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Hilary started the topic Class 1: Writing Exercise, Hilary in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 8 months agoI remember your birthday party. Your constant weather checking. Your emergency purchase of gazebos.
I remember your children’s words on that day.
I remember the message a month later that told us you were exhausted. Two weeks off work.
I remember the message that came next. Not just exhaustion.
I remember your groggy smile in the photo after s…[Read more] -
Barny replied to the topic Monthly comp – October 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 8 months ago
Memories, memories
Through a mane of blonde hair, through streaks of bleached and of darker dyed strands, her eyes flickered upwards. “Can I help you, sir?”
Behind me the door hissed shut expensively, hinges well greased by wills and probates. “Do yer know where Bryant Street is?”
“I umm… don’t know.” She bent her head back down to the screen…[Read more]
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Hilary replied to the topic Class 1: Writing Exercise, Raine. in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 8 months agoLove the Scotsness of it (made up a word). The now, right enough, a wee bit.
My favourite bits of the I remember are the bus that didn’t come and his old hands cradling nothing.I’ve used I remember for character, and I’m planning to do it again for my brand new novel in gestation.
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Hilary replied to the topic Class 1: Writing Exercise, Bella. in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 8 months agoI love this, Bella. I wonder – if you’d been asked to write about that incident without doing it as an ‘I remember’, do you think it would have turned out differently in other ways than simply not starting each sentence with that phrase? I agree it’s like a poem, and I especially like the line about Glenn’s mum who also ‘remembered’.
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Hilary replied to the topic Class 1: Writing Exercise, Sea in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 8 months agoThis is wonderful! I remember kissing a photo of David Cassidy which my friend had stuck to the mirror in her bedroom. (Donny Osmond was hers.) And there’s nothing wrong with wearing a bra AND a vest now – but there would have been then!
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Hilary replied to the topic Craft Seminar Class 1: Getting Started: Memory, Obs in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 8 months agoWell. I’ve read the Le Guin and Burroway chapters and have had a strong emotional reaction. Not to the gorgeous passages. But to the prospect of this whole MA, to notebooks and journals and free-writing, and sharing with you lot and telling the stories that matter to me. I’m sixty years old and I’m sitting here crying! Don’t worry – I won’t use…[Read more]
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Hilary replied to the topic Syllabus and course materials. in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 8 months agoRight! Write! Read! I have 2.5 hours this morning, so I’m diving in. Splash!
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Athelstone posted an update 6 years, 9 months ago
3 fabulous entries in the October Comp so far. Why not have a go?
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John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly comp – October 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
Lost and Found and Lost
Arthur was rooting through a drawer in the garage, the one reserved for plumbing parts, searching for a tap washer. His gnarled hands scrabbled through off-cuts of plastic water pipe, white nylon fittings, a flushing mechanism still in its packaging, old tobacco tins holding copper olives, bolts, nuts and split pins. No…[Read more]
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Jules replied to the topic Craft Seminar Class 1: Getting Started: Memory, Obs in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 9 months ago@janeshuff try going on Youtube and looking for News items. Pick somewhere English speakinh and aim for a local news report. I’ve found there’s lots of excerpts of dialogue in local interest stories that way.
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Hilary replied to the topic Syllabus and course materials. in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 9 months agoMy books will be arriving shortly. Excited!
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Hilary replied to the topic September 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
Well done, Athelstone. And thank you, Squidge.
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Athelstone replied to the topic September 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
Thanks Libby and Sandra – and once again, thanks to Squidge!
October beckons.
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Athelstone replied to the topic September 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
I might be a bit over sensitive, but it’s the kind of trope that surfaces when feelings are being tested: stories about minorities and their secret evil ways. The classic cases would be all the tales of alien mind-control and body take over that were so popular during the anti-communist frenzy in the US during the late 40s and 50s, or the ‘Yellow…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Monthly comp – October 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
I recently found some writing notes that I’d forgotten about. I was surprised by my reaction. That seems like a theme to me. Something (anything) forgotten then discovered. Surprising reaction. 400 to 500 words (tops).
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Athelstone replied to the topic September 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
Thanks for a fab competition, Squidge. You’ve brought a tear to my eye. I’ve been doing the monthly competition for nearly 10 years, although with fewer entries in the last few months, and this is my first win! There were some super entries this month; I’m really pleased.
I re-read my entry and worried that it might be steering too close to the…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 6 years, 9 months ago
Wow! Came across some notes I scribbled down about 5 years ago: events in the life of a character in a book I’ve put aside. Not prepared for how guilty it would make me feel. It really seemed as though I abandoned somebody important – almost like a real person. What are my life lessons here? Stop scribbling stuff down? If I do, don’t read it…[Read more]
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Perhaps the last question is the right one. Or return to the character if not the same story. It sounds as though the character has life or you wouldn’t feel bothered about them. Someone to come back to when the time is right?
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I’ve got two notebooks full of random notes on characters or ideas. Most of it will never turn into something, but they’re great for when I’m feeling a bit blank – looking through and seeing what wants to be written. If you’re feeling that guilt, then perhaps that idea wants to be written enough for you to spend a little bit of time expanding on it?
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I’ve written a fair amount of this character, but killed her before her history unfolded later in the story. It was during that unfolding that I began to like her. I was feeling bad enough about having done her in, but then I came across a load of notes about a chance encounter she has with an old friend after a separation of several years. I have…[Read more]
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Hilary replied to the topic replying to agent rejections in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
Thanks, all. I think from now on I won’t reply to form rejections. Certainly I shouldn’t have done it so long after I received them. It was just that tweet making me think I’d been rude! Perhaps she wasn’t talking about form rejections.
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Athelstone replied to the topic replying to agent rejections in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
Do you mean that you sent a ‘thank you’ to the agents after they declined? I haven’t done that in the past. Not that I’ve made many submissions lately.
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Hilary started the topic replying to agent rejections in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
What’s your experience? What are your thoughts?
I’ve been submitting to agents this summer and had a few full requests (all subsequently declined) and several other declines. Initially I replied (just thank you) to the ones who’d requested the full, and one or two others I’d met, and not to the others since I’d read somewhere that agents don’t…[Read more] - Load More
