Search found 15 matches
- March 25th, 2010, 8:27 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: What is writing to you?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4492
Re: What is writing to you?
Writing is the escape that reconciles me to life in the real world.
- February 13th, 2010, 5:18 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Resurrecting a manuscript
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2467
Re: Resurrecting a manuscript
Thanks, Holly, that's very useful. I actually have Colleen on Google reader, but didn't know she had a GLBT bent. (Hah! A pun!).
Hmm. Maybe I will have to do a little MS polishing...
Hmm. Maybe I will have to do a little MS polishing...
- February 13th, 2010, 5:08 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Resurrecting a manuscript
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2467
Re: Resurrecting a manuscript
That's from the US perspective, though, isn't it? In Australia and Europe the attitudes towards homosexuality really shifted in the late 80s/early 90s, though even before then, attitudes in literature were much more laissez faire . And where it did matter, it was treated more in a 'don't frighten th...
- February 13th, 2010, 4:49 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Words Per Day
- Replies: 13
- Views: 4733
Re: Words Per Day
I manage anything from 2000 to 10 000 words a day. I live a reasonably quiet life (no kids), so on my days off I can write without interruption. One of my best days was flying Maroochydore/Sydney/Melbourne/Devonport - 16 000 words! I have no idea what the people sitting next to me on the planes thou...
- February 13th, 2010, 4:33 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Resurrecting a manuscript
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2467
Resurrecting a manuscript
On a writing course last year we read excerpts from our work to one another in the evenings. One of the pieces I read was from a ten year old MS, and I was startled, when I finished, to discover there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Everyone, without exception, urged me to submit it for publication, ...
- January 18th, 2010, 8:23 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
Re: American dialogue
I've been to and fro between Aus and the UK since 1994. Been living in Tassie now for a little over two years. I'm finding it increasingly difficult as far as the writing goes - much as I love living here I need to actually meet people to talk about writing sometimes. There is a local writing group ...
- January 16th, 2010, 5:23 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
Re: American dialogue
Aussie dialogue is fun. Spot who's Australian and who's British: ‘You OK?’ the director said to her, returning from one of his rapid trips to the toilet. ‘I think so.’ ‘You got lucky. Bloody refrigerator carked it yesterday, and no one noticed. There’s eleven people chundering their guts up now. If ...
- January 13th, 2010, 4:08 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Advice From Amateurs?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 7930
Re: Advice From Amateurs?
For me, this actually divides into three places you can get advice - amateur writers, published writers and professionals such as writers/editors who have experience beyond their own work. All can have useful things to say - but the proportion of wheat to chaff varies a great deal. The latter group ...
- January 13th, 2010, 3:54 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
Re: American dialogue
Thanks very much for all the help and suggestions! It made me think more deeply about the characters - one of the things I hadn't considered was that the setup (plane crash in the Amazon) implies that all of them could (a) afford a holiday there and (b) would consider it as a holiday destination. Ev...
- January 11th, 2010, 6:06 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
Re: American dialogue
Aaagh! I should have spotted the vacation/holiday thing myself!
This is why I need another pair of eyes. there's stuff I know is different in the US, yet I can't spot it in my own writing.
This is why I need another pair of eyes. there's stuff I know is different in the US, yet I can't spot it in my own writing.
- January 10th, 2010, 1:49 am
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
Re: American dialogue
Problem is, I don't want to get too bogged down in research - though the characters need some background, the point is that they are marooned in the Amazon after a plane crash and trying to wak out. The story centres on another (english) character, and his wife in the UK who believes he is dead. The...
- January 9th, 2010, 10:00 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: How do you know what is right for your Characters?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2974
Re: How do you know what is right for your Characters?
I would give it some time before making a decision. Unless you are working to a deadline, I wouldn't try to force it. Also, I'd ask what the story as a whole needs to happen; generally the answer to that is to use the scene that increases conflict (unless it is the final closing scene, when that mig...
- January 9th, 2010, 9:11 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
Re: American dialogue
It's not the accent I'm after, precisely. It's the way people phrase things, the odd stuff you don't notice until you're immersed in another culture. I'm worried about ending up with a pastiche; this seems likely because I'm finding it harder than I anticipated. I will look up those books, though it...
- January 9th, 2010, 7:27 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: American dialogue
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13236
American dialogue
I'm a Brit, and I'm struggling a bit with the three American characters I have in my WIP. I don't want them all to sound like cops (as most of the contemporary American stuff on my bookshelves is crime), but I'm aware that at the moment they all sound very English. They are: Ed, 52M, Midwestern, ex-...
- January 9th, 2010, 7:11 pm
- Forum: Writing
- Topic: Pure Pain or Pure Ecstasy??
- Replies: 14
- Views: 6148
Re: Pure Pain or Pure Ecstasy??
The emotional journey of my curent WIP is tough, but it's partly because I have a tendency to use bereavement in one way or another in most of my novels. What has been spookier this time is that because I'm writing something very contemporary, which is loosely based on real events, my MC feels very ...