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Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
Ah, yes. I take your point Athers. My ignorance obscured it earlier.
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Athelstone replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
There are degrees to this and a dependency on the type of book being written. I am not searching for an artificial precision in moral culpability. I am not saying that there are some absolute rules at play. I am saying that if you bend the truth to suit your story, while at the same time maintaining that what you write is authentic, then there are…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
Athers, I’ve not read Boyne, so took the passage you quote as from a fantasy novel which, in my understanding, means anything goes in the way of made-up words and facts.
On the subject of ‘proper’ research; at Newcastle Noir a couple of years ago, one crime writer told of being asked how many specialists he had on call to help him with research,…[Read more]-
There’s an article in today’s Telegraph referring to this, and mentioning it seems to apply less to film-makers, e.g. Braveheart where kilts were worn 500 years before in use “because they looked better”. Artistic licence, innit?
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Athelstone started the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
This is a lightweight blog.
I was just settling down after reading about the astonishing performance by George R R Martin at the Hugo awards, when my son approached brandishing his phone.
‘Look at that,’ he said.
I looked. My son has been a fan of the Zelda video games since he was little. I played a few along with him in the last few years,…[Read more]
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I didn’t gasp – too world weary – but I can see why you’re annoyed, Ath. On a lighter note I was disappointed, having hoped to learn something more about nightshade! Woody nightshade grows in our garden, is pretty and you could imagine the berries being used for dye. It’s also poisonous. But when I got a bit further I’d have switched off if you h…[Read more]
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Here’s a review of the book https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/06/a-traveller-at-the-gates-of-wisdom-by-john-boyne-review-an-ambitious-era-hopping-epic
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Thanks, Libby. A really interesting review. I hadn’t realised that the Zelda mistake was one amongst many. Aside from characters deep in history musing about their peers in the language of C20th psychology, we have ‘…kimonos and obis to the Chinese, igloos to the Norse Icelanders, and steel and horses to pre-Columbian South Americans. Potatoes…[Read more]
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That makes me flippin mad! All the hard work we put into our MSs, and he just… 😫
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Absolutely agree. I accept that the ‘worlds’ we base our stories in have a lot of the unlikely and improbable in them but there is a big difference between that and not bothering to do proper research.
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Mad Iguana replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
I saw that and thought of your post, and your memories.
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RichardB replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
Sadly, I have heard today that Peter Green, without whom this blog wouldn’t have been written, has died at the age of 73.
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RichardB posted an update 5 years, 10 months ago
Something to celebrate on a grey, miserable day – at least it is where I live.
Some of you may remember me posting not long ago about the explosion that destroyed (and I mean destroyed) a house in Seven Sisters, just down the road from me, and how the neighbours (one of whom happens to be a retired firefighter) went in straight away, before t…[Read more]
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Such things as this are good for my own disillusioned heart to know as well. I can never be reminded too many times, people aren’t all bad. Thanks for sharing.
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly comp: July 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 10 months ago
Looking For Paradise
The mossy church bench had no kids fighting around it. No grumpy, obstinate husbands, or house-din. Just bliss. I breathed deeply as I listened to the trees above, its branches whispering and swaying in a gentle breeze, stirring birds into song. A squirrel wriggled up rough bark and disappeared into the foliage, minding its…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
Not too challenging, Kaz, if you do what I did and go to abebooks.com. When I looked there were quite a few copies available from various sources.
As for fantasy speaking to human reality, a lot of the tide of stuff that’s come pouring out since LOTR opened the flood-gates simply doesn’t. As a matter of interest here is Le Guin herself’s rather…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 10 months agoI’m another one whose eyes glaze over at charts, grids, questionnaires and all the rest of it, and find the idea of forcing a story into a set framework very inhibiting. I’d come to suspect that lack of a coherent framework in my writing was one reason I’ve never got on the road to publication, but when I applied the 7 Cs to my last effort it…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 5 years, 10 months ago
Our lovely Fiona (Bric) is on this tmrw – register here to watch….
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p0_gtnBjRMyAoswPP36ZbQ -
Raine posted an update 5 years, 10 months ago
For those of us in the North – Harper have opened their ‘northern’ (Manchester, still quite south from where I’m standing 😀 ) office & are doing an open submissions to northerly writers. I don’t know how long they’ll be doing that & imagine they’ll switch to agented only fairly quickly so if you’ve got something ready, might be worth a punt?
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sorry – forgot to add: Harpernorth.co.uk
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Coming from the Manchester area myself I’m pleased one of the big publishing companies thinks this very populous, diverse and influential area is worth direct support. (If I knew how to add an emoji signalling a combination of weariness, irony, relief and some kind of optimism, I’d put it here.) I have to agree, Raine, that Manchester is hardly…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 10 months agoThanks Sea – not heard of the ‘7 Cs’ but it makes perfect sense. Perhaps it is that it can’t be immediately applied from the start, i.e. you (meaning one, and definitely I) have to write quite a lot of scenes involving character and events before the story line appears, after which tweaking into shape can take place.
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Sandra replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 10 months agoI’m relieved to hear I’m not the only one to have been unable to find a theoretical how-to-plot scheme that works for them, and I really have tried because plotting is certainly what I find hardest, not being a natura story-teller.
Screenwriter Jeremy Sheldon did a brilliant presentation at a Festival of Writing weekend, (2014?) and I’ve been…[Read more] -
Athelstone replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 11 months agoThis is about as not stupid a question as I can think of. In essence it’s ‘how do you write’. The supposed divide (classically) is between pantsers and plotters. Plotters, apparently, plan every detail, before they begin. Every chapter and plot point is set out. if a chapter should end with a challenging hook, then it’s there in the plan. Once the…[Read more]
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I think most of us are probably ‘Plantsers’ in reality. And yeah, it means you do end up on the wrong path sometimes. Lots of times, actually… I’m trying to sort one out at the mo in Tilda #3, and it’s hard to back-track and find the point where you actually first stepped off the path.
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I’m convinced that you need to be both a planner and a pantser – yes, a planster. The planning and pantsing parts of your brain need to find a way not to just to give each other space but to support each other.
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Sandra replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 11 months agoI used to begin with a conversation between two characters and spread from there. One book I was ~20K in before I knew who would die, and a further 20K before I knew who did it. Even so it turned out to be someone else.
Now that those characters have become so familiar and the twists and turns of their lives compelling enough to become a…[Read more]
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Checking something else, I came across this 2015 blogpost about a book now awaiting a final beta reader : http://sandra-linesofcommunication.blogspot.com/2015/08/back-to-front-strange-and-alien-progress.html
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Aha, this was the first Ursula K Le Guin book that I read and it made quite an impression on me.
I think you’ve put your finger on why a mixture of normality and fantasy is so effective. The magic becomes a metaphor for the way that changes happen in our lives. As well as providing entertainment for those of us who like a bit of magic in our…[Read more]
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RichardB started the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that this is the second book by Ursula K Le Guin that I have featured in these blogs. This is not a coincidence. I apologise to no one for my admiration of her writing: I believe that she deserves to be ranked, not only as a great writer of sci-fi and fantasy, but as a great writer full stop. I once (or…[Read more]
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A lovely blog, @richardb, and I wholeheartedly agree with your summary of le Guin – she is absolutely one of my favourite writers. I loved her as a young thing and my admiration has only deepened as my own writing journey progresses. Ive never read this and will seek it out – thank you!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp: July 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 11 months ago
Month of the Cat
To be clear, although Gus didn’t get on with the cat, he was never cruel to it. When his wife, Mildred, died he didn’t want to go on taking care of it.
‘It’s vindictive,’ he said, ‘it kills half a dozen birds every day. It craps on the decking, wrecks my flower borders, and last week it scratched up the wallpaper.’…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition: June 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 11 months ago
Congratulations, Squidge. Great story.
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Thanks, Ath. Dare I say it was something I rushed off? Not sure why, but they seem to be the better of my short pieces. Perhaps because I didn’t examine it too much?
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