@philippaeast
Active 1 year, 5 months agoForum Replies Created
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This is SO SO SO fantastic! And what a ride! Laure really has worked so hard for this, constantly writing and submitting short stories, going on courses, writing and re-writing her novel(s), and continually striving for her break. SO PROUD OF HER!
This is such brilliant news, Janette! I can wait to hear all about the book… and see it on the shelves in all its published glory! Xxx
Oh Hil, I’m so sorry. You know my thoughts on this through the messages we’ve exchanged, and I just send my commiserations again xxx
WELCOME HOME, MANDY!!!!
So great to have you back. I have been wondering how you’ve been getting on. I know a lot has gone on for you.
I’m pleased you’re engaging with your draft. It’s rough, that point int he process!
Power to your elbow…
Ooo, it’s a bit like an updated spin on Dead Calm!
BTW – don’t assume you won’t write this idea. I almost gave an idea once… but then realised actually I wanted to write it myself!
Aw, you star, Jane!!! Thank you so much!! It really means a lot
BTW You are in the acknowledgements 🙂
xxHi Athelstone! And thanks.
Yes, I’m currently planning a launch party for February (whoop!). It will likely be in Lincoln, and you will all be welcome! Details to follow once I’ve sorted them out…Hah hah! Reading back, I think I maybe make it sound worse than it was. Despite all the tears and tantrums, it still felt like a privilege to sit down and create something with my words. I still knew this was what I wanted to do. Plus, I have a lovely agent who I knew would support me. At the time, it was all so new though, such a steep learning curve, which is why I’m hoping to write these blogs to give as much of a heads up as I can!
Hah hah, yeah! Well, I suppose I could have not bothered reading the page proofs and just left it to the proof reader. But when I asked other authors, they all advised checking myself, saying I would KICK myself down the line if I spotted typos I could have caught! TBH though, I’ll take page proofs over structural edits any day!
Damn don’t you just hate when reality gets in the way of a good turn of phrase! I do love the sound of that last line.
I wonder if you could play with the idea of someone repeatedly redialling so that the ringing sound becomes continuous even if each call begins and ends. Perhaps you could tweak the last line slightly to read something like “… that kept ringing and kept ringing” to give more of a sense that someone kept on ringing back non-stop.
Failing all that, I’d just think “screw it” and go with your last line and trust that readers appreciate a bit of poetic license in our beautiful storytelling!
Oh my goodness, this is amazing!!! Massive congratulations to you both. What a brilliant Den success!
Such an interesting post, Squidge. In general, if I find myself changing something then changing it back again, it’s usually because that isn’t really the problem, and there’s something slightly different which I actually need to fix.
For example, I might fiddle around with a sentence structure or a word choice and then realise the real problem is that I’m not actually even clear what I’m trying to say in that paragraph.
Or I might edit and “unedit” the order or pacing of particular beats in a scene before realising that scene itself isn’t working and needs to be radically overhauled.
Editing can be a rabbit hole though, right? We can tinker forever, growing more blind all the time!
“Some of the stuff I see posted is very…not pretentious, exactly, but it is fairly obvious that for some on the courses, they are still at the experimental and learning stage which means they are sticking to tried and tested formulae in order to ‘make their way’ in the world.”
This is really interesting, @squidge. Can you describe more what you mean (I’m so curious!)? What kind of patterns have you seen in these works? I mean, I’m assuming we’re not talking about stuff like “have an inciting incident” because any story would fall apart without that!
What kind of things do you tend to find? Particular sentence structures? Particular kinds of language? Similar sort of book openings?
The wall or one’s head, @katemachon?!
This story (in its various drafts) got rejected eleven (11!!!) times before it finally found a home last month with Barren Magazine.
https://barrenmagazine.com/the-catechism-of-ms-o/
Fab work, @Elle!
You have to be a member to access though.
Oh, I didn’t think it was for younger people. Read it as adult for sure. Hope it finds its form in the end, and that your other projects are going okay meantime. X
Hey @bellam, I just saw an extract of your book on the JW slushpile live video (with the Bent Agency). I thought it was great, and I’m so intrigued about your characters, especially Molly. Hope you’ve worked our your narrative device…. 🙂
Brilliant, can’t wait to read. I’m so sorry, @bric but I don’t think I’ll make the launch, but I will be getting my copy for sure!!
Oh, thanks for sharing @kazg!
I just put this note up on the December SloMo section, because the forums were empty for it so it looked like there was no one here!