-
Daedalus replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoRe absence of choices and surprises. I’m not sure really. Sometimes they’ve helped me push myself to do something dramatically different, or have at least significantly shaped what I’ve written. Other times they just made slight complications to writing the story I would have written anyway. Generally it’s the overall theme I have the biggest…[Read more]
-
-
Knicks started the topic Monthly Comp – October 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
In the tides of life rage fuels resolution, and patterns emerge from paradoxes, only for all to dissolve into their eternal ebb and flow.
Whatever these words might mean to you, whatever emotions, memories, dreams or ideals they call forth, share it with us in no more than 800 words.
-
Knicks replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
🙂 It has been a while, yes. Thank you for your flattering words, Sandra, and for trusting me with the monthly comp baton this turn around. Thank you Richard for the congrats. Well done to all! I thoroughly enjoyed each entry, lots of lovely lines and all the proper, not to mention yummy, writing I’ve missed reading around these here parts…[Read more]
-
Daedalus replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoHope so!!
-
Jules replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoAsper usual, I have no ideas at all yet. Knowing me, it’ll be something weird though ????
-
Daedalus replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 6 months agoI’ve an idea. Whether it’s a workable idea or not is another matter. Recently my life has taken a slight turn reminiscent of the film Stand By Me, and it’s kind of demanding to be written about. On the other hand, it doesn’t have an obvious narrative shape or all the checkbox things you’re supposed to include to make a story these days, and…[Read more]
-
-
-
-
Knicks replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 6 months ago
**A smol warning for all the darkness most foul; my headspace is aging like fine wine, and therapy is expensive ????**
<p style=”text-align: center;”>_________________________________________________</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Home</p>
There were dreams I slipped into and out of. Through their haze I saw a prince and castle, figments of…[Read more] -
-
Squidge posted an update 2 years, 2 months ago
I always seem to come on here to apologize for not being here… Suffice to say that Life is a bit complicated and sad at the mo, and I’m not at my best. When I have the head space, I’ll be back.
Power to all of your pens in the meantime though 😉
-
Daedalus replied to the topic Influences in the forum Blogs 2 years, 6 months ago
I think for me Salter stands out because the spareness is also lyrical. I find many ‘less is more’ authors to be a bit dull, but his prose manages to be as poetic as it is simple
-
Daedalus replied to the topic Influences in the forum Blogs 2 years, 6 months ago
Salter is very much a writer of men. I was somewhat horrified by his treatment of women in All There Is (although there’s always a detachment to his writing that means it’s never entirely clear who his sympathies lie with). I find his earlier work rather tighter.
-
Daedalus replied to the topic Influences in the forum Blogs 2 years, 6 months ago
Sandra, interesting you say that about unconscious influence from books you read years ago. I’m generally reluctant to specify my influences because I’m certain that I don’t know who all of them are. On more than one occasion I’ve reread something I read in my youth but had only the haziest memory of. And, to my horror, encountered somethi…[Read more]
-
Daedalus posted an update 2 years, 6 months ago
And don’t forget people, if you say anything mean about JK Rowling, you’ll get in her bad books. The detective ones.
-
I will, of course, be using JGAAP on every entry. No Camilla Läckberg disputes here, thank you very much!
-
Japanese Generally Accepted Accounting Principles? Blimey, I knew I had to incorporate arithmetic, but that seems a bit much
-
Purely to dispel all doubt: https://evllabs.github.io/JGAAP/
And, no, I won’t really use it-
Well now I’m going to spend the next three days feeding my own work into it to see how much I sound like myself
-
-
-
-
-
Squidge replied to the topic Monthly competition – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 6 months ago
Wowser…spoilt for choice! Thank you all for taking my three little words and turning them into lots of great stories. As always, the three objects were used in very different and clever ways. So…
Sandra – there’s something about a pipe-smoking detective, isn’t there? Lovely piece, with the rat almost in the trap until the detective took his…[Read more]
-
Thank you for a good challenge, Squidge. Congratulations, Sea, well deserved, though I enjoyed all of the other stories too.
-
-
Squidge posted an update 2 years, 6 months ago
aaargh! Apologies, such a busy day at church yesterday, totally forgot I needed to judge the comp! Am on it now…
-
Squidge posted an update 2 years, 6 months ago
Only a few days left to get something into the monthly comp… Looking forward to reading the entries!
- Load More
Skip to content
Gosh, I had to read that last sentence twice! I’m astounded that only one of your excellent challenge stories has been accepted. Really sorry to hear that.
Thanks Thea. In part I’m sure it’s my own fault for not being persistent enough. That said, I can’t help worrying that there’s something indefinably dated or just offputting in my writing. I should add that since I wrote the above, another story based on one of the Den challenge pieces was accepted for an anthology, but for various reasons that…[Read more]
Congratulations on having another story accepted. You say the anthology might be “up in the air”, so I really hope it all goes through alright.
I honestly don’t think there’s anything “dated” or “off-putting” in your stories. I’ve read several in the challenges over the years and they have all been excellent. I’m sure that if you look back at the…[Read more]