Spring into Action

April 7, 2013
Today the sun is out and for once the wind isn't trying to saw people in half. It's enough even to tempt a fireside cat into the great outdoors to listen to the sparrows squabbling. Now the snow has finally gone, I can see just how much the garden needs tidying and for once, getting on with it instead of writing, won't be procrastinating. If anyone else has detected springlike signs in the air, get outside and breathe it in. You can sit in front of your computer tomorrow, by which time the sky might be gloomy again. This could be the best weather we get this month, so don't waste it! It isn't only plants that grow in spring, ideas blossom too.

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration 

 

And It Isn't Even My Birthday

April 1, 2013
I'm celebrating. Not my birthday, not even Dr. Who's birthday, but two of my stories going public. 'The Enchantress's Pets' appears in the April 2013 issue of Writing Tomorrow. There's a short article giving the background to how and why it was written too. You can also listen to 'Salvage' on the Beam Me Up Podcast, episode 359. I love the characters' voices and the way listening to the story has made it totally fresh. Thanks go to Paul Cole, the man behind Beam Me Up, for his hard work.
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : FantasyFiction 

 

Sounds Like...

March 31, 2013
Pif! Paf! Which is the elephant and which is the mouse? There's no real link between the sound of most words and what they mean (with the exception of onomatopoeias such as 'buzz'), but that doesn't prevent people from making sound associations. Writers can use this tendency to advantage, especially in poetry. You can use sound association to create a mood, or to subvert it. If you've used 'm' to create associations with 'mother', 'milk' and 'mild', subsequently using 'murder', 'mayhem' or 'm...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Linguistics 

 

Always a Bridesmaid?

March 24, 2013
How hard it must be for Olympic athletes to get all the way to the final only to be pipped at the post by less than a nose! There are no prizes for coming fourth, so all the training, self-discipline and (possibly) neglect of loved ones have been for nothing. On another day, they might have left the blocks a fraction faster or felt fresher, their competitors might not have been as focussed or have eaten one too many Shredded Wheat. Another day they might have won–they were so close. It can ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions 

 

Oh, No It Isn't!

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 oth...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Linguistics 

 

Chicken or Egg?

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/...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.

 

Off Subject?

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...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews 

 

Crash Landing

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...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews 

 

If Only...

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...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration 

 

Heavy Air, Light Reading

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...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews 

 
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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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