@elle
Active 5 years, 10 months ago-
Squidge posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago
OK – question for you. Working on my RWAV story, which is (painfully slowly) coming together.
But – the storyline is obvious if I take it where it’s logically heading. No twists or turns, no surprises. It feels like an A to B kind of story, and I don’t usually write this sort of thing. Is it enough for readers? Do you mind – as a reader – if…[Read more]
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Daedalus started the topic Delilah S Dawson on developing an idea in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 3 months ago
An epic Twitter thread from author Delilah S Dawson on developing an idea. She does a lot of these and there’s always a lot of interesting stuff in them, so she’s worth following if you’re on Twitter
For today's #TenThings, let's talk about HOW TO DEVELOP A BOOK IDEA. Because they never arrive fully formed, do they? We get a tiny glimmer, if we're lucky. I hope these tips will help you turn your ideas into fully-fleshed stories.
— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) January 18, 2019
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Raine posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago
PSA: from an initial 120k behemoth, I now have a 98k mildly rotund wip. 🎉🎉🎉
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Sandra posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago
So much of editing is removing the superfluous, I wonder why the hell I put it in there in the first place.
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I look at it as like scaffolding. You need it to construct the story, but taking it away is part of the process
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I see it more like all those tatty bits of pale blue plastic wrapping, shredded and blowing in the wind.
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Haha yeah, that too
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It’s like a dissection. You need to rummage around to know what’s what, then you can start cutting away…
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And fingers crossed you don’t snip anything vital …
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Squidge posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago
I was asked by a local school (I know the deputy head a little) to help open their new school library yesterday (Nicky Morgan was the main attraction, and she couldn’t stay long as she was jumping on a train to London for some kind of Brexit debate and vote…?!) and talk to KS2 about editing your writing.
While I was there, they asked me to be…[Read more]
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That’s amazing Squidge, well done. That’s what it’s really all about isn’t it? Making a difference to people. Good work
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Lovely, Squidge
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Yes, Squidge, that’s lovely. Uplifting, heartwarming and empowering.
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Wonderful. Made me smile.
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That’s lovely Squidge. Just a compliment, and yes, those little things mean an immense amount.
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That’s lovely!
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How wonderful @squidge. It’s definitrly what makes it worthwhile (I imagine 😊). Congratulations!
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Squidge posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago
Does anyone else who blogs get hits from unsavoury websites? The Scribbles is getting multiple hits from porn sites. Now everyone’s welcome over at the Scribbles, but I can’t see that I’m offering anything over there that Britney34 or Sophia 23 would be interested in…
It’s a blogger site, and I don’t know whether they can be hacked or…[Read more]
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It’s a new one on me, Squidge. Not sure what the threat is, if it’s just visitors redirected from those sites, but I can see why you’re suspicious. I can only think that there are automatically generated search results posted there and you’ve happened to include some of theit search terms? A headscratcher
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Porn bots follow legit blogs etc because the more connections they have to them, the more hits are shown to be generated by the legit blog, the more the algorithms of search engines see the porn blogs as legit sites, too. (Or some version of that which is accurate about the tech side of it, but basically they are glomping onto you as a way of…[Read more]
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The Prediction Fiction site I host has a similar problem, every now and then a spike of hits, Britney and Tiffany (new to me) I can guess at but occasionally there’re sites less obvious. I’ve only once made the mistake of checking … and was reminded that I’d ever hated pink blancmange.
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A friend posted some info as to how I can filter them out… I’ll have a go if I can understand it. @sandradavies, that made me laugh! And I know EXACTLY what you meant! 😉
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Daedalus replied to the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 4 months ago
Well done all! Let’s hope a Denizen wins
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Sandra replied to the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 4 months ago
Thanks for this, Word limit ought to mean it wouldn’t need much tweaking.
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John T replied to the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 4 months ago
Yes, I saw the TSS tweets. They are good people. I’m in, for one. It’s a great opportunity.
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Raine posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago
End of first week of term time. How are people bearing up?
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Daedalus started the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 4 months ago
The TSS Publishing Cambridge Short Story Prize is closing for entries soon, and is apparently short of the number it needs to run the competition. So if Denizens put in an entry, it would surely have a good chance of success, and help TSS make the competition happen. It’s a 2,000-3,000 word limit, so if anyone had any previous Cloud Challenge…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – December 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 4 months ago
Congratulations John, well deserved, and thanks Raine for the judgement and nice comments – hope Life takes an uplift for you.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Speed Kills: Salisbury, 1906 in the forum Blogs 7 years, 4 months ago
Richard, your narrative quality is spot on again. Brilliant read.
Daeds, when I was knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper, we had a mix of streamliners and more conventional looking engines pulling the expresses that rolled into Newbury from London Victoria. I always hoped it would be a streamlined engine that would carry me off to exotic…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic January 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 4 months ago
Good topic John. Will DEFINITELY enter this one (and apols to Raine whose comp I failed to contribute to)
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Daedalus replied to the topic Speed Kills: Salisbury, 1906 in the forum Blogs 7 years, 4 months ago
I didn’t know about that one – lucky it wasn’t catastrophic. I admit to a fondness for the LMS streamliners, and, contrary soul that I am, prefer them to the much more successful LNER ones. This is partly because I was given a ‘Coronation Scot’ for my train set in my childhood (including a carriage by my grandmother, which I think was the last Ch…[Read more]
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John S Alty started the topic January 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 4 months ago
OK, everyone, we’ll make this short and sweet because the RWAV competition is reaching its finale this month and many will be busy with that.
It’s a new year so the theme is “Looking Ahead” and you have to do it with a mere 200 words.
Good luck! -
John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly comp – December 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 4 months ago
Well, I didn’t see that coming. Thanks, Raine.
Well done to all the entrants for taking part. -
Raine posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago
15k cut of a target 20k cut. Still 12 chapters to go and looking very hopeful. I think this merits tea.
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly comp – December 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 4 months ago
Guys, I can’t apologise enough for being NINE days late coming back to this. THe holidays were … not conducive to remembering things, so I am sorry for keeping you in suspense (and making January a very brief comp!)
So… thankyou for managing to fit in writing your entries during the xmas busyness.
@Seagreen – I loved the tiny details that…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic Speed Kills: Salisbury, 1906 in the forum Blogs 7 years, 4 months ago
Fascinating and absorbing stuff as ever, Richard. As well as the wonderful clarity and readability of the technical matters, I find the culture of the railway companies and the way it affected how they ran their services really eye-opening. We have it pretty bad these days, with the worst combination of competition and monopoly, but at least we…[Read more]
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It’s not the destination, it’s the journey 🙂
Hmmm… hope the journey’s interesting enough then!! 😉
I wouldn’t be put off. I can often guess the ending of books, or at least of plot lines, but as long as i care about the characters, I’m happy to follow along with them. Keep going – it’ll be grand. X
Well I got to the end of the story so I know its shape now. Just got to iron out the crinkles and make you invest in the MC now then! 😉
I agree with Sea and Raine. The characters are the thing that keeps me reading and I’m looking forward to reading your story and all the others in RWAV.
Ann Enright, for example, writes novels that my son complains has “nothing happening” in them. For me she can do no wrong, part of which is because of the well-writ observations on the way. So I’m sure you’ll be fine.