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Athelstone started the topic Voting in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoOn the face of it, what you have to do is quite simple. However, those of you have been through this before in previous challenges will know that in fact it is extraordinarily tough.
When the writing stage of the challenge closes on 2 February 2025 at 22:00 UK time, the voting stage begins. No doubt most of you will have read many of the entries…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Rules in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoSome Basic Story Rules and Guidelines
The challenge is to produce a short story. In the way that the term is usually understood, what is needed is a work of fiction. By all means stretch this definition as you like, to include, for example, an imaginative account of true events, but please avoid essays, reportage, political polemic,…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Welcome PLEASE READ THIS FIRST in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoWelcome all.
This year, I have borrowed from the method often used in the monthly competition. The theme of the challenge, A Different Time, is a prompt. That is to say, look at the phrase and use it in any of the multitude of possible ways that occur. You might choose to write an historical piece, or a recollection of something that happened in…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 7 months ago
Well, it’s September. Something is usually afoot by now, but I’ve been tied up with finishing a draft and editing, amongst other things. Is the formula too tired? Anybody up for another spot of winter writing?
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I’m up for it, Ath. I find the comp helpful and reading other people’s stories helps my writing too. What about setting a choice of three general topics but without the choices about objects – would that make your and Jules’ lives easier? So, I don’t know, a story concerning either love, crime or war. Maybe too a longer deadline for joining the…[Read more]
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I’m up for winter writing, Ath. I haven’t been around here much because I’ve been busy with both book two (currently being typeset by Leigh Forbes) and three (less than halfway through first draft) as well as trying to promote and sell book one. Several book fairs and talks about using my own epilepsy in fiction lined up in the near future. But I…[Read more]
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Jolly good! I shall put my thinking-cap on.
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Brilliant!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 7 months ago
I’m usually a late respondant, and as Libby says it is a busy month.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Substack in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 8 months ago
Well that’s excellent. I don’t think she’s the kind of person who makes that stuff up!
If it’s any help (it won’t be) I had good vibes from a couple of book doctor people, followed by disasters with agents. I think I picked badly.
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I think it’s hard to know how to pick well. As with Richard’s experience of agents, it seems the unadmitted part of their job description is to have narrow vision. We know they will want MSs that are often versions of what already sells but they don’t add that this discrimination can be taken to a fine degree.
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Which isn’t to deny the pressured commercial environment they work it, just that authors can be turned down for seemingly odd or circular reasons, the ‘nobody reads stories about [insert topic of novel]’ type of response.
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I think you’re right on all points. I know that it’s probably more a tendency of agents from the larger, more commercial agencies, and that it isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s clearly a factor. We live in a world where many shops and stores no longer choose what to stock; the algorithms determine what is or is not delivered to the shelves. So…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Substack in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 8 months ago
Emma’s writing is just marvellous.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Thirty Days in the forum
Beta Reading 1 year, 8 months agoBrilliant. Thanks Seagreen.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Thirty Days in the forum
Beta Reading 1 year, 8 months agoHah! That’s an interesting comparison, and thank you for it. If I assign a strangeness value (SV) of 5 to Sunken Land and, say, 8 or 9 to Viriconium, then Thirty days is mainly a 4 with the occasional 6. I am doing very different things. Thank you very much for the offer. I hope I can appeal to a wide range of readers.
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 8 months ago
Phew, after a bit of panic and faffing about with the Beta Reading group, I’ve posted a request for reading.
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 8 months ago
OK, I had a try at the Beta Reading group. Soon after I posted, I felt that it was too public. I didn’t want my synopsis etc on show. Temporarily I’ve made the group private while I have a think. Apologies for the confusion. Ideas welcome!
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Also, now I think about it, apologies to anybody who might have liked to try the beta reading option, but couldn’t opt to make it private like I can
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Do you actually need to provide a synopsis in a beta reading request? I would have thought a brief outline of what sort of novel it is – genre, style etc – might suffice. Then there wouldn’t be such a need for privacy.
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I think you’re right. I put the guidelines together based on a variety of sources, and a brief synopsis was a common suggestion. However, it ought to be part of the private correspondence between author and reader, not out there on the web.
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Athelstone replied to the topic August 2024 monthly competition in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 8 months ago
Another great competition. Thanks so much Libby. Congratulations to all, especially Sandra. Very well deserved.
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Athelstone replied to the topic August 2024 monthly competition in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 8 months ago
I had been thinking of writing a piece about the regular assembly of early morning imbibers near the local pier. My idea was to call it The Breakfast Club, but in deference to the competition it is as requested. Note that the language at these events is often rough. I have tamed it a bit but there may be a trace…
Shall I compare thee to a…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 9 months ago
I’d be grateful for some thoughts. I read a section from my WIP at a writers’ meeting and somebody commented on the name I chose for a character aged around 40. I named the character Carol. She said that this seemed rather an odd name for somebody of that age and that if you see “Carol” you immediately assume somebody older. This hadn’t occurred…[Read more]
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As far as I’m concerned the answers to your questions are ‘No’ and ‘No.’ I had a similar experiance about ten years ago when my daughter suggested that Angela was an unlikely name for a twenty-year-old, but the character had been with me in some shape or form for years and I couldn’t imagine her being anything else, so i stuck with it. And lo and…[Read more]
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I’ve realised for a while that I’ll need to change the name of one character. I introduced her simply for a physical look and mannerisms that I could understand and write about with some realism. But the name belongs to a real person and I’m not the only one who knows her. So…
But the other name? Is my critic opinionated? I couldn’t possibly…[Read more]
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I don’t remember anyone called Carol in the 80s and my younger sister did not have any friends called Carol that I know of. However, I do not associate the name with any particular generation in the way that I would, say, Mabel or Enid or Hilda.
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I knew a couple of Carols at work, but I think they were both probably born in the 60s. I also know a Carol (as I said up there) who’s in her early 40s now, so would be around the age of my character. I suspect that the person who was so definite on associating the name with an era was extra sensitive to it because she was a Carol herself. I’ve…[Read more]
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I’m late to the conversation but I think it’s fine to have a character with an out-of-era name. The only problem I could see with a story is if all the names were old-fashioned or unusual in some way without the author giving any explanation.
Seeing Carol and Angela now, I’m struck how pretty these names are. When they were in commoner currency I…[Read more]-
As a matter of interest (or not…) my character isn’t usually referred to as Angela. It’s part of an authorial joke. I gave her that name so that she could have the nickname Jelly, with the excuse that that was how she said her name when she was learning to talk and it stuck. The girl is a head-turner, and ‘jellyroll’ (as in Jellyroll Morton,…[Read more]
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I’d better not describe the original Teabreak to you as that might break something. Personally I can’t see anything wrong with Carol for the 80s, although I might add an “e” to the end (Carole). I’d go with what you’re comfortable writing with – you can always do a global change when finished if you really want. In other news I know at least one…[Read more]
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Well, thanks for the replies. She stays as Carol, with a suitable comment or two to settle her age. I’ve given this some more thought. In the novel her age is quite clear anyway because this and her appearance are described before Teabreak gets to know her. That’s one of the possible disadvantages of offering critique (especially “definitive”…[Read more]
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Jelly Roll Blues
A century old this year
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Fragment 31, by Sappho in the forum Blogs 1 year, 9 months ago
Great blog, Richard. Sadly I have very little internet right now. Will get back asap. Also, yikes! One of the updates has broken my menus (at least in mobile mode).
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 9 months ago
Apologies to anybody who had a problem logging in to the Den in the last couple of days. Our hosting company jumped the gun (by a day or so) and turned off SSL (Secure Socket Layer which provides us with some of our site security) prior to the bill falling due.
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Thanks for keeping us going, Ath.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 9 months ago
Well done Libby! And well done to Sandra, too. Made me smile!
I didn’t read the other entries until after I’d posted mine, but I have to say 1) I was struck by the way we all had some common themes 2) I thought at once that Libby’s piece was a bit special.
Thanks for the competition, Terrie.
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Thank you, Ath!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition July 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 9 months ago
Don’t ever cross a crocodile.
Back when Chubby was chubby and not six inches taller than me and good looking, his nan died, and he went to the funeral. Afterwards, we met up near his gaff and he was in a bit of a moody with me.
‘All your fault, Teabreak, you twat!’ he goes.
‘Woss that then,’ I say, and I offer him a Number 6 to make up f…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp – June 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 10 months ago
Thank you for the challenge, Libby. And very well done to Terrie for another powerful piece of story telling.
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