Noises from the room next door woke Sophie, she lay there no longer trying to wipe the sweat away. Since she stepped off the plane in Bangkok the muggy heat had soaked its way in, until it now felt normal. She listened to the mosquitoes buzzing around. The whiny drone pulsed around the room and each time she heard […]
From the blog.
A New Leaf – Theme from September
My mother’s eyes hemmed me in as I struggled to float with others on life’s path. She kept whispering, ‘Not yet’, and ‘Stay put.’ Sweet smells danced with bees amongst the orange blossom. I willed these bees to free me from my binds. Time passed and I remained. Too much time. Oranges started to grow […]
Excerpt of a Characters Workshop
Creating Heartbeats, Character Workshop Show don’t Tell There are plenty of quotes by plenty of writers advocating that the reader be brought into the story rather than sit passively on the side lines. What the characters do, say, act and think automatically achieve this. Let’s return to the situations we introduced our characters to. Their […]
Writing Club Theme – and the Winner Is . . .
If you’d like to join us, but do not live near, submit your writing – or an excerpt – approx. 500 words – to be read out at our monthly meetings.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Start Middle End.
And They’re Off . . . We know the importance of starting well. These days it’s almost an unspoken mantra that the first 3 chapters need to be polished until they dazzle in order to have a chance of attracting an agent. Perhaps there’s too much emphasis placed on this and not enough on a […]
You’re a Writer – Not an Interior Decorator!
Writing Techniques – Narrate, Exaggerate and Characterise Good writers don’t stop the story while describing. Snapchat is here to stay. Twitter, Facebook and What’sApp are immediate and quick. Carpe Diem Writer Dear. We want it all and we want it now. Immediate scenes take place before the eyes and are not recounted to a patient audience. We’re still […]
Fiction – To Be Taken Somewhere Else.
“A woman is sitting in her old, shuttered house. She knows that she is alone in the whole world; every other thing is dead. The doorbell rings.” This short story is attributed to Thomas Bailey Aldrich In fiction the “facts” may or may not be true. Hilary Mantel is perhaps exceptional in being an eminent […]
‘Hindsight is a very splendid thing.’
Yes folks, that’s the cliché/theme for our next gathering of Sotogrande Writers. Meeting at 6.30 – 8.30 pm Las Camelias this coming Thursday 8th September. 500 words, any genre or style on how ‘Hindsight is a very splendid thing.’ Hope to see you there, for a bit of culture. Have stolen this image to illustrate […]
Exemplary Short Story Showing – don’t Tell.
Katherine Anne Porter 1890 – 1980 This is a short excerpt from one of our workshops. Spoiler Alert If you have not read Theft by Catherine Anne Porter, do so now . . . or just read the executive summary below . . . Theft by Catherine Anne Porter is interesting for three reasons: It […]
Screenplays Collaborate, Novels Dictate.
Would you find it hard as a novelist to hand over your MS to screen-writers? Truth is, I wouldn’t and here’s why: A Screenplay is not a Novel. Every year: Some 250,000 books are published, worldwide. Random House, alone, publishes maybe 250 of them. In contrast, about 300 Hollywood feature films get made. A story for the screen is not a […]