April 20, 2016
You might have heard this already: on 23rd April it will be 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, arguably England's or even the world's greatest playwright and poet. It seems everyone in the arts world or who is interested in it will be doing something to celebrate. I don't want to be the exception, so what am I going to do?
The most obvious and easiest thing would be to go and see one of Shakespeare's plays or read some of his poetry but, let's face it, I can do that at any time. If I'm going to call myself a writer–even if I have no illusions that anyone's going to call me a 21st century Shakespeare, then I ought to put pencil to paper. Writing a sonnet should be achievable in a day. Maybe something involving a 'dark lady'. I could even double the celebration with a nod to St George whose day it is too.
At this stage, I've no idea whether there's a publication that might be interested in my sonnet when it's finished. I'm aware that most advice tells writers to work with a market in mind, but I think you can take that too far. If you spend your working life fighting off deadlines and trying to keep publishers/theatres and readers/audiences happy, as Shakespeare must have done (all the world might be a stage but it's peopled by critics), then creativity becomes a core. There's a danger that what you write will become formulaic and that you find yourself writing about things that don't interest you.
Anyway, who says that everything you write has to be for publication? There's nothing wrong with writing something purely as an exercise, as an experiment with your style, or simply to set down whatever pops into your head. As long as you enjoy the process, that's what counts.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
April 5, 2016
Do you like Science Fiction and other speculative genres? Yes? Then put 16th May in your diary. That's the day when Third Flatiron Anthologies' Hyperpowers issue goes live at
http://www.thirdflatiron.com. My story, 'Alien Dreams' will be in it alongside 15 other stories chosen by guest editor Bascomb James, a respected author, lecturer and editor of Far Orbit anthologies. The hyperpowers theme covers space opera and military science fiction, so readers can look forward to tales that push the ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
March 28, 2016
Research has once again show what writers have instinctively known for years–letting your mind wander and spending a few minutes skiving can make you more productive.
One of the latest surveys to hit the headlines is that for the National Bureau of Economic Research. It confirms previous studies, such as that by the University of Melbourne in 2011, that workers who mentally play truant to surf the web or daydream for up to 20 per cent of the time, become up to nine per cent more product...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
March 22, 2016
Sometimes I think life would have been so much easier if I'd been an overnight success. Some writers have their first novel taken up by an agent and soon rival publishers are fighting each other to offer the highest advance. Before long, they're on the bestseller lists, being feted by the media and doing a deal for the film rights. Undoubtedly, it does happen–rarely.
Most 'overnight' successes have served a long apprenticeship in one way or another. They might have studied a degree or t...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
March 15, 2016
Last week I responded to a request on a writers' forum for people to relate the catalyst that inspired a novel. I wrote about the incident that eventually led to
Monkey-tail, which is awaiting a rewrite. I was on holiday with my husband in Cornwall when we saw a man fishing without a rod in the sea from the rocks. He constantly cast and drew in the line, so that my husband said he looked as if he was conducting the sea. I was rewarded for the tale by someone sending me a poem by William Carlo...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
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 ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
