Bella

@bellam, perhaps you can help me. I remember as a child hearing about a pirate radio ship that had been caught in a storm and had to put into Harwich, when it was impounded. I was there with my Mum and she pointed it out to me. I just remember a small, red ship. This was in the mid 1980s. I can’t find any references to it. I know we still had…[Read more]

@bellam Happy new year to you, too.
Those rifts are very deep and go way beyond mere viewpoints. Because of various issues that I won’t mention here, I don’t expect to see any healing in our society for the foreseeable future.
I wish I could share your optimism, but I can’t.
Good luck with your writing.

@Richardb Regarding politics, I did…[Read more]

Hey @bellam, I just saw an extract of your book on the JW slushpile live video (with the Bent Agency). I thought it was great, and I’m so intrigued about your characters, especially Molly. Hope you’ve worked our your narrative device…. 🙂

It didn’t seem slow to me at all @bellam. Lots of great stuff. An unhappy heroine with a tricky relationship with her annoying mother who clearly has secrets in her past. And now she’s going to have to go on some ghastly coach trip with her. I’d read on. Particularly as she’s got an old and much loved cat. Only one comment – maybe the back story…[Read more]

What an interesting idea, @bellam. I think this could defintely work.

Maybe one way to play it would be writing Molly in a slightly unreliable narrator way, so the reader is never quite sure whether it really is the house narrating, or Molly’s mental state projecting her own anxieties. I like the Stockholm Syndrome possibilities here too – the…[Read more]

Oh I think you could make it work @bellam. On one level the house could be a sort of manifestation of the forces inside Molly’s head keeping her imprisoned and I like the duality of it being a safe place and a prison at the same time.

@Bellam, Have you thought of Molly’s slippers?

Thanks for your input @athelstone @seagreen @Janeshuff @kazg @Squidge @elle @Bellam
That 5 of you go towards YA / Children’s and the other 2 suggest SF / Fantasy tells me that the original name is still the one to use, although I will still make a minor tweak to it.
So, yes, it’s a literary-leaning novel about possession, with the MFC split.
To…[Read more]

You lot are fantastic! Thank you all so much for brainstorming for me 🙂

@seagreen and @janeshuff – I think you’re really onto something there with The Time Stealer/Snatcher’s… and using that to bundle the series together. Going to ponder that.

@jd73 that made me snort – Iron Maiden’s back catalogue 🙂 But I love them. And I’m leaning…[Read more]

@Bellam @PhilippaEast @Squidge Thanks for your kind words, but it’s difficult for a self-driven person not to be harsh with himself.

@alanr, commiseration on the “failures”, but it’s never a failure to put your work out there and to try. Glad you got some useful feedback at your one–to-one and you’ve found a way to implement it

@bellam I am excited about the new computer. I do agree that we remain writers even when not physically writing. It’s nice that you can see that your…[Read more]

@jd73 Bluemoose are supposed to be really good aren’t they? One of the big hitter indies. So good luck with them!
@bellam if you are southeast, keep an eye out cos there are loads more of these kinds of things in and around London. Are you on Twitter? They are forever coming up on my TL, and always down south somewhere (sigh).

@bellam – it was indeed recorded. Please excuse me for shouting, everyone, but MANDY WAS BLOODY BRILLIANT!