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Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Ah, yes. I take your point Athers. My ignorance obscured it earlier.
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Athelstone replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
There are degrees to this and a dependency on the type of book being written. I am not searching for an artificial precision in moral culpability. I am not saying that there are some absolute rules at play. I am saying that if you bend the truth to suit your story, while at the same time maintaining that what you write is authentic, then there are…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
Athers, I’ve not read Boyne, so took the passage you quote as from a fantasy novel which, in my understanding, means anything goes in the way of made-up words and facts.
On the subject of ‘proper’ research; at Newcastle Noir a couple of years ago, one crime writer told of being asked how many specialists he had on call to help him with research,…[Read more]-
There’s an article in today’s Telegraph referring to this, and mentioning it seems to apply less to film-makers, e.g. Braveheart where kilts were worn 500 years before in use “because they looked better”. Artistic licence, innit?
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Athelstone started the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
This is a lightweight blog.
I was just settling down after reading about the astonishing performance by George R R Martin at the Hugo awards, when my son approached brandishing his phone.
‘Look at that,’ he said.
I looked. My son has been a fan of the Zelda video games since he was little. I played a few along with him in the last few years,…[Read more]
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I didn’t gasp – too world weary – but I can see why you’re annoyed, Ath. On a lighter note I was disappointed, having hoped to learn something more about nightshade! Woody nightshade grows in our garden, is pretty and you could imagine the berries being used for dye. It’s also poisonous. But when I got a bit further I’d have switched off if you h…[Read more]
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Here’s a review of the book https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/06/a-traveller-at-the-gates-of-wisdom-by-john-boyne-review-an-ambitious-era-hopping-epic
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Thanks, Libby. A really interesting review. I hadn’t realised that the Zelda mistake was one amongst many. Aside from characters deep in history musing about their peers in the language of C20th psychology, we have ‘…kimonos and obis to the Chinese, igloos to the Norse Icelanders, and steel and horses to pre-Columbian South Americans. Potatoes…[Read more]
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That makes me flippin mad! All the hard work we put into our MSs, and he just… 😫
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Absolutely agree. I accept that the ‘worlds’ we base our stories in have a lot of the unlikely and improbable in them but there is a big difference between that and not bothering to do proper research.
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
SO sorry, folks – had completely forgotten to check in on the monthly comp! Have no excuse other than I’ve been rather focused on Tilda 3 recently and got carried away.
As it’s already the 4th August, and there were only three entries, does anyone object to it running through this month too? Hopefully get a few more folk having a go?…[Read more]
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I’m happy with your suggestion to extend, @squidge
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No probs.
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I’m happy with that.
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 11 months ago
Any more for any more on the July comp? Not going to be inundated for judging this time unless there’s a last minute flurry…
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Mad Iguana replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago
I saw that and thought of your post, and your memories.
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Sandra replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 11 months agoThanks Sea – not heard of the ‘7 Cs’ but it makes perfect sense. Perhaps it is that it can’t be immediately applied from the start, i.e. you (meaning one, and definitely I) have to write quite a lot of scenes involving character and events before the story line appears, after which tweaking into shape can take place.
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Sandra replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 11 months agoI’m relieved to hear I’m not the only one to have been unable to find a theoretical how-to-plot scheme that works for them, and I really have tried because plotting is certainly what I find hardest, not being a natura story-teller.
Screenwriter Jeremy Sheldon did a brilliant presentation at a Festival of Writing weekend, (2014?) and I’ve been…[Read more] -
Squidge replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 11 months agoI always sit in on these ‘story arc’ kinds of sessions in the hope I’ll find one that works for me. I never have…
I do have two that help remind me of the essentials though.
The triangle…I learnt it on the self edit course (now run by Jericho Writers) and blogged about it here:…[Read more]
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 12 months ago
Any more takers for the July comp? We’re halfway through the month…
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Go on! You know you want to. It’s only 400 words. Don’t let me be the winner by default – I want my brilliant words to do it!
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I’m half way through an entry.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 12 months agoThis is about as not stupid a question as I can think of. In essence it’s ‘how do you write’. The supposed divide (classically) is between pantsers and plotters. Plotters, apparently, plan every detail, before they begin. Every chapter and plot point is set out. if a chapter should end with a challenging hook, then it’s there in the plan. Once the…[Read more]
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I think most of us are probably ‘Plantsers’ in reality. And yeah, it means you do end up on the wrong path sometimes. Lots of times, actually… I’m trying to sort one out at the mo in Tilda #3, and it’s hard to back-track and find the point where you actually first stepped off the path.
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I’m convinced that you need to be both a planner and a pantser – yes, a planster. The planning and pantsing parts of your brain need to find a way not to just to give each other space but to support each other.
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Bella replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 12 months agoIn every case I have started with a main character, a beginning, and end and a rough idea of how to get to the end.
However, my characters have a way of bossing me around.
In one novel the guy gets the girl, but as I wrote it became clear that the girl was wrong for him and I then had to write a sequel getting him out of that fix (eventually the…[Read more]
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Bella joined the group
A place for Stupid Questions 5 years, 12 months ago -
Squidge replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 5 years, 12 months agoI normally have a character and and end in sight when I start. Apart from that, I don’t do much planning at all – my brain simply doesn’t work like that. I’d love to be more organised, but personally it’s stifling. I am full of admiration for peeps who do the whole character file/in depth plot/post-it scene arrangements etc!
I do a lot of…[Read more]
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Squidge posted an update 5 years, 12 months ago
In case Denizens are interested… I’m doing a digital zoom launch for Tilda#2 next Friday – details here: https://squidgesscribbles.blogspot.com/2020/07/you-are-invited-totilda-2s-book-launch.html
If you can’t make it, there’ll be a recording which I’ll post at some point in the future.
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Sandra replied to the topic Planning vs Winging it. in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years agoI used to begin with a conversation between two characters and spread from there. One book I was ~20K in before I knew who would die, and a further 20K before I knew who did it. Even so it turned out to be someone else.
Now that those characters have become so familiar and the twists and turns of their lives compelling enough to become a…[Read more]
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Checking something else, I came across this 2015 blogpost about a book now awaiting a final beta reader : http://sandra-linesofcommunication.blogspot.com/2015/08/back-to-front-strange-and-alien-progress.html
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
Aha, this was the first Ursula K Le Guin book that I read and it made quite an impression on me.
I think you’ve put your finger on why a mixture of normality and fantasy is so effective. The magic becomes a metaphor for the way that changes happen in our lives. As well as providing entertainment for those of us who like a bit of magic in our…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp: July 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Month of the Cat
To be clear, although Gus didn’t get on with the cat, he was never cruel to it. When his wife, Mildred, died he didn’t want to go on taking care of it.
‘It’s vindictive,’ he said, ‘it kills half a dozen birds every day. It craps on the decking, wrecks my flower borders, and last week it scratched up the wallpaper.’…[Read more]
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Squidge posted an update 6 years ago
@knickylaurelle – Hi Knicks…sorry but I can see your question but can’t find a way to reply to it! Glad to hear you’re doing OK in spite of everything…having littlies around while studying is HARD! Well done you for getting through it all x
I’m good, ta… writing is much slower going, cos my head’s not always in the right place to…[Read more]
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Hey Squidge! I’m glad I can see your reply and post one of my own. I just finished posting a reply to Kaz and can’t seem to find my way back to it. The Forest of Vanishing Posts is simply marvellous 😌 I’m so glad you’re good, and I absolutely understand the headspace. Socks make life worth living, don’t even @ me on this haha. Comfy feet are the b…[Read more]
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Should be available on Amazon, but also available via the publisher direct http://bbp.bedazzledink.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6&zenid=961f25f4969463b72b3509e3392cd593
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