Libby

I find this sort of structural analysis interesting – and useful because I’m convinced that there’s a kind of validity to it. So I’m really happy to steal the ideas and use them. What I’m not so sure of is whether something with a “universal” explanatory power – or even scope – is being described. And that goes for the stages of grief as well.…[Read more]

This is great Raine. I’ve read a few structure books and I can see how they all reflect in this arc. It’s nice to have it in this concise summary. I’m going to print it out and pin it to the wall!

Kaz – what’s your name on NaNoWriMo? I’m Athelstone.

Most of them are good, but I particularly like ‘Two Cities and the Void’ and ‘London and her Shadow’

I like Raine’s suggestion of December. It would allow those doing NaNo to keep up a bit of momentum while not having to keep to such a ferocious pace, and is soon enough that folk not doing NaNo have something to look forward to. And it could be a good way of getting Room With A View entries done

I’d be up for SloMoWriMo

A Story of No Importance
Or, Lady Wokingham’s Ban
Or, Baloné: A Tragedy in One Act

Was meeting the in-laws ever straightforward? Alton reflected on the frosty atmosphere as he pushed his food around his plate. Gwen gave him a smile when her mother’s attention was otherwise engaged but he could tell she felt as awkward as him. Every topic of conv…[Read more]

The Banjo
The phone rings in the lost property office at Euston Station in London.
“Lost Property, Smith speaking, how may we help?”
He takes a sip from his tea, listens.
“Yes, sir, anything left on a train on this line ends up here. Assuming it’s turned in, like. What have you lost?
“So, a banjo is it sir? Well let me have a look, won’t be…[Read more]

Loved the story, Elle, congratulations!

Well done, good job as usual, L!

Great story Elle, well done. I agree with Philippa about that line!

I completely understand, and I tend to have the same issue. For me, the fact that NaNo is only a month means I can feel a bit more comfortable turning down the quality filter. I do like to construct first drafts carefully (I don’t really know any other way) but that’s far from the main reason I don’t write much. For me, the main challenge is in…[Read more]

I’ve never had a problem writing crap, but I do have a problem allowing myself to. That’s one reason I find it useful sometimes. Focussing on a goal other than perfect sentences stops me getting tied up in knots and losing all interest in what I’m doing. There is a view that all the polishing should be left for the editing.

@raine – you just post your word counts for each day, but towards the end of the month you can ‘validate’, which is to say, you paste all your written words into NaNo’s special word counting window, and it counts it and confirms your totals. This is so you can prove you’ve written what you say you’ve written, and also makes sure everyone is…[Read more]

NaNo generally works for me because I am patchy about my output the rest of the time, and my biggest challenge is just getting enough words down on paper to work on. That said, I can totally understand why it doesn’t work for some people, and in fairness there have been years when it worked brilliantly for me and other years when I churned out…[Read more]