MCave

A circuitous route – the same-old, same-old – but not so taken for granted as once it was.

Hot grey asphalt, its dull top layer peeled back by sun and tyres, glistening wet and black under, suggestive of a just-laid stickiness.

Pavements littered with the faded shadows of chalked rainbow messages to un-caped crusaders or old-fashioned hopscotch…[Read more]

Well done, Libby! Loved your piece. Interesting to read the stories behind the objects from everyone.

Not the best poetry, but hey ho…

It has no chain, though once it might,
It’s on a shelf, mainly out of sight.
I wound it up and heard it tick
Then set the hands with a firmer click.
Triangles mark the quarter hours
and rectangles? The intervals and other hours.
It’s made by Smiths, a British firm
Not Timex, Rolex or another well known.
It’s…[Read more]

Blimey – and I think my son’s nuts for setting his sights on a bass that’s selling for £5K!

Mind you, he’s got one custom built bass, courtesy of Mr Squidge, and apparently he plans to build another custom ‘normal’ guitar this summer, so who knows what they’ll be worth in years to come…?

Coming to this late…but hugs to both Hil and Janette… Agents can be beetles at times, can’t they? Fill us full of hope and then dash us down. We are stronger than they think though – we get back up and live to fight another day, and keep writing, whatever they say.
Hil, your writing is gorgeous, and you have deservedly got agent interest.…[Read more]

Fab news, Daeds, x

It’s still possible to get in close, even using third person. It’s a bit of a knack, to get into your character’s head in this way – I often find myself rewriting complete paras when editing, because by the end of the book I’m so familiar with my character I can tell how they’re going to react, what they’re feeling or thinking. It’s a weird place…[Read more]

Hi Kate, it’s pitched about right, I think.

I wondered about the amount of description initially – and where it just touches on backstory/info dump when your MC says she’s never been there before. Can you rework something along the lines of ‘In all my sneaking around, I’d never managed to see inside, and I wasn’t disappointed on this, my first…[Read more]

Skylark! Hullo! So glad you’re here with us after such a long and difficult break. I’m not around here as often as I’d like to be either, but it’s lovely to know that the Den’s still here, even if I’m not.

First drafts are a pain, aren’t they, when you revisit and find all the issues you missed in the excitement of getting it down initially.…[Read more]