Squidge

Summer 1999

I told myself, at my age, I didn’t need to be nervous. But knew what I could do well was conscientious.
‘Bring portfolio’ the letter said, so I went out and bought a huge one. Filled it, with two years of one-day a week class-work plus evening Life Drawing. Plus the watercolours I was especially pleased with.
Appointed day, I par…[Read more]

It’s not. The chit chat thread is over in the Challenge Group “A Room with a View” but as all votes count – so does yours!

OK – this is really important. This is NEW, this is a TWIST and this is IMPORTANT.

The choices you have made, are making and are still free to change can have an impact on the way you write your story. However, one of the choices may have a surprising effect depending on whether I am GENEROUS or MEAN. And the surprise may not be expected. So –…[Read more]

I enjoy reading this, I get a Station Eleven vibe from it (that’s a good thing) in terms of setting the apocalyptic atmosphere and hinting that something’s coming however I think it might be a bit too much setting up in one go for my liking and I’m not overly fond of the omniscient narrator style (but that’s a personal preference of mine). I agree…[Read more]

Histfic can definitely have mainstream appeal. Seems as though one of Juliet Mushens’ biggest successes as an agent recently was with The Miniaturist. Though I gather Juliet is interested in history. The blogpost about how that novel was pitched to her is interesting. I think the link was posted somewhere around here. Go for it

@Daedalus – thanks!

Thanks @richardb
I’ve just ordered a copy from the library 🙂

🙂

Yes, that’s right!

@philippaeast Lovely to see you too! Was Cynthia the one I was chatting to with you? I’m pleased to have inspired her 🙂

@alanr Ha! Thank you very much, kind sir 😀

@squidge Indeed we do!! 😀

Thanks Giselle, Phillipa and Debi for the info and encouragement. Good to hear interest is rising in hist fic – it seems to go with austerity I reckon!
Hi Alan – mine is Victorian so definitely historical.
I need to reconsider my opening, but due to work commitments I’m unlikely to achieve a rewrite of that in time for the submission. But I…[Read more]

Apologies, Richard, I saw that you’d written this blog a few days ago but was busy, and then it slipped my mind. I’m ashamed to say, as a fan of SF, that I’ve never read any Le Guin (or K Le Guin). I’d been wondering where I might start, and now I know. The Dispossessed sounds as though it is brimming with ideas, which is to my mind a hallmar…[Read more]

I removed that sidebar because a glitch in the WP software meant that it was displaying posts from private groups publically, Richard. Apparently this has been an ongoing issue since 2013 and no one has yet found a workable repair to the code. Will have a proper look at it or at an alternative when I’ve got time next week. But that’s why it’s gone…[Read more]