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Libby replied to the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 5 years, 4 months ago
Thanks, Richard. I tried to copy the link first of all and couldn’t make it work. Thank you for a working link to Emma Darwin.
BTW have you seen this on the BBC news website today?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55937512
Blast, link not working. BBC news website, go to the Wales tab. “Station reopening at Bow Street brings first trains for…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 5 years, 4 months ago
As Richard says, this is seems more about style, and a rigid editor, than about the rich possibilities of first-person narrators.
I’m the first to agree that repetition of ‘I’ can be a problem, just as repetition of any word can trip up the reader. And the over-repeated ‘I’ can be hard to get rid of, as I know from my own efforts.
It can also…[Read more]
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Kate replied to the topic Good news on the lyric writing front in the forum Podium 5 years, 4 months ago
Wow, John. That’s amazing. Such a huge competition. You must be on cloud 9. Congratulations!
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Thanks, Kate
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Libby replied to the topic Good news on the lyric writing front in the forum Podium 5 years, 4 months ago
That’s brilliant, John! Huge congratulations. What an achievement – I’m really pleased.
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Thanks, Libby
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John S Alty started the topic Good news on the lyric writing front in the forum Podium 5 years, 4 months ago
John Schofield (my real name) has won the Lyrics Only category in the UK Songwriting Contest 2020 with his song “It’s Later Than You Think.”
The UK Songwriting Contest directors and judges include top award-winning producers and songwriters who have worked closely with many of the world´s major artists. There were almost 10,000 song entries from 8…[Read more]-
Oh, big WOW John – not that I didn’t doubt you, but against 10,000??! Will anyone be taking the lyrics up going ahead, for recording? Are we allowed to see them? This is brilliant news for such a cold, icy-blast sort of day. Many congratulations.
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Congratulations, John! What a fantastic achievement 🙂
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Thanks, Thea
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Thanks, Janette.
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Daedalus posted an update 5 years, 4 months ago
Cutting a story down from 3800 to 2800… Got to 3200 and now every word removed feels like a fingernail
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Keep going, Daeds. And good luck!
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Thanks @libby! 209 to go
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Oh no, @daedalus, we’re not going to be haunted by all the babies murdered, are we? 😀
Seriously, good luck with that. If anyone can, you can.-
Thanks! It’s looking pretty sparse, I can tell you
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59 for me.
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And I just happen to be reading a book about writing titled “Murder Your Darlings.” 🙂
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Sounds like fate to me. Keep slaying 🙂
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I have allowed myself one darling to remain. The rest have been butchered
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I started out at 900 words over, Daedalus, but persevered and think my cut down version is stronger. Funny how that can happen. Good luck with losing those final few hundred words.
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All of you! Save those precious babes and enter them in the Monthy Comp!
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Often that is the case, but in this case the original version was fairly tight, and there was no real way to lose length other than salami slicing. Ah well
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Kate replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 5 months ago
Congratulations, Ath, and thanks for running the comp, Libby.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 5 months ago
What a tantalising range of stories and good use of the prompts. The standard is so high, and having a small number of entries paradoxically doesn’t make it any easier! In all of them I particularly enjoyed the voices both in the dialogue and the narration. I know Sandra’s piece is an excerpt from a longer work and Ath’s and Kate’s could be comp…[Read more]
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Kate replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 5 months ago
DIRECTIONS
‘What do I need this for?’
‘It’s a new cinema, I don’t know the way.’
‘Well, get out your phone and ask it to direct you, like any normal person.’
‘You know what happened last time I tried that. I ended up driving in circles for half an hour until my phone found a connection. A map on the other hand, can’t go wrong.’
‘Fine. Let…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 5 months ago
Three days to go before the monthly competition deadline! I know many Denizens are busy with the annual challenge. Still, as my grandmother used to say when spooning out seconds at the lunch table, any more for any more?
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Come on – it’s a super challenge this month! Just a few hundred words and still 2 and a teeny bit days left.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 5 months ago
A half-time reminder, for anyone thinking of entering this month’s Den competition, that we’re half way through January.
I hope everyone’s year is going well/reasonably well in the general Covid circumstances.
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BUMP!!! Not that I want to make tons of work for Libby, but only 2 entries so far and only 4 days + today left
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Libby started the topic Copyright question re Den entries in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 5 years, 6 months ago
My resolution this year is to enter a couple of short-story competitions beyond the Den. To boldly go …
Please can anyone advise on a couple of things. Most competitions won’t accept entries previously published anywhere online except on password-protected sites, but what if I wanted to develop a story idea from something I’ve previously posted…[Read more]
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I’ve developed bits from monthly comps into full stories – and even short stories and submitted them. Never had an issue because the end results which are submitted are often very different to how they started. So I don’t consider the end result to be what has already been published, if you see what I mean?
And re getting publisher’s permission -…[Read more]-
Thank you, @squidge. That’s very helpful.
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Hiya @libby Yeah, I’ve published several things from monthly comps before. Whatever we post on here, we retain all copyright, so there is no need to call a piece from here ‘previously published’ as such. As long as its been noticeably revised then I’ve never worried too much about submitting it as as an unpublished piece. Can you go back and…[Read more]
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Thanks, @raine
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
Thank you, Seagreen, Sandra, Janette and John.
And happy new year to all Denizens.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
Well done Libby. Excellent entries from all.
Happy New Year! -
Libby started the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
Happy new year, everyone.
We haven’t had a list of choices for a quite a while in the monthly competitions.
For the January competition please write a story to include two of the following:
– a road atlas
– something made of wood
– aontrariness
– a light switch; this can be literal or metaphoricalBetween 250 and 450 words.
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That’s meant to be ‘contrariness’. I’ve edited the post on the monthly comp thread but out here in the Den window, changes don’t appear! (A little bit of Den contrariness? 🙂 )
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
That’s a lovely surprise, and for the new year too! Thank you, Ath.
Thank you also to everyone who entered. A very compelling selection of stories, as always, and a wide range of styles. I’ll have a think about what to set for the January competition.
Happy new year, if we’re allowed to say that after 2020 🙂
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
359 words
Fracture
The room was big, like a workshop, but the machinery was rows of people seated on chairs all facing the same way. Silence nestled beside and around them, cut by infrequent remarks. What dreary weather today, no sign of sun. A bit stuffy in here. I hope we’re not kept waiting long.
The ceiling was open to the roof. Struts m…[Read more]
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Mad Iguana replied to the topic Indie publishing deal in the forum Podium 5 years, 6 months ago
I’ve said it elsewhere, but I think it’s OK to congratulate a person more than once, isn’t it?
Congratulations Jane! Over the (edge) (of the) moon for you, if that’s not too tortured an attempted pun (I know it is).
Can’t wait to read your published work.-
Thank you. Despite the pun! Actually I am in the market for phrases using the word “edge” for the title of the next one!!
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Don’t tempt me. I could be making up puns for the rest of the year.
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Daedalus replied to the topic Traditional or Self-Publishing? in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 6 months ago
@dougk if you’d like an alternative to a sedative, you can read the exhaustive cautionary tale of my small press experience here https://airandseastories.com/2019/01/30/my-publishing-nightmare-the-story-of-a-book-deal-gone-bad-part-1/
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Daedalus replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Pete Who? in the forum Blogs 5 years, 6 months ago
They do have that sort of instant hit of relateable truth don’t they? Ironic, or perhaps not, that Roche’s career might apply to the principle of ‘Connections’, even though it’s clearly about something much more personal. A missed connection here or there is the difference between national treasure status and obscurity.
Also interesting for me to…[Read more]
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