March 18, 2013
Do you grind your teeth when you hear someone say they were 'sat' or they were 'stood' somewhere? Me too! I always want to ask who sat or stood them there, or did they really mean they were sitting or standing? The increasing tendency to use a passive instead of the past imperfect or a gerund is the result of dialect creep. I have no objection to dialects being used instead of standard English when appropriate, but this construction is not only replacing standard English, it's taking over other dialects as well.
Another example is negative contractions. 'I haven't' and 'it isn't' have virtually disappeared, replaced by 'I've not' and 'it's not'. The latter would have had my schoolfriends and me in fits of giggles when I was little and 'snot' was on a par with 'pooey pants'.
'It's not' just isn't right! Imagine a scene in a panto.
"It's behind you!" the audience shouts.
"Oh, no it's not!" the hero shouts back.
It simply doesn't work. The thing that irritates me about it most is that I catch myself using it. It's not (grrr!) what I want to do at all. In fact, I blow my nose on it! So, to redress the balance, here goes: isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Linguistics
March 11, 2013
Writers are usually advised to target their work at a particular market. Up to a point this makes sense. If a magazine only accepts certain genres or lengths, or has a dislike of present tense narrative, it's usually wasting your time and theirs sending them things that don't fit. Most competitions have strict rules and often have a theme, but are more flexible with regard to style. How far should you go in adapting what you write to fit the requirements of editors and competition organisers/...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
March 3, 2013
Yesterday, I received the latest issue of Salopeot, which was a great treat and not only because it has one of my poems in it. The magazine is packed with more than 60 poems, so I'll be able to spend today reading some thought-provoking and beautiful work. Isn't that what Sundays are for–taking time to think about what really matters?
I'm not going to review any particular poems, and some people might query why, as I review films in this blog which they might consider have less to do with...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
February 24, 2013
Flight is one of those films that I felt I ought to see rather than one I felt particularly attracted to. I knew little about it other than that it featured the somewhat miraculous landing of a damaged aeroplane by the pilot, who is later accused of being under the influence of drink and drugs. Denzel Washington plays the pilot and has been nominated for an academy award. That doesn't surprise me, as it's the stature of his performance that makes the film worth watching.
It's a strange fil...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
February 17, 2013
I don't usually do this, but this week's blog doesn't have much to do with writing. Correction, it has everything to do with putting off getting on with it, but sometimes real life doesn't want to let go of your thoughts and you can't get the imagination started to travel to the far-off land where you left your characters. For this piece of procrastination I can thank my brother-in-law who posted this link
www.youtube.com/JustJesse197 on Facebook.
People who don't like dogs probably won't...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
February 10, 2013
Otherwhere and Elsewhen, featuring my science fiction story, 'Heavy Air', is now available from
Bridge House Publishing. You can either find it on their website or at Amazon, priced £3.80 plus VAT. Edited by Gill James, the anthology is a collection of 12 stories with a loose theme of another 'time and another space, light years from here'. As well as 'Heavy Air', you'll find stories by Philip T. Brewster, Julie-Ann Corrigan, Phil Hodgkiss, Dawn Knox, Jeff Laurents, Shirley Percy, A. J. S...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
February 3, 2013
Last week, I wrote about the joys or otherwise of being asked to critique someone else's work as a favour, and offered some suggestions as to how to survive the process with all your friendships intact. This week, I want to share some of the pluses that linger after feeling flattered has worn off.
Editing or proofing someone else's work makes you more aware of how you write yourself and of any bad habits you might have drifted into. It teaches you to take an objective look at what you do, a...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
January 28, 2013
Sooner or later it's bound to happen. Someone discovers that you're a writer and presents you with your manuscript asking for your opinion. It would be easy to see this as an imposition. After all, you have your own work to get on with and someone else's project is yet another reason to procrastinate. Instead, take it as the compliment it is.
How you tackle the task you've been given depends on how experienced the writer is, how long or complicated the manuscript is and how well you know the ...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
January 20, 2013
It's wonderful hearing from people who like what you do. I've been fortunate to have received positive feedback and kind words from people who call themselves my fans this week (imagine that–me having fans!). They aren't family members or people whose opinion I've solicited, but readers who took the trouble to let me know that they appreciate my work.
Before I put everyone else off by blowing my own trumpet, the main point I wanted to make is that a little praise goes a long way. Everyone l...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
January 13, 2013
You can wait ages for work to get from acceptance to publication then, like buses, several come out at once. This week I received the latest wonderful edition of The Binnacle Ultra-Short. Included are the winning prose, poetry and humorous entries in the annual competition along with a host of pieces receiving honourable mentions, including one of mine, 'Plucked from Obscurity'. The edition is in paperback form, plus a box with each work on a separate business-sized card, which you can mix...
Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
