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Doug replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Stephen King, who’s described himself as a lazy researcher, has related the letters he’s gotten from people who caught him in research errors. The tone of the letters, he said, was invariably gleeful. I wonder if Boyne has gotten those too? “Hee-hee, you got this wrong, and that wrong!”
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Athelstone started the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 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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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
SO sorry, folks – had completely forgotten to check in on the monthly comp! Have no excuse other than I’ve been rather focused on Tilda 3 recently and got carried away.
As it’s already the 4th August, and there were only three entries, does anyone object to it running through this month too? Hopefully get a few more folk having a go?…[Read more]
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I’m happy with your suggestion to extend, @squidge
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No probs.
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I’m happy with that.
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 12 months ago
Any more for any more on the July comp? Not going to be inundated for judging this time unless there’s a last minute flurry…
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Doug started the topic 5 Tips to Help You Write Imperfectly in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 6 years ago
This article really helped me, what with self-doubt, not liking my own writing, etc. Some of the advice made me smile & nod. I think it’s worth sharing.
Cheers
~Doug -
Doug replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
Such a great story! As a guitarist who at one time owned a Les Paul, I found it fascinating. I’d also like to add that, for one of the greatest all-time guitar leads–the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”–Eric Clapton knocked it out in one take, with a red Les Paul he called Lucille. Wonderful stuff.
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Mad Iguana replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 6 years 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 6 years 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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Doug replied to the topic That old enemy, Perfectionism in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 6 years ago
An update. I’ve continued the revisions, but slowly, slowly. I’m now a hundred pages from the end, and I’ve decided enough of the nonsense, I’m getting all through it <i>this weekend</i> come hell or high water. Feel free to hold me to it.
Will check back in Sunday night, one way or the other.
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Good luck, Doug. I’ve got the same goal.
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So have I! Something in the air this weekend.
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Got it done! I got all the way to the end, and backed it up on Gmail. Seemed to take forever to get through that draft. I feel like celebrating now! Thanks for your support.
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Congratulations!! I nearly did it. Just 10 pages left to go but I made the decision to look at them with fresh eyes this morning.
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Finished it and emailed off for a book doctor report. After which I’ll probably have to start again!
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Well done, Doug. And Jane and Kate too.
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Doug replied to the topic Positive thoughts in the forum
CoronaMo 6 years agoI’ve been fortunate that I could keep going to my job as usual (I work for the state of Rhode Island). Though there are all kinds of safeguards, and Army & Air Force personnel about.
An acceptance last week for a new short story, reminds me that life goes on.
And a wise old saying reminds me that “This, too, shall pass.”
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RichardB posted an update 6 years 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 6 years 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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JaneShuff replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoI think most writers are also great readers and have acquired an instinctive grasp of story structure. That doesn’t mean a bit of conscious knowledge won’t help. But sometimes you have to trust your unconscious.
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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 6 years 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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KazG replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
Thank you Richard – sorry, my original reply has also slipped through a portal. I hadn’t heard of this book and as a HUGE admirer of Ursula le Guin I will do my best to remedy that (might be a challenge, from what you say). Thank you for a fascinating blog and for highlighting so clearly how fantasy can be just as powerful, if not more so, at…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years 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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JaneShuff replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoOoh what an interesting conversation!
I think it’s quite hard (impossible for me) to tailor a novel according to a detailed framework and I will often start with only the inciting incident, the external problem the MC has to fight/solve and the antagonist forces, whether they’re people or circumstances, then let the story develop a first draft…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 6 years 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 6 years 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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