@sandradavies
Active 2 days, 5 hours ago-
Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years ago
This might be a candidate for starting with a single sentence stating the basic premise of the story, then adding a second sentence and then a third. etc. mentioning time span only insofar as there are several. Good luck!
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years ago
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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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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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition: June 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Well done Squidge and thanks to all participants for the chance to read so many varied interpretations of Jill’s challenge – and to Jill for the comments.
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 1 month ago
Indeed. Something those who adhere over-strictly to the rules are inclined to overlook.
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Sandra posted an update 6 years, 1 month ago
“pleonasm”. As discussed by Allan Guthrie. I mentioned it on another site and a lot of people found it interesting/useful when it came to tightening writing/reducing word count. Google it – there’s a choice of places to go.
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Sometimes an unusual word like pleonasm is a necessary reminder not to go on adding words endlessly without stopping simply to make the meaning clearer for the sake of epexegesis.
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Indeed. Something those who adhere over-strictly to the rules are inclined to overlook.
Thank you.-
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Anthony Trollope comes to mind.
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Thomas Wolfe. Oh, yes, Thomas Wolfe.
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Sandra replied to the topic Where to start? in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years, 1 month agoWhat a brilliant set of answers and examples to a most important question, I’ve been writing fiction ten years now but still forgetting how this one works. Thaks fir asking it, Andrew. And well done Jane for mentioning Emma’s blog – taught me so much.
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Sandra joined the group
A place for Stupid Questions 6 years, 1 month ago -
Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition: June 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 1 month ago
Midsummer Madness
The ambush had been crueller for the glory of a wiped-clean sky, slowly coloured-in by a northeast Scotland, half-four sunrise, just three days past the solstice. It side-swiped the pleasures of his journey down, dulling the pearly greyness of the North Sea which had sheened pink then gold as it prepared itself for day. The…[Read more]
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 1 month ago
I’ve a ‘picked up because I haven’t read and ought’ ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, but didn’t get very far. Think I need to have another go … sometime.
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Despite being a big fan of stripped back writing, I’m not a Hemmingway fan (although I’ve only read one :Farewell to Arms). But this extract is really fabulous. Perhaps I should try some of his short stories.
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@katemachon you could do worse than start with ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ which is a full novel but at 27,000 words, definitely more novella length as things are reckoned these days – and a short(ish) one at that.
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Thanks, Ath. I’ll give it a try.
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I once tried reading _The Sun Also Rises,_ but couldn’t keep my attention on it. It just seemed like people endlessly talking…his short stories, though, are so engaging.
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I haven’t read ‘The Sun Also Rises’ so maybe I’m talking out of my backside, but I can’t help thinking that dialogue can reveal a lot. I mean, Shakespeare didn’t do too badly out of it…
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LOL dialogue certainly worked for Master Tolkien in Lord of the Rings, too. It was many years ago, maybe it’s time I gave Hemingway’s novel another chance. Maybe listening on audio?
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Hi all,
Since I listen to a lot of audiobooks, I thought, why not give _The Sun Also Rises_ another chance, this time on audio? So I tried it last week.
Well I finished it this time, all right. And it left me dazzled. Stunned, even–he truly was a master. I like to think I’ve matured as a reader and a writer since years ago, and maybe I have a…[Read more]
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Sandra posted an update 6 years, 1 month ago
Congratulations to @Philippa, who’s ‘Little white lies’ has been long-listed for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger award.
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More great news on the Den! Congratulations, Philippa. Long may the success continue!
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Way to go!
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Brilliant news x
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It is great news. And those of us subscribed to Jericho Writers Online Festival can see Philippa talking about her road to publication on 10 June
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Hello everyone, this is my first post as a new member and it is fitting seeing as I learned of the Den through that Webinar with Philippa East at the Jericho Festival. I was inspired by the journey she described and it has been the best event I have attended so far.
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Welcome to the Den, Andrew.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – May 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 1 month ago
Well done Jill – you came so close to winning on YWP that it is only justice you come first here.
And thank you Libby for setting a theme which sent me back to all of these small stones and properly gather them in one place (now up to #94
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 2 months ago
Send it over Jane – I know and enjoy your writing. Let me know if there’s anythig specific you want me to look for.
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Hooray!! Victory 🙂
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 2 months ago
Applause from me – been there done that, AND emerged triumphant, but no matter how often the solution is found, there’s always the fear it never will be again!
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And so far, on rereading it, it’s not a disaster!
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Hooray!! Victory 🙂
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – May 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 2 months ago
Between 2011 and 2013, for some eighteen months, I participated in a ‘Small stones’ project; a daily moment of intense observation. Many were made during the twelve minute walk (six there, six back) to buy a morning paper. This is a 396 word selection.
Autumn
Stepping stones of yellow sycamore
stuck to the rain-damp roadAnd the sky this mor…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 2 months ago
Thank you Raine – both for setting such an interesting, informative and though-provoking challenge, and for picking my favourite as winner. Well done Libby.
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Sandra posted an update 6 years, 2 months ago
@libby, I loved, loved, loved your comp entry – the agonising over the purchase and then the description – sounds a wonderful piece of inspiration to have in sight.
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@sandradavies Thank you!
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@libby I agree with Sandra, your descriptions are stunning. I’m not quite certain where to post my comment, as I didn’t want to put it on the comp thread. I’m still working my way around… 🙂
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 3 months ago
Giselle, be warned – Orkney is dangerously addictive! We first went there in 1981 and this is the first year we’ve missed (not as it happened because of Covid19) There are SO MANY sites there, and heavily influenced the printmaking I was doing at the time .
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Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 3 months ago
Skara Brae, also uncovered having been buried in the sand (though a very different climate!) has similar tools, which one used to be allowed to handle – Your vivid description brought that 1980s pleasure back to me – thank you.
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Thank you for your mention of Skara Brae, Sandra. A new prehistoric site for me to add to the ever-growing bucket list. There’s something about these ancient dwellings that stikes a primordial nerve. 🙂
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Giselle, be warned – Orkney is dangerously addictive! We first went there in 1981 and this is the first year we’ve missed (not as it happened because of Covid19) There are SO MANY sites there, and heavily influenced the printmaking I was doing at the time .
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In a word, yes. You can definitely sum in up in that tell-y sort of way in a synopsis.
Or as Bella says, just mention that it’s from several POVs at the start and then just talk about the events without mentioning the POV it’s from as you go.
Thanks @kazg. And thank @bellam and @sandradavies. I’ve had a another go just concentrating on telling what happens and ignoring the POV and it is falling into place.