Van Demal

ps @raine I do know what you mean about the female appendage sort of titles, too. thought I have a liking for “The (x person) of (somewhere interesting)” even thought they’ve been a bit done lately

Ooh interesting list @raine. I also like the feel of The Girl and The Missing. And yes, I like the idea of exile too @alanr.

I sent a list of ideas to my agent before I left for India (below) and the one that jumped out for her was When Days Tilt – which I have to admit is one of my favourites, even though it’s a bit more aslant to the…[Read more]

pps I’d also be up for SloMoWriMo 🙂

I’m doing it. It nearly killed me last year and I’m still astonished that I actually completed it…but I found it really useful to just get the words on the page and not get hung up on plot details or side-tracked by research. Also the momentum led to some story surprises, in a good way. I’m using it to kick start book two so I’ll buddy up with…[Read more]

I’m doing NaNo this year. In process of planning new novel ready to start. I’m on there as ThrowingCopper if anyone wants to buddy up? 😊

(Think I’m already buddies with you, Ath and Daed.)

AnGal sounds like dystopian specfic YA to me. Of the others the first and last have s more generic feel – they just give me a kids/YA vibe – while the other two hint more at speculative, maybe darker. All of them feel kids/YA I think.

You lot are fantastic! Thank you all so much for brainstorming for me 🙂

@seagreen and @janeshuff – I think you’re really onto something there with The Time Stealer/Snatcher’s… and using that to bundle the series together. Going to ponder that.

@jd73 that made me snort – Iron Maiden’s back catalogue 🙂 But I love them. And I’m leaning…[Read more]

@alanr – just saw that I basically suggested the same as you!

I keep coming back to the words enmeshing/unmeshing. For me that feels really evocative of family tendrils, the way the brain works (especially in cases of forming, breaking and reforming connections). – it makes me think of a web and a net and a loosening of patterns. Don’t know how you might use it but I love that word!
Enmeshing Seven /…[Read more]

Pow to you, too @philippaeast!

@janeshuff – ah, the sweet sound of a scene being NAILED! That gives me shivers of satisfaction. Everything pulling together and resonating all over the place…can’t wait to read the rewrite 🙂

Richard, that is truly a shocking piece of writing – awful to read but really well done. Very powerful. It doesn’t feel gratuitous to me, awful as it is.

Jane, I think I know the scene you’re referring to 😉 Reading through this thread and going back to my own comments to you, the issue I had with it was that it felt as if you were avoiding the…[Read more]

Well done, Sea 🙂 A very well deserved win. And thanks Daed for getting the ball rolling. Great monthly comp.

Well done, Janette. Brilliant news 😊

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]

Impact

The EVA suit’s read-out flashed Warning! Oxygen levels at 18% in eerie red. Jepson’s mind was foggy, irrational. All her training hadn’t prepared her for the reality of being stuffed into a damaged evacuation tube and launched into the airless void.

It had begun with impact. Many in fact, although Jepson only counted three as notew…[Read more]

@debi, you can get here via Writers Forum/Den of Writers/Podium. There are many winding roads in the Den and I’m still working them out myself! I’m also eagerly awaiting such a link (OMG CAN YOU IMAGINE??) and you will definitely know about it the minute (if/when) it happens…

@skylark I’m already leaning on my agent with questions and it’s SO…[Read more]