Jim Bish

  • Squidge posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago

    I was asked by a local school (I know the deputy head a little) to help open their new school library yesterday (Nicky Morgan was the main attraction, and she couldn’t stay long as she was jumping on a train to London for some kind of Brexit debate and vote…?!) and talk to KS2 about editing your writing.

    While I was there, they asked me to be…[Read more]

  • Squidge posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago

    Does anyone else who blogs get hits from unsavoury websites? The Scribbles is getting multiple hits from porn sites. Now everyone’s welcome over at the Scribbles, but I can’t see that I’m offering anything over there that Britney34 or Sophia 23 would be interested in…

    It’s a blogger site, and I don’t know whether they can be hacked or…[Read more]

    • It’s a new one on me, Squidge. Not sure what the threat is, if it’s just visitors redirected from those sites, but I can see why you’re suspicious. I can only think that there are automatically generated search results posted there and you’ve happened to include some of theit search terms? A headscratcher

      • Porn bots follow legit blogs etc because the more connections they have to them, the more hits are shown to be generated by the legit blog, the more the algorithms of search engines see the porn blogs as legit sites, too. (Or some version of that which is accurate about the tech side of it, but basically they are glomping onto you as a way of…[Read more]

        • The Prediction Fiction site I host has a similar problem, every now and then a spike of hits, Britney and Tiffany (new to me) I can guess at but occasionally there’re sites less obvious. I’ve only once made the mistake of checking … and was reminded that I’d ever hated pink blancmange.

          • A friend posted some info as to how I can filter them out… I’ll have a go if I can understand it. @sandradavies, that made me laugh! And I know EXACTLY what you meant! 😉

  • Well done all! Let’s hope a Denizen wins

  • The TSS Publishing Cambridge Short Story Prize is closing for entries soon, and is apparently short of the number it needs to run the competition. So if Denizens put in an entry, it would surely have a good chance of success, and help TSS make the competition happen. It’s a 2,000-3,000 word limit, so if anyone had any previous Cloud Challenge…[Read more]

  • Good topic John. Will DEFINITELY enter this one (and apols to Raine whose comp I failed to contribute to)

  • I didn’t know about that one – lucky it wasn’t catastrophic. I admit to a fondness for the LMS streamliners, and, contrary soul that I am, prefer them to the much more successful LNER ones. This is partly because I was given a ‘Coronation Scot’ for my train set in my childhood (including a carriage by my grandmother, which I think was the last Ch…[Read more]

  • Fascinating and absorbing stuff as ever, Richard. As well as the wonderful clarity and readability of the technical matters, I find the culture of the railway companies and the way it affected how they ran their services really eye-opening. We have it pretty bad these days, with the worst combination of competition and monopoly, but at least we…[Read more]

  • Another engaging story, Richard. I have no particular interest in railway history but your adept recounting of these incidents mean that I open your blogs with a sense of anticipation and I am never disappointed. You have a gift for giving us the right amount of background to bring the events to life. Thank you!

  • JaneShuff posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago

    I’ve posted a short story in a private group (After The Honeymoon) that I’d love some feedback on. It was my entry into last year’s short story competition and I recently dusted it off and did some work on it. If anyone has time, please have a look. It’s only in a private grup in case I decide to submit it somewhere later. Thanks!!

  • Hope so @elle! In truth the numbers game is a problem for me, as I struggle to write enough to get the hit rate. Will keep trying though. The Barren editors are lovely, they gave me the nicest rejection ever 🤣

  • Well done Elle. I’m impressed with all these publications. I still haven’t had one since my first nearly four years ago, despite a concerted effort recently. I did have a very kind rejection from Barren Magazine recently, which still counts as ‘a miss is as good as a mile’.

  • Daedalus posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago

    Happy Christmas, Denizens

  • JaneShuff posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 7 years, 4 months ago

    Congratulations to my fellow December SloMo members on all your achievements in December. I know there is a third of the month to go but I am about to disappear in Christmas – ferries permitting. December hasn’t worked out for me quite how I thought it would and has ended up being more of time to reflect. I have written and edited a lot in 2018…[Read more]

    • I sympathise, Jane – my SloMo has been NoGo. A continuation month – CoMo? – in January would be great

      • I’m the same as you Daeds…NoGo. I’ll plump for CoMo, and try to get something out for RWaV 😉

        • I’m also a NoGo. Hoping January will be more of a GroMo or a FloMo 🙂

          • It is really helpful isn’t it? Seeing others’ updates and getting little boosts. Lets go for a SomethingMo. If only to get me through the most miserable month of the year…

  • Daedalus replied to the topic For Those in Peril… in the forum Blogs 7 years, 4 months ago

    The Penlee lifeboat disaster was 37 years ago today, Twitter reminds me. If you haven’t read Richard’s blog about it, above, I highly recommend you do

  • Squidge posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago

    The spambots are very pretty in the membership column, but I wish they’d beetle off! Can we lock the doors for a bit and hope they find somewhere else to play?

    • I wonder if there’s a tougher way to ask prospective new members to prove they are human? Not sure what BBpress offers in that regard

      • Are they not all the same? The ‘tickabox’ to say you’re not a robot, or the ‘type in these letters you can barely read, even if you ARE human’ box? 😉

    • We are now trialling a plugin that should deal with the issue. The vast majority of bots did get stopped by the system software and those few that managed to register were blocked, usually within the hour, manually. Hopefully the plugin will prevent any further spambots getting through!

  • JaneShuff posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago

    Ha! The bots think they can get in by sneakily adding vowels.

  • JaneShuff posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago

    Has anybody ever had to write a long synopsis – 3 to 10 pages? If so, any tips?

    • If it was me? I’d set out to write a one-page synopsis.

      • To be less flippant, though… you could probably give a bit more detail to character arcs

        • I’ve done a shortish one page version but this press asks specifically for a 3 to 10 page version so I think they want a bit more detail. I’ve started writing a summary of each chapter to see where that gets me but it will still be on the shorter side.

          • Sorry just seen your second reply. Yes, I think you’re right. Character arcs. And funnily enough, I don’t have too much of a problem keeping my synopses short these days.

          • Maybe put in the subplot(s), assuming you haven’t done this with a shorter synopsis? And anything else which is important to you such as themes, settings, similarities/differences between main characters. Ten pages is a lot so I’m wondering what they want which wouldn’t be in a standard synopsis.

            • I was asked for a chapter by chapter breakdown once. With secondary characters plotted too…

            • I can’t help feeling it’s so they can unerstand the book without the bother of actually reading any of it.

            • “I can’t help feeling it’s so they can unerstand the book without the bother of actually reading any of it” – I’m sure you’re right. But perhaps also to get a feel for how much you understand your own book, in terms of thinking about it structurally and thematically

    • The wall is doing that thing again when it says there have been seven replies to this comment but is only showing me one. Anyone have any idea how to view the whole conversation?

    • Out of curiousity, which press is that? (only if you don’t mind sharing)

      • *curiosity

        • I don’t mind sharing at all. In fact I’d be interested in hvaing a separate group/thread on the Forum for people to share their experiences of the Indie Presses and Imprints that you can submit direct to. I bought the Indie Press Guide from Mxlexia which is useful but personal experiences are always better. Anyway the imprint wanting the long,…[Read more]

          • Oh, interesting! I hadn’t heard of them. Out of interest, are you also planning to submit to agents? Or going purely down the indie route? I agree a dedicated thread for indie processes might be a good idea, to get lots of info all in one place.

            • I’m going purely down the Indie Route @philippaeast. I’m staying with my agent but she’s happy for me to try and sell this to an Indie myself as suggested by Raine and Debi. Speculative fiction is apparently a bit of a hard sell…

            • I was wondering what happened in the end with your agent and that book @janeshuff – that sounds like a brilliant plan. You get to keep the agent relationship and also your (wonderful) book has its chance, independent of that. I do love all he options open to writers these days, even if publishing is so much harder in others. Good luck!!

            • *in other ways

      • Thanks @kazg.

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