@bellam
Active 1 week, 1 day ago-
Sandra replied to the topic August 2024 monthly competition in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 10 months ago
Don’t envy your task of choosing a winner, Libby!
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Terrie replied to the topic August 2024 monthly competition in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 10 months ago
Shall I compare thee to a summer day?
The sons of Scathios are not many, but we exist, hiding in plain sight, yet cautious as stealthy shadows flickering through time.
The oracle of Ages states ‘everything is subject to the passing of time, even that which is immortal’ and yes things around me did transform and I perceived them in their tran…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic August 2024 monthly competition in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 10 months ago
I had been thinking of writing a piece about the regular assembly of early morning imbibers near the local pier. My idea was to call it The Breakfast Club, but in deference to the competition it is as requested. Note that the language at these events is often rough. I have tamed it a bit but there may be a trace…
Shall I compare thee to a…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic August 2024 monthly competition in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 10 months ago
Probably a bit aslant of what you were hoping for Libby, but is the idea that stuck
‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’
I guess you had to’ve been there, because even now, months later, just thinking about it makes me smile. It was the usual semi-dormant Friday afternoon meeting, Anton, our boss, wanting us to brain-storm some sort of…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 10 months ago
I’d be grateful for some thoughts. I read a section from my WIP at a writers’ meeting and somebody commented on the name I chose for a character aged around 40. I named the character Carol. She said that this seemed rather an odd name for somebody of that age and that if you see “Carol” you immediately assume somebody older. This hadn’t occurred…[Read more]
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As far as I’m concerned the answers to your questions are ‘No’ and ‘No.’ I had a similar experiance about ten years ago when my daughter suggested that Angela was an unlikely name for a twenty-year-old, but the character had been with me in some shape or form for years and I couldn’t imagine her being anything else, so i stuck with it. And lo and…[Read more]
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I’ve realised for a while that I’ll need to change the name of one character. I introduced her simply for a physical look and mannerisms that I could understand and write about with some realism. But the name belongs to a real person and I’m not the only one who knows her. So…
But the other name? Is my critic opinionated? I couldn’t possibly…[Read more]
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I don’t remember anyone called Carol in the 80s and my younger sister did not have any friends called Carol that I know of. However, I do not associate the name with any particular generation in the way that I would, say, Mabel or Enid or Hilda.
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I knew a couple of Carols at work, but I think they were both probably born in the 60s. I also know a Carol (as I said up there) who’s in her early 40s now, so would be around the age of my character. I suspect that the person who was so definite on associating the name with an era was extra sensitive to it because she was a Carol herself. I’ve…[Read more]
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I’m late to the conversation but I think it’s fine to have a character with an out-of-era name. The only problem I could see with a story is if all the names were old-fashioned or unusual in some way without the author giving any explanation.
Seeing Carol and Angela now, I’m struck how pretty these names are. When they were in commoner currency I…[Read more]-
As a matter of interest (or not…) my character isn’t usually referred to as Angela. It’s part of an authorial joke. I gave her that name so that she could have the nickname Jelly, with the excuse that that was how she said her name when she was learning to talk and it stuck. The girl is a head-turner, and ‘jellyroll’ (as in Jellyroll Morton,…[Read more]
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I’d better not describe the original Teabreak to you as that might break something. Personally I can’t see anything wrong with Carol for the 80s, although I might add an “e” to the end (Carole). I’d go with what you’re comfortable writing with – you can always do a global change when finished if you really want. In other news I know at least one…[Read more]
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Well, thanks for the replies. She stays as Carol, with a suitable comment or two to settle her age. I’ve given this some more thought. In the novel her age is quite clear anyway because this and her appearance are described before Teabreak gets to know her. That’s one of the possible disadvantages of offering critique (especially “definitive”…[Read more]
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Jelly Roll Blues
A century old this year
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Fragment 31, by Sappho in the forum Blogs 1 year, 11 months ago
Great blog, Richard. Sadly I have very little internet right now. Will get back asap. Also, yikes! One of the updates has broken my menus (at least in mobile mode).
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 11 months ago
Apologies to anybody who had a problem logging in to the Den in the last couple of days. Our hosting company jumped the gun (by a day or so) and turned off SSL (Secure Socket Layer which provides us with some of our site security) prior to the bill falling due.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 11 months ago
Well done Libby! And well done to Sandra, too. Made me smile!
I didn’t read the other entries until after I’d posted mine, but I have to say 1) I was struck by the way we all had some common themes 2) I thought at once that Libby’s piece was a bit special.
Thanks for the competition, Terrie.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 11 months ago
Congratulations Libby – what an interesting exercise, one I’d like to attempt sometime and which you managed so smoothly. Thanks to Ath for another entertaining Teabreak episode. And to Terrie for both the challenge and the summing up. The being stretched into a maybe new direction is so good for my writing, shame more Denizens can’t find time to enter.
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 11 months ago
Only three entries but what a selection!
All expertly written and cleverly presented is evidence that Den of Writers contains a wealth of experienced and skilled writers.
- Wow Libby what a wonderfully executed piece of verb-less writing; plus a well-crafted opening sentence as well.
Richly descriptive but without verbs, the shorter…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 11 months ago
Don’t ever cross a crocodile.
Back when Chubby was chubby and not six inches taller than me and good looking, his nan died, and he went to the funeral. Afterwards, we met up near his gaff and he was in a bit of a moody with me.
‘All your fault, Teabreak, you twat!’ he goes.
‘Woss that then,’ I say, and I offer him a Number 6 to make up f…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 11 months ago
“Season to taste”
I could say it started as a joke, except I knew, at that age, Suze and I were, a bit self-consciously, aiming to bridge the gap between our schoolgirl selves and the mysterious, scary-but-enticing grown-up world we were bracing ourselves to enter.
Both of us were in top English. Read our homework to each other, critiqued (a mor…[Read more]
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Terrie started the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years ago
I thought July’s challenge could be a free choice of subject matter and genre, but to add a little twist to the task your entry must contain a reference to a cooking pot of your choice (saucepan, frying pan etc.) and the words,
Shadow
Bridge
Trinket
Word variants of the above are also ok.
Be funny, be scary, be mysterious, be whatever takes…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years ago
This was such a good challenge producing three different perspectives .
I agree with Sandra picking a winner is always difficult at the best of times and I think we all did brilliantly. So well done Ath and Sandra and thanks for passing the baton over to me, Libby.
I will be posting next months challenge shortly .
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years ago
Thank you for the challenge, Libby. And very well done to Terrie for another powerful piece of story telling.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years ago
Wow. Thank you Libby for this at-first-sight innocuous challenge. (I tried to resist the autobiographical, but in the end it was the only way for me to go) so thank you Terrie and Ath for such impactful alternatives; I’m glad I didn’t have the task of choosing between them.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years ago
Energy and shame
Understanding is a difficult word sometimes. We say, ‘I understand her,’ meaning that we know her reasons for doing something or other. It was as expected. Electricity feels rather different. Do I understand it? I mean, what is it? I was taught a load of rubbish at school about the movement of charged electrons. That isn’t elect…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years ago
Electricity and us
Electricity has played a considerable part in directing the path our lives have travelled, from the instant (if only sensory) flash of knowledge, at the end of our first date, that “This man is who I can safely be ME with!” to our fifty years of living in the North East.
At that time (5th April 1963) he worked for a comp…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 1 month ago
Hunting The Children of Electric
You may think we’ve harnessed electricity but don’t be fooled by its compliance, it’s merely an angry beast straining at its leash, longing to be free.
If you’ve stood watching for the crackle-flash of its untamed brother, then counted and listened for the rumble, you’ll know what I mean when I say, the effec…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 2 years, 1 month ago
Sorry for any oddities and issues with the site. I had a bumper crop of major updates to install and although I did my best to slip these in seemlessly, there are one or two niggles. In particular, Buddypress, which gives the site many of its social networking features had a complete rewrite. I did check all the prerequisites and tried it out on…[Read more]
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