I protested my innocence. In this I was encouraged by our practical joker who insisted I raise the, by now full, mug so that the woman could see the Woolworths logo on the base. Continue reading Monday Memories – Beginnings #15: Missing the Bus
I came across several Facebook writing groups and one in particular changed my writing life – Writer’s World. It’s an online critique group that offers other services such as novel writing boot camps. Continue reading A Date With . . . R.L.Andrew
Earlier this week Stevie Turner posted a piece about character development. I commented on the piece, saying that I sometimes place my characters in difficult situations in order to see how they respond. Often these situations will be tangential to the actual work in progress. I’m posting here an example of that in which I explored aspects of the relationship between my main character in the novel Transgression and his partner through the partner’s eyes. I might add that it also impinges upon the recent discussion here about diversity in fiction because my characters are gay and I am not. … Continue reading Getting to Know Your Characters
So the waiting is over now, for me. Joint third is a good place to be when you’ve never won anything before, and after seeing the quality of the opposition I’m more than a little chuffed! Actually, of course, the waiting isn’t over. Tomorrow comes the pleasure of seeing the two stories the judges deemed better than mine. via Word Weaver Writing Contest November 2017: 3rd Place Continue reading Third Place and Proud of it!
Inspiration! That”s what every writer needs and, if all those TV Christmas Specials are anything to go by, not to mention dozens of Christmas No. 1s from singer/song writers, Christmas is a great source of inspiration. But we all know that genius is only 10% inspiration, the rest is hard graft, especially when you’ve got a deadline to meet. Here’s how Paul Andruss handled the problem last year, courtesy of Sally Cronin over at Smorgasbord. via Smorgasbord Christmas Posts from Your Archives – Have Yourself a Merry Little Writer’s Block by Paul Andruss Continue reading What do you Give a Writer for Christmas?
I like this post from Australian author Robin Storey. The only quarrel I have with it is her suggestion that ladies of ‘mature age’ still wear Crimplene. Maybe they do down there in the antipodes. I don’t know anyone who does among my contemporaries in the British Isles. “With Queen Elizabeth turning 90 recently and still looking pretty spry, it got me thinking that one of the secrets to healthy aging has to be a sense of purpose, a reason to get up in the mornings. In the case of the Queen, she has commitments – speeches to make, buildings … Continue reading Five Top Benefits Of Being A Mature Age Author
Sinead O’Connor used the ‘C’ word in a tweet. It seems she took offence at the presence of a certain young woman, famous for being famous, on the cover of Rolling Stone. She could have said “What’s that face doing on the cover of Rolling Stone?”. Except it wouldn”t have had the same impact as the woman’s body part she chose to use instead of ‘face’. How is it that words associated with sex and the sexual organs have been subsumed into the language of hate, used to express one’s response to an event or behaviour that we regard as … Continue reading The Language of Sex
A Tiny Bit Marvelous by Dawn French My rating: 4 of 5 stars Comedy must be one of the hardest forms of writing to get right. You would not think so, given the number of successful situation comedies on television or the number of comedians of either gender able to attract vast audiences. The difficulty as I perceive it, is that in order to make something seem funny, it has to be exaggerated. But not too much, just enough to highlight the inappropriateness of some ordinary behavioural trait, without going so far as to make it seem ridiculous or hurtful. … Continue reading More than a tiny bit marvelous
