[Read more]
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I didn’t gasp – too world weary – but I can see why you’re annoyed, Ath. On a lighter note I was disappointed, having hoped to learn something more about nightshade! Woody nightshade grows in our garden, is pretty and you could imagine the berries being used for dye. It’s also poisonous. But when I got a bit further I’d have switched off if you h…[Read more]
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Here’s a review of the book https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/06/a-traveller-at-the-gates-of-wisdom-by-john-boyne-review-an-ambitious-era-hopping-epic
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Thanks, Libby. A really interesting review. I hadn’t realised that the Zelda mistake was one amongst many. Aside from characters deep in history musing about their peers in the language of C20th psychology, we have ‘…kimonos and obis to the Chinese, igloos to the Norse Icelanders, and steel and horses to pre-Columbian South Americans. Potatoes…[Read more]
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That makes me flippin mad! All the hard work we put into our MSs, and he just… 😫
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Absolutely agree. I accept that the ‘worlds’ we base our stories in have a lot of the unlikely and improbable in them but there is a big difference between that and not bothering to do proper research.
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
SO sorry, folks – had completely forgotten to check in on the monthly comp! Have no excuse other than I’ve been rather focused on Tilda 3 recently and got carried away.
As it’s already the 4th August, and there were only three entries, does anyone object to it running through this month too? Hopefully get a few more folk having a go?…[Read more]
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I’m happy with your suggestion to extend, @squidge
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No probs.
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I’m happy with that.
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 12 months ago
Any more for any more on the July comp? Not going to be inundated for judging this time unless there’s a last minute flurry…
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Mad Iguana replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
I saw that and thought of your post, and your memories.
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly comp: July 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Looking For Paradise
The mossy church bench had no kids fighting around it. No grumpy, obstinate husbands, or house-din. Just bliss. I breathed deeply as I listened to the trees above, its branches whispering and swaying in a gentle breeze, stirring birds into song. A squirrel wriggled up rough bark and disappeared into the foliage, minding its…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 6 years ago
Our lovely Fiona (Bric) is on this tmrw – register here to watch….
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p0_gtnBjRMyAoswPP36ZbQ -
Raine posted an update 6 years ago
For those of us in the North – Harper have opened their ‘northern’ (Manchester, still quite south from where I’m standing 😀 ) office & are doing an open submissions to northerly writers. I don’t know how long they’ll be doing that & imagine they’ll switch to agented only fairly quickly so if you’ve got something ready, might be worth a punt?
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sorry – forgot to add: Harpernorth.co.uk
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Coming from the Manchester area myself I’m pleased one of the big publishing companies thinks this very populous, diverse and influential area is worth direct support. (If I knew how to add an emoji signalling a combination of weariness, irony, relief and some kind of optimism, I’d put it here.) I have to agree, Raine, that Manchester is hardly…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoThanks Sea – not heard of the ‘7 Cs’ but it makes perfect sense. Perhaps it is that it can’t be immediately applied from the start, i.e. you (meaning one, and definitely I) have to write quite a lot of scenes involving character and events before the story line appears, after which tweaking into shape can take place.
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Sandra replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoI’m relieved to hear I’m not the only one to have been unable to find a theoretical how-to-plot scheme that works for them, and I really have tried because plotting is certainly what I find hardest, not being a natura story-teller.
Screenwriter Jeremy Sheldon did a brilliant presentation at a Festival of Writing weekend, (2014?) and I’ve been…[Read more] -
Squidge replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoI always sit in on these ‘story arc’ kinds of sessions in the hope I’ll find one that works for me. I never have…
I do have two that help remind me of the essentials though.
The triangle…I learnt it on the self edit course (now run by Jericho Writers) and blogged about it here:…[Read more]
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Squidge posted an update 6 years ago
Any more takers for the July comp? We’re halfway through the month…
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Go on! You know you want to. It’s only 400 words. Don’t let me be the winner by default – I want my brilliant words to do it!
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I’m half way through an entry.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoThis is about as not stupid a question as I can think of. In essence it’s ‘how do you write’. The supposed divide (classically) is between pantsers and plotters. Plotters, apparently, plan every detail, before they begin. Every chapter and plot point is set out. if a chapter should end with a challenging hook, then it’s there in the plan. Once the…[Read more]
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I think most of us are probably ‘Plantsers’ in reality. And yeah, it means you do end up on the wrong path sometimes. Lots of times, actually… I’m trying to sort one out at the mo in Tilda #3, and it’s hard to back-track and find the point where you actually first stepped off the path.
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I’m convinced that you need to be both a planner and a pantser – yes, a planster. The planning and pantsing parts of your brain need to find a way not to just to give each other space but to support each other.
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