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Sandra replied to the topic Writers & Artists short story comp in the forum Podium 7 years, 3 months ago
Brilliant success Raine – one out of a thousand! – Wow indeed.
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Daedalus replied to the topic Regular Den competition – where next? in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Sorry, final thought – I personally like the competitive aspect, and I think the peer judging takes the subjectivity out of it somewhat, but how does everyone feel about Squidge’s suggestion of just making it a prompt/challenge? Could/should we make it non-competitive every so often?
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Daedalus replied to the topic Regular Den competition – where next? in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
The peer judging might be nice, so it’s only a case of totting up the votes. They do it this way on the Fantasy Faction monthly competitions and that seems to work OK. And then I suppose people can offer whatever feedback they like on any of the entries. A PM to the setter should do it.
OK then, the balance of opinion seems to be to go for two…[Read more]
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Squidge replied to the topic Regular Den competition – where next? in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Every couple of months sounds good. I think it’s good not to have critique on the comps – if you post and you’re not looking for crit, then getting someone’s comments (however well intentioned) can be bruising if you’re not used to it.
Failing that, do we want/need it to always be a comp? There are other writing sites that post a topic/prompt and…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Regular Den competition – where next? in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
I’m still hosting https://predictionfiction.blogspot.com/ every
week, which is 2 x 100 words of two serials plus a standalone if inspiration/prompts permit. Also it’s me who judges the winner. So I don’t have much spare time with competitions as well, unless they strike an immediate chord.
I do think Raine’s idea of only commenting the winner…[Read more] -
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Not for me. I would love to see everyone but that price tag is not a great inducement.
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It’s my biggest disincentive. Last year it ruled things out plain and simple. I’ll be honest, I’m thinking about it this year because I may have a viable book to take. That hasn’t been a reason for any of my previous visits,
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Also, I’m going stir crazy as I haven’t been out more than ten times since mid January
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The jury’s out for me as yet, Athers. It depends on whether I get a reply from DHH re Doris. If he doesn’t want it, I might be tempted to take it to York. I’m also mulling over going only Saturday and meeting old friends, though it depends on how many are going.
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I would love to see everybody and if enough people were going and I could combine it with seeing family in the UK, I might think about it…
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I’ll be deciding before the ‘early bird’ offer expires because the cost of the full weekend without the Friday mini-course is actually £40 LESS than I paid 5 years ago.
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Not for me, this year @Athelstone. I’ve actually applied for a bursary for Mslexicon, which is Mslexia’s new writing conference. It’s just as expensive as YOrk but there seems to be a bit more on offer, and the bursaries are open for people like me (chronic illness). We’ll see, would be fun to try a new event, but not at full price.
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@raine Mslexicon looks absolutely brilliant and I wish you luck with the bursary!
In other news, I spotted an agent I’d really like to snag and I have now (impulsively) booked a place at York. Later in September my nephew is getting married in Edinburgh and I have to book flights for family. I WILL BE BROKE BIG TIME.
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Oooh, but if you have time whilst in edinburgh, we might be able to have a wee writer meet-up!! I’m sure @seagreen will come in (if she is in the UK, obv).
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Probably a really packed schedule but it would be sad not to fit in a tea/coffee and a doughnut perhaps!
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Include me too in any Edinburgh meet, please! Bursary sounds fantastic, Raine, best of luck with that, and, Ath, that you’ve a novel ready to go is brilliant. Seems ages since I had contact with writers in person 🙁
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No York for me, but Edinburgh is definitely do-able.
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Do let me know if you do plan that. I am a flight away
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Not this year, I’m afraid.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Regular Den competition – where next? in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Thoughts:
A quarterly competition? Winner sets the subject for the next comp, but doesn’t judge it. Prize is a virtual Gold Quill.
The judging is either by a panel or a vote of the participants, or an open vote.
Critique of the entries? By who? Needs some ideas. Maybe submit the winning entry to a magazine or competition?Have a good weekend, everybody.
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Daedalus started the topic Regular Den competition – where next? in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Hi all, as we’ve discussed on the current competition thread (here, btw – please have a look at the prompts and consider entering https://www.denofwriters.com/forums/topic/monthly-comp-feb-2019/ ), many of us have found it a bit difficult to maintain an entry on top of everything else we have going on. And yet I think most people would agree that…[Read more]
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Jules replied to the topic Monthly comp: Feb 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Something ate Feb and most of March when I wasn’t looking, so I’m all for @raine ‘s suggested course of action.
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Daedalus replied to the topic Monthly comp: Feb 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Good idea
I think we probably need to have a wider conversation about how we run the competition, as the monthly flash thing doesn’t seem to be working as well as it did on the Cloud (and even there, there were some thin months). I know it’s difficult. I have been struggling for inspiration lately, and life has got in the way more than usual (new…[Read more]
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John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly comp: Feb 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 3 months ago
Works for me, good idea.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Interesting article about developing your voice in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 3 months ago
Good one, Daeds, thank you.
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Daedalus started the topic Interesting article about developing your voice in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 3 months ago
We talk about voice a lot as writers but I rarely see resources specifically about developing it. This is interesting from Kirsty Logan
https://www.bridportprize.org.uk/news/six-ways-develop-your-writers-voice-kirsty-logan
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Athelstone posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago
Updates losing comments:
OK, there’s a bug, probably in the BuddyPress code or in a plugin (or somewhere), that is preventing the ‘show all comments’ button from appearing (but only sometimes) after old comments have been tucked away out of sight. Very irritating. Here’s a workaround if you get this. Not pretty, not convenient, but at least you…[Read more] -
Athelstone posted an update 7 years, 3 months ago
Hoorah! At last, after an overload of dithering, I am back on the path that Julie Cohen recommends and writing sh*t.
Don’t you hate it when people put an asterisk in a word, converting a perfectly good piece of Old English into the illegitimate cousin of a euphemism? It’s as though it’s somehow more pol*te.-
Not getting at anybody in particular and I’ve done it myself many times over the years. Anyway – main point, writing!
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Me too Ath. As of this morning. Mine is utterly shit too. 177 words of complete garbage so far. And I don’t care! I might even try to write another 100 words of tosh before lunch!
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But CONGRATULATIONS. If I could remember how to insert an emoji, I would. So just imagine champagne bottles popping, streamers and smiley faces.
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🙂
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I haven’t written any shit today, because I haven’t written anything at all. I’m mulling stuff over. But one H*rry B*ngham once pointed out that he’d spent a whole week in his study mulling things over and not writing a single word, and still counted it as writing time because it produced results later. A murrain on daily targets, that’s wot I say.
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Yes, but my mulling had moved on to how to add to my collection of noir films, or should I make myself another PC and had even reached the outskirts of ‘I wonder what’s on Channel 4’. Luckily that turned out to more Brexit so I started writing again.
The most immediate problem is that my characters are having a conversation and won’t stop bloody…[Read more]
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And congratulations on the tosh, Jane!
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and now I can only see my original update and my own first reply. No other replies and no ‘show all replies’ prompt.
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I’m just getting your two comments, too. So I reckon the rest were so full of swearing that the Den went all puritanical on us??
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Yep, not pointing fingers but somebody here is 100% potty-mouth!
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Your bug work around worked! I managed to find all the comments. Congratulations on all your characters talking. I rewrote the first chapter of my WIP for the thousandth time this morning. It might be getting close to being THE ONE. But there again…
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Hoorah, your kind comment has made the ‘Show all 10 comments’ button to appear, for me anyway.
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Congrats on getting back to writing, Ath. And working round the program glitch.
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Daedalus replied to the topic Interview with Fiona Erskine, author of The Chemical Detective in the forum Blogs 7 years, 3 months ago
@s-p-moss It does, doesn’t it? Quite intrigued by that
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Squidge posted an update 7 years, 4 months ago
I am writing again… One whole chapter further on in The Black Ruby than I was at the start of this week.
About bloomin’ time! Oh – and for those who’ve read Rurik’s story (which is now about Tilda!), remember I said the publisher didn’t like ‘Mage of Merjan’ as a title cos they thought it gave the plot away too much? Am I being daft by…[Read more]
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HUGE well dones on getting writing again! That’s fab news. 😊 Re the title, quest just makes me think of the six BAZILLION dragon quest books, so for me it’s too tied up with that. But given the age bracket, I wouldn’t have worried so much about LOTR overlap. Not much help, sorry.
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I know – Beast Quest too… Ring Hunt sounds a bit dodgy if you say it quickly (!) but the search for the ring is central to the story, and there’s only so many ways you can describing hunting for something! Thinking cap on again…
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Can it just be about the ring, rather than the search? The lost ring, the ring of x, a something in gold (if it’s gold!)…?
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I can’t help with the title. I struggle with them as well, but great that you are back to writing!
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The ring of Ambak… Perhaps.
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Works better for me than Quest etc does. 😊
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Thanks Raine…will see what Bink think… Mind you, not heard from them for ages.
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Sandra replied to the topic Interview with Fiona Erskine, author of The Chemical Detective in the forum Blogs 7 years, 4 months ago
I’m going to the launch on 2nd April. Local bookshop will be there with a goodly supply.
But thanks Daeds, for an excellent interview.
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