Kate

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    I expect lots of you, like me,  are  creating and drafting  exciting  entries  for the  September  Song  competition  but  dont forget  there are only  fourteen days until the  monthly (November ) competition closes  and i’m looking forward to  reading  your entries for that  too .

  • I’ve added a few pieces to the Profile settings. The new entries are all entirely optional, but I do encourage you to take a look at what’s there. It’s nice to know a bit about your Denizen friends, and it can be useful sometimes. So, if you have the world’s largest collection of rare Tupperware, or are secretary of the East Kent Hare Coursing…[Read more]

    • Thank you, Ath. A good idea. At the moment updated profiles aren’t necessarily being mentioned on the activity page, but you may well know that already.

      • I didn’t know, Libby. Have you done an update recently? There’s a full change log in the admin menu, but I didn’t see anything. I haven’t looked at how the Activity Page is built; I know it’s complex and occasionally flakey, so I’ve tried to steer clear.

        • Oh, or did you mean that my post about the changes has slipped down because of subsequent posts? That can be a nuisance sometimes. There’s a banner headline facility that I also avoid.

          • Thanks, Ath. Some profile updates are mentioned on the Activity page, e.g. Richard’s and Janette’s, and others aren’t, e.g. Sandra’s and mine. Perhaps it’s just an example of its flakiness.

            • Exactly that. I’m not even certain whether the activity page is a WordPress thing or one of the plugins that makes it a community site.

    • It sounds as though it presents frustrations. Thanks for keeping it all going and working with its idiosyncracies.

  • I’m going to update some of the software used on the Den. It should be invisible, and I’ve already done it on our test site, but if you spot anything odd happening please let me know.

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    Now the November evenings are darkening earlier  and  there is that  expectant  chill in the air  I was thinking  about the art of storytelling beside the  warmth and  atmosphere  of a  log fire.

    So, become that story teller beside a night-time fire and surprise me with the most heart-warming, scary, romantic, mysterious, or cautionar…[Read more]

  • Thank you for choosing  my  entry  Libby.

    All the other entries  were of  such high  calibre  I had  been  thinking  ‘I’m glad  I’m not the one having to  chose one  above the others’  and now that’s going to be  my  dilemma at the end of  Novembers  competition  challenge .

     

     

  • Well done Terrie. A truly ghastly tale.

  • What fabulous entries, all of them fantastical, brilliant and captivating. Halloween has prompted very good stories.

    @jillsted – here was an enticing mystery with a comic touch. Told with great pacing and a strong atmosphere of folk tale, it hooked me from start to finish.

    @purplewitch (Terrie) – what wonderful creepiness. I loved the rich lan…[Read more]

  • A reminder for anyone who, like me, forget this month’s competition deadline is tonight: the October monthly comp deadline is midnight tonight! You might have a suitable WIP hiding away somewhere…

  • The Estate Agent’s Appointment

    I arrived at the house in pouring rain. The light was fading on a day that was already dark with cloud. I didn’t want to go in. I wanted to get in my car, drive home, shower, and settle down with a Scotch and whatever delicious microwave meal was next in the fridge. I had no choice. This old house wasn’t going to…[Read more]

  • John T posted an update 12 months ago

    Ooh, I missed the challenge. My fault for not looking in. But honestly, I have a busy time ahead locally, both writing and storytelling events. And there’s THAT first draft that isn’t yet complete. So, good luck everybody and I’ll sit this one out.

  • This the result of apending 5 days writing with a gathering of Self-Edit participants.

    Games people play

    Monday morning’s plumping of the pillows of our marital bed effortful, thanks to both sleep and sex absent as snow in August throughout the weekend. Similarly,  energy enough to dissipate the sourness of my reaction when I noticed  the wor…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 1 year ago

    HURRY, HURRY, HURRY! The September Song short story challenge goes private at 10:00. If you’ve joined you must make your choices by then. If you haven’t joined, today is your last chance.

  • Athelstone posted an update 1 year ago

    Barter Books in Alnwick is a terrible place for an impoverished reader to be…

  • Thanks, Ath. Yes, I was thinking that writers might collect some AI produced fiction and do something with its tropes, sort of like Pop Art did. I’m vague about this. Am looking for reasons for optimism!

  • Incidentally, Sandra’s comment is still there but she replied to the update on the activity page rather than directly to the thread

  • I think you’re right.

    Of course, AI writing is effectively a sampling of other authors’ work, albeit with some sophisticated algorithms that hide the truth away. An author may say that they are using AI to produce something original, but AI simply won’t work with just small samples such as from one author. It needs a “large language model” as…[Read more]

  • Hi Sandra, I saw your comment about self-pub authors but it has disappeared from the thread. As you say, it’s harder to see how authors could guarantee their own writing. I expect someone will think of something to address this, or try to address it.

    I also think some readers will seek out AI novels because AI writing will be reliable. It will…[Read more]

  • As boundaries continue to blur between human creativity and AI, here’s a  new kite-mark scheme to help readers distinguish. It will be interesting to see what happens from this small beginning.

    https://booksbypeople.org/

    • Sandra replied 1 year ago

      I wondered whether it included self-published books … then that it would be easy enough to self-apply the validation. Will be interested to see how this develops.

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