@debi
Active 6 years, 4 months ago-
Philippa East replied to the topic Wip beginning… in the forum Critiques 7 years, 10 months ago
Oop – crossed with Jonathan.
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Philippa East replied to the topic Wip beginning… in the forum Critiques 7 years, 10 months ago
okay, might be waffling on a bit here, but it’s sparked a load of thoughts.
In general I like the opening couple of paragraphs. It paints a strong and immediate picture of character and place.
You set up the omniscient narrator with the phrase highlighted in bold below.
“When the lights went out across Europe, Lina Stephenson did not notice at…[Read more] -
Philippa East replied to the topic Wip beginning… in the forum Critiques 7 years, 10 months ago
Hi Raine,
I love the sound of this story. A literary apocalyptic novel? YES PLEASE!
I definitely like the idea of having scenes from various characters’ lives, i.e. to have sections in different POVs. I think it serves the genre well because it creates an epic, global canvas for your story. Basically – how is the human race as a whole going to…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic Wip beginning… in the forum Critiques 7 years, 10 months ago
Personally I like it. The narrator-y bits make the transitions into a sort of PD slide. If you’re going to introduce a range of geographically dispersed characters in a short piece of text, this seems like a good way to do it. And I like the voice
‘This was a Sunday, the day it began was a Thursday’ – comma splice?
‘Domain’ – Demain? (French for…[Read more]
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Squidge started the topic Identification – and how you can create it in your novel in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 10 months ago
Rod Duncan’s a great author, very involved in Writing East Midlands. This link to his podcast gives lots of ideas of how to help your readers identify with the characters in your novel. It’s only six minutes long…
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Jules replied to the topic Den monthly competition September 2018 in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 10 months ago
Impact
The EVA suit’s read-out flashed Warning! Oxygen levels at 18% in eerie red. Jepson’s mind was foggy, irrational. All her training hadn’t prepared her for the reality of being stuffed into a damaged evacuation tube and launched into the airless void.
It had begun with impact. Many in fact, although Jepson only counted three as notew…[Read more]
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Squidge replied to the topic As an opening… in the forum Critiques 7 years, 10 months ago
Ta, Jonathan. ‘couple of tiny wibbles’… I can live with that. 😉
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic New Blog from Emma Darwin in the forum Blogs 7 years, 10 months ago
Bit late to this but yes, I’ve done (am doing!) a version of this. It works best when I’m trying to finish something. I’ve got a chart with a chain of squares and the idea is to make the chain as long as possible without breaking it. There’s no daily word count to reach. As long as I write a sentence, I can colour in a square. It’s worked…[Read more]
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Festival Dreams in the forum Blogs 7 years, 10 months ago
Lovely to meet you, Anna. I hope you had a great festival! 😊😊
Thank you, Kaz! -
Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Receiving an email headed 'Offer of Representation'…. in the forum Podium 7 years, 10 months ago
😊😊😊
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KazG replied to the topic Receiving an email headed 'Offer of Representation'…. in the forum Podium 7 years, 10 months ago
@debi, you can get here via Writers Forum/Den of Writers/Podium. There are many winding roads in the Den and I’m still working them out myself! I’m also eagerly awaiting such a link (OMG CAN YOU IMAGINE??) and you will definitely know about it the minute (if/when) it happens…
@skylark I’m already leaning on my agent with questions and it’s SO…[Read more]
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KazG replied to the topic Festival Dreams in the forum Blogs 7 years, 10 months ago
Skylark, I wasn’t there to hear you speak, but felt that I was after reading your blog – you’ve obviously inspired so many and there is so much genuine delight at your success. Congratulations and well done you, and I’m so happy that this is happening for you 🙂 I have only read Jessica’s story in Stories For Homes – where it really stood out for…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update 7 years, 10 months ago
Three years ago I was told by a WW editor that my first novel hadn’t a hope of being published because there is no market for ghost stories, and particularly not those about haunted houses because they have been done to death. I was in the library last Saturday, and what did I find? ‘This House is Haunted’ by John Boyne (2013). And is the title…[Read more]
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I have received six arcs this year so far about exactly that, Richard. And I note many othets coming into the library where I work. They are all some permutation on the haunted house. There is definitely a market for it.
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And there’s The Silent Companions out recently and doing really well as a reading group type thing…
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Forgot to say: though I say it as shouldn’t, I find the book less convincing as a ghost story than my own, and the climax is a bit OTT. Well, I’d better carry on with trying to lick my MS into better shape.
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Not actually a Haunted House, but still ghostly, and very creepy, Susan Hill’s Dolly is the most enjoyable book I’ve read this year.
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Yes, don’t give up @richardb! I’m not sure the talk of fashions is much help being as agents are always guessing on what will be next, and the things in the shops were signed two years before. We were told about 4 years ago that post-apocalytpic was done. But there are still agents asking for it, and still new books appearing in the shops. And I’m…[Read more]
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I’m going through agents at the moment listing those with that particular request.
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2013, you say. Maybe he was the one who did it to death…
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I believe you when you say the book was less convincing than your own, Richard, I remember reading yours and really enjoying. It was spooky enough for me. Good luck with your MS and fingers crossed it will be available to buy soon.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Logging in in the forum Admin and Technical 7 years, 10 months ago
Hi John
I’m assuming that you get the login screen with user name, password and the login button, but that if you click the button it just goes on showing you that screen. I wondered whether a broken page was lodged in your browser cache which is stopping the ‘logged in’ screen appearing even though you have successfully logged in. I’m not saying…[Read more] -
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Squidge posted an update 7 years, 10 months ago
Just wondering how many here were in the Sept (I think) 2014 Self edit course? @swoop @tenacityflux … Jody Klaire, who I don’t think has found us yet? Anyone else?
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I went twice to FoW, & was in a self edit course straight after one of them, with you & Tenacity. I’m going to have to work this out by cricket seasons I think, hold on….
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Jody was definitely on it, but I’m caught on whether it was 2013 or 2014
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I changed clubs at the end of the 2012 season. I missed my last match for my old club when they were relegated to be at my first FoW, then I missed the last match for my new club when they just escaped in 2013. I couldn’t take that any more & haven’t been since….til next year. Pretty certain my self edit was 2013
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2013? Blimey, didn’t think it was quite so long ago. There was Sir something on it too… can’t remember his cloud tag.
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Yeah, went to one FoW that I went to certainly. Had a beard but his name escapes me, although I’m pretty sure he lived a couple of valleys across from Skylark…..so that should be relatively easy to work out. He says…..
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@skylark. Ooh, there we go, technology!
There was a lady who wrote a novel that was a love story that involved spitfires? Think she was published shortly afterwards? -
@louisewalters – was it you in our group?!
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It was Hurricanes, but I’ll let you off, Neil 😉
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I did it before Mrs Sinclair came out, but after I got my agent, so I think it was in 2013 I did mine. But I think Neil was on my course – Hi Neil!- so I may be getting muddled!
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Yes it was @louisewalters in 2013, sorry I couldn’t remember, time flies. Sirtanic is who we’re thinking of, Mills?
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Wouldn’t @debi know this anyway? Or were all records cloud based?
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Yes, I wondered if records can tell us which intake we were all in?
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There are no records of anything that was on the Cloud at all. Everything went pfft. 🙁 I could tell people who was in their group but it would take me some time. I’ve just done it for one recent group. One person contacted me and said they wanted to get in touch with their group so I went back to the emails I sent out with the course pack at…[Read more]
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Oh blimey, no, too much work Debi. I reckon we can work it out if we stop and think, and search our own docs for clues!
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Sirtanic – of course! I think Neil’s right, it was 2013 for us all, cos I was working on Rurik (who is now Tilda) and think I’d published Granny Rainbow in that year so I had the confidence to revisit the novel.
Much good it did me – as I edited it again for the milioonty-umpteeth time last year. Thank goodness it’s got a contract with it now…
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