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Daedalus started the topic Film, storytelling – psychic distance again – and looking under the bonnet in the forum Blogs 3 years, 12 months ago
This is going to be a super quick and probably slightly rambling blog but it’s been in my mind for a little while and I find the subject interesting so I’m just going to throw it down and see if anyone can relate.
I’ve been thinking a lot about films lately – very specifically, the way shots are composed, and what this might tell us about…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 3 years, 12 months ago
Thanks Ath, and everyone who’s kept this place going. I admit I haven’t done as much as I would have liked to help the process, and like everyone else who has commented I would miss the Den if it were not here. I’ve been in a bit of a low spot for (fiction) writing for a while but I have recently been meaning to wander back in the hope of a chat…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic Not Such a Literary Byway: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
‘…Every book back I read seemed to involve a magic sword or a ring and sorting the good from the bad became impossible…’ Yes, Kate, that was exactly my experience.
By contrast, to take a selection of the Ballantine books I read in my youth, The Well at the World’s End (William Morris), The Worm Ouroboros (E R Edison), The Night Land (William…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Not Such a Literary Byway: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
Well, you’ve convinced me. I
may have to addhave added the book to my ever-growing kindle list. Another great blog by the way.“A bit harsh maybe” you say, of Ursula K. Le Guin’s remarks. My feelings about this are mixed. I can see her point, but I am not convinced. I would have thought that the way we approach the old stories is what matters.…[Read more]
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RichardB started the topic Not Such a Literary Byway: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
I can’t in all conscience call this a literary byway, since the subject of this blog isn’t some dusty, half-forgotten relic but a book that’s very much alive and kicking, having been published only three years ago and even been nominated for awards. But I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’d like to share that enjoyment with you, so here goes.
Looking…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
Do write another blog, Richard!
Yes, the Cloud had the benefit of the Writers’ Workshop behind it. Not only did people find it from WW Courses, but from other services. I found the Cloud when I bought an editorial review. Then, it had things like the ‘Getting Published’ day in London and the ‘Festival of Writing’ in York.
Goes some way to…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
I’m in the same position as I was in last year: the Den is normally the only place I interact with anybody on-line, so I would be very sad to see it go. I’m a bit more up-beat about it, though, because since the ‘members’ side-bar on the home page has been changed from ‘most recent’ to ‘most active’ (good idea) it shows that quite a few people do…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Donations for the Den 2022 to 2023 in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
Den of Writers is a FREE forum. That means that nobody pays for membership and if you join you are absolutely entitled to use and enjoy the place as much as anybody – in fact, you are encouraged to.
However, there is a cost to running the site and people have asked about contributing to help keep it going.
This year, we’ve made some major cha…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
I had a look at our profile options a while back but I couldn’t see how it’s supposed to work. You can add information about yourself, but it doesn’t show up when your profile is viewed (which is a bit pointless). I’ll take another look at it.
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Athelstone started the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
Well, here we are again.
Many, if not most of the suggestions from my last blog on the topic, have been implemented. We appear to have settled into a low to medium run of activity. For instance, over the last couple of months we have had around 100 posts of various sorts and 16 members have logged in.
Do we continue?
The short answer is ‘yes’,…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – June 2022 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years ago
Darn it! Sorry Knicks. It’s a great theme and I meant to have a go, but things just got away from me this month 🙁
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Athelstone posted an update 4 years, 1 month ago
Den people, writers, denizens, does anybody know how much it cost in subs to be a scout (in the UK) in the early 1990s?
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I know somebody who might know if you are still trying to find an answer. Would you like me to ask?
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I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble, but if it’s easy to ask then I’d be grateful. My MC is recounting a time when his foster-mother gave him subs to go to scout meetings, but he stole the money. This would be around 1991. I’d like to be able to say what he used it for.
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I did ask MrsB, who used to be a Beaver Scout Leader, and she said there was no set amount handed down from above (that is, the Scouting Association) but that each group decided how much to charge, so you’ve got some latitude. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember how much her own group used to charge thirty years ago.
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Thanks Richard. Yes, thinking back to my brief spell as a scout, a couple of years in the mid-60s, I vaguely recall differing amounts depending on what activities were planned. I did suspect that it might vary from troup to troup, particularly as some are linked to schools and other organisations.
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My friend was a scout leader at the time but not involved with the finances. He reckons he knows someone who will know and is asking. Will pass on any further info I get.
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Thanks Bella
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Only just seen this. My family was involved in the scouts from the mid 80s to date, and my dad was group scout leader of the 4th Dovercourt during the 90s. I’ll ask him if you like, though I can’t say if he’ll remember or not
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Thanks, daeds. As with Bella, I wouldn’t want you to put yourself out for this. I can always “write around” the point.
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Fwiw I just spoke to my mum, who was also a leader, who thinks that by that time subs were collected annually rather than per meeting, and that it would have been about £50. I get the impression that before that it would be a case of a parent or guardian handing over 50p or a quid when they dropped off the child at the beginning of the meeting,…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition- May 2022 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 1 month ago
Well done all of us, especially Knicky. A great read. And well, done Seagreen. Worth waiting for.
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Athelstone replied to the topic New short story competition from former Cloudie in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 4 years, 1 month ago
Wow! Looks interesting. Thanks Daeds.
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Daedalus started the topic New short story competition from former Cloudie in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 4 years, 1 month ago
Some of you may remember Catherine Assheton-Stones, a Self-Edit course veteran and former Cloudie (going by the handle Catasshe). Catherine has just launched a new short story competition. There are really generous cash prizes for the winner and runners up so it’s well worth a punt.
- <p class=”font_9″>Open to all writers, anywhere in the…
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I remember Catasshe! She was great to have around.
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She was – she’s on Twitter as @CatherineAsshet
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition- May 2022 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 1 month ago
Under the Yoke
The security guard didn’t notice the elderly woman by the checkout. She noticed him. She noticed as his arm shot out, shielding the aisle so that the distinguished visitor could walk by unimpeded. The distinguished visitor, his blond hair carefully disarranged, smirked as his eyes slid, unseeing, across her face. He had come for t…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update 4 years, 1 month ago
Our holiday cottage on Skye – in a tiny scattered hamlet in the shadow of the Cuillin Mountains, accessible only along seven miles of a twisty single-track road with jaywalking sheep, through wild and beautiful scenery. And no phone signal. Now that’s what I call back of beyond.
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Sounds wonderful!
Although, if I’m honest, no phone signal. Hmmm. I know myself. That said, if you’re posting this then there’s internet.
Sounds wonderful!-
Yes, it’s a bit odd. No phone signal, and even radio reception is dodgy, but the wi-fi is really good.
The cottage itself is a bit lovely too, though if you’re tall (I’m not) you have to watch your head in the bedrooms. The Scots are heavily addicted to low roofs with dormer windows.-
Apparently, dormer windows only appeared throughout the UK in the C16th, which suggests that they may have been a way to make more use of storage space and mezzanines. They became a popular architectural feature in their own right soon after. We added a roof-length dormer to our chalet-style house a few years back. I would have liked an “eyebrow”…[Read more]
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Ah, I feel like an old man. Don’t have a smartphone, never used any messaging apps. Guess I’m stuck in a twenty-or-so-years- ago time-warp.
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Sounds perfect
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At almost the last gasp (home tomorrow) I saw what was probably an eagle this afternoon from the cottage garden. But it was a long way off, over the mountain on the other side of the loch wot you just can’t quite see from the cottage, and I didn’t have my binoculars with me. Almost sure it was a white-tailed eagle though.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Microfiction published in the forum Coffee Shop 4 years, 1 month ago
Fine writing. Compact and perfect!
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RichardB replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years, 2 months ago
Oh yes, I remember that gent, and his habit of taking other people’s writing and, unasked for, eviscerating the piece, stripping it of every possible nuance and subtlety to leave a lifeless skeleton. You mean he once actually admitted he was wrong?
I’ve just edited out the opposite problem (sort of) to the one you mention in your first para. I…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years, 2 months ago
The trouble is, it’s easy to get used to odd phrasing or vocabulary when I’ve produced it myself.
There’s definitely something in that. It’s a similar issue to writing something which doesn’t make sense on its own because you know all the back story that your audience is missing. You know what a turn of phrase means and it’s something of a sur…[Read more]
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