Elle

I’m way behind – my family invasion came early and is continuing. On a more positive note, it has made me get going on a completely new novel that I’m reasonably happy with so far. I’m trying something I’ve seen recommended elsewhere and not bothering with chapters (yet). Seems OK for now.

I’m doing a weekend away in mid-January (Dunford…[Read more]

Yay for plots resolving themselves @alanr! Always a good feeling. 🙂

HOw’re other NaNoers doing? I’m on 36k, struggling a bit with days being taken up with RL, but am hoping to make it early next week – before a family invasion!

Fever Dream by Samanta Scweblin is a novella too – although I don’t know the wordcount – and it got shortlisted for the Booker!! I wasn’t her debut in Spain, but I think it was her first translated book.

I think there is more scope for novellas with the smaller presses, but yeah, I think a new writer would find it nigh on impossible to get…[Read more]

Time to make yourself an outline?
Nice work though on the 16k!!!

Hello all!
I thought about doing NaNoWriMo but I don’t have time to write a sentence these days, let alone 50k!
That being said, I need some motivation so I’d love to do a Denizen’s SloMoWriMo – sounds like perfect motivation, and what great people to do it with!

That’s great, @alanr! Hope the flow keeps going. I am in the process of hauling myself over my 25k wall. Getting there, but oof.

Well done @elle. Such a sad little piece, and the bird image is perfect.

Yay! Such a beautiful and chilling story…. well done!!

Congratulations, Elle! A really poignant story!

Well done, Daeds. Really impressive! I hope it leads to more programmes.

That sounds an interesting workshop, Elle.

I think that treating ‘place’ as a character in its own right can add an extra dimension to a piece of writing, so that’s a handy checklist to follow. Thanks for sharing.

Good to know! Coffman starters are great. Basically using a shotgun cartridge to start an engine, minus the lead shot of course. I don’t just do naval aviation btw, my last nonfic was a biography of a RAF bomber pilot, flying instructor and test pilot before and during WW2. Any technical queries, feel free to ask

Thanks Elle. These are good prompts. I’m very into settings, which I think comes from my previous life as a conservation ecologist – working in some amazing wild places. So I’ve always got to have a strong sense of the natural world that my story takes place in – weather, plants, animals, noises, tides, rock types … yeah maybe I go too far, but…[Read more]

Just seen this post…

I too am floundering about in the “half-idea” realms…. I think I usually need two sort of “touch points”: an inciting incident of some kind, but then another event of some kind to head towards in the narrative. At the moment, I sort of just have my inciting incident and not another “way point”. Grrr.

These days, I find…[Read more]