Recent content by Oldgnome

It was once emphasised to me that writing is a craft. Just like a craft it begins with a pile of raw materials and these are honed and arranged into a form over time. It is very easy to feel awkward at the beginning and indeed to feel awkward if you have not written very much before. I have...

I would say it would depend on the intention of the author as to why a particular neurological group should be identified. Although not historical, one of the characters in one of my stories is on the autistic spectrum, but this is because the story is about secret worlds and the young man who...

Although I am a trained fine artist and much of my work might be considered illustrative (well very nearly) I have been reluctant to illustrate my stories, even those that might (at a stretch) be considered enjoyable for younger readers. I think this might be because I am old fashioned in my...

Thank you Xena. As I say it was an odd achievement. Two simpler stories were originally intertwined as a longer one. Then I split the two two stories and they developed separately for decades. Then recently I though they might be better together again and all of the improvements served the whole...

Sometimes I find I am asking too much of initial drafts. Many writers insist that the first drafts of their best stories have always been dreadful. One thing I have noticed in my own writing is that the motivation of a character is sometimes not clear. I sometimes need to think about the lead...

Hi Krissy and welcome.

I feel bad now that I see I have rubbished my own work somewhat. I do feel proud when I get through the long process with any story. I suppose I am talking about the exhaustion and how that affects me. Having read so many people's responses here it reminds me that I do have a tremendous feeling...

I think what I am describing is a general feeling of hangover. I love the writing process (not so much the editing) but the aftermath when the work is finished seems such a lonely place. This might be why I quickly start something new. I can appreciate how you used writing to overcome pain, Mad...

Thanks Xena.

Quite often, after many false dawns and self-deceptions, I realise that a piece of writing is finished. I tend to have a day of relief and disbelief followed by a weirdly distorting experience that I can describe thus: I feel as if I had been trapped inside the story (less often a poem) for the...

Tolkien was my first introduction to fantasy. He left so many things unsaid or half-lit. I feel the same way about Mervyn Peake. I like the endlessness that lurks in the margins of these writers..

Thanks Minta. Maybe I could manage longer writing. I have nothing in-progress at the moment that could be developed into a novel. Maybe something will will turn up.

Thanks Karlin. What is odd about long, long, long pieces of work is that when you read them through when they are finished you find they act like diaries. What I mean is any section or scene reminds you of what you were doing in the real world at that time.

Thanks Devor. I was so young and it was my first writers' workshop. To be fair the tutor was a poet and had tried to write a novel and it had been received badly, so maybe he was going through his own issues. From now on if a piece of writing does stretch out then I will go just with it,

I like short stories. The 'fuel' of a short story is in a situation, whereas I think the fuel of a novel is in the characters. Also I have found that I read short stories more carefully. I try to notice more things. One of my old writing tutors told me the short story is a harder form than the...