HELEN KAMPFNER

Laughing @jonathan! Comes out publisher-ready… in our dreams!!

I understand what you mean about the ‘something bigger’s going on’ scenario. I had places where I could definitely see that happening and rewrote whole sections. And I also know what Jonathan means about being in a particular mood.

I think my rule of thumb is going to have to be…[Read more]

Such an interesting post, Squidge. In general, if I find myself changing something then changing it back again, it’s usually because that isn’t really the problem, and there’s something slightly different which I actually need to fix.

For example, I might fiddle around with a sentence structure or a word choice and then realise the real problem…[Read more]

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT (391 words)

Early evening, and the headache that had been stalking me all day slammed into me with the force of a rear-end collision, scattering coherent thought into the ether and making further editing of the new book impossible. I wasn’t surprised by it – the headache, I mean – the pain in my temples had been building up…[Read more]

In general,Squidge, although I know exactly what you mean, I don’t. Partly because a lot of the time I am writing ‘badly’ to start with, so much needs to be improved (and the correct word substituted for the one I couldn’t remember – I’m grateful for Emma D’s suggestion of putting then in [ ] so as to later find.

At the moment, writing a…[Read more]

I certainly blog less when I’m writing – or busy, generally. The Scribbles are sadly neglected at the moment…

I try to keep some level of engagement with the Den going, but when writing it can be either extreme; popping in to read but not comment, so I appear absent, or lots of posts asking for opinions or having a rant or despairing about the…[Read more]

Excellent … your fame is spreading, and rightfully so.

‘Specific questions’? – yes indeed, particularly in the light of the current one – Raine’s saying “It’ll be judged purely on ‘how much do I want to read on’” (which strikes me as a genius note to strike when setting a competition.) Of those posted so far I would say there are those which I am unlikely to pursue, simply because they are not the g…[Read more]

Entirely agree with Knicks and Jane. If critique is wanted it should be specifically asked for; where someone believes it would be helpful, a pm is the best place to start. For myself, comp entries are often little more than the flexing of writing muscles.

Compliments are what comes to mind when I consider the definition of positive commentary. Stating what you liked about a piece to encourage its writer. If someone specifically wants a critique they can ask for it plainly when posting their entry. But I think the general consensus is that this won’t really be the forum in which to offer…[Read more]

Thanks Squidge and Woolleybeans – really interesting.

What would be ideal is an option to indent and insert replies following an entry so that they were clustered after the entry to which they refer. I haven’t seen enough of WordPress or BBpress etc. to be certain, but I think that reply threading only introduces indentation to nest replies, in the same way that replies are handled for “updates”. All…[Read more]

I think you have to activate reply threading, but I don’t know for sure.

Unfortunately, AFAIK (which may be completely wrong) WordPress and its plug-ins only allow a single chain of posts, the idea being that you have a Topic followed by Replies to it. So the thread might go something like ENTRY1 – Comment on ENTRY1 – Comment on ENTRY1 – ENTRY2 – Comment on ENTRY1 – ENTRY3 – Comment on ENTRY2 etc. which is likely to be…[Read more]

I think it feels sometimes as though it’s trying too hard… The kinds of words used, particularly. I know there’s a place for fabulous language – certain Denizens often take my breath away when I read what they’ve written, for eg! – but sometimes it feels laboured. As if the author thought ‘I must describe this thing beautifully to get across how…[Read more]

“Some of the stuff I see posted is very…not pretentious, exactly, but it is fairly obvious that for some on the courses, they are still at the experimental and learning stage which means they are sticking to tried and tested formulae in order to ‘make their way’ in the world.”

This is really interesting, @squidge. Can you describe more what you m…[Read more]

Guidelines suggest not posting on the thread with the entries, until after judging is complete, but you can make a general discussion comment tagging the appropriate person. I think I have that correct.