January 25, 2021
Hashtag writing prompts on Twitter are great fun and a good way to find other authors. I know I'll like their work, because I've already seen lots of examples online. These fellow authors also know about the ups and downs of writing. For the most part, they are happy to give other writers their support and encouragement.
Many of the regular hashtag prompts are for tweets from or relating to works in progress. I consider Discord's Child and Discord's Apprentice to be parts one and two of a larger work, The Exiles of Ondd, so I often mine them for tweets to join in. It's occurred to me more than once that if I'm not careful I'll tweet spoilers, if not the whole novel. The tweets are rarely exactly as they appear in the books. They have to be tidied up sometimes to make sense without the context. If they receive likes or retweets, it gives me a real boost.
Of course, there's no real danger that anyone reading them out of order and spread over months is going to put together a complete novel, unless they're really good at jigsaws–better than me, at any rate. I follow many authors who tweet extracts from their novels, and unless you already know the plot you wouldn't be able to guess it. The more that's tweeted, the more intriguing it becomes.
Maybe I should consider putting Discord's Child online as daily tweet-sized episodes, or use the tweets as quiz questions, such as which chapter is it from, or which character is speaking? Hopefully, my efforts would spark readers' curiosity enough to look at the full book.
Here are a few hashtags you might find interesting if you'd like to have a go yourself: #SlapDashSat #SciFiFri #BraveWrite #Sunscribbles #vss365 #MuseMon #2wordprompt #1lineWed and #FictFri. #TheWritePrompt posts a selection with the themes each day.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
January 16, 2021
Chances are that if you expected 2021 to be better than 2020 you've been disappointed so far. Even if you enjoyed a good Christmas and started the new year as full of good resolutions as ever, the reality of short dark days, dingy weather and lockdowns might have already sapped your motivation. Take heart–you are not alone!
I find it's easier when times are hard to write something factual. Doing research, planning articles and the discipline of writing pitches and presenting facts readably ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
December 27, 2020
Christmas rarely lives up to our hopes or expectations, and this year it's likely that it's been further from our wishes than ever. Christmas Day itself is usually quiet for me, but in other years I've had get-togethers with friends and colleagues to remember, and family celebrations to look forward to. In fact, there was a danger that the so-called 'festive' season would not be Christmassy at all.
My recipe for avoiding cabin fever and the seasonal blues is to share a few days with Mr. Charl...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 18, 2020
I recently enjoyed my annual reread of
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster. On this occasion, I found myself strongly sympathising with one of the characters. Lucy? Mr. Emerson? Cecil? No, it was Freddy.
It was the scene where the reader meets him for the first time at the beginning of part two. He was studying a 'small manual of anatomy' and 'From time to time he bounced in his chair and puffed and groaned, for the day was hot and the print small... and his mother, who was writing a letter,...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
September 1, 2020
I think I've mentioned before how googling yourself might seem like vanity or procrastination, but that it can throw up some interesting and useful results. In the past, I've discovered that I'd been shortlisted in one competition and actually won another. I've also found a mini-story on someone's website for a hobby related to its theme (origami–'Stone,Scissors, Paper'), and positive reviews of other work.
I'll confess to a little procrastination when I looked last week, but I'm so glad I ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
August 21, 2020
At the start of the lockdown, poet and playwright Trevor Smith included me in a challenge to write something inspired by the pandemic. There has been a plethora of competitions and special submission invitations on the current situation, and I truly have had little desire to respond. I don't know why. Maybe it's too depressing, maybe it's because it's so ubiquitous that it seems every radio and TV programme or conversation has to include it at least once. But this was a friend throwing down t...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
August 6, 2020
Exercise is good for you. I'm not talking about abandoning your office chair or going for the burn, although taking a physical break regularly is undoubtedly wise. The kind of exercise I'm thinking of, is for your writing 'muscles'.
It can be anything from doing a newspaper crossword or wordsearch while enjoying a cuppa, to writing a paragraph about what you can see through your window. There's no need to be stuck for ideas. As long as you have a dictionary, all you need to do is open it at a...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
July 4, 2020
Last year, I would no doubt have been watching tennis on TV and feeling a little guilty about not writing. From the French Open to the end of Wimbledon, I find it hard to tear myself away. I tell myself the season is short, and it'll have to last me all year, but I still get twinges unless I get a morning's writing in before the matches start. Of course, in England I can usually rely on plenty of rain breaks to catch up with the things I should be doing.
Binge-watching tennis isn't all bunkin...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
June 18, 2020
I should have been in Dubrovnik now. I accepted even before the lockdown that Covid-19 would make it unlikely the holiday would take place, and for the most part it hasn't entered my thoughts. When it has, I've reminded myself that this pandemic has robbed people of far more important things than a few days away. This week, however, I have to admit it's been on my mind.
A dew days in a strange setting, trying to manage in a different language, tasting the local food and enjoying new activitie...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
June 4, 2020
Before we were locked-down, you might have traveled along a familiar road, perhaps a daily trek to work or to the supermarket, and not remembered the journey when you arrived. It was probably easy and pleasant and left your mind free to wander, but did you notice anything along the way? If someone was to ask you for directions to somewhere on the route, could you tell them whether it's the second or third turn on the left, opposite the postbox or past the big iron gates? Probably not.
As with...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
