Showing Tag: "characters" (Show all posts)

From Fault to Advantage

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Saturday, July 4, 2020, In : Inspiration 
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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What Lies Beneath

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Tuesday, December 13, 2016,
I recently visited an art exhibition that included a portrait section. Among the works included were several of celebrities that had clearly been done from photographs, either film stills or publicity shots. They were skilfully done, but they got me thinking about what a portrait is.
    There are many paintings and drawings of people–real people, not simply figures painted from the imagination–that are not classed as portraits even though their physical features are recognisable. To be a ...
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Sporting Drama

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Friday, August 19, 2016, In : Inspiration 
Searching for an Olympics-free zone? Perhaps you've sought refuge in music and found inspiration for the Proms contest I mentioned in my last blog. If you're a television fan, the likelihood is that some of your favourite programmes have been replaced by sport. It's also the time of year when many series come to an end too, so you could be feeling withdrawal symptoms. In my case, it's missing The Musketeers and Versailles. But you know what they say: 'If you can't beat them, join them.'
    T...
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What Do You Read Again?

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, August 17, 2015, In : Inspiration 
Apparently, Christopher Lee used to read The Lord of the Rings once a year. This was a habit he began decades before playing Saruman. He isn't alone. Many people have a favourite book that they read over and over, without it ever becoming stale. If you ask me, the definition of being a successful author is writing something that people not only remember, but enjoy re-reading. Strange as it may seem, not every novel on the bestseller lists has that quality. What is it that keeps readers coming...
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Putting a Name to a Face

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, February 1, 2015, In : Linguistics 
A recent BBC documentary about the artist Hans Holbein, who painted so many of Henry VIII's court, was fascinating, and not only for the insights his work provided into the sitters' personalities. He had written Anne Boleyn's name as 'Anne Bollein'. Spellings in Tudor times were not as standardized as they are now, and Holbein probably wrote the name as he heard it pronounced. As the artist's surname also ends in 'ein' this could mean that it was pronounced the same way. So Anne Boleyn was ei...
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Bits and Bobs

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, June 23, 2014, In : Competitions 
In my search for free to enter competitions, I came across The World's Best Birthday Ideas competition for humorous birthday verses. The closing date isn't until 30th June 2014, so there's still time to enter. I did, and you can read my effort at http://www.great-happy-birthday-ideas.com/made-it.html.
    On another subject, my efforts to write in another language have gone off at a tangent. One language doesn't translate exactly to another. If language is an extension of the way people think,...
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Awkward Characters

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, April 27, 2014, In : FantasyFiction 
Discord's Apprentice was steaming along nicely this week, but then it got hijacked by one of the characters. I don't know where she came from and I'm not at all sure she should be allowed to stay. What's more, I'm not even sure whose side she's on. Now, she's painted herself into a corner, and I can't see yet how to get her out.
    No doubt, I shall have to backtrack. It could be that if I try thinking myself into another character, I'll find a more logical way for the story to progress. It c...
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Ooo, Madam!

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, April 21, 2013, In : Reviews 
Yesterday, I went to see a local amateur dramatic company's production of Up Pompeii by Miles Tredinnick, which was directed by a friend. The cast rose to the challenge incredibly well. Not only did they have to contend with the notoriously difficult timing of exits and entrances on which such farce-type comedies rely, but there were risqué costumes and saucy clinches that might be embarrassing when they meet their co-stars at the next parents' evening. Added to this was the challenge of per...
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Naming Names

Posted by Karla Sally Dearsley on Sunday, February 13, 2011, In : FantasyFiction 
Shakespeare might have written 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet', but if he'd called Romeo and Juliet 'Fred and Elsie' would the effect have been the same?  What you call your characters is tremendously important, and can be particularly full of pitfalls for writers of speculative fiction.

Fans of the SF and fantasy genres are used to unusual names and can easily cope with the likes of Obi Wan Kenobi or Galadriel, but if you're sending your story to a competition where the judges...
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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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