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 writing this longhand left-handed simply to see if I could, rather than tackle what I should have been writing.
The trouble is, all the possible words and scenarios jump around in my head and won't let me pin them down on the page. I've started the story three different ways and returned to the first one, which looked quite good but immediately became fraught with problems so that I hardly got a sentence into it before I changed my mind. I simply can't decide on the best way to write it. If I go for a walk, inspiration might strike and I might be able to find the missing component that will make the story work. On the other hand, I might simply be wasting time, putting off the moment when I have to focus. One thing's for sure, if I haven't made progress on a first draft by the end of the day, I shall feel bad about myself, even if I have sorted out a batch of stories to submit to magazines, written this blog and caught up on a number of forums (fora?). It might look productive, but I'll know that all I've really done is procrastinated.
Maybe if I just tell the story the way I'm telling you about the struggle to write it, as if I'm talking to someone in front of me... but then I'd be telling and not showing. Aargh! Giving birth seems easier–at least there'd be something worth having at the end of it. It's no good, I have to get on with it, even if all I do is brainstorm conversations between characters that I end up crossing out. I'll let you know how I get on.
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
January 25, 2016
I don't want to worry anyone, but there are only another 11 months until Christmas. That means I've already had one twelfth of the available time to achieve what I want to in 2016. As ever, time's going faster and things are taking longer than I anticipated.
One thing that has been frustratingly slow is keying in a TV screenplay. I was using a template from the BBC's Writers' Room website and had expected to zip through it. Using a template or setting up styles are well worth the small ini...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
January 18, 2016
One of my friends is on an extended stay in New Zealand at the moment. Usually, she's only on the other side of the country, but even then we write letters to each other. Thanks to modern technology it's possible to have instant communication with people on the other side of the globe. If she had Skype where she's staying, we could even see each other. That's great but it's ephemeral.
There's something about receiving a letter that's special. You have a real physical connection to the send...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
January 12, 2016
I treated myself yesterday. I showed no self-restraint at all. I binged on mini-stories in the Binnacle 12th Annual Ultra-short Edition 2015. My intention was to eke them out, to save them as a little pick-me-up whenever I needed something more substantial than a tweet but not demanding the time commitment of a short story.
Of course, I was curious to read the winning entries and find out how 'Harvest-time', my Editor's Pick entry, measured up, but I already knew from previous years that t...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
January 3, 2016
Happy New Year! Welcome to my first blog of 2016.
One of my favourite television dramas in the run-up to Christmas was series three of The Bridge. Everything about it was excellent–the performances, the lighting, and particularly the script, which was full of twists and turns that kept the viewers guessing, and taut dialogue. No doubt the writing was top notch in this and other Scandinavian crime novels and series, but does this alone account for the explosion in their popularity? Do all...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
December 20, 2015
It's been a while since I took a look around the new markets and free competitions, so it's high time I did a round-up. What follows is a mixed bag of creative non-fiction, travel writing, plays, novels and themed science fiction. Check out all of them, because even if a genre isn't normally your thing, you might just find something that sparks your creative instincts and gives your brain a work-out while you're digesting the Christmas dinner. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
* If you'...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
December 14, 2015
Following the excitement of last week's performance of my one-act play, Antarctica, I have some more good news to report: I have a feature in the January issue of Writing Magazine. It covers ways in which you can break the accepted rules of writing successfully.
Anyone who knows my attitude to misplaced apostrophes and similar slips might think this makes me a hypocrite, but I assure you I'm not advocating sloppiness or turning into a grammar rebel. For proof, I'm afraid you'll have to get...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
December 6, 2015
On Friday (4th December), the premiere performance of Antarctica took place. It was on a terrific programme of Walter Swan Trust Playwriting Award winners and runners-up at Ilkley Playhouse. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend, nor will I be able to get to the Courtyard Stage at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds for the second performance tomorrow. I know if I'd been there I would have gained far more than an evening's entertainment.
Scripts, whether for stage, screen or radio, are never a comp...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
