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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 2 years ago
@purplewitch absolutely. I don’t think it will be an issue because the writer in question is quite sharp. Anyway, if it gets to the point where a 3rd party is giving it a professional read, it isn’t going to last.
@richardb yep, that analogy is about right. In this instance I wouldn’t say the author has cloth ears (although the others might, I…[Read more]
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Knicks replied to the topic How to reach out to a speculative fiction editor? in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 3 years, 8 months ago
Thank you both, @richardb and @katemachon; Kate, the info on your process, experience and end results was especially illuminating. Thanks so much! ✨
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Knicks replied to the topic Eagle! in the forum Blogs 4 years, 8 months ago
@richardb how cool is that!! Thank you for sharing your special day and moment 😃✨
We are not natural
I couldn’t have said it more aptly myself, nor could I agree more. How beautiful it is to re-introduce a species we made the unnatural choice (and for pleasure no less!) to hunt to near-extinction. And how hideous it is to have hunted…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic Beta Reading Discussion in the forum Blogs 4 years, 10 months ago
I think I’d be a different kind of reader, @RichardB, if I’d been a more instinctive writer. It took me a lot of patience and many disappointing surprises to learn how fiction works, and how my own writing didn’t make the grade. I still have a way to go. Having been quite good at academic writing – though a plodding academic for the short period…[Read more]
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Janette posted a new activity comment 4 years, 10 months ago
Thank you, all, for your well-wishes. @richardb, sorry to hear about your wife. Care has been hit-and-miss due to an over-stretched NHS, but Mr O has taken a sabbatical from our small business and is taking good care of me. Just a pity I can’t always get to talk to relevant NHS departments when I need to.
Re Den, lets hope we can sort it out and…[Read more]
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JaneShuff posted a new activity comment 5 years, 9 months ago
Thanks @richardb, @libby, @daedalus. Great suggestions. If you had a spare copy, Daeds, I would happily buy it.
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Thanks Jane. I only have two left I’m afraid, and I didn’t want to go lower than that. There may still be some in a shop or two somewhere which I’ll chase up but very few of the places I sent copies to on sale or return ever got back to me
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If you can that would be great Daeds.
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KazG posted a new activity comment 5 years, 10 months ago
A lovely blog, @richardb, and I wholeheartedly agree with your summary of le Guin – she is absolutely one of my favourite writers. I loved her as a young thing and my admiration has only deepened as my own writing journey progresses. Ive never read this and will seek it out – thank you!
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Thank-you all. I just realised as I logged on to write this that we talked about making these comps run over two months rather than one? I’ll stick to one month being as that was how I set it. So. These were all a delight to read. So many memories and things that resonated with me very powerfully. Anyway, on to my thoughts.
@jllsted I am very…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic New historical fiction novella in the forum Podium 6 years, 3 months ago
Thanks @RichardB 🙂
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Brexit dismay in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 4 months ago
@bellam Happy new year to you, too.
Those rifts are very deep and go way beyond mere viewpoints. Because of various issues that I won’t mention here, I don’t expect to see any healing in our society for the foreseeable future.
I wish I could share your optimism, but I can’t.
Good luck with your writing.@Richardb Regarding politics, I did…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Bi-Monthly Comp – May/June 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 10 months ago
Well, thank-you everyone for entering. I’m so glad I set this particular challenge as it’s been so much fun getting little insights into all your works in progress and I can genuinely say I’d have carried on reading every one of them. They all pulled me right in and left me wanting more, so seriously well dones on lots of good stuff.
Because…[Read more]
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KazG posted a new activity comment 6 years, 11 months ago
Happy belated birthday @richardb! I read of someone (name escapes me) who used to collect rejections and aimed for a certain number each month, each one being an achievement and a measurement of activity and submission. So each one worthy of celebration. I’ve actually found that approach helpful myself, bizarre though it seems…
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Raine replied to the topic Terminal discouragement? in the forum Coffee Shop 7 years ago
THanks for the interesting post @richardb. 🙂 I did laugh at Harry critisising the very services that JW offer! I guess their taught courses are less in depth than an MA, but it’s the same principal. As someone said (@janeshuff?) I love that the SE course attracts a wide range of writing genres/styles so there seemed no gravitation towards some…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic My Publishing Nightmare – the story of a book deal gone bad (Part 1) in the forum Blogs 7 years, 3 months ago
I’d hate to think that, @richardb – the truth is that it’s not that hard to avoid what happened to me. If you pursue the agent route, most of it is irrelevant anyway, although you obviously have to do your research into any agents who offer to represent you. In 99% of cases, just being aware of the possible problems means you can avoid…[Read more]
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Raine posted a new activity comment 7 years, 5 months ago
@richardb, I used to sit on the sofa with my laptop and lots of cushions, but I finally set up a desk, so now have the laptop on one of those stands that lift the screen, and a proper keyboard attached. Best of both worlds, and I’ve been surprised (horrified) by how much it’s improved my concentration. :-O I read my wip-on-kindle in bed! Just…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 7 years, 5 months ago
Thanks @richardb. I agree with you. I’m not normally a word-count watcher. I was just feeling a bit bogged down so counted up to see if I’d achieved anything at all!
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Well done on moving forward with the editing, @libby. Each word edited, is a word closer to the end! (My midwife told me that about contractions, and I decided it made a good life mantra!!!)
Also – my neighbours have a big whitebeam over hanging out garden. When the leaves are first coming out in spring, that silvery white is just so lovely!…[Read more]
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Yes, and the leaves drop early so you’re stuck with them quite a long time @raine 🙁
Agree that contractions are good mantra for a lot of things!-
I think we should all cheer on ANY forward motion, painful and incremental included, especially at this time of year! And 1000 a day is high energy by my current standards, so well done @libby. And I too love your leaf pic.
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PS I also agree that the @daedalus signature style is a particular talent for making the (what I would find by default) boring, fascinating.
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Raine posted a new activity comment 7 years, 5 months ago
Yay for finishing the edit, @richardb! That’s fantastic. Hope the read through goes ok. HOw do you do this bit? On paper or screen? My final read is on my kindle as it looks totally different compared to paper or laptop – so I spot things I didn’t before. But earlier not-strictly-editing reads are mostly from laptop.
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I do it on my kindle, for exactly the reasons you state, @raine . But I like to do it sitting by my computer, so I can make the changes as soon as I spot the need to. Speaking of which, I still stick with a desktop for the actual writing because I like to have a ‘proper’ full-size keyboard. My daughter gave me a rather upmarket keyboard…[Read more]
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@richardb, I used to sit on the sofa with my laptop and lots of cushions, but I finally set up a desk, so now have the laptop on one of those stands that lift the screen, and a proper keyboard attached. Best of both worlds, and I’ve been surprised (horrified) by how much it’s improved my concentration. :-O I read my wip-on-kindle in bed! Just…[Read more]
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KazG posted a new activity comment 7 years, 5 months ago
Thanks @richardb 🙂 And yes, there is so much truth in that ‘one step at a time’ adage. Really it’s the only way anything ever happens, regardless of the pace. One little task at a time. Congrats on finishing the rewrite, and enjoy the read! Always an exciting point 🙂
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It is a good analogy. Another one someone gave me during my MA was ‘you’re looking at the whole mountain and you just need to look at the next rock’
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Congratulations Richard. I hope you are taking a moment to pat yourself on the back.
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Yay for finishing the edit, @richardb! That’s fantastic. Hope the read through goes ok. HOw do you do this bit? On paper or screen? My final read is on my kindle as it looks totally different compared to paper or laptop – so I spot things I didn’t before. But earlier not-strictly-editing reads are mostly from laptop.
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I do it on my kindle, for exactly the reasons you state, @raine . But I like to do it sitting by my computer, so I can make the changes as soon as I spot the need to. Speaking of which, I still stick with a desktop for the actual writing because I like to have a ‘proper’ full-size keyboard. My daughter gave me a rather upmarket keyboard…[Read more]
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@richardb, I used to sit on the sofa with my laptop and lots of cushions, but I finally set up a desk, so now have the laptop on one of those stands that lift the screen, and a proper keyboard attached. Best of both worlds, and I’ve been surprised (horrified) by how much it’s improved my concentration. :-O I read my wip-on-kindle in bed! Just…[Read more]
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Philippa East posted a new activity comment 7 years, 5 months ago
Thanks @richardB. “Shrinking from” – that’s exactly it!! I know I just need to take a deep breath, and step in. Quit worrying about the outcome and just engage with the process.
I have four clear hours tomorrow morning to work, so hopefully I will make some progress. Out of interest, Richard, what was the problem and what was your fix? (if you…[Read more]-
The problem was the one I mentioned a couple of days ago: the bloated chapter full of stuff the reader already knew. I was shrinking from it because there were several threads/issues involved and it was going to be hard work keeping track of them and figuring out what I could get away with losing. I solved it by being bloody ruthless – something…[Read more]
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Oh well done on the ruthlessness! And that sounds like such an important thing to have fixed. I wonder if part of our Fear can come from the sense that if we try to change tricky elements in the MS, the whole thing will fall apart….
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Adding a bit of nonsense to the conversation –
To write a pithy sentence and not use well-worn phrases
Comes with all the thinking and headache that it raises.
So, me, I play with words and, using inconsistent skill,
I hammer, pull, and twist them and bend them to my will.
I make them mine – reformed, unique, and, sometimes packed with w…[Read more]
Very nice too.