Historical Fiction

In a further extract from her annual reader's survey Mary Tod lists favourite books and authors. See link :-

CLICK HERE

Good reading

Douglas

Last and next meetings AMENDED 24 7 15

The Inkplotters met on the 13 July and heard and commented on writing contributions on a birth and death in a fantasy chase, an arrival after time traveling without memory and a semi fiction piece about a smoky high level WW2 meeting. Music and writing and self publishing were also discussed.

Next meeting NOW Tuesday 1st September 2015 [was on original of this post - Monday 7 September 2015.] Members to bring extracts from others writing they like with commentary and suggestions.

New members welcome.

Douglas

Bookbaby Blog Post - Blow Up your Novel

Radical revision: four ways to blow up and rebuild your novel

by Chris Robley on June 9, 2015 in Editing, Writing Tips

You’re stuck. Something about your book just isn’t working, but you’re not quite sure what it is. Time for drastic measures.
Yes, you could tinker away at the sentence level or rearrange a few chapters here and there — but when your ideas stall or you’ve written yourself into a corner, maybe it’s time to do something radical to shake things up and revise your book. Why not GO EXTREME!? You can always return to your original stinker of a draft if these attempts at radical revision fail, right? So yeah; you’re totally safe to play around and get your hands dirty.
Here are four things to try when your manuscript feels like it’s falling flat.
Read More...

Explosive stuff

Douglas

More Russell Blake

Four Years

June 11, 2011. A day that shall go down in literary infamy. On that day, I pressed publish on my first novel, a little ditty titled Fatal Exchange. Little did I know it would change my life.

Having just typed “the end” on Emerald Buddha, the sequel to Ramsey’s Gold, it’s fitting to me that tome’s my 40th book. Counting my blog, I’ve easily clocked 5 million words over that four years, and probably closer to 6 million if I throw in all my message board posts.
So what’s changed during that time?

Read on by clicking here.

Dealing with Criticism

I had a long discussion with an author the other day about her slumping mood due to having received a spate of one star reviews on her latest book, which caused her to question the direction her writing had taken, whether she was really cut out to be an author, etc.
Here’s my view on negative criticism:
Everyone’s got an opinion. You can’t make everyone happy. You aren’t trying to please the entire world, just those you target with your work. And sometimes, even those folks ... 

Read on by clicking here.

Have a good read

Douglas

Turning - Point Calvin's Book - You Tube Video

Calvin has a video for his book. Click to see video

Tony Riches author of Warwick Go to Amazon Uk

and Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham Go to Amazon

has prepared the video and I offered a view of picture topics which would illustrate the story.

Douglas

More Russell Blake - Being a Writer

I’ll confess to more than a little arrogance. But I’ll also excuse it somewhat by stating that writers need a healthy sense of their own worth, because otherwise they’d never write a word. It goes with the territory – to have the temerity to believe your words are worth reading, much less paying for, you have to believe that you can make magic happen with prose, or at the very least, tell a story well.

Read on http://russellblake.com/being-a-writer/

Thoughtful stuff.

Douglas

May and June Meetings

The Inkplotters at their May meeting listened and had a lively discussion about members writing on the theme of escapes. These were from an online wedding, a psychopath, the Gestapo, an apocalypse and a burning city. Topic for next meeting on Monday 15 June 2015 – Waking up. Further details see web site. www.leamingtonspawriters.org.uk

as submitted to Courier

Douglas