June 5, 2012
Yesterday was Harry and Sophie, our bichons', fifth birthday. They are such a huge part in my life, that now seems like the ideal time to look back at when they first came to live with my husband and me. (Before anyone coming to this blog looking for writing tips turns away in disgust, there is a writing angle to my reminiscences.)
From the first moment that we brought Harry and Sophie home, I decided to keep a puppy diary of all their funny ways, their personalities, the mischief they get up to and what I've learned because of them. I knew I'd never be able to remember everything without the diary to jog my memory, and it's more than repaid the effort. I don't expect the diary itself to be of great interest to anyone except me, but writing it regularly is good discipline.
On its pages I find not only events and anecdotes that might trigger ideas for other work, but a host of characters, both human and canine that I've met through the bichons. An elderly rough collie we know has a calm temperament and steady behaviour that instantly calms the younger dogs, who walk beside him instead of running off, and without him having to put them in their place. In a story, he could be a grandfather, a charismatic teacher or a wizard. I need never be stuck for characters again, and the best thing is, they'll never recognise themselves and take offence.
Maybe I'll never use the puppy diary for anything other than fun, who knows? What I do know is that I don't regret one single moment of living with Harry and Sophie.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
May 28, 2012
Visitors to my website can now be sure of finding something new on a regular basis, apart from this blog. I'm adding the lyrics from
Iyessi songs.
For anyone who hasn't read
Discord's Child, the Iyessi are people living in a remote region of Najarind where sensitivity to the elements and music are of paramount importance. Ro is a young woman who cannot feel the elements as others do and the disharmony this causes leads to her and her family being exiled.
As music is an integral part of Iyess...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : FantasyFiction
May 20, 2012
At last, I've had a chance to read my copy of Telescoping Time, the anthology of chosen entries in the Earlyworks Press Science Fiction Challenge. The stories had to 'make a realistic contribution to the debate about how humans and extra-terrestrial species might prepare for contact and learn to co-operate rather than destroy each other through fear or prejudice, by accident or design.' I'm proud to say that my story, 'Haze', is among the chosen.
Many stories and books have been written, and...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
May 6, 2012
I had to cancel my cover competition. The last minute rush I had hoped for never materialised, and without entries there is no contest. It was really disappointing. I'd expended a lot of time, effort and money promoting it only to receive less than a handful of entries. In fact, I received a better response to my post on a Kindle forum announcing the flop. Initially, I was inclined to think it was a total waste, but I'm beginning to see there are things I can learn from it.
My advice to ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
April 29, 2012
England is currently in the middle of its monsoon season–the ideal time to get some writing done. You can't do the gardening, or go for a picnic, so there's no excuse not to concentrate. Actually, there is. Letting your mind wander as you listen to the rain beating on the windows can be far more creative.
You could start by writing a description of the weather. How fast is the rain falling? What does it sound and feel like? How do people react to it? How do they move? What are their ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
April 22, 2012
This week I was fortunate enough to see Ladies in Lavender at Royal & Derngate, Northampton. For anyone who's never seen the film, it's a gentle story set in Cornwall in the 1930s, which follows what happens when two ageing spinster sisters find and take in a young violinist who's washed up on the beach. There's no sex or violence and no bad language.
It would have been easy to overwrite the play, but it was beautifully understated. This can only work on stage or film if you have actors ca...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
April 15, 2012
One of life's more annoying facts is that it's usually the phrase/sentence/paragraph that you're most pleased with that you end up having to cut from your final draft. In fact, always be suspicious of your finest lines. What makes them memorable is usually that they are different from the rest of the piece and indicate a change of style that creates an (often inappropriate) jolt. They're often descriptive so they could slow down the pace as well. Hardening your heart and killing your 'bab... Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
April 10, 2012
The first entries in my contest to find a new cover for
Discord's Child are beginning to come in. For those of you creative people who haven't started work on it yet, there's still time. The closing date is 30th April and the full details are
here. You could win £20, so get designing!
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
April 8, 2012
I never thought I'd say this, but I miss old-fashioned rejection slips. Most of the time they would be nothing more than an impersonal compliments slip, but at least I could put they to some other use. I could scribble ideas for my next great work on the back of them, or shopping lists, or I could fold them into wads to stop cupboard doors swinging open, or to prop up table legs. I could do origami with them, make paper planes, scribble doodles.... If they arrived on a bad day at least I ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
April 1, 2012
Writing is supposed to have therapeutic qualities. Setting things down on paper is meant to help get them out of your system. I'm not sure how true that is. Reading through what you've written afterwards might make you see how ridiculous you or your worries were, on the other hand it might keep old grievances alive.
For writers, there's always the benefit of being able to use your outpourings on paper in future work. Writing about arguments can be particularly satisfying. You can make you...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
