As One Door Opens...

March 6, 2016
Would you rather have the good news or the bad news first? The good news. Right, here it is. Smashwords is holding its seventh annual Read an Ebook Week from today until 12th March 2016, and my books are all enrolled in it. That means you can get Discord's Child FREE (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/410566) and Discord's Apprentice (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/542490) and Artists and Liars (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/322872) for half price. All you have to do is go to the page and use the coupon code when you place your order.
    Read an Ebook Week isn't only good news for readers, it's a good way for writers to get their work noticed as Smashwords places included books on a special promotion page, and readers who are knew to your work are tempted to take a chance on it–although there are always big samples on the site to give them an idea whether they'll like it or not. I'm not generally a fan of giving work away, but having tried a Smashwords promotion in the past and achieved reasonable results, I don't mind taking part again. It's also a way of giving the people who read this blog and generally put up with my opinions and writer's angst a reward.
    On the not-so-positive side, is the news that Barnes and Noble is ceasing its digital service in the UK. This means that UK account-holders with ebooks, newspapers and periodicals etc. will have to change their account over to Sainsbury's. Barnes & Noble says most books will be transferable, but as yet there's no news on which ones won't be or how to make the switch. This is a nuisance for anyone in the UK with a Nook and is liable to put off anyone who is dubious about buying ebooks. For self-published writers it might also mean the loss of an outlet in the UK.
    Ah, well, you win some, you lose some. I'll post an update when I know more.
 

Yippee!

March 2, 2016
It took more hours than I care to admit and my jaw still aches from gritting my teeth, but I've done it! I've fought my way through a first draft of the story that didn't want to be written. It isn't fit for anyone else to read at present, but at least I have something I can work on and shape. If I had given up, I'd have nothing. Sometimes all you can do is plod on.
    When you're struggling through a patch when it's tough to find the right words–or any words, for that matter–it's all too...
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Avoidance Tactics

February 22, 2016
There's a story I want to write. I know the plot, I know the main sequence of events and necessary scenes, I know the characters and I have a deadline. I want to write it, really I do. So why do I have this urge to turn on the television? It will only irritate me and I know I won't write if it's on. Perhaps I should make another cup of coffee or check my emails again or do the ironing first, so the knowledge that a pile of crumpled laundry is waiting for me won't put me off. I even started wr...
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To Cut, or Not to Cut

February 15, 2016
Editing your own work is one of the hardest parts of writing. The trouble is, you know the story, so it's hard to tell whether you've given the reader insufficient detail or too much. Asking someone else to read it is always a good idea–preferably more than one person. Failing that, put it aside for a few weeks, if possible, so you can come back to it fresh.
    There are various 'rules' to stop your work being slow, which is usually taken to mean 'boring'. Generally, writers are told to cut...
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Many Happy Returns

February 7, 2016
I'm not celebrating anyone's birthday (best wishes if it's yours), but those books, films and television programmes you can read or watch time and time again.
    There are now TV channels that repeat series on a rolling basis. As soon as they come to the end, they begin again. I suppose people find them comforting in a way, much as the shipping forecast is. They offer a kind of stability. It's comforting to know that somewhere on the television there'll always be an episode of Midsomer Murder...
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Formatting Frenzy

January 25, 2016
I don't want to worry anyone, but there are only another 11 months until Christmas. That means I've already had one twelfth of the available time to achieve what I want to in 2016. As ever, time's going faster and things are taking longer than I anticipated.
    One thing that has been frustratingly slow is keying in a TV screenplay. I was using a template from the BBC's Writers' Room website and had expected to zip through it. Using a template or setting up styles are well worth the small ini...
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Dear Reader...

January 18, 2016
One of my friends is on an extended stay in New Zealand at the moment. Usually, she's only on the other side of the country, but even then we write letters to each other. Thanks to modern technology it's possible to have instant communication with people on the other side of the globe. If she had Skype where she's staying, we could even see each other. That's great but it's ephemeral.
    There's something about receiving a letter that's special. You have a real physical connection to the send...
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A Tempting Assortment

January 12, 2016
I treated myself yesterday. I showed no self-restraint at all. I binged on mini-stories in the Binnacle 12th Annual Ultra-short Edition 2015. My intention was to eke them out, to save them as a little pick-me-up whenever I needed something more substantial than a tweet but not demanding the time commitment of a short story.
    Of course, I was curious to read the winning entries and find out how 'Harvest-time', my Editor's Pick entry, measured up, but I already knew from previous years that t...
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Scandinavian at Heart

January 3, 2016
Happy New Year! Welcome to my first blog of 2016.
    One of my favourite television dramas in the run-up to Christmas was series three of The Bridge. Everything about it was excellent–the performances, the lighting, and particularly the script, which was full of twists and turns that kept the viewers guessing, and taut dialogue. No doubt the writing was top notch in this and other Scandinavian crime novels and series, but does this alone account for the explosion in their popularity? Do all...
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Free Competitions

December 20, 2015
It's been a while since I took a look around the new markets and free competitions, so it's high time I did a round-up. What follows is a mixed bag of creative non-fiction, travel writing, plays, novels and themed science fiction. Check out all of them, because even if a genre isn't normally your thing, you might just find something that sparks your creative instincts and gives your brain a work-out while you're digesting the Christmas dinner. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

* If you'...
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About Me


My writing career began as a freelance feature writer for the local press, businesses and organisations. Now a prize-winning playwright and short story writer, my work has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic. I write as K. S. Dearsley because it saves having to keep repeating my forename, and specialise in fantasy and other speculative genres.

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