@annechamberlain
Active 4 years, 4 months ago-
Daedalus replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoRe absence of choices and surprises. I’m not sure really. Sometimes they’ve helped me push myself to do something dramatically different, or have at least significantly shaped what I’ve written. Other times they just made slight complications to writing the story I would have written anyway. Generally it’s the overall theme I have the biggest…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update 1 year, 6 months ago
Back in 1966, while Ralph (Streets of London) McTell was earning his living busking on the streets of Paris, he met a Norwegian girl called Nanna Stein, and wrote a song for her, simply called Nanna’s Song, which is the most moving evocation I know of the joy of young love. By the end of that year they were married. They stayed together through…[Read more]
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Sad to hear. 58 years is a long time, and in the world of arts and entertainment must be close to a miracle. I’ve always liked Ralph McTell, although Streets of London isn’t my favourite of his songs. I have a taste for some of the more “hippy folksy” stuff like Nettle Wine.
Oddly enough, when your post appeared, I was reading about the…[Read more]-
Ah yes. From memory:
Fetching water from the brook
Wondering who it was who took
The stones from the mountain to build this cottage here
Two up and two down
Miles from the nearest town
I don’t know who he was though the reason why is clear.
McTell once said that the reason why there aren’t many love songs in his canon was that ‘I got all that…[Read more]-
They’re very different, but it reminds me of some of the old Incredible String Band stuff
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Ath, listening to this, I was reminded of the songs of Andy Comley who comes from Southampton way and wondered whether you knew of him?
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When you said the name it rang a bell, but after looking at his web site and listening to some songs, I don’t think I did know of him. Might have heard his name from my brother who is more seriously into folk music than me.
Edit: although listening to a couple more songs, he’s not actually that folksy, is he? -
Sandra Davies
11:09 (0 minutes ago)
to DenMy younger son lived in Southampton for a bit; one of his housemates took him along to gigs and I benefitted from 3 CDs, much played in the days I was working in my studio, liking the lyrics.
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I liked Southampton. I lived there from Autumn 1977 to Summer 1985 and always felt at home in the town. Only left because of work.
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Not in Southampton, but I’m lucky to have lived in the New Forest all my life, find it very inspirational.
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RichardB replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoThat’s two steps out of character for me. First, I enter the monthly competition for the first time in God knows how long. Now, having a history of inspiration for the annual challenge not descending until the last minute, i’ve had an idea already. Whether I’ll succeed in making a story out of it, we’ll have to wait and see, but the germ is…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoYeah. Thanks. Still pondering …
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoHow many words would it be? That said, it isn’t against the rules, and this is a challenge to produce a short story in any way you see fit as long as it fits with the theme.
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Sandra replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoInitially, absence of choices left me teetering, unsupported. lacking a direction pointer (as did the lack of a ‘final twist’ in previous years.) But it didn’t take long to seize on an idea (and even less time to feel that a mistake and subsequently suffer an alternative uncertainty of direction) Still ongoing, but that’s the nature of a ch…[Read more]
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
Congratulations, Knicky, a most excellent story!
Thank you, Sandra, for the comp, and for allowing me to imagine another Piety/Freedom Jones episode.
And thanks to all the entrants for being amazing writers and keeping me inspired 🙂
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoI’m interested in how people feel about the different approach this year, i.e. the absence of choices and surprises. It was something suggested to me by a group member and I thought I’d give it a go.
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I have always loved the choices and surprises – they’ve taken me out of my comfort zone and challenged me in ways I didn’t expect. It was always fun in the run up to the reveal and, ultimately, to see who made what of the same (or similar) choices. Last year, however, I didn’t enter the comp because one of the elements completely threw me (can’t…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
Fabulous competition! Hooray for all of us, especially Knicks. Thank you Sandra.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoAll sounds promising so far.
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
What a productive monthly challenge ,Sandra.
Everyone of the stories so enjoyable. I’m glad it wasn’t me having to make that choice on who to pass the baton to.
Congratulations Knicks for such a great piece, and well done everyone else for their offerings too.
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Daedalus replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoHope so!!
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
@ Richard, glad to hear you were inspired, and hope it becomes a (good) habit. I did try to make sure I’d the time-line correct for Rebecca, but whichever, it worked as far as impact was concerned.
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RichardB replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
Thank you, Sandra, for a prompt that actually got me writing. It’s ages since I last entered the monthly comp, possibly not since the Cloud imploded.
Just to clarify, this is a prequel to my earlier stories about Rebecca rather than a continuation, set ten years earlier. Rather like Athelstone with Teabreak, I can’t leave her alone. I love her to…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
I should’ve known better than to panic – what I took for drought was silent fermentation which resulted in an uncorking and a fizzing cascade of sparkling wines. Knick’s violently vivid tale of betrayal dangerously intoxicating with an awe-inspiring detonation of language.
Richard B’s continuation of his ‘Whodunnit’ tale and Rebecca’s stoi…[Read more]
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
UNTITLED (600 WORDS)
‘Seriously, Dom, you’re going to want to know about this.’
Virgil’s words tumbled out with enough agitation to stir, not only my curiosity, but something in the darker recesses of my mind.
‘Piety’s back.’
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Piety – Prototype 1: Experimental Transcendent Interface. An engineered being of such incredible power, I had…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoI’ve an idea. Whether it’s a workable idea or not is another matter. Recently my life has taken a slight turn reminiscent of the film Stand By Me, and it’s kind of demanding to be written about. On the other hand, it doesn’t have an obvious narrative shape or all the checkbox things you’re supposed to include to make a story these days, and…[Read more]
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Gosh, I had to read that last sentence twice! I’m astounded that only one of your excellent challenge stories has been accepted. Really sorry to hear that.
Thanks Thea. In part I’m sure it’s my own fault for not being persistent enough. That said, I can’t help worrying that there’s something indefinably dated or just offputting in my writing. I should add that since I wrote the above, another story based on one of the Den challenge pieces was accepted for an anthology, but for various reasons that…[Read more]
Congratulations on having another story accepted. You say the anthology might be “up in the air”, so I really hope it all goes through alright.
I honestly don’t think there’s anything “dated” or “off-putting” in your stories. I’ve read several in the challenges over the years and they have all been excellent. I’m sure that if you look back at the…[Read more]